Are you using PR to promote your photography business? By that I mean…

  • are you proactively building relationships with journalists and other influencers?
  • are you focused on getting featured in magazines, newspapers, online, on podcasts, radio or TV?
  • are you sharing news and stories about you and your photography services with the media?

If no, and the idea of PR to promote your photography business is new to you, then fair enough! If that’s the case, I’ve written this article. It explains what PR is and would be a useful read in order to get clued up on the basics. (I’ve also written many other articles on the subject of PR too). 

But let’s presume that you are aware of what PR is. Surely then, you’ve realised that PR could potentially put you and your business in front of thousands of potential customers? Just imagine what that might mean in terms of sales!

So then, what’s stopping you?

PR is an effective and free way to promote your business

Often PR is an underused aspect of marketing, but I really believe that more photography business owners could, and should, be including PR in their overall marketing strategy.

After all, the barriers to entry are relatively low and the potential rewards are great!

PR can help you to:

  • build awareness of your photography services
  • reach new audiences
  • build credibility and the all-important know, like and trust factor
  • establish your reputation
  • stand out from your competitors
  • attract customers
  • make enquiries and sales.

Seriously, what’s not to love?

[Tweet “Media publicity is valuable exposure for you and your business”]

Have you been putting PR off?

If your perfect photography clients don’t know that you exist – who you are, what you do and how you can help them – then you’re potentially leaving money on the table.

Fear and self-doubt are among the common reasons why business owners don’t use PR.

Of course, it’s completely normal for all of us to feel self-doubt at times. But if you’re letting self-doubt stop you from promoting yourself, you’re missing out on free opportunities to build awareness of yourself and your photography business.

You’re not doing the very things that could help to move your business forward and to achieveing your goals.

Related reading: Why and how to set strategic goals for your photography business

Common reasons why business owners don’t use PR

If you’re reading this and thinking, ‘Yep, that’s why I haven’t tried PR’, then you’ll probably have told yourself some of these lies:

  • I’m an introvert – I couldn’t possibly pitch myself to the media
  • I’m not an expert – other people in my industry know more than me
  • My business isn’t worthy of being featured in the media / No-one wants to hear what I’ve got to say
  • I don’t have interesting to share / My story isn’t unique
  • I haven’t been in business long enough / I don’t have enough clients yet / I haven’t made enough money yet
  • I haven’t got the right contacts – journalists don’t know me who I am so I haven’t got a chance of them featuring me
  • PR doesn’t work – I’ve tried it before but didn’t get anything from it. It’s a waste of time.

Why are you not using PR

If so, then let me tell you this…

Your fears and doubts are in your head

If you’ve told yourself that you’re introverted so you can’t approach the media, or that you are not an expert and so you don’t deserve to be featured, you’re wrong!

Being introverted should not stop you from promoting your business.

Related reading: Self promotion tips for introverted photographers

While you may not have gone into business seeking the limelight, the hard truth is that self-promotion is actually a vital part of being in business. Without a steady stream of enquiries and sales, you have a hobby, not a business.

If you can, you really must try to fight and resist the negativity – those voices in your head that tell you that you aren’t good enough or don’t deserve recognition for what you do.

You ARE an expert. You know your stuff and people are interested in you what you have to share and in what you know.

You need to try and promote your business with confidence. Be brave and make small steps every day. It could result in you achieving the PR mentions that you never thought possible, and who knows what could come from that!

Journalists are ALWAYS looking for a story

If you have told yourself that journalists won’t want to hear from you, again, you’re wrong! They have column inches or airtime slots to fill, and they have an audience to satisfy.

Which means that they are always keen to hear from PRs like me and business owners like you. After all, we can potentially provide them with the next BIG story.

Most journalists are just an email, or a tweet, away. So, go on. Look for relevant journalists contacts online (Twitter is a great resource for this), or find their details inside the publication itself if it’s a newspaper or magazine.

Securing media coverage for your business can be achieved, sometimes, quite easily. The important thing is that you take that important first step.

How to PR your business

There are several ways to go about securing publicity for your business.

  1. You can be proactive – submitting your news directly to a journalist.
  2. Or, perhaps easier still, you be reactive. You can use tools like the journorequest hashtag on Twitter to discover what journalists are actively looking for. 
  3. Thirdly, you can use topical news to your advantage and shoehorn your way into the current news agenda.

In this article, I talk in more detail about these three methods of getting publicity for your photography business. Which, if any, have you tried so far?

Start using PR tactics today and reap the benefits!

Honestly, PR is not rocket science, and photography business owners like you are, right now, reaping the rewards of using PR. So there’s really no reason why you can’t be doing the same.

I strongly believe that using PR to promote your business should be on your to-do list.

Don’t ever think that by contacting journalists you are being a pest! They need a constant stream of news, from companies large and small, in order to do their jobs. Your news could be exactly what they are looking for.

And, believe me, it is so satisfying if you get the result you are after! I love nothing more than the buzz of securing media coverage for my photographer clients – it’s literally an addictive high!

Start using PR to promote your photography business

If you’re not yet using PR to promote your photography business, I hope this encouraged you to consider giving it a go?

I’d love to see you using PR to its full potential as the opportunities are there for you to grab with both hands!

Let me know in the comments below if and where you’ve been featured in the media and if not, what is stopping you.

If you are interested in working with me to develop your PR strategy, please get in touch via this form.  

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