Here is my favourite tip on how to promote yourself with groups.

Tell Everyone!

It may sound obvious, but do you do it?

The first thing I want you to do is to start talking to people, yes, start talking to people. Each day starting from tomorrow I want you to start to tell everyone you speak with what you are intending to do, and ask him or her to refer potential customers to you.

Don’t wait on people coming to you.

All businesses stand or fall based on the quality and quantity of their marketing. Once you get established people will start to come to you, you will however have to earn this. There is no better approach especially in your early days of business than the personal approach.

You can always find a way to drop your new activity into the conversation. Ask people if they are aware of any groups who could be photographed, ask them for contact names and numbers.

Go out of your way to go speak to people.

This is the phase of your business where you are setting out to create a network of relationships, which will be the foundation of your business for many years to follow.

Search out lists of groups from local Community Education Centres or from local libraries, there are notice boards full of groups in these places. Take notes of names and numbers and start to compile a list of people to contact.

First Steps

Make contact with the person in charge of the group, or better still the person who organises the events. When speaking with them you should offer them a personal benefit too. It may be a free print or a good discount on his or her reprint order.

You should endeavour not to cold call but to be in a position to say to the person you are approaching “John / Margaret or ?? gave me your name and suggested I speak with you”.

Be Up Front

When you call be completely honest and say that you are starting out in business as a photographer and that you are willing to come to where the group meets or to one of their special events and take some photographs at no cost to the group. Yes, no cost for you to be there to take some shots. This will get you the ‘foot in the door’ that you need.

You can then say that you will donate one photograph to the group as a whole and that individuals can purchase a shot for cost price plus expenses as a trial.

Remember you are investing in the future; you are sowing seeds for future profitable relationships. You will take countless bookings for other events as a result of photographing groups. It gives you the opportunity of marketing your other services to the group.

You need only do this two or three times to get the experience and confidence you need to get some momentum going and start to charge the going rate for your services.