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10 Free Marketing Tactics for Photographers – Part 5: Network with Other Photographers

 

Happy Thursday, photographers! If you’re want to start book paid portrait sessions and wedding days, but don’t know how to book paid jobs without spending money first, then this blog series is for you! Welcome back to our “Free Marketing Tactics for Photographers” blog series. Today, we’re going to discuss how photographers networking with other photographers makes for a richer, more rewarding (and lucrative) photography world for everyone.

 

Last week, we continued our series by talking about how your past clients can be great sources of your future jobs. But this week, we’re diving right into the world of social media presences, and how new photography business can use them.

 

 

Start Here: Shift Your Mindset

So, right at the start of this blog, we I want to make a statement that may require a bit of a paradigm shift, especially newer photographers. And here it is: Other photographers are NOT your enemies. In fact, other photographers can actually be some of your closest friends and you greatest source of bookings. But only if you know who you’re looking for, and how to connect with them!

 

Now, we know that it can be difficult to adopt this mindset. We remember back in the very early days of our career, when we’d be going out to dinner on a Saturday night and see a wedding happening. When we’d see that other photographer, we’d get this pang of jealousy. “Man… what do they have that we don’t? Why are they working right now, and we’re not?” Of course, this was a totally ridiculous thing to think. There are probably 100 weddings every weekend here in just our mid-sized town of Charlottesville, VA. We obviously can’t shoot thousands of weddings a year, so why should we be upset at the success of others?

 

It took us a while to realize that we don’t have to look at wedding photography as a zero-sum game, where every time someone wins, someone else has to lose. Sure, each wedding can only have a single photographer, but the most recent statistics we’ve seen showed us that there are going to be 2.5 million weddings in the US this year, and there are something like 100,000 wedding photographers. That means that every wedding photographer in the country could average about 25 weddings per year without anyone going home empty-handed. And you better believe that for every photographer who wants to grind out 40 weddings per year, there’s another photographer who’s equally content to capture 10. In other words, there’s enough business for everyone.

 

And when photographers start to see each other as members of a community rather than just competition, everyone is better off for it! So let’s dive into the three kinds of photographers who you should be reaching out to in order to build your network, and start getting more leads!

 

 

Network with Photographers Further Along Than You (To Learn)

The first group of photographers who you should begin networking with are those who are further along in their journey than you are. Think of these photographers as potential mentors — others who have achieved success that you’re working towards. There are a few reasons that connecting with these kinds of photographers can be huge for your business. For starters, you can learn from them! Early in our career, we Apprenticed under Eric Kelley, a world-renowned luxury wedding photographer, who was named one of the best wedding photographers in the world by Harper’s Bazaar. He also happened to live in our neighborhood, and a mutual friend offered to connect us.

 

During those two years working in his studio every week and assisting him on wedding days (all for free, by the way), we learned SO much about the luxury wedding world, about how he manages high-volume post-production, and even about how he runs a photographer business while also being a spouse and a parent. That time was invaluable for us, and even inspired us to start our own Apprentice Program here in Charlottesville.

 

The thing is, you don’t know what you don’t know, and the best way to fast-track your own success is to learn from others who are ahead of you, rather than doing all the trial-and-error yourself. Plus, if you are able to assist photographers who charge more than you do — whether it’s on wedding days or on portrait sessions — you’re likely going to be able to build your portfolio with higher-end content than what you’re currently shooting for your own jobs, which can take your portfolio to the next level.

 

And this strategy isn’t exclusive for wedding photographers. If you want to be a family photographer, learning how the best family photographer in your market manages her or his sessions can be an incredible learning experience, even if it means carrying bags for a few evenings for free.

 

 

Network with Photographers Further Along Than You (To Market)

But… back to the original purpose of this video series… marketing tactics! The reason networking with high-end photographers isn’t just a learning opportunity, but is also a marketing tactic, is because no matter how much a photographer charges, they’re going to get inquiries from potential clients whose budget is WAY below what they charge. Our wedding photography coverage currently begins around $8,000, and despite the fact that our pricing is openly listed on our website, we get inquiries from couples with budgets of $2,000 or less every single week. There’s nothing wrong with that, but we just aren’t the photographers for them.

 

And when that happens, we’ll of course politely let them know that we’re unfortunately outside of their budget, but then we can either say goodbye… OR we can recommend another photographer who IS in their price range. And obviously we can’t do that if we don’t know any!

 

We can recall this period in our business for maybe 9 months or a year where we were in the $4,000-5,000 range for wedding coverage, and we were getting $3,000 inquiries every single week. But at the time, we didn’t know a single photographer in our market at that price range, so we had no one to recommend to those couples! If a $3,000 wedding photographer had just reached out to us during that season and introduced themselves, we might have sent them 20 or 30 or even 40 qualified wedding leads during that season. And you never know what higher-end portrait or wedding photographers in your market have that same issue!

 

 

Network with Photographers At Your Level

While networking with photographers ahead of you can be helpful for all of those reasons, networking with photographers at your level can be just as helpful, but for an entirely different purpose. Here’s something to keep in mind when it comes to weddings: each photographer can only photograph one wedding per day! Once we’re booked for a date, every single lead we get for that same date is another unique and wonderful engaged couple that we’ve worked really hard to attract and bring into our inbox… but who we can’t serve on their wedding day.

 

Again, we’ll politely let them know that we’re already booked, and then we can either say goodbye… or send them along to another photographer with a similar photographic style and budget! When you look at it this way, finding other local photographers in your same price range, and agreeing to share leads with each other when you’re already booked is a free and easy way to share leads.

 

And if you’re a portrait photographers, this same principle works, but instead, you’re looking for photographers in your price range who have specialized in certain kinds of sessions. For example, you’d want to reach out to a photographer who only does newborn photography, and see if they’d be willing to send you leads when someone inquires with them for a family session or a senior session, since they don’t do those kinds of photography.

 

These peer photographers also make great second shooters, or potential last-minute emergency replacements should you get sick or injured just before a wedding day. Finding photographers at your level is also a way to become more active in your local network, make new friends, and build your community! But more on that at the end of this video.

 

 

Network with Photographers A Few Steps Behind You

The last kind of photographers that it might be worth networking with are newer photographers who aren’t as far along yet as you are. While these less expensive photographers probably won’t be sending you any leads, it doesn’t cost you anything to send them the leads you get when you’re over-budget for someone who inquires with you. And doing that will just build goodwill among the community! These newer photographers can also be your network of potential second-shooters or assistants for your wedding days and portrait sessions.

 

 

Community is Crucial

Now, let’s circle back to something we mentioned a little earlier in this video: community. Being a wedding photographer and running a “business-of-one” can be challenging for a whole lot of reasons. But one of them is the lack of community. And that goes double if you’re fresh out of school or a workplace where you’re used to interacting with people every day, and quadruple if you live alone, without a partner, family, or roommates.

 

While Sarah and I are lucky enough to work with each other every single day, both on wedding days and running our business every day from our home office, we know from our apprentices and students that over time, being a “solo-preneur” can be a serious challenge to your mental and emotional health. And since we work jobs that are focused on nights and weekends, it can make friendships with people who work 9-5 really challenging as well. That’s why it can be SO helpful to actually have other friends who are also photographers! If you’re a full-time photographer not working a second job or taking care of children full-time, in all likelihood you’re most flexible during the day when your clients are also at work, and most busy on nights and weekends. It can be really helpful to have friends in the same boat!

 

And no matter what your schedules look like, just having friends who understand your industry, know what it’s like to be a photographer, and who you can share stories and commiserate with goes a long way.
And while you can obviously establish a great community with photographers of any kind and at any level, we’ve found that the deepest friendships come from peer-level photographers, since neither party is worried about impressing the other in the same way you might if that other photographer could change your career by helping you. The equality of the power dynamic makes friendship more natural.

 

 

How to Find the Right Photographers

So, all that’s left to do is to do some research, build a list of local photographers with a similar style to you, find out their price range, and reach out to them! We recommend using social media, as well as referral services like theKnot to get an idea of who the names are in your local market, at any level. But this WILL take some research, and making a long list that you narrow down will help. If you want a strong relationship with 1-2 mentors, peers, and subordinates, you should expect to reach out to anywhere from 20 to 50 photographers before you find the right ones who you connect with on a personal level, and whose business is in the right place where you two can help each other out. And of course, if your local community has a wedding industry network group, join it right away.

 

And while these other photographers don’t have to even have the EXACT same photographic style as you, peer and subordinate photographers should be fairly similar to you, since you’ll be sharing leads back and forth. And when it comes to potential mentors, regardless of their style, they should have something that you’re working towards. If you want to be a luxury wedding photographer one day, don’t spend all your efforts networking with a high-end newborn photographers, but pursue mentors who can show you the ropes in your desired field, and help you achieve success one day.

 

And if we could give one piece of advice on this front, it’s this: don’t be afraid to ask. It certainly doesn’t hurt, and the worst they can say is no. But the best they can say is yes, and just one relationship like this could change your business forever.

 

 

Well, that’s it for this week! We’ll be back next week with more, but in the meantime, get out and network!

 

Want More?

 

Click HERE to get your free copy of our eBook: “5 Essential Tips for Turning your Side-Hustle into a Full-Time Photography Business.” You’ll also be subscribed to our newsletter, so our newest content, weekly encouragement, and exclusive offers will be delivered right to your inbox!

 

 

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Check out the other segments in this blog series!

• Part 1: Maintain a Strong Portfolio
• Part 2: Join Local Facebook Groups
• Part 3: Referrals from Past Clients
• Part 4: Begin Your Social Media Presence
• Part 5: Network with Other Photographers
• Part 6: Networking with Venues and Vendors
• Part 7: Win Over Your Personal Network
• Part 8: Our Secret Direct Outreach Method
• Part 9: Four Reasons to Start a Photography Blog
• Part 10: Get More 5-Star Review from Past Clients