Expert: Tricia Scott-Sahler - 4/30/2007

Question
Hi Tricia,  I have been a keen amateur photographer for around 20 years and so in that time have picked up a reasonable knowledge of photography in general.
 I'd like to do real-estate, architechtural and promotional (hotels, bars, restaurants) photography professionaly but I'm not sure as to the best way of promoting myself. I have my own ideas but to be honest it would be a bit of a leap in the dark without some advice.

What would be the best strategy? Letters to relavant businesses?  Telephoning?
Is it good advice to get an ad. in all business directories or are they poor value for money?
I've thought about things like; beating competitor quotes by whatever percentage, first job for any client done for half normal fee or even free(excluding any prints), do I need my own website or are there good value host websites for photographers where I could post examples of my work ?

Thanks,  John

Answer
Hi John,

Architecture is a great specialty for photographers because it is not an easy task and the good ones work quite a bit.  I am not sure what market you are in, but promotion is definitely necessary wherever you are.  Where are you located?

Having a website is very important these days.  It's a great way for potential clients to check out your work, and for you to promote yourself.  Sending promotional cards with examples of your photography to your targeted list is a good first step.  Be sure your web address is on that card, so they can see more examples of your work there.  You probably will also need to have a printed portfolio of your images to send to them.

I am not a big advocate of intentionally underbidding or undercutting others to get business. You should determine what your cost of doing business is and what they are going to use the images for to help you decide what to charge.  

Some great websites to advertise on and see other photographer's work are workbook.com, asmp.org, and apanational.org.  APA has a wealth of information for professional photographers. Also a great inexpensive promo printer is modernpostcard.com.

Hope this helps!