| Digital Photography: Earning Money With Weddings |
View Comments
| Hobbies - Photography |
| Written by David Peters |
| Saturday, 11 October 2008 07:39 |
|
Weddings are great photo opportunities. It's a day that everyone wants to remember and happy couples often need a reliable, professional service to capture their wedding perfectly for them to remember for the rest of their lives. Investing in relationships with wedding planners is a great way to gain access to this profitable business. The wedding planner will refer you to couples who will be more likely to hire you based on the wedding planner's advice.
Weddings are great photo opportunities. It's a day that everyone wants to remember and happy couples often need a reliable, professional service to capture their wedding perfectly for them to remember for the rest of their lives. Investing in relationships with wedding planners is a great way to gain access to this profitable business. The wedding planner will refer you to couples who will be more likely to hire you based on the wedding planner's advice. First, if you have no wedding portfolio, offer your service to a bride in return for a testimonial. Be sure you keep the copyright on your pictures so you can use them to create a portfolio. You might locate a receptive bride within your circle of friends and family or through other networking activities. With at least one wedding under your belt and with a nice testimonial and portfolio, start looking for other weddings to photograph. Word of mouth is always ideal, but you might also check the wedding announcements in your local newspaper. If you can, contact the bride and offer your services. Send a promotional package by mail or try reaching her by telephone. Also, offer to take photographs at the bride's home prior to the wedding. You can get lovely candid shots of attendants helping the bride with her veil, flower girls primping in front of the mirror, etc. This is not a service that a studio photographer offers. Be sure to incorporate this as one of your unique selling points. You might also offer your services for photographing related wedding events, such as bridal showers, the bachelor party, the rehearsal dinner or the gift opening event the morning after. Other marketing suggestions include contacting florists, limousine rental services, wedding chapels, tuxedo rental services, boutiques selling wedding wear, bakeries specializing in wedding cakes, and so on. Ask about leaving your pamphlets or brochures where customers can see them, or make an arrangement for a referral fee. Offering to photograph other events that go with the wedding such as the bachelor party or the bridal showers can offer value to the customer. Essentially you want to look at your competition and see how you can offer more value to them. If you are starting out you may not have the experience, but instead you will offer your time and effort to make sure what you produce satisfies the happy couple. As you gain more business, you should look into marketing strategies. Although word of mouth is the best recommendation, try to spread the word about your business by contacting tuxedo rental services or wedding boutiques and asking if you can leave your pamphlets there. You can even look into arranging a referral fee to motivate your associates to send you more business. A wedding photographer should always be looking for ways to offer more value to his or her customers. One neat idea is to find a scrap artist and form a business relationship so that you can offer clients a wedding scrapbook for their memories. This can leave a great impression. One last thing- make the bride happy, and your job will be much easier. About the Author: Thinking about digital photography, ever want to start Learning Digital Photography? Get Great Tips on how to shoot Digital Photo's with This Free Report |