Lisa Hoang of Honolulu, Hawaii writes:
“I am a professional child and family photographer. I own a boutique, on location portrait studio that caters to high-end clientele. I want my business to be talked about among the elite, with my clients beginning a relationship with me from the time their babies or born, or just before with maternity portraits.
“Being an ordinary Jane myself, what are some classy ways I can become more established in this niche? My websites are Windward Skies and Tiny Moments Photgraphy.”
Check out all the great ideas my Hounds had for a studio photographer in Laurel, Montana: http://tinyurl.com/3z3mh6
Two words: social proof.
It’s the phenomenon that occurs when people look to others, often subconsciously, to determine how to act in a certain situation.
You can use social proof to convince potential customers that you’re high-end. How? Get testimonials from other high-end customers, and display them prominently on your web site. If you have a blog or an e-mail newsletter, you can also subtly ‘name-drop’ important customers by displaying the work you’ve done for them or describing a problem that you’ve solved for them.
Potential customers will see that you’ve got a roster of high-end clientele, and soon they’ll be clamoring to join the list.
Since you are in a destination location, you could cater to the affluent tourists and offer a “vacation package” to capture their memories. Partner with premier resorts and upscale boutique shops to promote your services.
I would call the ritziest country club or yacht club or other upscale social gathering point and offer to photograph the childen’s Halloween, Christmas, whatever party for free in exchange for being allowed to have a little display booth with examples of your photography, business cards etc.
You can present the photos to the club to use at their Web site, newsletter, etc and show off your skills to a target market.
Consider donating your services to a silent auction for a Junior League or other social benefit. Often times, you can submit marketing materials and examples of photos. The promotion at the event would be great, and you could get excellent word-of-mouth exposure from the person that “wins” your services.
Hi Lisa – I’m not a photographer, my field is jewelry making, but I live on Oahu, too, and know it can be very difficult to find the right clients. I think most successful families On Oahu are very busy families and personal service that saves them time is a plus. When they want a photographic record of a special event, they probably want to send out cards or announcements, too. Perhaps you could “partner” in some way with businesses that offer these services – at the very least, you could help promote each other. I also think most successful families here have their children enrolled in private schools, so I think it would be a great benefit to you if you could figure out some way to get linked into these schools. Perhaps you already do this, but keeping a client mailing list with important family dates so that you can send out promotional material close to those dates, or even booking next year’s birthday photo session now would keep them coming back. And lastly, our diverse community here has many interesting holidays, such as the Japanese Boys’ Day or Girls’ Day, these could also be new opportunities to drum up business. I love your websites, by the way, and send many good wishes to you for success!
Hi Lisa,
I live in South Africa and a local photographer came up with a great idea. It’s this: start an album that draws the client back constantly. For example, do the wedding pics, and add on a good price for their anniversaries, the preganancy, right up until first baby (and beyond) The baby album idea was to actually give the client a stunning baby album and bring them back each month so they capture the year’s progress in great pics. You can extend this to school first days etc. The ‘hook’ to draw them back will be a growing record of their family, beautifully photographed. You can also offer to do separate copies for proud mums, dads and grandparents.
Good luck!
Fiona
An extension of some of the other responses is often referred to as fusion marketing. Connect with businesses in your area that cater to the same clientele and collaborate on a marketing project or two.
“Push presents” are popular among husbands to want to give their wives something special for going through childbirth, so a high-end jeweler might enjoy the opportunity to market with you. He/she can promote beautiful items that a new mother might enjoy, and your part of the deal comes in the form of providing the baby’s or family’s first photo.
You may want to extend this type of relationship with businesses that provide five-star vacation services, wedding destinations and others.
One of the photographers in our town took pictures of a prominent doctor’s family and gave them a huge picture to hang in their waiting room along with business cards (again, their picture on it offering a 10% friends discount for being referred by them. You can also print, frame and display your pictures in local pediatrician’s offices and perhaps in high end children’s clothing boutiques. Since election time is coming up, maybe you could offer to take a local mayorial or governor’s family picture…or even their kids. Friends in high places! Good luck! Love your website!