Expanding Your Photography Business With New Services

One of the toughest parts of your job as a professional photographer's can be to market yourself and your studio. As an independent photographer, this can be especially daunting. An often overlooked, yet invaluable, resource for lining up new work is your existing client base! You have already spent the time and resources to build a relationship, sell your services and create a feeling of trust with a customer. Next, you need to foster that relationship and continue to generate new business opportunities from your clients. Booking another session with a client who you already have a working relationship with is much less expensive, and will have a higher conversion rate than any other marketing strategy you employ. The only challenge is to find a new line of photography that you client can benefit from and making them aware of the availability and benefits. This may require you to diversify your services. Are you a wedding photographer only? Chances are, your repeat business is slim. For any portrait photographer, an easy new line of service to add to your portfolio is glamour or boudoir photography.

Boudoir photography, consisting generally of tasteful suggestive or sensual photos, is a natural addition to the services offered by any good portrait photographer. Boudoir or glamour photography is a quickly growing sector of the photography market. Adding a new line of boudoir photography shoots is a great tool for expansion, because due to the personal nature of the photos, a client is more likely to choose a photographer with whom they are already comfortable. You should advertise directly to your current customers; such as a pre-Valentine's Day announcement to your brides from the previous year about your boudoir photo sessions. Another group to market boudoir services to is moms who are finished having children and may be ready to feel like a sexy woman again; have any family portrait clients you think fit this description? Discreetly advertise your other lines of photography portrait sessions to them.

Boudoir portraits sessions are often done with the intention of creating a gift for a significant other; document birthdays of your clients and their significant other, as well as anniversaries (for a wedding photographer, this should be a no-brainer!) If you aren't already, you should keep a client list with all of their pertinent information. Even a simple spreadsheet is sufficient, and then schedule one day of the month to review events and milestones that your clients have upcoming; ensure that you plot out the time it will take to initiate a conversation with your client, schedule a shoot, and have editing and printing time for your photos. Your ideal timeframe may be as much as three or four months before an event that you have marked as "upcoming" on your calendar.

Keeping your clients coming back for more cuts down on your marketing costs, the time spent getting to know the clients, and the time spent explaining your services and how your portrait sessions work. You just have to use a little bit of creativity to find ways to keep your clients engaged, and your repeat business will soar. Remember, clients who feel that they have a great relationship with their photographer are more likely to give out referrals for your business!