12 Ways To Promote Your Aerial Photography Business To New Clients
Running an aerial photography business is more than just shooting photos and uploading them to your portfolio. It’s about telling a story through your photographs. Most importantly, it’s about getting your work noticed by potential new clients. This means you need to develop consistent strategies to promote your aerial photography business.
In this blog, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of digital and traditional marketing tools to help your brand grow and gain exposure with new clients.
We’ve also included some tips on getting started for each idea.
1. Post Impressive Pictures On Social Media
The use of social media is crucial for businesses to grow and gain new clients. More than 90% of small businesses in the United States use social media to promote their products or services. It’s no wonder that nearly every business owner has at least one Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel, or Instagram account.
One type of business that can benefit from using social media is aerial photography companies. If you own an aerial photography business, you know how hard it can be to find new clients and keep them happy with your work. To help promote your aerial photography business to new clients, regularly post impressive aerial photos to social media.
Post impressive aerial photos on Instagram. People love seeing beautiful images, so take advantage of this by posting aerial images highlighting natural beauty and real estate properties. You can also create unique hashtags for each of your client’s properties. People can easily find the properties online if they’re looking for similar properties in the same area.
Post interesting facts about the area where you take photos. For example, if one of your clients owns an organic farm, post an image of their farm with a caption that shares this information with customers who might be interested in such things.
2. Use Social Media To Promote Your Business And Engage Your Audience.
Social media is a potent tool for any business. It can help you reach new customers, build brand awareness and even promote your aerial photography business.
To maximize the benefits of social media, you need to develop a clear strategy that considers all aspects of your business. Think about your target customers, products or services, and promotional activities.
Here are some ways you can use social media to promote your aerial photography business:
Engage with people who like your work on Instagram and Facebook. These platforms make it easy for people to share their photos with others.
In addition to liking and commenting on their posts, consider reaching out to these individuals personally via direct message. This will help build trust and establish yourself as an expert in the field.
Stick with a niche and consistently post aerial photography that fits your niche and that interests potential clients. For example, if you specialize in landscape photography over urban areas, write a then fill your page with amazing shots of cities at night — which will help potential clients immediately understand your skillset after engaging with your social media profile.
3. Reach Out To Prospective Clients Directly
One of the best ways to grow your aerial photography business is personal selling. Reach out to prospects directly to pitch your services, and you’ll see a significant increase in sales.
Not only does personal selling help you land new clients, but it can also help you retain existing ones.
Here Are Five Steps For Successful Personal Selling:
Cold Call
Get your prospect’s attention with a cold call or email. Explain who you are and what you do, and ask if your prospect is interested in hearing more about your services. You can even offer to answer any questions they may have about aerial photography or drones.
Set An Appointment
Ask for a meeting. The best way to get an appointment is by asking if they have time available on their calendar so that you can show them what’s possible with drone photos or videos.
Consult And Provide Expertise
Make yourself available for questions during the meeting. If they’re skeptical about drones, offer to bring one along so they can see firsthand how easy it is to operate one (and how much fun!). Don’t forget to bring some sample images or video clips of past jobs with you as well — this will help them visualize what it will look like when they hire you!
Ask For The Close
After all of this hard work to get an appointment and pitch your services. Be polite and direct at the end of the meeting to try and close the sale. Ask the prospect when they would like to start working with you and what type of project they have in mind to get started together.
Follow Up
Even if you don’t get the sale after the first meeting, and or if you don’t get an appointment after the cold call or email, follow up. Most success in sales takes time. Take the time to build a relationship and familiarity with your prospects and follow up politely and professionally. Eventually, you may be likely to earn their business.
4. Consider Offering A Discount On Their First Project
The first time a client hires you, you’ve got an opportunity to make a great impression.
If you’re new to the business, offer a discount on your first shoot. Even if it’s only 10%, it will be meaningful to your client and help build trust. If you’re an established photographer, consider offering a discount anyway — even if it’s not your first time working together.
If your client is local, invite them out for coffee after their shoot and offer to show them around town. This can be an excellent chance for you to connect with them personally and build your relationship beyond just business associates.
These types of efforts help create repeat business which will help your business grow significantly over time.
5. Update Your Website
If your website is not up to date, it can be detrimental to your small business. Visitors will assume that you are out of business or do not care about them.
Keeping your website updated to stay fresh in people’s minds and relevant to their needs is vital.
If you need a new website for your aerial photography business, consider using Mighty Sites.
6. Reach Out To Local Newspapers And News Stations
The best way to get new clients is to reach out to local newspapers and news stations. Tell them about your aerial photography business and see if they’re interested in covering it or using your photos for news articles.
This is an excellent way to get new clients because you’re getting exposure on a larger scale than just posting flyers on light posts or at local businesses. If they want or need your photos for articles, they will even become a client and pay you for your work.
7. Use Community Events And Sponsorships To Promote Your Business.
One of the best ways to build a reputation as an excellent photographer is to spend your time helping others.
If you’re looking for ways to build your business, consider volunteering to take aerial photos at community events. Offer to sponsor the events to promote your aerial photography business.
This will allow you to meet people in your community, and it will also let you to show off your skills as a photographer.
Volunteering does have its challenges. For example, you have no control over who will be there or what weather conditions you’ll encounter on the day of the event. But suppose you can manage these challenges successfully. In that case, volunteering can be an effective way for photographers at all experience levels to build their businesses by helping others.
8. Set Up A Google Business Profile Account
Google Business Profile is a free and easy way to manage your business information on Google, including photos, videos, and more. It’s the best way to let customers know about your products and services.
You can set up a GMB listing for your aerial photography business so that people searching for your type of business can find you online. You’ll also be able to respond to reviews from customers who have interacted with you through GMB.
I really can’t stress this enough; if you want your aerial photography business to be successful, you need to set up a Google My Business listing right now!
9. Get Testimonials
One of the best ways to promote your aerial photography business is by getting testimonials from clients. These are short quotes from customers about their experience with you. You can use testimonials in a variety of ways.
Here are five ways to use testimonials for your business:
- Put them on your website
- Use them in your advertising materials
- Include them in emails to prospective clients
- Mention them when you speak at events or give interviews
- Post them on social media
10. Contact Local Real Estate Agents
Real estate agents are always looking for better photos of their properties. They want to show off their listings in the best possible light.
The basic idea is to contact real estate agents directly and offer them your services. Then, once you’ve got a client, you’ll need to schedule a shoot with them.
The first step is finding real estate agents who need aerial photos taken. You might start by reaching out to local realty companies on social media or through other online methods like Craigslist ads or Google searches using keywords like “realtor” or “real estate agent.”
Once you’ve found some agents who need photos taken, contact them directly by phone or email to find out more about what they’re looking for and your pricing.
11. Sell Your Photos
If you’ve been taking aerial photos for a while, you may want to consider selling your images.
This is a great way to earn extra money and promote your business.
If you’re looking for new ways to market your photography services, here are three ideas:
Sell your more artistic aerial photos at local craft and farmers’ markets. It’s a great way to promote your business and earn extra money for your photography.
You can also sell photos directly from your website or online marketplaces like Etsy.
If you’re interested in licensing your work (which means selling rights to use it commercially), then check out Getty Images and Corbis Image Library for examples of what’s involved in licensing an image.
12. Work With Local Event Planners
To promote your aerial photography business to get new clients, network with local event planners. They’re always looking for photographers to hire, especially on short notice. An event planner plans entire events — from the food and drinks to the decorations and music. A photographer is one part of that team.
Developing a relationship with an event planner means you might become their go-to aerial photographer when they need one for an upcoming event.
To find out who is organizing things locally, go to your local chamber of commerce website and look up “event planners” or “special events.” Look at their websites and see if they have contact info listed. If not, call them up and introduce yourself as a new photographer who would like to work with them in the future.
Event planners will often be happy to give you some leads if you ask nicely. They might even help you out with your portfolio by letting you photograph an event for free or at a discounted rate — which can be great exposure for your business!
Conclusion
After reading this article, you should have ideas for promoting your aerial photography business. Hopefully, these tips will help you get new clients for your aerial photography business. Good luck, and stick with it!