Marketing For Sports Photographers

Throughout the off season I get asked the same question nearly every day. How can I get more leagues? Regardless of what you see and hear, there is no marketing silver bullet when it comes to T&I picture days. There certainly are some very knowledgeable people on the subject of marketing to youth sports leagues but there is no "one size fits all" answer to what works.

Here in Part 1 of our Thursday marketing skills thought bubble we are going to cover the most basic principles of attracting new business. Before marketing can begin a certain amount of knowledge must be gained. We start with knowing your competition, knowing your target and most importantly knowing yourself.

Know your competition

I hear you; "Yeah, duh". But seriously, the number of people that can't answer any questions at all about their competition just stuns me. What do you know about your competition? Their names? That's a great first start, but what do you know about their business? What are their prices like? What types of products do they offer? Do they use a lot of borders? Are they printing inkjet or dye sub? How do they schedule their picture days? How are deliveries handled? How do they handle kick backs (or whatever you want to call them)? You need to know as much about your main competitors as you do about yourself. You aren't looking to copy what they are doing, you are looking for ways to be better than they are.

If they have a website find it. Go there and look at all of the sample galleries that you can find. How do you stack up against them? Do they over promise the quality of their photography and under deliver results? If they offer online sales look through those galleries as well. Check any pricing information that is made available. If there are downloads, download them. Study as much about the competition as you can find. I have gone so far as to take my little nephew to his team picture day to observe how that photographer operated on site and to lay hands on firm pricing information (yes, I got that job the very next year). Acquire as much information as you can and use it to better your own position, not to copy theirs.

Oh, and while you are looking at their website, if they offer online sales write down any league names that you come across. No, really. All's fair in love, war and business. Don't pass up a lead just because you think you should. That information is freely available so you should freely take it.

Know your market

Yes, another no brainer that most can't answer. Name for me the top 20 organizations that you are targeting. Can you do it? I can name for you every organization worth having in my own target market of Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana. I know most of them by heart but have all of them in a database. Who are the big guys? How many kids do they have? Where are they located? Who shot their pictures last year and what do we know about them? If you can't answer these questions you need to stop right now. Collect this information from organization websites (Google youth sports and your zip code), city recreation departments, notice boards at any major youth athletic complex or from talking to the mom down the street. Identify the available organizations near you and then rank them in terms of importance to you. Then and only then do you begin to seek business.

Know your own business

I got a 5 page email from a person* that went on and on about the troubles that she had in attracting business. She is a wedding photographer and heard at a seminar that there was easy money to be made on team picture day. She had business cards printed up and suddenly she was a sports shooter. She didn't make it past question 1 but we went to question 2 as well. She could only name 2. She spent hundreds of dollars on post cards targeting not one single group**. She lumped products (samples that a large sports lab had sent to her)*** and pricing on there without knowing anything at all about where that would place her in the eyes of the organizations that she knew nothing at all about.

First things first. Develop your style. I don't just mean posing. Are you going to offer plain prints or will you rely on custom products? How will you handle league ransom, I mean kickbacks. No, COMMISSIONS. Are your products set? Develop your entire product catalog now so that you are confident in a league presentation that you can answer questions without referring to sheets or notes. Develop the sample boards (more on this one in Part 3) that will wow any group and swing the tide in your favor.

Do you have to best product in your market? I know that is a subjective question, but do you believe that you do? If you don't have that confidence in yourself a league director will have a hard time finding it for you.

Develop your workflow

How will you take these great images and turn them in to fabulous products that your customers will simply have to have? There are an awful lot of options here. From using Photoshop Elements all the way up to my favorite, ExpressDigital. Determine how you want to work, determine your desire to offer online sales for reorders and then practice your workflow until it just happens for you. Constantly retooling your work habits will delay your work and will cost you money. We will cover more on this later.
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*No, this person was not a customer of my lab. For every 10 emails that I get from customers I get 1 from non-customers seeking support or advice. I will usually always give whatever assistance I can unless the person is just rude or disrespectful.
**More on this next week in Part 2.
***Never, ever, ever do this. If you didn't shoot it, you don't show it as your own.

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