Commercial Photographer: Your Guide to Marketing, Creativity and Growth

Zoe runs Ask Zoe and calls herself a consultant with a difference. She focusses not just on your business, but also on marketing. So she educates customers on what to do, when and how to help you grow. Sam and Zoe met four or five years ago pre-Covid when Zoe ran Fab Events. This business was setup in 2016. Zoe grew the business with 4N, the networking group Sam and Zoe were involved with at the time. The name Fab came because people kept saying “Zoe you are Fab”. Even in this business she was doing marketing as well as events. When Zoe started Fab events, she said she could do all events, which she realises now probably wasn’t the best idea. While Zoe was running lots of events she spent a lot of time working with event photographers. She says if you are at an event you will usually need more than one photographer. There is usually too much going on for one person to capture. You can be the main photographer in the room, but you will need other photographers at other places, such as arrivals. That doesn’t mean as a single photographer you can’t do events like these. It means you just will need to collaborate with other photographers. The reason Zoe called the business Ask Zoe is that she has built and kept relationships over a long time and those people who she is connected to will always Ask Zoe. Covid brought big changes to Zoe’s business and from a business point of view she sees it as a blessing. It gave her a chance to stop and reflect on what she had been doing and what she wanted to do going forwards. During Covid, Zoe was busy analysing the news and working out what would happen next and what she needed to do. As Covid was building in early 2020 events were already being effected before the UK population. This was due to early restrictions on imports. At this stage Zoe decided the best thing for her to do was focus on online events management. What happened during this time Zoe’s business was doing well while many in the industry were fading. And so Zoe’s connections were asking what she was doing. She had been using a 7 step consultancy strategy that she had been trained in at Hilton and at University, and was using this in her business. But many people were feeling overwhelmed during Covid, so she stripped it down to a 4 step process. Zoe then found that her business was only 5% events and 95% marketing and consultancy. She then talked to a lot of people including Collette Evans who does her branding photography to Clare Froggett who does Zoe’s branding and she developed Ask Zoe. So most of what she does is marketing and brand consultancy. Sam asks if there is some common things that photographers could do to improve their business. Zoe says it really depends on the business and Zoe always starts with a call to see what help people need. But business owners tend to feel overwhelmed in terms of what they need to do to get to the next level they want to reach. Zoe has worked with a few photographers and tends to find that they are very creative and tend to focus on this creativity, rather than what they need to grow their business. Creative people tend to be a little introverted and their creativity is their output. Zoe talks about getting KPIs (key performance indicators) in place in your business. These are just goals, nothing complicated. But things you need to focus on to get the end result. This is related to the show on business planning. Sam and Zoe discuss the types of KPIs photographers may have. For example it might be to do three weddings a week in the peak season, but have a month off in winter. But other photographers may simply to just do one wedding a weekend. The key is it’s relevant for you and your business. Zoe says a business a plan should be like a story, have a beginning a middle and an end. The middle is how you make it happen and how you join the dots.

This week Marcus talks about building a portfolio as a photographer. He breaks this down into three areas, photographs, pace and presentation. Marcus starts by taking about Robert Frank and his book 'The Americans', that was published in 1960. He took photos and made what he called about a visual poem out of them. Marcus encourages you to look at the book and focus on the fact that it is a series of images. Sam asks why a photographer wants a portfolio. Marcus says there are two reasons. One is to get more work. The other is to present a body of work. Years ago a portfolio was leather bound and shown to people to show your work. Marcus still has some of these. Clearly now there are many more options. You could have pdfs, movies and more, but printed material still has it’s value. And printing out work and showing it to clients will make you stand out from the crowd. You can also make a slide show to go at the back of Zoom calls during networking meetings.  Marcus thinks 20 to 30 images in a portfolio is about right. Less is more. Sam says that on websites photographers usually add far too many images. When you are putting together a portfolio the beginning and the end are really key. They are the parts people remember. The middle is almost a filler. The beginning and end does not need to be your best shot. It may be more your most impactful or alternative to get attention. Tweaking portfolios for the viewer is also really important.  Marcus says to look at your portfolio from the back forwards, remember some people flick through books this way (if it is physical). Think about how the photographs are arranged. So colours for example, or work on themes. Working through a time frame can also work. The key is do not put them together randomly. Sam introduces the ides of adding humour in there and Marcus agrees this is a great idea. Finally Marcus talks about pace. Allowing space and allowing your portfolio to breathe. Marcus gives examples of leaving blank pages or part pages. Marcus explains that he offers online portfolio reviews that can be booked in via his website.

The Professional Edge: Is the rise of AI and a crowded market making you nervous? Jeff Brown, President of the BIPP, joins Marcus to explain why now is the time to double down on your professional identity.• The World's Oldest Secret: Discover the massive business benefits of joining a Professional Photography Association and how 123 years of history can protect your future.• The Death of the Generalist: Jeff explains why the "freelancer" label is damaging your income and the urgent steps you need to take to niche down.• AI vs. Authenticity: Find out exactly where AI fails and how to position your Branding Photography to offer the one thing a robot can't—personal storytelling.  

This episode is sponsored by Website for photographers. Website 4 photographers help photographers get more leads from their websites. You can get in touch here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠info@website4photographers.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠01482 765871 Sam talks about who is your ideal client or customer. First Sam explains why you want to an ideal customers. If you think “anyone” is your client, your messages is bland and doesn’t land with people and so “nobody” listens. While if you have a specific audience in mind when you are writing your content it is much more engaging and interesting for that audience. So the first thing to do is decide who your ideal client should be. A good place to start is to think about your current clients. Are some of those ideal clients? What makes them ideal? Then try and find out more about them, things like age, gender hobbies, etc. For Sam the two things that makes them ideal clients is that they are profitable and enjoyable to work with. Marcus also points out that the target market needs to be large enough. Marcus says at networking events he always said I work with coaches and motivational speakers. And they are the people he now works with and the people that gets referred to him. Sam points out that there are 120,000 photographers in the UK on Linkedin and many more photographers, so there are lots of them that you need to stand out from and having content targeted to your ideal client helps with that.   There are other things to think about with ideal clients like how easy are thy to reach an connect with. They also need to be definable. They are also a group which you can provide value to. Marcus brings up the idea of having a tribe and Sam points out that’s a big thing in Seth Godin’s books. Marcus says that for him and many businesses their ideal clients are people just like them. Once you have decided who your target audience is you need to clearly define them with things like age, gender, hobbies, work, family. People then make avatars. So invent people that could be in your target audience. Give them a personality. Then when writing content aim it at one of your avatars. You also need to think where are you going to find this target audience, which social channels or print media.   Marcus says it’s clear that doing this exercise really helps you to get work.

 Emma runs Natural Aspect. She creates images for her clients so they can market their brand with ease and confidence. And Sam said that is reflected in her social media where she is promoting herself with confidence. The name of the business has changed many times over the years. During her last rebrand she was in the mountains in Wales. She as looking for a name that reflected her style, capturing the natural look and the logo reflected the mountains. Sam asked about TikTok and Emma said she was dragged onto it by a marketing coach. Emma says her ideal clients re not really there, but their kids might be. So TikTok is not a strong focus, but something she uses. LinkedIn is her main social media. Emma has been a photographer for seventeen or eighteen years. She has changed the focus of her business many times during this period. This is partly because she is a military family so has to move around a lot. Currently Emma works with businesses as this works with her and her family life. Sam and Emma discussed the point that moving a photography business is hard. For Emma she was in Lincolnshire before the pandemic and is back now, so that has helped. Emma says niching has really worked for her and helped her with her marketing and messaging. She doesn’t work with any particular businesses. Marcus asks what differentiates a brand photographer from any other sort of photographer. Emma says branding photography brings together skills from a wide range of photography genres. She spends a lot of time researching her clients, getting to know them. This way by the time it gets to the day of the shoot it’s all carefully planned. The customer knows what they need to do on the day, as does Emma. Emma really enjoys this side of her business. For example she worked with an accountant taking pictures of them tap dancing, which was their hobby. Emma also does charity work with Remember My baby. They offer free remembrance photography for families that have had a loss before, during or after birth. It’s a tough subject and one that not many people talk about. She currently supports Lincolnshire hospitals with that. She goes into hospitals and take pictures of families. Every shoot is different, the mood, how much they want to talk, what they want and more.   Marcus asks about other charities and Emma in that case worked with families with children with life limiting conditions. That the Butterfly Wishes Network. Again Emma gave her time freely here and found the work very rewarding. Marcus like to play devils advocate and asks what Emma thinks about working for charities for free. Emma says if she was going to provide marketing material for a charity she would charge. She sees that as different from being part of a charity which you are helping and feel emotionally attached to. This becomes a wider discussion between Sam and Marcus about getting paid for charity work.   Sam asks Emma what she would say to explain the cost of services. She said this could include added value to the package, it’s about promoting yourself and so having the reputation. It’s about being able to listen and also having the right kit for the job. The discussion went onto the area of balancing listening and directing on a shoot. There is a podcast about listening, that is relevant here. Having a level of confidence is important here, to be able to do the direction well. Emma has just returned from a family trip to China where her brother and family live. She had an amazing trip and recommends visiting.

Marcus talks about repetition in this show. Repetition was a core part of the five Rs show which you can listen to here. Marcus has recently been to a Martin Parr talk. What Marcus found is that Martin has done huge amounts of fashion photography, which he wasn’t very aware of. Marcus explains that this is partly because he does what Marcus talked about in another recent episode alternative genres. To recap the previous episode the 5 rules of creativity in photography are Research Rules Repetition Reflection Rest   Marcus in this show focusses on repetition. Repetition splits down into three areas Learning Improving Diversifying Learning If you are learning photography, it is best to photograph things that you can go back to again and again. So something at the bottom of the garden rather that what you see on holiday. This also means you are focussing on the mundane, so you have to try to make it interesting. Marcus says take a picture, look at it reflect on it, then take it again. Keeping repeating, reflecting and learning. Marcus says this idea works just as well for more experienced photographers. Marcus thinks this is a great way to get to know your kit and getting to know shutter speeds, apertures and more.   ImprovingIf you are an improving photographer you want to go an photograph things multiple times. Thinking about varied weather, varied times of day, varied lighting conditions. Marcus says when you repeat things you are growing the connections in your brain. But it’s important that critical reflection is combined with repetition. Diversifying There is a style of photography where photographers photograph something again and again in a very similar way, this is called Typology. Bernt and Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, Lewis Baltz are all photographers who have used this. They tend to photograph a series of photos of something similar. Edward Munch’s the Scream is a block print that works in a similar way. As a photography example the Bechers were photographing gas tanks over time. Years apart but from the same position and with the same weather so they are very similar shots.  

Robin Thompson says he is an IT stress reliever working with small and medium-sized businesses helping ensure that their IT is not causing them stress. Sam and Robin have known each other for a long time having started their business at a similar time and having run a networking event together. Robin’s journey into IT has been an interesting one. As a child of the 80s he has been using computers since he was a child. Robin spent ten years in financial services and then moved to working in higher education. He did do some first line IT support as part of his role. But also did things like exam timetables for the University of Hull. At one stage Robin was offered the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy from the University, At the same time Helen his wife and co-director was between jobs and so they decided to take the redundancy and setup the business. Sam asks what photographers need to think about in terms of their IT. Robin says for those in creative industries you will need high spec equipment and lots of processing power. Backing up your data is an important thing to think about. But due to the file sizes that photographers deal with are very large so that cloud storage can start to get very expensive. Robin suggests one way of doing this is having project files on cloud storage, but use external hard drives to backup the raw photo files. Backblaze is  service that some photographers use as the storage is a lot cheaper than Google or Microsoft cloud storage. In terms of security Robin says the built in security has got a lot better over the years on Windows computers. He also reminds us that Macs, contrary to popular opinion, can get viruses. They can also pass viruses onto Windows computer and it is not good for your business if you accidentally pass viruses onto customers, so ensure macs have 3rd party anti-virus software on them. Robin says domains and emails are also important. Some small businesses use Gmail or Hotmail addresses for their business and this does not look very professional. Then have a professional email system around that, that will scan incoming and outgoing emails. Spoofing is a challenge at the moment (spoofing is someone pretending to be someone else). Good email scanning will deal with this. On top of this email marketing needs a domain based email address. Because we do have problems like spoofing there are now systems in place to prevent this. But this does also mean it can be harder to deliver genuine email. When properly setup this isn’t a problem, but setting up email accounts correctly is correct.   Robin explains that backups are much more than photos. Emails, invoices, contact information and more, all needs backing up. If these aren’t backed up it could cost you your business. Robin has used photography in his business and he says you can tell when photography has been done professionally. Robin had the opportunity to be in a magazine with a focus on his wife in the business. They got professional photography for that and thought the results were excellent. Although you can take photos with a phone, it is not the same. Sam asked Robin to share his experience of using professional photographers. Robin thinks that initial conversation, before the photo shoot is very important. It’s a careful balance of  the photographer providing expertise and suggestions with listening. Also many people are very uncomfortable in front of the camera and so making people at their ease in front of the lens is important. He likes the idea of a retainer for photographers but doesn’t work on that basis with his photographer.

Zoe Hiljemark is a PR and marketing consultant who works just with photographers. She has spent twenty years in PR, ten of those working with photographers.  She leverages PR content and SEO to promote photographers.Back when Zoe became a mother she wanted baby photographs. So she got a photoshoot with Karen Wiltshire. Zoe got on well with Karen and the ideas went from there. Zoe realised Karen’s work was amazing but could reach many more people. So Zoe started working with Karen and then moved on to working with other photographers. The business grew from there and Zoe ended up just working with photographers. Zoe now works with all sorts of different photographers which she enjoys. She has a niche now and recommends niches for other businesses.   Sam asks if Zoe is getting photographers photographs in the press, or them and their services in the press. Zoe says it’s largely about getting them and their business into the press. Marcus wonders if particular magazines are good for particular niches. Zoe says that it depends on the client and their niche. But it’s largely not about photography magazines, but magazines read by their ideal client. Sharing photos to be used in the press is also a great way to get your images seen.  Sam and Zoe discuss how important it is to know your target audience. Without this it is hard to know where to put your PR efforts. It takes a lot of time and effort to get into the press, so ensure when you get this you use it. Keep sharing it on social media, feature it on your website and keep talking about it.   Marcus asks if this is about making the photographer the star. Some photographers are not very keen on this and like to hide behind the camera. But PR is about being visible. Zoe thinks that PR is under-used by photographers, but to use it you have to share something about yourself. Zoe talks about how photographers could improve their websites sharing information about a photoshoot and the story behind it, not just share the images. All of the work the photographer has put into this photoshoot needs to be shared.   Marcus asks about the challenges working with photographers on PR. Zoe says first of all they need to be in the right mindset. Also they can respond quickly to opportunities. The press may need images or a story very quickly so if a photographer is not keeping an eye on messages then they might miss the opportunity. Having a press pack ready is really useful. That means a pre-written bio and some headshots and other images.  It’s essential that photographers have good headshots and lifestyle images of themselves. These can be done reciprocally with other photographers. Zoe says PR is not spin, just being seen in the right light. Sam brings back the topic of niches and the worry people have when niching as people feel that they are cutting off a major group of clients. But if you don’t niche you can easily confuse clients with your messaging. When you have a niche, marketing becomes easier as you know who you are speaking to. This makes it easier to create content and posts that engage with your audience.

SEO part III on site SEO This episode is sponsored by Website for photographers. Website 4 photographers help photographers get more leads from their websites. You can get in touch here ⁠⁠⁠⁠info@website4photographers.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠01482 765871⁠   This follows SEO part one, which as about planning and SEO part two, which was about work external to your website. That leaves this show, SEO III on site SEO. The first thing to do is ensure you have competed part one and part two. So if you have not listened to those shows and planned your keywords then do that now. Once you have done the planning and looked at your external SEO the next most important thing is creating content. Good engaging content. But initially Sam goes through some other areas of SEO. You need to make sure your site is fast, otherwise Google will suppress your search results. Use a speed test website to check this Ensure your site works and doesn’t contain broken links. Make sure you have meta-descriptions in place. These are simply descriptions of the page that Google uses. Have alt-tags for your images. These help visually impaired people and it helps Google understand your images. Have a site map. You need to submit this to Google Search Console. Organisation of pages and menus. These need to be organised into a clear structure. For example have different services as sub-pages to the main service page. Marcus asked about websites using only images and not text. Sam said for SEO this is a really bad idea, These sites will not do well in the Google search. Content Use one key word or page on one page. That work better than having a single page trying to focus on several key words. When you focus on one word / phrase you can ensure that you include it in the text, in the title, in the meta-description and in the alt texts. But they need to be used sparingly. Google doesn’t like the keyword / phrase used too much within the text. Think about internal links, so can this content link to other content within your site. External links are important too. ToolsIf you have a WordPress site Yoast is a free tool that helps you with your SEO. It checks keyword density, content structure and assesses the complexity of content. You can also check your writing on the Hemmingway app. This helps keep your writing simple. StructuringStructuring your content really helps Google and people navigate your content easily. You can use paragraphs, bullet points, headers and more. Headers are number for importance from 1 to 6. Only use one H1 header per page. Refocus your existing pages and blogsContent doesn’t just need to be new. If you now have keywords you want to be found for you could adjust content you already have to help it focus on these keywords.   DataMake sure you keep an eye on the data. Google Search Console and Google Analytics will help with this. Use this to see if your SEO work is increasing traffic to your website.  

Denise Brady has been a food photographer for two and a half years. She is based on the East coast of the UK in Suffolk. Before this she was doing weddings and family photography, but Covid meant Denise had to pivot her business and moved to food photography. Denise’s photography journey began on her wedding day. When she got the images back from her wedding day she didn’t like them, and said she could have done better herself, which her husband laughed at. Denise had done photography in her youth but stopped. The next Christmas her husband bought her a Nikon digital camera. Later that year she was asked to photograph a wedding for a friend of her daughter. Denise tried to turn it down but her husband said no, this is your chance to show you can do better. So, Denise shot the wedding for free. The couple were pleased with the photos and paid Denise for them. It then built from there until Covid. Marcus says in fashion the photographers are often not that interested in fashion. So he wondered if she liked food. Denise loves food and was as up with great home cooked food as a child. Marcus asks if Denise has read the book Toast by Nigel Slater. Denise says her cook book shelf is about a meter and a half long. She says if a food photo doesn’t make your mouth water and invoke a memory then it’s not doing it’s job.   Denise loves to use natural light. She can use lighting but uses natural light for all her photos. She will use bounce boards to get light into a shot and blackboards to take light out of a shot. She will use foils and scrims to block out and filter bright direct light on sunny days. On a flat light day her works becomes easier. The hardest days to work on are ones with sunshine and showers so the sun is constantly coming in and out. Denise likes to get the white balance right in shot rather than afterwards. There is a show all about lighting, the ten principles of flash photography. Denise’s preference is to take dark and moody shots. Some clients need light and airy shots and she is. Sam asks how she found it finding clients with the move to food. This was very challenging at the start as Covid hit the entertainment industry so hard. Denise has found that she has to be flexible in her approach and work within a clients budget, which can be limited. Denise’s son in law is a chef. He has been very helpful to her and means she has someone to go to, to ask questions when she doesn’t understand things within the industry. Denise says plating is important and changing all the time. Denise has a particular style. She tried other things like the floating burgers and stop motion, but she prefers to work in her style. Marcus refers back to the recent Joe Giacomet show  as he has been making the gif style stop motion food animations. Marcus asks about working with food stylists. Denise often does the styling herself but she has worked with food stylists. Sam asks what food stylists do. The summary is that they move the peas around the plate and arrange the knife and fork tastefully and things like that. Denise also takes props with her for shoots. They also discuss planning and hot food. When hot food comes out it needs to be photographed very quickly. That means there needs to be lots of planning in place so that when the food comes out the photos are able to be done very quickly.   Denise’s influences include: Jonie – The Bite Shot Sarah - Broma bakery Her influences also comes from going to restaurants and looking at their photography. Her ambitions include working on a cook book and getting into a major food magazine. She has been published with other shots, but not food. Her ideal chef to make a cook book with would be Gordon Ramsey or a local chef Galston at Morston Hall.