How to Successfully Relocate Your Photography Business

Let’s say you’re starting your photography business, or maybe for reasons out of your control you have to move frequently. {Whether it be for your job, for your spouses job, because of your studies, or because you’re in the military.} Whatever be the case, these are really valid reasons why you can feel fragile against the competition.

First and foremost dear photographer, establish your own business before you worry about the competition.  Just like every endeavor in life, we need to first obtain the knowledge and the experience. It’s not fair to offer a service to the community until we know what we are doing.

If you don’t have a name for your company, choose a name you like and then buy it.  If you don’t know how to do it, do an internet search for “how to buy a domain name”. Once you have a domain name, make sure you take all of the necessary legal steps to establish your business. Find out what your city and county require in order to make your business legal.  The requirements in every city can vary, so make sure you are up to date with the legal business requirements of each city every time you move. Usually, you need to register your business with the state and county, and fill out the paperwork to begin to pay taxes.  In some places you’ll need permission to photograph national parks and such. After getting your business up to speed with the requirements stipulated by your city and county, you can then start focusing on advertising for your business.

If you don’t have a website, make one!  Or if you’re not ready for a website, start a blog or a Facebook account where you can have your own Facebook photography page.  If you really want to get attention, you can do all three of these things!  The more places you have to share your work, the more opportunities you will have to grow your business and reach more people.

The appearance of your business is essential!  Your name and logo are your label.  They are what people recognize you by.  Rock the Shot is always offering packages and having sales from vendors that can help you improve the appearance of your page {or pages} and get them to the next level.

Ok, now we’ve made a lot of progress.  Do you already have your name, a logo, and a website?  Now start taking advantage of social media!  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are just some sites you can promote your work on.  Use them to your benefit.

Let’s focus on Facebook:

*On Facebook, you will find local photography groups. Join them! {if they’re productive groups, of course.}  If you are unsure of how to find groups in your area, in the Facebook search box, type “photographers in” and the name of your city.  Get to know other local photographers, introduce yourself.  It’s always better to be nice and direct instead of having a closed mind and decide they’re your enemies.  Establish a business relationship with them.  There’s nothing better than a local letting you in on where to find all the best photography spots.  Or would you prefer to go behind their backs and “steal” all of their spots? I know, we’re all adults and we know that technically we can go wherever we want, but why not do things with a little bit more ethics?  I promise that this will be a much better way.

• Using your personal page, ask your local Facebook friends to share your photography business page with their friends.  The more people that comment on your photos, the more that people will see you work on their news feed.
• Do the same thing from your photography page.  Tag the biggest amount of people you can. The more people you tag, the more exposure your work will get.  This is because not only the tagged people will see your images, but the friends of the tagged people will be able to see your work too.
• If you’ve worked with other businesses or if you’ve used props from vendors or photoshop actions from other photographers, give them credit by mentioning their name.  Just put a “@” symbol and then the other business name. {in order to be able to tag them from your business’s Facebook page, you will need to have first “liked” them from your photography page.}

• Another way to get more attention is by mentioning what photography equipment you have used to take the photo.  This way, you’re not only giving your followers some useful information, but you’ll be able to take advantage of that.  Again, the only thing you have to do is type an “@” symbol before the name of your equipment.  For example, @NikonD700 and various options will appear.  Click the link with the largest number of likes (of course).  In this case, it’s not necessary for you to have already “liked” these pages before tagging them.
• Don’t forget that now Facebook offers us business owners the opportunity to buy advertising (pay to promote).  In our case, we can pay to promote the whole page, or we can pay to promote individual images or posts.  If you’re new to a city, this is an excellent way to get the name of your business out there.
• Now for the last Facebook trick, when you post an image, don’t forget to write the name of your own photography page {@blahblahbebephotography} and if you don’t mind mixing your business with your personal life, you can also tag yourself {Lily Miller.}  If you don’t feel comfortable tagging yourself, just tag your business.  Make sure all of these tags appear in blue writing.  This way, the names appear as links to their pages.

There are a lot of things that we can do to get to know our community.  If you’re new to a city, make some time to get to know it.  Explore the city and get lost in it once in a while.  I promise that you will find the best locations for future shoots.  Of course, always obey the laws.  Don’t trespass onto private property.  Ask for permission.  Figure out if that place you want to use as location is really "abandoned" or if it belongs to someone.  Don’t burn any bridges or fall into legal problems.

Now, for those who don’t know me, I am a natural light photographer who recently moved from California to Indiana and I am, myself, in the process of setting up my business in Fort Wayne.

Photographers, let’s hope that by this point you really know what you’re doing when you have a camera in your hands.  You should know that you accomplish a quality image before and during a photo shoot and not after. Prepare before hand each detail of the photo shoot, don’t leave everything for the last minute. Know your camera!  A good photo is created in RAW, not in photoshop 

If you don’t know what I’m talking about yet, don’t worry.  That’s how you learn.  Everyone at some point has started from the bottom. However, if you still don’t know how to use your camera, don’t charge for a service you can’t offer.  Here’s an example: Your computer broke.  You find a computer technician and you pay him money, but later discover that this “technician” didn’t have the necessary knowledge to fix your computer.  How do you feel?  Are you a happy customer?  No!

Don't fool yourself thinking this is as easy as pie. Just because some photographers make this business look pretty, easy, and lucrative; doesn’t mean that it is. It’s not easy to get recognized and be successful. You have to work hard with persistence and consistency. Remember that in order to come out on top and be successful we have to be persistent for however long it takes until we reach our goal and feel satisfied with our work.

Remember that success is relative.Your success and my success will never be the same.

Some believe that being successful means being famous, others associate it with power. There are many who think that success is measured by the amount of money that you can save or make.  However, success is really personal SATISFACTION. You will always be truly successful when you discover and appreciate yourself. That’s what your social recognition and work will depend on.

What about the competition? Have we even talked about the competition?  No! I haven’t mentioned it because it is not important in order to become a successful photographer wherever you are in the world. Focus on your photography and in how you present your product. You have enough on your plate to be worrying about getting as good or better than the competition. It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Once people get to know your work, they will decide if your photos speak from the heart to theirs.

Max Ehrmann said, “If you compare yourself to others you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself”.

Don’t worry about others and BE-YOUrself!

Visit Lily at her WEBSITE | FACEBOOK pages today!