This post, covered in more detail in the Local Business Growth Handbook, covers the most useful lead generation and advertising platforms. We explain the pros and cons of each platform, to help you better understand upfront (before investing any time or money) if specific platforms will work for you, if they will help you reach your growth goals, and what risks are presented with each. We also give you detailed tips on how to get started so if you do choose to experiment with a platform, you can be up and running in a matter of minutes.

Free Business Listings

The idea with free listings is just that – they’re free. You want to make sure your business profile and contact information are on as many of these free listings as you possibly can. The reason for this is because many clients do some sort of research about your business before they reach out about a job request.

Yelp, Facebook and Google are the big 3 when it comes to listing your business online to get consumers to find you. Other high profile directories include Yellow Pages, Porch.com, Manta, Merchant Circle, and the Better Business Bureau. A good resource if you want to dig deep into online directories can be found here.

The goal here is to just attack that low hanging fruit and provide potential clients with the easy ways to find you.

Cost Per Click Campaigns

The cost per click model was coined by Google, and is ideal to capture those potential clients who are at the brink of consumption – a product, a service, etc. Google would display an ad free and only charge you when someone clicks it to learn more.

There are other platforms that offer pay/cost per click ads – like Yellow Pages and the Yahoo! Bing Network – but Google and Yelp are probably the most well-known. Compare various pay per click platforms here.

Cost per click can be both time and capital intensive. It can take up a lot of your time to monitor different keyword campaigns and make sure your cost per click is low enough where the spend makes sense, and to make sure you’re experimenting with different keywords based on the business you run and where you operate. In addition, budget minimums can be a hurdle for businesses if you’re just starting out and don’t have such a large marketing budget.

The interesting thing about platforms like these though is (in theory) you’re getting yourself in front of the right customer. That customer who is searching for a specific business or service type, will see your name at a time when they are prime for consumption. Not only that but they are given clear calls to actions to continue – click or buy or call, etc.

Read more tips about Google AdWords.

Cost Per Lead Programs

If you like pitching your business to clients, then the pay per lead (“PPL” or pay per introduction) model will fit you just right.

Platforms in the PPL space have grown in recent popularity it seems as more and more individuals are going out and starting their own businesses on their own (thanks to lower marketing costs, lower legal setup fees, lower healthcare costs, mobilization of work).

PPL is more of a pro-active type of growth platform than others, where you – the business owner – can pay for direct access to a client who is in search for specific services that you specialize in. Then it’s up to you to close them!

The PPL model is becoming more popular with a certain sect of consumers because it makes price shopping quite convenient for services. You tap a few buttons, and then in minutes you’ve got professional photographers calling and emailing you with specific quotes on cost of service as well as a nice little pitch to go along with it. It’s almost like a concierge service for the clients, all the while delivering clarity around pricing – and that means lowest price in most cases.

As a result, we’re starting to see the likes of Google enter the space with Google Home Services. Angi is also testing out its Angi Ads product.

I would get a game plan in place as to what your course of action is once a warm lead comes your way, then spend some money to see what it takes to convert leads to booking clients and also get a sense as to how many of these new clients you’re converting to lifelong customers.

Discount & Deal Sites

“Everyone likes a deal”, the saying goes.

That’s also true when it comes to customers searching for professional services…sometimes.

Discount & deal platforms became the huge rage starting in 2008 because they were so new. In theory, offering eye-popping low prices will attract customers to want to book you – voila, a new customer! At the same time you could fill a timeslot on your calendar that would otherwise go unbooked (read about opportunity cost).

This idea spread and now almost every type of ad platform for service providers offers ad products like specials or deals to promote. The true pure play discount platforms are Groupon and LivingSocial.

The structure of the discount model is interesting because you – as the business owner – only pay for marketing costs if you do get the business. That helps because you can’t flush a bunch of money down the toilet and be left totally empty-handed.

However, when you do get booked, you need to work hard to win those new customers and convert them into longer term clients or else the economics of the discount model don’t make sense. I’d recommend testing out Groupon and seeing what types of leads you get out of it. If you offer photography services that are recurring in nature, then you could yield a lot of value here if you can convert those customers to longer term payers.

And maybe even compare posting deals on Groupon and deals on Yelp, and see if the quality of the customer is different. Clients on Yelp are on there doing their diligence – making sure other clients (leaving reviews) like you a lot. So if they see a deal that would be opportunistic – some savings up front but they are still looking for a quality service professional. Folks on Groupon may only be looking for lowest price. I would experiment on the discount strategy.

Read 6 best practices for photographers and also 5 reasons not to use Groupon.

Customer Referrals

Customer referrals are one of the oldest growth tricks in the book.

Every business owner has heard of this growth engine. It’s honest, it’s free, and it’s the most trusted – customers are 4 times more likely to use your service if they are referred by a friend.

However, many professionals don’t know how (or have the time) to juice this growth source as much as they can. The obvious answer is to do great work – but let’s assume you’re already doing great work. So what else can you do to get clients to tell their friends or family about you? How do you stay top of mind? How do you motivate your clients to want to promote you?

My top 4 tips are:

• Ask for customer reviews
• Remember birthdays and anniversaries
• Offer a referral program
• Share and distribute useful content to clients

Good service and the above starting tips will help you leverage your client based and turn them into avid cheerleaders for your business. The truth is 83% of your customers are willing to refer you to friends, but on average only 29% actually do. That means over 50% of your customer base is low hanging fruit for you to take advantage of and grow like crazy.

Social Media Presence

Believe it or not, the typical American checks social media 17 times every single day. One rule of thumb when it comes to trying to attract customers: Be where your clients are!

Organically introducing your business into the daily lives of consumers is a great way to organically build your brand and presence. Social media enables you to build your own brand (free), while also giving you the option to pay to target potential customers and be put in front of them with simple calls to action.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren’t the only social media platforms out there. Check out others including LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr and more.

For the most part, Social Media allows you to just get your presence listed on more platforms where your clients are, all the while building a personality and brand. You can make announcements, post content, engage with followers / likers, and even pay to pro-actively engage with others. Don’t be fooled though to spend your way to going viral. You won’t grow your following if you don’t have good content. Just keep on sharing what’s going on with your business and with you, and you’ll slowly but surely build up an audience who will start talking you up.

Business Growth Handbook

We know that starting a business (and growing it) seems like a daunting task. So we hope the full Growth Handbook can be helpful as you navigate how to grow during a time when it seems like a new platform promising you leads pops up every day. At the same time, the ones from yesterday have a track record of fizzling out just as fast as they popped up. So sometimes it’s tough to keep track.

There isn’t a one size fits all type of platform, so don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong if one strategy is working for a fellow professional you know but not for you.

The key is to experiment and find the right growth plan for your photography business – and our goal is to help expedite this experimental process so you can get growing as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible.

Systems like Apple Pay and new apps like Uber, make the act of payments across industries the most seamless experience possible. This makes the overall business transaction convenient not just for the professional, but for the client as well. And technology is starting to evolve to bring that very same instant and mobile payment experience directly to the professional photography community. To reap all the value that mobile payments have to offer, find a tool that covers these core benefits for photographers to help your business thrive.

Speed & Convenience

One of the best parts of adopting a mobile payment system is plainly: you get paid quicker.

That means no more waiting around for checks to arrive or cash to be withdrawn from your client’s bank.

With mobility, if at any point you want to get paid, you can get paid – in front of a client or at home; in a meeting or traveling around town. Payment apps don’t require you to be tied to a desk to process or request a payment. And some don’t even necessitate a face-to-face dealing with your client in order to collect payment.

And for your clients, mobile payments are just as (if not more) convenient for them. Traditionally, clients would receive invoices, write a check, and then put it in the mail. Or for in-person payments, they would have to remember to bring cash with them. Slight improvements in technology have allowed them to send electronic transfers, but again this forces them to get in front of a computer, log in account information and formally pay an invoice. All of which end up being a time suck. Mobile payments allow you to ask for payment anywhere, and allow your clients to pay you anywhere – uber convenience all around.

Suggested tools: PocketSuite (affiliate), PayPal, Venmo

Payment Protection

Point-of-sale mobile apps are essentially “version 1.0” of the mobile payment movement. Swiping a card from your phone – that’s great and all, but the newest payment technology has just arrived.

Leverage payment apps that allow you to secure payment even before you walk into a portrait session, event or shoot. That could simply mean reserving your client’s payment (like a credit card) before any appointment, just to make sure they are serious about your time. Or it could be as straight forward as accepting a deposit ahead of time for a job commitment planned. Implement flexible yet professional ways to demonstrate to your clients that your time is valuable, and you need an organized payment system that establishes that.

Once your work is complete, all you have to do is charge the card that is reserved on file. Or bill your client for the remaining amount. Mobile payment protection reduces your risk of losing out on a paycheck because a client forgets to pay, or doesn’t show up, or cancels last minute – you’ll be able to actually implement that crucial cancellation policy when it’s required.

Suggested tools: PocketSuite (affiliate), Square Up

Organization

As your business grows, so does the number of payments you’re collecting. And that means more for you to keep track of.

Choose a payments tool that allows you to track all types of payments in one place, on the go. Let’s be honest – there are some clients out there who strictly demand paying in certain ways. The elderly “cash only” clients. The credit card heavy customers. The “where did I put my check book?” crowd.

If you’re bouncing back and forth between multiple payment systems to track who’s paid you, how they’ve paid you, and when they’ve paid you – you’re wasting time. Mobile payment tools can now act as income tracking tool as well. Not only for processing those payments on the fly, but for giving you a convenient way to see where all your payments are coming from, who owes you what, and how your business is doing.

Suggested tools: PocketSuite (affiliate)

Affordability

Finally, with more innovation comes cheaper price tags for its users. That’s you!

The days of 3-4% per non-cash payment transaction are over. And don’t even think about adding payment gateways to your website that require heavy installation, monthly minimums, and all the other fees associated with it.

With more mobile payment entrants in the market, that means increased competition, which results is great news for those mobile photographers out there. Photographers should not pay more than 2% for processing fees, and should incur no other hidden costs associate with being mobile and running a business. Every expense counts when you’re trying to grow a business, so keep this in mind when choosing the right tool for you.

Your Clients Are Ready – Are You?

Adopting a new payment system can be daunting. Most payment systems are clunky, have too many rules, and are difficult to understand. The best part about mobile payments, however, is they are just that – mobile and simple.

The other best part about mobile payment systems is that consumers (aka, your customers) know them, use them, and love them already. So for the first time in a long time, your clients are on the same page as you as you shift a core part of your business into new tools that save you time, money and help you grow. Embrace the convenience, the security, and join the mobile movement.

PocketSuite

PocketSuite is a new mobile app for photography professionals helping them run and build a better business. PocketSuite empowers photographers with the ability to schedule appointments, invoice customers, collect payment, track income, and communicate with clients… All from a single app.

Download the free app

There is some really great content out there centered around marketing your photography business and growing your clientele. But as you grow your client list, you need to stay organized so you can take on as many of these clients as humanly possible. Not to mention, you want to continue giving your clients high-quality service as well, and not gum up because you forgot about an appointment, or you were late, or you blanked on the specifics of the job, or you simply forgot to invoice. This sounds like both a daunting and tedious task – “organizing your business” – but there are incredibly simple and straight forward tips for you to follow, and free technology to adopt in order to help your business grow into something awesome.

Easily Accessible Client Information

If you’re in the early stages of building a photography business – or even if you’re already a few years in – the first step in creating a scalable and efficient operation starts with your clients. It sounds simple, but it’s true.

First off, simply separate out your clients from your friends / family in your phone book. Or get a tool that keeps all your client contact information in one place. Trust me – this will save you a ton of time. When you want to find that client to call or email, don’t dig through a huge library of contacts of friends in order to find that single customer. Combine this with a tool that facilitates easy note-taking as well. Every client has his or her idiosyncrasies, so you want to make sure you have some efficient note taking capabilities where you can jot down and reference important info on every client. Do they have peculiarities? Job parameters? Are they high maintenance? Making all this information available to you anytime at the drop of a hat will be huge.

Keeping communication records organized and close to you is also crucial. You want to be able to reference past conversations, and you also want to be able to look back and see when initial job requests were sent and details around each. This is especially relevant when it comes to new clients – How was the inquiry initiated? Where did the client find you from? How did you respond to them? These little pieces of information build up to add a lot of value in the client-facing world of photography. Keeping all this client information in an organized and easily accessible location will pay huge dividends to serving your client better.

Suggested tools: PocketSuite (affiliate), Evernote, Grasshopper

Simple Scheduling

This is where you make your money! Your primary goal as a photographer: to efficiently gather and track as many of these on your calendar as possible.

You’re not always around to answer your phone or immediately respond to an email. That’s just the reality of life. Make sure that when individuals are interested in actually booking you, you give them the ability to do so extremely conveniently. Allow clients to browse your availability online, the photography services you offer, and send you booking requests immediately – straight from your website, or Facebook page, or auto-reply email signature. The technology is out there allowing you to set your own business hours and automatically block timeslots that are already busy – use it! When a client feels like he or she is actually “booked” for something (even if it’s still up to you to officially confirm), they won’t go shopping around for competitors – they’ll sit back, know they got an open time slot with you, and just wait for you to confirm. A lot different than sending an email with nothing back. Technology these days can be your very own personal assistant, without the personal assistant salary drag. Use this to your advantage!

On the flip side, you can actually save yourself time (and make yourself look a lot more professional too) by setting up client appointments yourself. Actively adding them to your calendar, all the while delivering your client each appointment summary (for reference) and automating friendly reminders to ensure your client doesn’t forget. This trumps any type of emailed “We are confirmed”, or end of phone call “So, see you next week!”. Look professional and re-assure your client that your appointment is 100% confirmed.

As you land more of more appointments on your calendar and your schedule fills up, you want to make sure no appointment slips through the cracks, and that you’re on time for each and every job. Every Sunday you should know what the week ahead looks like. Every morning you should know what the day ahead looks like. You want to make sure you maximize your capacity 100% – get as much of that calendar filled as realistically possible. Then have a smooth roadmap every day of where each job is, how you’re getting there, and ensuring you’re timely and giving the best service you possibly can.

Suggested tools: PocketSuite (affiliate), iCal, Google Calendar

Trackable and Speedy Payments

Now the good stuff. Getting you paid!

In order to keep growing, you want to make sure you get paid on time, you get paid for each job, and you never let a payment slip through the cracks. To guarantee this, never let yourself go into any job without protection – some sort of deposit paid or credit card on file. Have a payment solution that requires customers send upfront deposits when confirming all appointments with you. Or at least collect their card information somehow so you can institute and enforce a cancellation policy if that client cancels last minute. The term “opportunity cost” comes to mind – you want to make sure your time is never wasted because that time slot could have been filled with a full paying client.

For photographers who prefer to invoice, stop manually trying to keep track of each paid and unpaid invoice – we are only human and an invoice here and there is bound to slip through the cracks! Follow-ups and payment check-ins on unpaid invoices are pains as well. Leverage technology to invoice clients automatically, track paid and unpaid bills, and have professional reminders be sent on a regular basis so you don’t have to remember to follow up and so you don’t have to act like an annoying business when checking in on client payment. And don’t give your clients the opportunity to be lazy! All invoices should be due upon receipt – none of this flexible “due in 30 days” or “due in 60 days” nonsense. You’re running a business, you’re trying to grow your business, and you shouldn’t have to wait around for a check to arrive.

Suggested tools: PocketSuite (affiliate), Square, Authorize.net

Go Mobile

Quite possibly the most important part of gaining efficiencies as a business owner is running your operations in an increasingly mobile world.

Every day you’re on the move, going from job to job, seeing client after client. All the efficiencies previously discussed relating to customers, appointments, and payments are meaningless if you can’t do everything while you’re on the go. You need to be able to glance at notes or contact info while walking to another appointment. You need to be able to reference the location of your next event and directions to get there. You need to be able to get notified in real-time while you’re grabbing a coffee that a new client is trying to book you. You need to know that your appointment across town has been reserved with a credit card so if they don’t show up you’re not out extra gas money and hours of your day.

Organization Leads to Success

Now I admit, most of these best practices are not as “sexy” as winning new clients, learning new marketing techniques or building brand strategies. But by following some of these very simple recommendations, the above ensures every one of those new clients you win, you’ll be able to bring them on in the most efficient way possible, increasing your ability to give them the best service possible – All the while making your day-to-day a lot less stressful.

PocketSuite

PocketSuite is a new mobile app for photography professionals helping them run and build a better business. PocketSuite empowers photographers with the ability to schedule appointments, invoice customers, collect payment, track income, and communicate with clients… All from a single app.

Download the free app