Standing Out in 2017: Photography Marketing Tips & Trends from Zenfolio
2017 is just around the corner, and with a new year comes a fresh start for your photography marketing. We spoke with Arnaud Collin, General Manager of Zenfolio, an all-in-one solution for professional photographers to run their businesses, for his take on the photography trends of the coming year and tips on how to use them to market your own photography business.
Make your photography website stand out
What makes a professional photographer’s website more likely to stand out? Arnaud says, “When a client goes online to find a photographer, that photographer’s website has to make a strong first impression if they want to book the job.” He offers up three components that are critical to standing out:
- A modern, visually clean look. The client should be able to get a good idea of the look and style of your work in about 20 seconds. The images in your portfolio should be curated to be beautiful and showcase your specialty, whether it’s wedding photography, family portraiture, commercial photography, or something else.
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Easy navigation. Clients will spend only minutes researching on a site, and if they can’t easily find what they’re looking for, they won’t be sticking around. Make sure that the important details are easily discoverable and clearly marked in the navigation bar. Some key items include: Galleries, Pricing lists, and About pages.
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A personal touch. As mentioned above, a good ‘About’ page can make a big difference. In addition to showcasing photos that illustrate your style, including a personal photo (or video!) and a thoughtful, conversational biography, can give potential clients the feeling of connection that will ultimately make them decide to give you their business.
Arnaud adds that, “A great website for the business-oriented photographer comes down to two things: Design and simplicity. While it might seem obvious that a photography website should be well-designed, having a ‘simple’ website really means elegant solutions that allow clients to move through every interaction seamlessly.”
Here’s a step by step checklist of this flow:
- Before booking, potential clients can access the portfolio, pricing, and information about the photographer.
- Once they’ve decided to book, it’s easy for clients to communicate with the photographer online for consultation and scheduling.
- After the shoot, clients can proof and make their purchases through a single portal.
- After the transaction has ended, the photographer can continue to inform the client of new offers and opportunities.
For the non-web-savvy photographer, Zenfolio’s site templates, integrated storefront, and marketing tools fulfill all of these needs, focusing on the client’s ease of use as well as the photographer’s ultimate business success.
Staying ahead in 2017
Zenfolio offers a variety of services currently (and in the works) that’ll help photographers stay ahead in 2017. This includes a suite of marketing tools that makes reaching clients easy with built-in SEO tools, social media sharing, and automated email marketing. The platform also offers the ability to create coupons and gift certificates, which gives photographers flexibility in their pricing and control over their promotions, as well as tools that capture visitor information for retargeting.
What’s on the horizon? Arnaud tells us, “One new feature that we’re very excited about is the ‘Zenfolio-Run Client Campaigns.’ This program allows photographers to opt in to marketing email and sales campaigns that Zenfolio executes, so the photographer can focus on shooting and leave the selling to us. We’re also working on developing partnerships with many industry-leading brands in the photography space to bring our users exclusive access to great offers for products and services that will help them be successful in their businesses.”
If you’re looking to up your marketing game in 2017, these checklists from Zenfolio are a great starting point. For more information, head over to Zenfolio.com, and feel free to share links to your website and/or marketing videos in the comments below. We’re always excited to see what photographers are doing to market their businesses.