Dear Devlin.
If you build it they will come? That’s what they said, but I’ve built it and no one came? Averaging 12 weddings a year, getting five-star google reviews, giving venues free images, happy clients, and banging portfolio, on all the directory lists. Yet when it comes to lead generation I’m getting nothing? The only work is coming from Facebook referrals from other photographers… help!
Hopeless in Hull
Hello Hopeless,
I can feel much frustration coming from you as perhaps it feels like you’ve done all the right things and you are failing to see why the enquiries are not landing with you.
When you say that you’ve built it, what does that look like for you? Have you developed an engaging social media, do you have a solid client journey built into your website that nurtures a connection with you? What’s the process around handling leads? Do you display prices on your site? Might that be the stage that people are losing interest? How you present your prices could not work for your kind of client.
There’s clearly something going wrong if you are not meeting your target numbers and you are relying on one source of potential bookings. Although getting any type of referral is still marketing and a valuable one, it is also a precarious one. My advice would be to never rely on just one place to find work – don’t put all your marketing eggs in one basket.
The market has changed so much, it’s only natural with all of the seismic shifts and changes from the last few years. So listing in directories and showing a pretty portfolio of images is no longer cutting it.
People connect with people and I might advise you to examine all of the touchpoints that couples come into your world and look at ways to inject your personality. Wedding photography is a service, not just a collection of images. Your past clients are obviously happy but that message does not seem to be reaching the strangers out there looking for wedding suppliers.
If it feels like you’ve hit a brick wall and cannot figure this out alone then there’s a good chance that I can help. My next Barn Live is all about how to boost your enquiries