5 Smart Ways To Market Your Pet Photography Business

So, you’ve got a pet photography business and you’re looking for ways to market said business.

Throughout this post, I’m sharing five of my favorite, tested ways to market my own pet photography business that have been absolutely invaluable for my business growth.

Plus, if you want more after this video, be sure to check out my paid resource, 50+ Ways To Market Your Pet Photography Business for just $10 bucks! You can learn more about that here.

Now, let’s talk about those five awesome ways to market your pet photography business.

In the event you prefer to watch your content, I also have the companion video for this blog post here.

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VOLUNTEER

The first way I want to talk about marketing your pet photography business is by volunteering. It’s likely that when you are just getting started, no one knows who you are outside of your family and friends. So, what’s an easy way to meet people who might be your ideal client, gain practice, and start to build your portfolio? Volunteer!

Whether you go to your local shelter or you connect with a local rescue to photograph their fosters, volunteering is a smart, strategic way to start to build your business. In fact, I volunteered for years before I even started my business as a pet photographer.

Building those relationships with shelter staff, volunteers, and fosters has been invaluable to my business. Not only have I built tremendous word of mouth in the rescue community through my rescue work, but so many of those fosters have become clients or referred clients to me. Not to mention, the pups I photograph are shared across many social media platforms and marketing avenues online that my name is continuously out there being seen by potential clients.

I don’t recommend volunteering just because you want to grow your business - I recommend volunteering because you want to and you want to give back to your community! But, I promise you the unintended benefits of doing so will bring so much goodwill and positive karma right back to you and your business.

CREATE LIMITED EDITION OR THEMED SESSIONS

One major marketing avenue I learned with a business foundations course I took through The Pet Photographer’s Club was that you should be actively promoting something each month in your business to stay on top of mind and bring leads and possibly clients into the fold.

How do you do this, you ask? Well one idea that has worked for me that may work for you, too, is to create unique, limited edition sessions! Notice I didn’t say mini-sessions, I said limited edition.

Limited edition sessions generally:

–Have a limited number to create urgency and encourage people to book
–Are during a specific time or date of the year or have some kind of theme behind them
–Are usually slightly less expensive than say a full pet and people session, but not by much
–Include digitals and prints versus client’s who book a full session just pay a retainer and buy prints or products later

Why this is gold is that every single I’ve created a Limited Edition Session, I’ve completely sold out and fast.

Whether you're a studio photographer or specialize in photographing pets and people outdoors, these can totally work for you. And if you don’t want to renegotiate your pricing, you can still offer them as full sessions with your standard IPS or digital package pricing.

Here are a few examples of limited edition sessions I’ve offered that have done really well alongside a couple other ideas:
–Sunflower Sessions
–Fall Foliage Sessions
–Dog Mom Sessions at our local Rose Garden
–Forget Me Not Session

But you could also do something like:

–Lavender Farm or Tulip Farm Sessions
–Social Media Influencer Sessions
–Beach Sessions
–Adventure Sessions
–Mountain Sessions
—Lake Sessions
—Christmas Tree Farm Sessions
–Or obviously some other kind of holiday or catchy theme especially if you have a studio

This is just to get you thinking about what you could offer in your area that would be unique, create urgency, and offer a session type people would be interested in booking.

You can literally create a twelve month calendar and write out what kind of session you’d like to offer each month in addition to your full sessions that you offer. Or like I mentioned before these could be a twist or spin on the full sessions you offer.

HOST BREED OF THE MONTH SESSIONS

In tandem with your limited edition sessions, you can try hosting Breed Of The Month model calls. As a disclaimer, I have not yet fully applied this to my business, but have seen it done successfully with other pet photographers, so I know it works. I’ll give you guys an update as to what that looks like when I get it going in my own business in the next couple of months.

However, I have done model calls where I offer a free session and set of final digital, web size images. But, to be honest, those really haven’t done much for my business, because I wasn’t as strategic with them.

So, what is different about a Breed Of The Month model call is that you choose a breed for each month of the year. You have people fill out a form and apply for the session. Then, you select a model to give a complimentary session based on the inquiries you received and who you fill is the right fit or closest to being your ideal client. and then you can also walk them through your sales process of buying additional products or images.

But let them know up front what they will receive and be very open and honest about your pricing from the git go! You never want someone to feel like they were duped into a session and then feel obligated or pressured to buy. If they know your process and pricing in advance, they can either accept or turn down the complimentary session.

The goal here is to expand your portfolio with different types of breeds, plus, you have the email addresses of all of the individuals who applied for the breed of the month session where you can send them some kind special discount or incentive to book even though they didn’t “win” the breed of the month.

Needless to say, the breed of the month is a great marketing idea when it comes to growing and building your pet photography business.

CREATE POP UP PAWTRAIT EVENTS

Something I’ve started to do recently is host what I call pop up pawtrait events. I used to go to pet friendly events with a table, some samples, and literature about my business, booking a session, etc. But it never really seemed to draw any attention or traction in my business after spending all day traveling, setting up, talking to people, breaking down, etc.

Now, where I am able, I host a Pop Up Pawtrait event. This looks like people either walking up first come, first serve or booking a timeslot in advance (depending on the event) and charging a small fee that would give the pet parent a five or ten minute session at the event with their dog and two digitals post-event.

Here’s what is strategic and key about a pop up pawtrait event versus simply having a table, business cards, and samples – people are getting to see you work first hand and they will receive two adorable photos of their pups. Obviously, not everyone walking into your tent will be your ideal client, but with doing a pawtrait event at events, you are doing the very thing that you want to be hired for and giving people a taste of what it is you do and how you work. They will also be able to see the final result when you deliver the final images.

This is an awesome lead generator! People may not book with you right away, but give them your business card or link to access their gallery and if they want to talk more, I recommend having an assistant helping you at the event if possible, so they can also field questions and provide more information. I also highly recommend you have an email list sign up form either on an iPad or sheet of people to gather people’s email addresses, so you can connect with them further after the event or offer them some kind of special incentive for being an attendee of the event that stopped by your booth for a pop up pawtrait.

ASK PEOPLE IF YOU CAN PHOTOGRAPH THEIR PUPS

If you follow The Dogist on Instagram or other type of content creators on social media, you’ll see that another way to market your business is to simply go to pet-friendly places, dog parks, parks, events, bars and breweries, etc, and ask people if you can take a quick photo of their pup.

Much like the pop up events, you are literally showing people in that moment what you do and how you do it! Again, this is an opportunity to meet a tremendous amount of people, gain practice, get your name out there, and showcase your skills.

You can even offer them an image or two to download from an online gallery where they can share the image and tag your business pages! Even though you might be offering to do this for free occasionally, it doesn’t mean that some amazing opportunities won’t come out of it along with more clientele.

That rounds up my 5 Smart Ways To Market Your Pet Photography Business.

In case this post leaves you wanting more, don’t forget you can pick up a copy of my 50+ Ways To Market Your Pet Photography Business Guide right now for just $10 bucks! Keep this gem in your back pocket for whenever you need some new ideas or inspiration for marketing your business.