As a photographer I advertise my service like everyone else on Craigslist. Craigslist is much like fishing, you post and ad, much like casting your hook and bait and you wait for something to bite. Its very passive, but it seems to be a good way to advertise and pull in customers every now and then.
The problem is you will get bombarded by girls from god knows where in the world sending you scantily clad photos and asking to meet up and see their website... The other pit fall is theres people out there that want something for free. They will post an ad that they need their daughters birthday party photographed and they will do it on trade for my portfolio and maybe, KEYWORD "MAYBE" lead to paid work in the future.
I've been fortunate enough to be born and raised in New York City and I didn't fall off a turnip truck, so I turned things around. I do work in exchange for goods and services that work for me. For example, I live in South Florida as I already stated, and I recently made it a point to get my Wedding Photography business off the ground but it was driving my girlfriend nuts. Im also a Firefighter/Paramedic in Fort Lauderdale, and I work as a paramedic in an emergency room a few nights a week in Boca Raton, so Im always working and stay up all hours of the night working on pictures, placing ads, SEO, building my website and etc. Soooo needless to say she was feeling neglected. Well, I was contacted by a spa that is a new start up, but part of a chain in Plantation, Florida called Planet Beach. I gave it some thought and told them I would be willing to photography a little trunk show they were holding in there store. I gave it some thought and asked, well I don't offer my services cheap or free, but my girlfriend would definitely love to have access to your spa. They said sure, you'll both be VIP members. I said, Ill be there.
Well the date rolls up and I go to this trunk show and they have someone selling jewelry and they are offering raffles and the like and serving some light snacks. There wasn't a lot of people, but I took some great photos of the staff, and displays and the like. I spent a total of 2 1/2 hours there and I leave to process the photos and I email them and create a disc for them which my girlfriend personally drops off on a visit... Well a week later, Hey Alfredo, we loved the photos and we are doing a Model Cover search for the company and we would love for you to do the photography on trade, please, I was asked.. I asked where it would be held and I said, I would think about it...
Later on during the week the Planet Beach told me that the Model Search would be held, at the Broward Mall, in Plantation Florida on a Saturday. I advised I would sleep on it and let them know.
I thought about the various positives and negatives of doing this photography work again for free, but now it would be much more intense and time consuming having to process potentially thousands of images. I also thought, well it will be in a mall with an audience, people will see me doing what I love, Photography, they will see the high end gear I use, and I will be at a venue where I can really give out cards, and push my business. I decided to do the job.
I get to the mall an hour early and I meet with the staff of Planet Beach, who happen to be authentically nice people. and I start shooting the models that are already there, Im giving out cards and introducing myself and the show starts. I took some of the most incredible photos yet. I gave out almost 250 cards to people as they watched the show or walked by and it was just a fun good day of shooting.
Now the finally to this modeling contest my name and what Im doing is announced throughout the mall, and Im names one of the sponsors of the event... All is good
I get home later that evening and begin to process amazing images, and I post them on my Facebook and Flickr page. I check my stats and now my facebook and website are blowing up with new likes and people sharing my page and talking about my pictures.
The result of this was I have a more captive audience, I have established a repetoire with the model, their families and friends, and Ive shown the quality of my work. These are all little things that make a big difference in growing your business. Unlike doing free photos for a person, doing free photos in this situation benefited me by exposing me to the masses.
So Im looking for other opportunities like this in order to boost business and awareness of my business and in the end, its more to my portfolio and practice...
Thanks
No comments:
Post a Comment