How To Get Photography Clients Using Facebook Ads

Hey there, photographer friend! You are trying to build this business and actually make it work. Maybe you have this dream of being your own boss and photographing elopements in Italy one day. Perhaps, you just feel dead in your current job and are looking for a way out. I want to help you to continue to grow so you can accomplish those things and have a profitable business. That’s why I’m sharing one method for how to get photography clients using Facebook ads

The topic that comes up most frequently with photographers is how to get your next client. I’m a big fan of free advertising methods like SEO and word of mouth, but those methods can take longer to build up and see results from. Sometimes you just need to book a new client right now. I’m sharing with you a paid method I used to book more photography clients using Facebook ads.

THE METHOD FOR GETTING PHOTOGRAPHY CLIENTS USING FACEBOOK ADS

1. CREATE THE OFFER: Create an enticing offer for a free engagement session that includes one digital file for their save the dates.
2. RUN ADS: Run Facebook and/or Instagram ads for this offer.
3. LANDING PAGE: These ads direct them to a landing page them shows them examples of your work and encourages them to apply.
4. PHONE CALL: You get on the phone with them to get to know them better, explain your photography style and the offer, and ask if it’s what they are looking for.
5. WOW THEM: Give them your crazy-awesome customer experience throughout the process.
6. DELIVER AND OFFER UPGRADE: Email them a link to the gallery of final images. Ask them to select their favorite one so you can get them the high-res file. Offer a non-obligatory upgrade to get some or all of the photos.

This method attracts your ideal client. It gives them an awesome experience and a photo to use for their save the date. It allows you to build a connection and wow them with your customer experience. You have the potential for referrals, to be their wedding photographer and to upgrade them to a paid package if they love their images.

Will every single one of them buy the upgrade and hire you for their wedding? Absolutely not! And you have to be 100% ok with that fact while still serving each of them whole-heartedly.

When I ran this offer, I spent $3.20 on advertising (yes, you read that correctly), talked to 5 couples on the phone and booked a free engagement session for three of them. One of the free sessions didn’t purchase any upgrades. Two of the free sessions purchased the full upgrade AND booked me as their photographer for their wedding. And you know what?!?!? Those couples are still some of my favorite ones I’ve ever photographed!

CREATE AN ENTICING OFFER

State your reason for the free session.

In this method of advertising, you are creating a reason to offer couples a free engagement session. When I advertised this offer, I wanted to try out new locations that I was dying to photograph. So I created an offer around the idea that I was looking for fun, adventurous couples to photograph at locations I haven’t been to yet.

Some other ideas for a reason to offer a free session is:

• You want to shoot at some locations you haven’t been to yet
• It’s your slow season
• You want more samples of images in the winter (or spring, or summer, or fall)
• To build your portfolio (although I caution against this because it may come off that you are not a professional – and you ARE!)

Be very specific about who this offer is for.

What types of couples are you looking for – engaged ones! Who are your ideal clients or what clients have you loved working with in the past? Here are some samples of specific you may want to consider:

• Engaged couples – then you have the opportunity to possibly photograph their wedding
• What things do they like to do? Hike, cook, try new restaurants, watch movies, play board games
• If you want to photograph couples in the mountains then you should probably be intentional about offering this to adventurous coupled who love hiking and being in the mountains

Put a session limit and/or a time limit on the offer to create scarcity.

When you say this is only open to 5 couples and they must book their session within the next month it creates a sense of urgency and encourages them to act quickly.

Outline what is included in the free session and offer upgrades.

Be very clear on exactly what they get in the free session:

• The engagement session (I recommend putting a time limit on it such as an hour or two)
• Online viewing gallery to see all the professionally edited images from their session
• Includes one high-resolution digital file of their choice (I like to mention that this is great to use for their save the date or invitations)
• They have the option to upgrade. I suggest creating two upgrade options: one cheaper option that they can purchase additional photos and one option where they can purchase the full gallery.

RUN SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK ADS TO GET MORE PHOTOGRAPHY CLIENTS

The next step to getting photography clients is creating ads to run on Facebook and/or Instagram.

Test out images:

You may think you know the one image that couples are going to be attracted to. And you could be right. But when you are creating Instagram and Facebook ads, I highly suggest testing out several different images. Maybe close-up images where you can feel the intimacy connect more to your audience? Maybe zoomed out images where you can see the whole landscape are more enticing?

Be clear and concise with your ad copy.

In as few words as possible you want to make sure that people know exactly what you are offering in your ad. Be sure to include the following key points:

• Who this offer is for
• What you are offering (a free session)
• Why you are offering this
• What are the limits on the offer (only 5 couples)

Narrow down your target audience.

The Facebook and Instagram ad manager allows you to define your target market. Do NOT let them define it for you. Do some research and thinking about who exactly you should be targeting with this offer (think back to your ideal client). Here are some ways you can narrow down the targeting for your ads:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Interests
• Relationship Status

DESIGN AN EFFECTIVE LANDING PAGE FOR YOUR FACEBOOK ADS

You have your ads created, now you need to create a landing page for people who click on that ad. You are not going to be effective with getting new photography clients using Facebook ads if you don’t have a strategy for what to do after they click the ad. I highly recommend creating a separate page on your website dedicated to these free engagement sessions. Do not just link the ad to your contact page or your engagement portfolio page. You need to be very clear on reiterating the offer and telling them the next step – applying for the free session! Here are the sections you need to include on your landing page:

• Examples of your work: Thee couples need to know what type of photos they can expect.
• Explain why you are offering this free engagement session
• Tell them who this offer is for (ie. fun and adventurous engages couples)
• Outline exactly what the offer includes: The session, an online gallery of the final phots, one high-resolution digital image and the opportunity to upgrade to more images.
• Reiterate the sense of urgency
• Contact/application form: This needs to include their name, email address, a little bit of info about them, their phone number and the best time to connect with them on the phone.

THE PHONE CALL

Why do I think a phone call is necessary to make this successful? Getting on the phone shows the couple that you are just a real human being who is looking to help them out.

I already know what you’re thinking – I can’t get on the phone with these people and sell them on this! Friend, calm down and take a step back because you CAN do this. Let me show you how.

First off, remember that they chose to reach out to you in the first place. Many times when I was first learning to sell and get on the phone with potential clients, I felt like I really had to sell them on it. You don’t! You simply put an offer out there and they were the ones to click the ad and reach out. Now, you are just simply giving them all the information and asking them the magic question: “Does that sound like it would be a good fit for you?”

Another thing that always held me up on phone calls and “selling” to clients was the feeling like I was hiding something from them. That is why I suggest being extremely transparent from the get-go. You already explained that the free engagement session includes one digital photo and the option to upgrade. All you need to do is be open and honest about exactly how the free session works, how they benefit from it and the options they have.

I suggest writing a script or outline for yourself that you can walk through as you are on the phone with these couples. This will help calm your nerves and make sure you ask all the right questions and don’t leave out any information.

Here is the outline of how your phone conversation can go:

Get To Know Them.

Start off with small talk to get to know them. Hopefully you asked at least one question on your application form that gives you a little insight into who these people are. Did they tell you that they love to go to the movies? Then ask them what their favorite movie is they’ve seen lately. Maybe they mentioned they have a dog? Ask them what kind of dog, how old is he/she and tell them about your dog.

Walk them through your photography style and what is included in the free engagement session.

This is where you need to be completely transparent with what’s included in the session. You should mention that they get one high resolution photo from the session. Highlight that they get to go through the full photo gallery and choose the image they like best. I like to mention that this image can be used for their save the date or invitation. Mention that if they decide they like more than one image then that can purchase additional images for $X or the full gallery for $X (be sure to state the actual prices so you are not hiding information from them).

Ask the magic question.

You have gotten to know them a little and started building a relationship. You gave them more info on your photography style and exactly what to expect from the free engagement session. Now you only have to ask one magic question: “Does that sound like it would be a good fit for you?”. If they say yes, them move to the next step. If they say no, then say that’s totally ok and thank them for their time.

Finalize the details and provide next steps.

If they answered yes to the magic question, then you are good to move forward. You will want to finalize the date and location of their session. Then give them the next steps to expect during this process (you’ll email them a contract and confirmation of the session).

WOW THEM WITH YOUR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Now you are going to love on, support and help this couple just like you would with any of your other ones. Give them the absolute best experience with you by doing the following:

• Under-promise and over-deliver
• Answer questions before they are asked
• Take time to actually get to know your client

For more detailed information on this topic head to this blog post all about creating customer service that leads to referrals.

DELIVER THE PHOTO AND OFFER THE UPGRADE

You have wowed this couple with your customer service and had an awesome engagement session with them. You just put the finishing touches on editing their photos and uploaded them to an online gallery. Now, you need to make sure your gallery settings are correct:

• Be sure that digital download of photos is turned OFF
• I strongly encourage watermark your images in the gallery. My gallery platform has a setting that you can automatically turn on watermarks for specific galleries. That saves you time so you don’t have to export photos from Lightroom with a watermark.

Now you are going to email the couple their preview gallery. Here are some key points to include in your email:

• Provide a link to their online preview gallery
• Ask them to select their favorite photo so you can send them the high-resolution file of that photo as soon as possible
• Offer them the upgrade options
• Thank them for trusting you to photograph their relationship

BAM! That is the method for getting your next photography client using Facebook ads. Remember that not everyone who applies for the free engagement session will work out. And not everyone who books a free session will upgrade – at least you gained more experience and have updated photos for your portfolio! I promise that if you provide the ones that do book a free session with you an amazing experience, you have a high chance of upgrading them to the full package, becoming the photographer they refer others too and possibly being their photographer again in the future!