20 Places to Find Family and Children Photography Clients
Why does it seem like some photographers are always booked with photography clients, and others aren’t? The most simple answer is, running a photography business takes a lot more than just posting on social media and hoping the potential photography clients are going to find you. Running a photography business really is a lot of work. You have to show up, every single day.
As tempting as it sounds, we don’t want everyone as a client.
You do need to think about who your ideal client would be. Think of it like, who are your friends? Why are you friends and what do you like doing together?
Who would you feel most comfortable relating to?
I created an ideal client worksheet, to help you sit down and really figure out who your ideal client would be. You can get that worksheet in my freebies section.
This post contains affiliate links. You may read my affiliate disclaimer here.20 Places to Find Family and Children Photography Clients
Daycare
Do your own kids go to a daycare or do you know of daycares that are near you? Make a flier that offers an exclusive mini session for the daycare families. List out what they will get with the session as well as a special price just for them. Of course add in examples of your work too, and a way to contact you. Most daycares have a bulletin board near their front door for news and announcements for parents. Take the flier to the daycare and ask if you can hang it on their board!
You can make these fliers easily in the free version of Canva!
Church
Just like with daycares, churches have bulletin boards too!
Sports Functions
This could be anything sports related within your community. Go and take photos of the event and then post them in an online album like Shootproof or Pixieset for people to download them.
School Functions
The same concept would apply here just like with sports functions. However, please don’t just go to random schools and take photos of their events. If your own child is participating then absolutely take photos for the parents to download!
Referral incentives from past clients
This is something you can start at any point in your business. You can offer a free mini session to clients that have had so many full priced with you, or offer free prints and products.
Library
I honestly did not know until recently that my community library has the amazing space that they utilize for events. It’s sort of like a community center for the town. And even better, local residents can use it for free! If you have something like this, ask if you can place a flier in the facility!
Your own children’s friends
My youngest daughter is a senior in high school this year. It makes me sad to type that! However, because she has so many friends, I have been booking so many senior sessions with them! Bonus, we have only lived in this current town for 6 years, so she still has her childhood friends from our previous community as well!
Obviously you aren’t limited to senior sessions, but over the years I have had many shoots with her and her friends. Playing dress up when they were younger, and hanging out at their favorite spots as teens. Send the parents these pictures! They will post them and tag you!
Your Family
Ask your family to share your social media accounts and pass out business cards
Family/Children Events
This could be your local fairs, car shows, festivals, etc. Use the same concept as above, post the images in an online album for them to download.
Facebook Groups
This one you really do need to read the rules of your local facebook groups. A lot of them do have a rule that you can’t advertise. You can use other platforms like the Nextdoor app.
Current Clients
When I am getting ready to send my clients their images for download, I have an email that goes out to them first. It goes over a few reminders of what they can and can’t do with their images once they have them. But I also have an exclusive offer in that email. If they book their next session within 24 hours of that email being sent, they get 30% off that session fee.
Parks
Personally I have never done this, but I have heard of photographers gaining a lot of clients from this strategy. They go to a busy park, set up in one spot, and ask if the families would like to have their photos taken. You collect their email and send them the link to download their photos. Of course you would give them all of your information about your sessions as well.
Veterinarian office
If you are a pet photographer, ask your local vet offices if you can hang your images in their office and exam rooms. You can attach business cards to the frames for potential clients to take with them!
Run a contest
There are so many ways you can do this:
Have your social media audience post content and use a hashtag to tag that content, you pick a random winner
Voting contest
Post a photo and have your audience caption it, the best one wins
Simple and easy - offer a free mini, enter their name, draw the winner out of a hat
Make sure whatever platform you use to run the contest, you read their rules and regulations on running the contest.
Email marketing
Email marketing is something you should be setting up soon after starting your photography business. This is a great way to send out weekly or monthly newsletters to your clients and potential clients to keep you on their radar. They may not need your services at that moment, but will keep your name in mind for future reference. You can use a platform like Mailerlite. It is very user friendly and free for up to 1,000 subscribers!
Hair stylists
Ask your local hair stylists if you can trade business info to give out to clients! Make a special business card that has an exclusive session discount to give to them to pass out, as well as you pass out their business card to your clients.
Teach your expertise
This is a great way to find new clients! You can teach basic photography skills to kids! I have done this with my local 4H clubs. I taught a 6 week course on the very basics of photography. Our very last class we had an art show where we would print off the best images that the kids took and displayed them for their family to come and enjoy. We had snacks and drinks and got to know everyone. It was so fun!
Go Live
One small reason that people hesitate to book a session is they don’t know what it’s like to have a session with you. And this isn’t something obvious that they even think about. Giving them a behind the scenes look at your process will seem more inviting to them when they get a chance to see who you are.
Volunteer
You can volunteer your services with almost anything! Local pet shelters, community events, shows, etc. The list is endless! Check out upcoming events near you and ask if they need volunteer photography services. Just getting out there as much as possible gets your business name seen and heard and people will get to know who you are and book you for your photography services!
What are some ways that you have used to gain more photography clients? I’d love to hear about them! Tell me in the comments below!
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