Direct marketing is the ONLY kind of marketing that makes ANY sense for a photographer. The yellow pages is NOT direct marketing. Running an ad in the newspaper CAN be considered direct marketing if it’s done right. Whatever kind of marketing program you undertake the results MUST be something you can measure. You need to know . . . CLICK BELOW TO READ THE REST your ROI – return on investment.
I am including two special reports in this post – you’re free to download both of them. Here’s what I have done.
The reports are titled “How to avoid the seven huge mistakes 9 out of 10 parents make when choosing their child’s senior portrait photographer.” (caps where appropriate but not here) And the other titled the same except directed at the seniors themselves.
The reports are in essence the same. In the parents version I state the mistake and then tell them how and why it is that we don’t commit that mistake. I dwell on our experience and the fact that we’ve been here for 15 years. I do a little more “selling” of myself.
In the senior version I changed the wording and was very careful to not “tell them they HAD to do anything”. I made suggestions and phrased more things as questions.
Much like you clicked on a Facebook ad to find The Portrait Expert, I run FB ads in my local area targeting seniors and parents. The parent ads are targeting men and women within 50 miles of Rochester in an age range of 35 to 50. Obviously all of them will not have high school seniors but many will – or possibly sophomores or juniors. When the parent clicks on that ad it takes them to a landing page very similar to the one you saw – sans a video. They fill in their name and email and receive a followup email with link to the free report, our senior catalog and our senior price and product book.
Seniors are targeted with similar ads. Targeting men and women within 50 miles of Rochester in an age range of 16 to 18. They are sent to a different landing page and receive a different followup email that gives them links to the report that is directed to them.
I have a total of 19 ads targeting seniors. The pictures on the ads were selected from only those seniors that are our FB “friends”. I selected two boys and two girls from each school in our area. Half of the ads send them to the above described landing page and the other half sends them to our FB fan page where they can also link to that FREE report.
After they have signed up for and received the followup email directing them to the free report they will receive another followup email. This one will thank them for visiting our site and let them know we’d like to send them a FREE wallet photo collectors album. These wallet albums are the creme-de-la-creme of wallet albums and we searched long and hard for them. They aren’t junk that fall apart like so many other ones that you find.
They have really “raised their hand” now and told us their interested in our studio – and given us their full name and address so we can mail them the wallet album. Now they’ll receive a “shock and awe” package. A complete senior package with our full color catalog, our price catalog and a long list of testimonials. Plus they will continue to receive direct mail pieces from us throughout the summer – more than the average person receives who has not responded.
Do you have a website? I can recommend a place that’ll build you a nice one for $500. (I have not used them myself but they come highly recommended and they will soon be rebuilding my main site) If you already have a site they can do a landing page for you for $197.
You can use my reports for FREE! How’s that for being a giver?!?!? “But wait,” you say, “Dave I haven’t been around for long, I can’t say the things you say about yourself.”
Honesty is imperative – you can’t build a successful business any other way. So you take apart what I said and you change the reasons to fit your skills and experience. i.e. I go on for a bit about experience and how important it is. If you’re new you change this to expand on that fact that you’re new and fresh and exciting. Your young and have cool hip ideas – your not an old stick in the mud 52 year old crank!
The mistakes I list in the free reports are what I believe to be important with respect to choosing a senior portrait photographer – they don’t necessarily have to be what you believe to be important.
YOU can do this! YOU can start photographing high school seniors NOW. And I’m here to help – just ask.
Have a great day!!! 62 degrees here in Rochester – beautifully sunny day – and I’m sittin’ in the basement typing to you guys!!!;-)