Photographers are usually freelancers, which means that there’s always the need to keep marketing your services to keep getting gigs and working. Hey, that’s the reality of life as a freelancer: without a boss always telling you what to do… you have to put up with constantly putting yourself out there to new, prospective clients.

Some photographers groan at this task, but it’s a necessary evil in the freelance world. As with everything in life, though, when you accept something and find ways of becoming really good at it, it ceases to be a headache or a chore… and becomes refreshingly enjoyable.

That’s what we want to accomplish for you today with this article: tell you about how you can use simple and effective strategies to get new photography clients. You’ll always need more clients, and you’ll always be marketing yourself, so you may as well excel at it.

Here’s what you do.

Freely Tell People About What You Do

What some photographers do is fail to make the most of each opportunity to market themselves, even if it is just a soft sell of their services. No opportunity should be wasted. The trick lies in being able to recognize marketing opportunities, even if they don’t readily seem like tailor-made situations for putting yourself out there.

The first thing you want to change is the freedom (or lack thereof) with which you tell people about your job as a photographer. When you’re out and about in your local community, think of it as your target area for picking up new clients. You can be at a festival, community event, grocery store, market, function or even your kid’s school play or parent-teacher night.

Whatever the occasion may be, you should strike up a conversation or steer the conversation to talk about what you do.

Continue to Improve Your Networking Skills

Networking is an old art form that people don’t quite understand these days anymore. Some tend to confuse it with merely telling people about what they do on the job, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Networking is intentionally developing business contacts and interacting with those in your industry to advance your photography career.

As an example, this could include interacting with fellow photographers. This is naturally a lot more involved and intensive than just putting yourself out there to people.

Just so you know, networking in the photography business need not be limited to just other photographers because many other professionals contribute to the photography business. These include:

• Newspaper/magazine editors
• Models
• Makeup/hair stylists
• Designers
• Wardrobe stylists

Don’t limit your networking horizons to just other photographers! The more you network with those in your industry, the more leads you’ll get. Of course, be prepared to reciprocate by also referring people you know and your own clients to others in your industry.

Continually Generate an Impressive Portfolio

If there’s one aspect of photography advertising that has the power to really catch the attention of prospective clients, it would be your portfolio. That’s why it’s a best practice to always attend to it to continue to build it up. The more impressive your portfolio looks—and it’ll get there over time with more jobs you take and with more experience you amass – the easier it will be to snag new photography clients.

Don’t get complacent and assume that only rookies can benefit from building up a portfolio. Seasoned pros also benefit from continually adding better shots and references to a portfolio. Consider your photography portfolio as a “living portfolio”, in that it should never stay static. It has to be dynamic due to your constant commitment to keep adding to it and building it up.

Taking this approach with your portfolio ensures that people will always be talking about you.

Here’s a hint: Whenever you’re in a new location, that’s a phenomenal opportunity to build up your portfolio because you can take shots of stuff you’ve never photographed before.

Harness the Power of Blogging

The irony is that mainly those working in marketing, B2B and ecommerce value the power of blogging, yet as a photographer, it can be argued that you’re also working in marketing. So it makes perfect sense to regularly blog about what you do, too. Many businesses realize that blogging is not just a great way to attract new leads, but also to help slowly climb up the search engine results pages for your particular keyword (potentially “your city” photographer).

Any way you slice and dice it, blogging equals more visibility for your brand as a photographer. So that begs the question: What do you blog about?

Blog about what you know, which is what you specialize in as a photographer. Is it portraits, weddings, food photography? It’s also a good idea to blog about the business side of photography, like, appropriately enough, how to get clients and how to deal with the administrative issues of running a photography business in the first place.

Nurture Your Professional Relationships

Once you have put in all the smart and hard work of networking and the like, you should aim to keep the many contacts you’ve hopefully made. When you nurture your professional relationships, you get more business through more referrals and leads sent your way. The more you maintain strong ties with those in your industry and even past clients, the more you’ll be on their minds whenever opportunities for a photographer present themselves.

Past clients especially can be a wonderful boon to your business. After all, they’re in an enviable place to provide you with killer testimonials that sing your praises as the highly consummate photographer that you are. Gather the courage to approach some of those past clients with whom you’ve formed the strongest ties for a testimonial!

Snagging New Clients as a Way of Professional Life

To become an expert at snagging new clients, here’s a hot tip: Don’t ever look at it as a necessary evil or a chore.

Instead, slowly but surely transition to the realization that marketing yourself to find new clients is always going to be a healthy part of your professional photography life. It’s the only way, after all, that you can stay in business doing what you have a passion for. Thus, you may as well come around to finding it enjoyable.

Adopt these tried, tested and true tips for your photography business, and watch your leads grow. You won’t just enjoy more business, but you’ll also learn a lot about the industry while challenging yourself.