Photographers Who Click: Connecting With Your Client
Summary: "Photographers Who Click: Connecting With Your Client"
The sale of photography is emotion-based, and if we are to be effective at it, we must make a deep and powerful connection with our clients. In person, we can simply talk to them, but on a web site or in printed marketing we have to use emotional copy to communicate the real benefits of working with us.
Yesterday, I held one of my popular free coaching call-in days, and spent several fun hours in the afternoon talking on the phone with five photographers about their businesses, the challenges they’re facing, and helping them to come up with possible solutions.
A common theme that emerged from these conversations was the need to make a meaningful connection with the client or prospect, before the booking, during the session, and after the finished photographs had been delivered.
Photography Is An Emotional Sale
Most photographers are aware of the fact that the sale of photography is an emotional one, especially so for wedding and portrait photographers. Even commercial photography carries with it a certain emotional context given that the resulting images may be used to evoke an emotional response through the company’s marketing.
But, while photographers recognize that emotional elements are in play when it comes to the sale, they are still ignoring them for the most part in their marketing and sales efforts.
Welcome To My (Generic) Web Site
For example, most photographers’ web sites follow a similar pattern of telling the visitor who they are, what they do, where they are, and showing a series of photographs, which they hope will speak for themselves as a means to sell them to the prospect (after all, a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, right?).
There is often very little in the way of copy text on the page, and too many photographers seem to be scared of going “below the fold” with their copy, based on the erroneous notion that people won’t scroll down the page to read it. This is clearly not true, since you are reading this. Unless you have a very big screen, this text should be below the fold. However, you’re reading it because, hopefully, you find it interesting and useful. By the way, there is a very illustrative post on this idea at “Life Below 600px” – by Paddy Donnelly)
A Few Dozen Words Are Worth More Than A Picture
I hate to break the news to you, but while your photographs are wonderful and you know what the artistic intent is and how they capture the emotions of the moment, the average web site viewer who is looking for a photographer just doesn’t see that.
Most times, they’re too busy or distracted to spend time looking for the emotional narrative in your images.
The only guaranteed way to get them to see it, is to relate the story of the photograph in words, either as an emotion-filled description or, better still, as a heartfelt testimonial from the people in the image.
What’s In It For Me?
Another thing that I see all the time in my web travels is the “me, me, me” effect.
It’s a common marketing trap, and too many people fall into it. Nonetheless, I see a lot of photographers spending too much valuable copy talking about themselves:
- “I do this…”
- “I’m passionate about that…”
- “I have a great eye for such and such…”
- “I love photographing (insert subject here)…”
- “My work is (insert adjective)…”
- and so on.
The news is that the prospect doesn’t really care about any of those things, at least not right now.
They are only really interested in what you can do for them, or how you can make them feel.
That’s it, nothing more.
In other words, what benefits will they get out of working with you? And I don’t mean how much they’ll save, what discount they’ll get, or how many extra 8 x 10 prints you’ll give them.
To sum this up in a nutshell: The real benefits are those that are bought with emotional currency.
Make A Meaningful Connection Through Good Copy
In order to persuade your prospects to buy from you, it’s essential to make a powerful and deep connection with them through the vehicle of solid emotional copy.
That means writing long copy, powerful headlines, compelling sub-headings, generating a sense of urgency, and prodding people into action through the concepts of scarcity and a looming deadline.
Speak about what they will get out of the working relationship with you, how they will feel, and how your photography can enrich their lives.
This is a very detailed and expansive subject so, for Zenologue Insider members, I’ll be producing a much more detailed PDF article on this topic for you, so stay tuned for that.
The above also applies equally well to sales pages.
Having a Google ad or Facebook ad that directs people to a sales page for a free session or a promotional special will only work if the landing page is properly designed, with the right emotional copy to persuade the visitor to take action.
Consider what the client will get out of whatever it is that you’re selling. Have testimonials from happy clients (or models if this is something new for you) – they can say things about you that you could never say with any credibility.
What You Should Do Now
Take a good look at your web site, and the rest of your marketing materials. If you were to take out everything that related specifically to you, what would you have left?
You might be surprised at how little remains. By the way, this is not easy to do, far from it, and even seasoned marketing veterans find it a challenge sometimes, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t figure this out right away.
A good first step to take is to ask your existing clients why they chose to work with you and what they really got out of it. There will be some great clues in there to get you started.
Thanks for reading, and if you have thoughts, comments, or questions, please take a moment to share them here.
Wishing you peace in your business!
You might also enjoy this post: Your Clients Need A Reason To Buy, Not Just A Place To Go.
Update – Some Further Thoughts…
Since this post was published, I received a very thoughtful response from photographer Michael Albany by way of a rebuttal post on his blog (“Emotion Or Passion?“). This is exactly the kind of discussion that needs to happen in the photography world, so thank you, Michael, for taking the time to craft a reply.
I’d like to add a few extra thoughts in response to Michael’s reply:
Firstly, I don’t know why he should find the idea of photography being an emotional sale to be insulting to some clients. That seems a bit strong to me, and I can’t think of a single sale I’ve ever made that has not had some emotional component within it somewhere, but perhaps I’m missing his point.
The idea behind my original post is that it’s the decision-making process to purchase photography that has an emotional connection for the client.
Yes, the images themselves may encapsulate emotions, either obviously or in a subtle manner, but that’s not really what I was referring to. I was thinking more about how the decision to invest in our photography is driven more by emotion than pure logic.
I would, though, like to comment on this particular paragraph from Michael’s post:
“But what about product photography? Does Nike care if you get emotional about images that show the style and design of a pair of sneakers? Does a golf ball manufacturer care if you get emotional about their balls? Yes they want some sort of buzz or excitement but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the marketing department is going to get emotional about the imagery.”
I have to disagree with this point of view. I believe that Nike absolutely does care about the emotional impact the images of their shoes have on their target market. Golf ball manufacturers would certainly be smart to consider the emotional resonance of how a golfer feels when using their product.
Marketing is all about differentiation and benefits, irrespective of the product being sold, and any company would see enormous benefit if our commercial images can evoke emotional responses in any fashion to induce their target audience to buy their product.
Watch the commercials on TV closely, and look at magazine ads – I’m betting you won’t find a single one that doesn’t try to convey some kind of emotional message attached to their product by making people want to feel a certain way, and having them believe that buying their product will accomplish that for them.
Basically, a golf ball is just a small white, round object that you hit with a stick towards a hole in the ground…
But, if you portray the image that you can hit it further, with more accuracy, more class, more elegantly, and beat your opponents more easily, to make you look good in the 19th hole, then I would imagine the company making those balls would jump at the chance to do so.
Thanks again, Michael, for the response, I appreciate it, and it made me stop to think if my post had gotten across the point I intended. Hopefully, this will help to clarify my original meaning.
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