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As a business owner, marketing is a key component of your strategy to attract ideal clients and book more weddings. With so many options to use, how do you know which is best for your business?

In our Online Training: 7 Easy Marketing Ideas Which Are Right Under Your Nose, with The Scobeys, they covered some of their top marketing ideas. They shared valuable marketing tips to help you cater to your ideal clients, and to help you make the entire experience a positive one. To help you get started with your marketing efforts, here are the top 5 tips from their Online Training.

Image Compliments of The Scobeys

1. Utilize Social Media

For your business, social media is a top way to market to your ideal clients and share about your brand. And, although there are ways to pay for social media strategies, you can market on the platforms for free and still expand your reach. Both Facebook and Instagram are platforms that are perfect to share your images and content with ideal clients. A few tips The Scobeys have for using these platforms are:

• Encourage tagging from clients. Because you may not be friends with every client on Facebook, your ability to tag them is limited. Ashley and Graham send their clients an email to let them know they can access their blog post and images through Facebook. In the email, they also ask if their clients can add a tag, so their family and friends can see it (which increases your reach).
• Be intentional with hashtags. To reach the clients you desire on Instagram, be intentional with your hashtag strategy. Be specific to who your ideal clients are and what they search for on Instagram. Stack hashtags to avoid a cluttered look on your posts by posting 4 periods in a row and then you can use up to 30 hashtags.
• Tag vendors. On both Facebook and Instagram, tag every vendor that was a part of the wedding day. This action strengthens the relationship you have with them because you recognize their work. When you tag your vendors, you also place your images in front of their audience, which expands your reach to ideal clients.

Related: Do you have a unique Facebook cover design to share your brand message?

2. Create a Blogging Schedule

Blogging for your wedding photography business is a top way to market to and attract ideal clients. Just like you should share consistent images after they are color corrected by a wedding photo editing company, your blog must also be consistent to be effective in your marketing plan. When you post regularly, you keep your blog readers coming back for more, and your posts are more likely to get noticed by search engines. Build a blog calendar for the posts, months in advance so you can easily have a consistent schedule in place.

Related: Discover 5 Keys to Growing your Business through Blogging here

3. Design a Mobile-Friendly Website

Now, more than ever, it is crucial to have a mobile-friendly website. Think about how you consume media, and use that as a guide for your website design. As a busy photographer, you are constantly on the go. Your ideal clients are likely just as busy and may use their phone or tablet to look at your website and blog. If they visit your website and have a bad experience, they may quickly leave the page and move on to another site that is mobile-friendly.

“In the last 30 days, 40% of our web traffic was from mobile.” – The Scobeys

Since you are busy, and website design takes time, use options like Showit 5 to help you design both your desktop and mobile site. When your client has a positive experience on your website, you will be top of mind for them.

4. Strengthen Vendor Relationships

As a part of your marketing strategy, ensure you strengthen your relationships with vendors. Start with sharing images with them after the wedding day. Although it takes time, sharing images sets you apart and vendors appreciate the gesture. Keep a turnaround time similar to the one you use for your clients, so vendors are just as excited to receive the images.

Another way to strengthen vendor relationships (and build referral sources) is to be creative in the way you approach them. Because vendors are often contacted by photographers, make the effort to do something that sets you apart. Find out who the vendors are you want to build a relationship with, bake cookies, and visit them in-person. You can also take them to coffee and find out what you can do for them, rather than what they can do for you.

5. Create Referral Networks

To expand your reach, create referral networks with photographers who are like-minded and work with similar clients. This allows you to share clients with them when you are booked, and vice versa. Create these groups on your own, and be intentional in the photographers you reach out to. You can use Facebook groups, where the group can connect and you can share weddings you think will be perfect for your peers. As a result, those photographers will do the same for you. Referral networks allow you to gain more referrals for your business, but also to build genuine connections with photographers in the industry.

Marketing is a great way to place your photography business in front of ideal clients to encourage bookings. How else can you increase the bookings for your business? Download our Guide to Marketing to discover insights from top wedding photographers on techniques that work best!