Creativity

So, what are some unique tactics that you have used to get your name out there? I know word of mouth is a solid form of advertisement, but what is a creative technique that you or some one you know has used to bring in the bidness?

I've found that building a quality rep within social media is the most important thing you can do. If you have a facebook page or twitter try to post useful/interesting links or thoughts that are totally (or somewhat) irrelevant to your business. You want to avoid being the stream in someone's newsfeed who gets muted because all they see from you is "2 for 1 Special!" or the painfully passive-aggressive form of advertising as a status update: "I'm so tired! I've been editing 3 clients photoshoots and have to be at a creative meeting tomorrow morning. UGH business is so tiring!".... This says you are good at your job because you have so much work to do. I might be the only one that notices the underhanded-ness of this but it drives me absolutely insane.

A good way to promote yourself is collaberating with other artists/designers on a project or providing services for a local charity. You can dually help others (i pray the drive is genuine) and gain clients who have similar interests. Supporting others who support the same causes as you provides some amount of comfort and reliability because you aren't 'just another photographer'.


Some people have gained business by writing a quality tutorial or article on something of interest. I for one have asked for services from someone because I was impressed with how they presented something, even though it wasn't aimed at a need I might possibly have. ie "I'm doing weddings" or something.

There are TONS of resources on marketing and promotion, so much so that it can't be summarized into a singular post or singular thread, but I hope that helps a bit.

Just remember anything you do needs to be QUALITY work. The future returns on something that you have perfected are immeasurable, whereas the future returns on something you just a quick and easy job on are almost nil.