At one point, I had a lot of trouble finding couples for engagements sessions. Well, something that I did to help with that was create a contest on my blog. They gave me all their information when they entered and I picked a couple for a free engagement session once a month. Now although this was free, one, it gave me the opportunity to shoot without pressure, which is the best sort of shooting. Two, it also gave me more networking.

 

Here’s a story, I gave a couple a free engagement session, shot their session and gave them the images. We had such a great time but unfortunately, they went with another “more experienced” photographer for their wedding. I got a letter in the mail the next year thanking me for the engagement photos, which they used at their wedding. They also said how the biggest regret of their wedding was not going with me as their photographer.

 

Another great idea for wedding photographers is a “Bring on the Bling” contest. This is for a studio that is promoting/announcing their wedding services or for a photographer who is needing to draw more attention back to their site.

 

Here’s how it would work.

 

Run the contest and tell your readers that for the next week to send in a photo of their engagement ring and you will post the images on your blog. People will come and vote on the best ring and the image with the most votes, wins a free engagement session. Entries must be turned in a specific date to your email. Send them a graphic that says “Please vote for my photo” with a link to your blog post. They can share this on their social media pages to go get people to vote. This is a great way to draw traffic to your site.

 

I just made the below graphic in less than a minute on Canva. I included the studio’s contact information that way if they keep sharing it, people can directly contact you. The easier for them to find that information the better!

Everyone is a winner!

To make it even better, you can announce the winner and then say something like, “Guess what! You all WIN! All contestants who entered a “Bring on the Bling” photo will receive a $250 print/product credit to go towards their wedding package!” This is a great incentive to get all of the people who didn’t win to book with you.

 

Run a Cover Contest:

You can do the same concept but for portraits or seniors, run a cover contest. This will be for your client guides to be on the cover of your guide. Now? Why would they want to do this? Now as photographers we know themas welcome packets or client guides, as clients they are going to see this as your photographer magazine. Who doesn’t love the bragging rights that their son/daughter just got the cover of a magazine. Right? You would love it, they will love it.

 

 

Option 2 for the Cover Contest:

So we want to bring in past clients and we want them to make us go viral. What do we do?Pick some of your favorite images that you know the clients have a really strong social media presence (this doesn’t mean that they have a lot of friends it could just be that they are vocal on social media).Something I like to keep in mind are; Is this person from the area I’m targeting? Why does it matter? If they are born and raised in the area you’re targeting -MORE THAN LIKELY- they have a better reach to the people in that area! So think about these things. You need to be STRATEGIC.

 

 

Ok so you’re going to feature this photo on the cover. From there, you’re going to get it printed or send it to her digitally. MAKE A HUGE DEAL ABOUT THIS.

 

Here’s what you could say:

 

Hi Lori!

I just wanted to let you know that little Tommy made it on the cover of my magazine this month! Just wanted to share! Feel free to share this wherever you’d like!

 

You’re also going to share the cover on your social media and give a huge shoutout!

 

Now, I would only share the cover because I don’t put my prices online. Since the prices are included within the welcome packet, I would share the pages that feature new photos.

 

So let’s say you feature a session within the welcome packet, it can be within your what to wear spread and you put an adorable little family session in it this month. Same thing, email them and say:

 

Hi Tori!

Just wanted to send a quick little note and let you know that your family was featured in my magazine this month.

 

Now, what are these families going to do? They are going to tell everyone they know that they were featured in a magazine. This is huge! From there they are going to share it. Wouldn’t you?

 

Now only that but if you send them the actual printed version in the mail, best believe they are going to post about it again!

 

Their first post will probably look something like this!

 

Awwww we were featured @myphotography’s magazine this month!

 

Their second post will probably say…

OMG How cute is this! This is the magazine we were featured in from @myphotography!

VIRAL.

 

Who doesn’t want to brag about being in a magazine? You can do this with any type of client! Why is important if they share? You want your past clients to be sharing your business throughout the year not just at the time of your session. This gives them that opportunity. The more people that are organically sharing your work on social media THE BETTER.

 

I like getting my welcome packets/client guides printed on issuu.com. They are super reasonable and there’s no minimum amount you have to get!

 

Have fun running your next contest. Want more ideas on how to grow your business? Check out BP4U’s 21 Days To Grow My Photography Business. Want some welcome packets? Check out our selection of client guides here.