Quote Originally Posted by Tracy68 View Post
After reading the additional comments I think I'm a bit on the fence now that we seem to be discussing Facebook.
I see the pro's and the cons.
I suppose my argument would be that there are some really talented people out there who aren't necessarily loaded with money and there are some pretty rich flashy folk with all the bells and whistles websites- top of the line camera gear etc who aren't necessarily the best photographers.
The proof lies in examples of their work, doesn't it and what your specific need is?
Yes. And in most cases the only difference between a photographer who is very well skilled up and has the gear charging $5000 to shoot a wedding as opposed to $15000 is marketing. The $15k one markets themselves as being the best, offering the best, they push towards the upper end of the wedding market, etc. I have a friend in the UK who charges 100,000.00 Pound to shoot a wedding. He does between 5-10 weddings a year. That is it! That is his job. He markets himself to the upper class, and does this so very well. Is his photography great? it sure is! Is it better than a 20,000 pound wedding photographer, not really! So why can he charge as he does...marketing! He has his entire business plan based around marketing to one demographic..the wealthy!

Part of your decision to go professional is working our who your clients will be. People from the suburbs generally will not pay $100K for a wedding, some will pay $5-$10K, yet others are looking for someone for $1k. Once a wedding photographer knows which demographic they want as their customers, they then can start looking at best way to market to this demographic. And work out how many weddings a year they need to do to meet their income targets etc.

Now I know you did say you did not want to shoot weddings etc, but it is a good example to use. Whatever genres you choose, you need to know who will be buying your work, what their incomes might be, so how much they would pay, and then you use that as part of your budget planning, when working out what to charge, how to get people to become your clients/buyers. No use advertising in "Country Estates" magazine, if your target clients read "Who". You need to know who your clients will be and market to them.

As Steve says above " If you want to communicate with people, then you need to use the media that the most people use". This is part and parcel of working out what you want your business to be, and who your clients will be. And then making them aware you exist.