Transcription
It drives me insane that in 2025, most photographers are marketing themselves like it's 2015. I'm giving you 10 do this today moves to get you in front of luxury clients and wedding planners fast. And if you stick around, at least through tactic number five, I'll show you how photographers in my mastermind are turning these tips into 10 to $20,000 bookings and how you can apply for that mastermind. No, I did not make my bed. Sorry. [Music]
I started my business in a recession and I had no ad budget and no audience. But I built a demand with clever free organic marketing tactics. My mastermind members are using those right now and I'm giving them to you for free. So grab a pen.
Number one, post five vendor tagged photos right away. Make sure that you are posting shots that these vendors worked on and are showing up in. Tag the vendors in the caption and tag them in the image. Location tag the venue and send a collaborator invite to those vendors so the post appears on their feed as well to their followers. Now, most photographers don't go through the trouble of doing all these things at all, but it's absolute gold and will get you seen. Very, very important. And then of course you could DM them the link to all the photos from that job. DM it to them and then of course you know I'll show you how that link becomes a lead generator in tactic number three.
Number two, warm up three planners. Don't like pitch them right away. Don't like cold DM them. Just email three local planners a specific compliment. Be a human being. Please don't be disingenuous. And then one portfolio image of yours that matches their brand style. Maybe you want to like use a line like if you ever wanted a tiny planner friendly image set for your deck, I'd love to send you one. And then of course, we will convert those warm intros into a soft pitch. So, you know what to say to wedding planners. I'm getting to that in tactic number six.
Number three, turn vendor shares into a lead generator, fulfilling kind of what number one is doing here, but create a vendor landing page for each event with a simple headline. Vendor gallery with a venue/planner downloading credit. Get downloads with an email. So you can, you know, have access to an email and that's how they get to your online gallery, but of course gives all the vendors credit and it's doubling as a landing page, giving you a search engine optimization boost. So while yes, I do believe that you should Instagram message them or Tik Tok message them so you can develop that connection on social media, sending them to a landing page will then help your search engine optimization. And then of course you get the link there to look up, you know, share all the gallery photos and then you can send them a follow-up email saying, "Hey, did you want help?" We can do a custom set for your next style concept. You can maybe even offer to photograph details at their next event for them. Lots of places you can go with this once you've made that initial connection and given them value.
Tactic number six, let's digress for a bit. Fix your Instagram bio so you're findable. Make sure your name is in the field. You're going to have something like Austin wedding photographer. Your bio is really important. It needs to talk about the kind of photography that you do. Something, I don't know, timeless, joyful imagery, Austin destination weddings. And then making sure you're utilizing your highlights. You can have testimonials in your highlights. You can show off your portfolio in your highlights and maybe even some of the behind the scenes of the work that you do, but make it like a mini website.
Number five, post luxury style carousels. Now, think about the way that you post online. Carousels are kind of king, but you want to have a cohesive edit from most of your wedding and lead with the strongest vertical because that's what's going to get the attention. Think about what you're putting in the caption. Have a hook there, a micro story, an experience, and then some kind of call to action. Planning a wedding? Inquire by commenting blank below or DMing me. Check my date, you know, whatever it is. This sort of automated system is what I encourage my mastermind students to do and it helps them funnel leads really easily and most importantly automatically. My mastermind helps with pricing and positioning, branding and developing those relationships with other wedding vendors. All things that create marketing momentum to book really high-end weddings or just steady weddings so you have the paycheck. So, if you're serious about upping your wedding photography game, you can apply for my mastermind. It's not just for luxury photographers, by the way. It's for all photographers, portraits, weddings, corporate. I I've helped so many photographers really launch their success with this program, and I want to help you.
Here's where you soft pitch planners. Maybe you send them an email or an Instagram message that says, "Hey, I thought this would fit your aesthetic." And you give them a little bit of a compliment. You link to a 12 image planner kit just like showing off what you've done when the two of you together working with you know maybe some behind the-scenes photos and you know final photos and hopefully you have some of those photos of them while you were working together and just say like hey I got this for you complimentary so you have fresh visuals we all need fresh visuals now if you haven't worked with them before don't worry about that you can easily just give them generic things that you think will be helpful granted don't give them things that like other planners have done.
Number seven, send them another message and ask them after you've delivered the gallery, say, "Hey, have you posted any images from the gallery yet? I wrote a really easy copy and paste caption and credit lines if that's helpful for you. You could take it another step further and even offer to write them a blog post or a landing page. Any planner is going to love you taking some of the work off of their plate." And this is not just limited to planners. You can do this with florists and venues, hair and makeup people, whatever it is that you want to do. and whoever you specifically want to connect to. And ultimately, if you want to write a piece after you do this work for them, you could say something like, "I would love to talk about working more weddings with you. Can we chat about that and how can we help each other, you know, reach our goals?"
Number eight, which is your Google business and your vendor reviews and your photos on their Google listings. So, any job that you have worked, select your best photos that showcase their product. Post a review about their services with photos of their work. So, if it's a florist, post the florals. If it's an invitation designer, post the invitation photos. Try to leave, well, do leave a very detailed review, fivestar, for your favorite vendors. Don't do it for people don't like. And of course, mention the venue and the city in your review. You want your actual review to be search engine optimized for you. I know this is this is a lot. This is a lot to think about, but it really does help make a difference and it gets you seen in more places. Plus, it's just good relationship building. And on other wedding vendors, Google listings, it's going to help boost their presence as well. After you've left them a review, don't just leave it there. Send them an Instagram, Tik Tok message, send them an email, and just say, "Hey, you know, I just sent you a review. No need to reciprocate, but I wanted to just give you some of the images that show off your amazing work, and people are going to see it when they look you up on Google." Both going to boost both of our search engine optimizations. Hope you enjoy.
Now, tactic number nine I hinted at before, but do this on purpose. Shoot at least one BTS photo of every vendor at a wedding. It takes like what? 2 seconds. You could do it with, you know, your camera as a photo or even a video. You're not taking any extra time. You know, it takes 2 seconds as a photographer. You're already taking pictures. Just like snap, get a vendor in there. Then you can take that BTS photo video. You can create social media content for that vendor. We all hate social media. So do they you or you can just send them the photo and video content you created and say something along the lines of here's what it's like to work with us. Maybe even pitch them doing a full branding shoot if that's something you want to do. Or just use it as good relationship building and then, you know, sharing and hopefully doing a collaborative post on social media or talking about maybe doing a vendor highlight with those photos on your website and then you could do the landing page and then show them the landing page. You see how the the circle really goes here? It it keeps going.
Number 10, mine at local groups but without being spam. I mean, there are so many groups on Facebook and on other forms of social media that all have to do with weddings. So, find them. Join them and then be helpful. Don't spam your information. None of that. Just be helpful. Give tips. Maybe if you have a couple posts saying, "Hey, we can just, I don't know, booked this venue." You'd send them a gallery of the venue. It's, you know, probably not as spammy because it's helpful, right? Versus like, "Hey, look at me." Um, or if you don't even want to do that, just mention to them, "Hey, I've shot there before. Happy to send you a gallery. Just let me know if you want me to send it to you because I don't want to spam you with that if you know you're not interested. So, there's lots of ways. Just again, be a human being. Be just helpful. And you know, all of the stuff that I've been telling you, it's all really helpful, especially if you're just getting out there organically.
That was a lot. That is your 10step 2025 2026 gorilla marketing checklist with every promise they're delivered. You know, do these. Spend time doing these. Dedicate time every single week to doing things like this and you are really going to see your business getting in front of more planners, more wedding venues, more clients and other photographers who are just burning cash on ads. You know, they're not building these solid relationships, you are. If you want the full system, just because you know I just blabbed at you for 10 minutes, but if you want the real thing when it comes to pricing and branding, marketing, how to be the photographer that clients really want, how to network at these events and networking parties and, you know, how to raise your bottom line, just apply to my mastermind. I've been doing this for so long, it's legit. I've helped so many photographers just grow leaps and bounds. Use the link below. Make this year the year you stop chasing and start attracting. And you can start with these 10 tips I gave you. Market with intent.