As a business coach for wedding photographers, I get asked all of the time: “Where do your wedding photography leads and clients come from and how can I get more wedding photography clients?” After answering these questions over and over in various mentoring sessions, I finally decided to create a blog post that explains where our wedding photography leads and clients come from.
The truth is, our clients come in through 5 main sources. These are tried and true and are authentic and easy ways to generate leads to your business. Hopefully, this article will inspire you into action that resonates with you.
How to get more wedding photography clients
1.Search Engine (BLOG!):
Almost 90% of our clients come from our organic search! Over the last year’s we’ve consistently blogged once to twice a month and over time google and other search engines start to recognize our site as a tried and true source for people searching for photographers. and SEO, we don’t do any paid advertising). We write blogs that are current, helpful, informative, and relevant to our wedding photography clients or coaching clients, (such as this blog post!). Most of our posts are just photos from recent sessions we photographed but also posts that are relevant to our wedding clients are one’s such as: How to Plan an Elopement, Where to Elope Near Buffalo, New York, Where to Elope in the Adirondacks, Where to Elope in the Catskills and Hudson Valley. help bring potential clients in that may be looking in that area. These are just some examples of content you could share that could be helpful to potential wedding and elopement leads. This establishes trust in you while also showing off your beautiful imagery and letting the clients get to know you more!
2. Referrals from Past Clients
Referrals from our past clients are the second way we get more wedding photography leads and bookings! How do you get a good referral?
- Our secret is to underpromise and always over-deliver. We go above and beyond to make our clients feel special, (because they truly are)! And we make sure they know how appreciative we are of them after we deliver the photos with a thank you. You can go further and give a after booking or after-session gift. (When we photographed weddings we would always give an after-booking gift like cookies from a local bakery or a gift card to our favorite local restaurant).
- After the delivery of photos ask clients to leave you a review on your Google business page. (Don’t have a Google business profile yet? You should! See our #1 way to attract new clients above to know why!)
3. Referrals from Other Wedding Photographers in the industry:
When we were first starting out, this was the biggest way we got new wedding leads. We connected with other like-minded wedding photographers in the industry and passed them weddings when we were booked for dates. As a sign of appreciation, they started to refer us to weddings they were already booked for as well. Now that we photograph fewer weddings per year, our calendar isn’t as booked. We’re unable to refer as many clients to other photographers, and in return, our referral rate from other photographers has also dropped. Those photographers with our same experience are also taking on fewer weddings or hiring associates to take on extra work.
4. Referrals from Other Small Businesses:
In the last 12 years, we’ve formed genuine business connections with other wedding professionals. This includes wedding planners, florists, and other local businesses that we admire, who refer us to their friends and family. This might soon jump to our number 3 way to get new clients as we’ve been investing more in our community over the past few years! Connecting with other like-minded business owners that also have similar visions and esthetics as yourself can prove very valuable! Get involved in your community business groups and start developing relationships with business owners you admire. This helps expand your network larger.
5. Social Media including Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook:
When we first started our business over 12 years ago, Facebook used to be the #1 way we booked new clients, (which also intersected with referrals from past clients posting our photos), but since they have changed their algorithm, it just doesn’t work the same. Now we use a combination of Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to share recent blog posts with the world and between those three, we tend to book 2-3 additional weddings or coaching clients per year with consistent sharing. Even though social media is constantly updated the way it works, it still should be something you tend to with updated imagery so that if someone happens to find you through there, they know you exist still! Be sure to tag the location of where you are shooting as future clients often look up those tags when they are dreaming up where they want photos taken and we are often found that way!
