[by Gail Mooney]
These days you can add to your marketing efforts without breaking the bank by taking advantage of social media and electronic delivery to do a little PR for your photography business. Think about jobs you recently shot, that you are pleased with or personal projects that you are doing and talk about it everywhere you can think of – blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, magazines, newspapers – even radio or television. Not only are you sharing insights about your work, you are providing more information about yourself – who you are and what you are interested in.
I am in the midst of a large personal project, traveling around the world with my daughter, shooting a documentary on people making a positive change in the world, www.openingoureyes.net. We have been podcasting and blogging about our journey and the making of our film on two blogs, one for the project and the other, my professional blog. We’ve also been sending out frequent tweets and Facebook updates. Our project has been written about in trade magazines, local newspapers and in Erin’s Northwestern University Alumni Magazine. Essentially, what we are doing is building an audience for our film before it’s even finished and in the process creating some great PR for my business.
So think about things you are working on and create some good PR for your business:
Announce any news, upcoming travel plans or exhibition openings and post on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and in online newsletters.
Use printed and electronic collateral from exhibitions or books as PR or marketing pieces.
Write a blog – have a focus – be consistent and regular. Cross link your blog with other similar blogs and build a network.
Be a guest blogger on blogs your clients read.
Find your niche and present that on forums and listservs.
Don’t forget about traditional media – newspaper, magazines, trade association bulletins, radio and TV – If you have an interesting story to tell – tell it everywhere you can.
None of these things is costly to do but will take a bit of sweat equity. Either you can take it on or collaborative with others to do so. The beauty of the times we live in is that through social media we can take it into our own hands to get our stories out there. We aren’t dependent on large publishing houses or other distribution entities anymore.
So follow your passions and create what you need to create. Then send it out to the universe and you’ll be marketing at the same time – but from a better place.