Jared Bauman, the founder of shootdotedit gave an informative talk at WPPI in Vegas on Marketing for the 2015 photographer. I wanted to take a deeper dive into this subject and discuss what I took away from the talk. Two elements that make the current marketplace challenging, according to Jared, are 1) low cost of entry for new photographers and 2) social media (if you don't use it or use it incorrectly). Social media, especially for today’s small business owner, is key. It can work wonders if you use it well and it can also be overwhelming to keep up with if you don’t have a system in place.

The talk on content marketing underlined the importance of first knowing your target audience (i.e., your potential client). Once you know your audience well, including their demographic profile, and why they'd be in need of your services, do the following:

Develop a marketing and business process
Develop content that’s relevant and valuable to your client and provide this information in a consistent and timely manner.
Attract and acquire. He referenced a book called Launch by Jeff Walker for more information. I'm anxious to read the book to learn more.
Create a persona which is basically the process of defining your target client(s) so much so that you actually give them a name and use that in how you market to them. This can be a very powerful technique.
Determine drivers for profitable customer action. The example he gave was in the wedding space and how there are various phases of the wedding process (being engaged, then married, moving to a house, kids, etc.). All of these phases have potential marketing and relationship opportunities and they map to different phases of your relationship with them (e.g., when they're engaged it would generally map to them being a potential client, etc.). Making the most of each of these opportunities are critical to success. One that's often overlooked is after the event occurs. Following up and nurturing that relationship can turn them into your champions and spawn new business.

Other aspects of the discussion was around blogging, email marketing, Facebook advertising, and tools for automating the whole process. The tools are a big interest to me. I’m hyper focused on figuring out tools and processes that will make the process of marketing, advertising, and content delivery easy for me. Well, maybe easier.

I didn't cover all of what Jared spoke about but I appreciate that this session had actionable items and usable information. Its frustrating when you sit through a session and at the end are left wondering, "now what?"

http://plus.google.com/+DarrinEstepPhotography/
https://www.facebook.com/DarrinEstepPhotography
https://twitter.com/destep001