Whether you are a beginner or a professional photographer, if you want to sell your work you will need to understand and use photo marketing. Photo marketing is all about increasing your exposure as a photographer and selling your work too. There are five basic elements that will help to make up your successful photo marketing plan.



The first of these five elements is to ensure that you define your photography market. What this essentially means is that you should find the best words to define your individual style and the identity you want to assume. You should then use these words as your main photo marketing plan guideline. If you specialise in wedding photography then you need to focus on the weddings and the type of people associated with them. If you specialise in photographing children and families, then you need to focus on attracting such clientele.

The second element that you need to focus on will be creating a portfolio that will reflect your skills and your own unique style. Your portfolio will be what will sell you as a professional and you should take a great deal of time and care when creating this.

Once you have completed your portfolio you can use what is known as push marketing to get yourself known. This can involve sending your portfolio to clients, buyers, editors, art directors, and even agencies. You can also send flyers and advertisements to your target clients. You can use your portfolio to start exhibiting at galleries, cafes/restaurants, entering competitions, and more. You can also use your portfolio to begin work with an agency that will actually do your photo marketing for you.

You can also use your portfolio to use what is known as pull marketing. This is a broader approach and for this type of photo marketing you will generally use mass-media outlets. These can be print advertising, TV and radio, the internet, and newspapers. For this type of photo marketing what you will be doing is pulling in potential clients by using a promotional method. It could be a discount, a free sitting, or anything that will appeal to your target market. The objects of using pull marketing for your photo marketing campaign is to reach thousands of potential clients in one go.

The third element involves some research on your part but for your photo marketing plan to work it is essential. What you need to do, is identify who the decision makers are in your market area. These people are out there and they are the ones who are buying photos. You need to find them and then grab their attention. You can do this by using your portfolio, your website, and advertising campaigns.

The forth element of photo marketing involves understanding your own unique value as a photographer. You need to be able to present yourself as a professional and in a professional manner. This will earn you a great deal of respect and people will also start to believe in the value of your work.

The fifth element will be creating the perfect photo marketing plan. This should help you to attract the opportunities that you desire. These opportunities will not come along on your own and your need to plan for them. In order to be a successful photographer you need to start with your photo marketing plan.

There is what you could call a sixth element that should be a part of every photo marketing plan and that is the use of the Internet. The Internet is the newest medium when it comes to photo marketing but it can by far surpass the radio and TV when it comes to attracting potential clients. You can also use the Internet to target specific individuals and even more so, the Internet can actually prove to be the least expensive way to carry out photo marketing.

The downside to the Internet though is that websites are everywhere and it is up to you to make your website stand out from the rest. This is done through site ranking and getting this right can be difficult. Most photographers get this part of their photo marketing wrong. They either don't show enough of their work on their website or they show too much. Despite having its challenges however, the Internet still should be a vital factor in your photo marketing. If you don't use it you will miss a lot of opportunities.

Once you know about and understand all the basic elements that make up photo marketing you will then be able to focus on your photo marketing message and your photo marketing image. It may sound like a lot of hard work but photo marketing really is essential if you want to succeed.