Commercial Photographer: Your Guide to Marketing, Creativity and Growth

If you think anyone could be your client, your marketing ends up sounding like everyone else's, and nobody listens. This conversation is about fixing that for a brand photographer, starting with a question most photographers never ask about their own client list.

You'll hear the two things that make a client worth having, why the size of your target market matters more than you'd think, and how a bit of invention helps you write content that lands with the right people. There's also a look at where to find them, and how answering this one question has helped bring in real work.

Once you know who your ideal client is, the next question is how you treat them. How Is the Customer Experience for Your Customers? loops back to where this all started.

Emma runs Natural Aspect — a business that has changed name and focus more times than most, partly because Emma is part of a military family that moves regularly.

Marcus and Sam talk to Emma about rebranding around a Welsh mountain, why LinkedIn beats TikTok for her clients, and the charity work she now considers some of the most rewarding photography she does.

• How a rebrand done from the mountains in Wales shaped Natural Aspect’s name and logo
• Why Emma was dragged onto TikTok — and why LinkedIn is where her actual clients are
• Adapting a 17-18 year career around military relocations
• The remembrance photography Emma provides for families through bereavement charities
• Her honest answer to “should you ever shoot for a charity for free?”

A business built on reinvention, and a reminder that not all client work is about the money.

Brand identity comes up from another angle in Don't Be a Generalist: The Secret to Building a Premium Commercial Photography Identity — a photographer on refusing to be a generalist.

Marcus talks about repetition in this show. Repetition was acore part of the five Rs show which you can listen to here.

Marcus has recently been to a Martin Parr talk. What Marcus found is that Martin has done huge amounts of fashion photography, which he wasn’t very aware of. Marcus explains that this is partly because he does what Marcus talked about in another recent episode alternative genres.
To recap the previous episode the 5 rules of creativity in photography are

1. Research
2. Rules
3. Repetition
4. Reflection
5. Rest

Marcus in this show focusses on repetition. Repetition splits down into three areas

1. Learning
2. Improving
3. Diversifying
   

Learning
If you are learning photography, it is best to photograph things that you can go back to again and again. So something at the bottom of the garden rather that what you see on holiday. This also means you are focussing on the mundane, so you have to try to make it interesting. Marcus says take a picture, look at it reflect on it, then take it again. Keeping repeating, reflecting and learning. Marcus says this idea works just as well for more experienced photographers. Marcus thinks this is a great way to get to know your kit and getting to know shutter speeds, apertures and more.

Improving
If you are an improving photographer you want to go an photograph things multiple times. Thinking about varied weather, varied times of day, varied lighting conditions. Marcus says when you repeat things you are growing theconnections in your brain. But it’s important that critical reflection is combined with repetition.

Diversifying

There is a style of photography where photographers photograph something again and again in a very similar way, this is called Typology. Bernt and Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, Lewis Baltz are all photographers who have used this. They tend to photograph a series ofphotos of something similar. Edward Munch’s the Scream is a block print that works in a similar way. As a photography example the Bechers were photographing gas tanks over time. Years apart but from the same position and with the same weather so they are very similar shots.  

Once the habit's built, the next question is what to actually show for it. Your Photography Portfolio picks up from there.

Robin Thompson calls himself an “IT stress reliever” — he and his wife Helen run an IT support business for small and medium companies, built after they both took voluntary redundancy at the same time.

Sam and Robin dig into the IT basics photographers tend to overlook: professional email, backups that cover more than just your photos, and why a Mac doesn’t make you immune to viruses.

• Why a Gmail or Hotmail address quietly undermines how professional your business looks
• What email spoofing is, and how proper email scanning stops it
• Why Macs still need third-party antivirus software
• What actually needs backing up beyond your photos — emails, invoices, contacts
• How Robin and Helen went from redundancy to running their own IT business together

If your business IT is a source of stress rather than something you never think about, this is the fix.

IT and tools go together — Which Business Apps will help your business? widens that out to the specific apps that actually help run a photography business.

Zoe Hiljemark is a PR and marketing consultant who worksjust with photographers. She has spent twenty years in PR, ten of those working with photographers.  She leverages PRcontent and SEO to promote photographers.
Back when Zoe became a mother she wanted baby photographs. So she got a photoshoot with Karen Wiltshire. Zoe got on well with Karen and the ideas went from there. Zoe realised Karen’s work was amazing but could reach many more people. So Zoe started working with Karen and then moved on to working with other photographers. The business grew from there and Zoe ended up just workingwith photographers. Zoe now works with all sorts of different photographers which she enjoys. She has a niche now and recommends niches for other businesses.

Sam asks if Zoe is getting photographers photographs in thepress, or them and their services in the press. Zoe says it’s largely about getting them and their business into the press. Marcus wonders if particular magazines are good for particular niches. Zoe says that it depends on the client and their niche. But it’s largely not about photography magazines, but magazines read by their ideal client. Sharing photos to be used in the press is also a great way to get your images seen.

 Sam and Zoe discuss how important it is to know your target audience. Without this it is hard to know where to put your PR efforts. It takes a lot of time and effort to get into the press, so ensure when you get this you use it. Keep sharing it on social media, feature it on your website and keep talking about it.

Marcus asks if this is about making the photographer thestar. Some photographers are not very keen on this and like to hide behind the camera. But PR is about being visible. Zoe thinks that PR is under-used by photographers, but to use it you have to share something about yourself.
Zoe talks about how photographers could improve their websites sharing information about a photoshoot and the story behind it, not just share the images. All of the work the photographer has put into this photoshoot needs to be shared.

Marcus asks about the challenges working with photographers on PR. Zoe says first of all they need to be in the right mindset. Also they can respond quickly to opportunities. The press may need images or a story veryquickly so if a photographer is not keeping an eye on messages then they might miss the opportunity. Having a press pack ready is really useful. That means a pre-written bio and some headshots and other images.  It’s essential that photographers have good headshots and lifestyle images of themselves. These can be done reciprocally with other photographers.

Zoe says PR is not spin, just being seen in the right light.
Sam brings back the topic of niches and the worry people have when niching as people feel that they are cutting off a major group of clients. But if you don’t niche you can easily confuse clients with your messaging. When you have aniche, marketing becomes easier as you know who you are speaking to. This makes it easier to create content and posts that engage with your audience.

Keep an ear out for Zoe. She reappears as a returning guest in The 100th Episode of Shoot to the Top, a milestone special worth going back for.

The SEO series wraps up with the part most photographers skip: what actually needs fixing on your own website once the planning and the external work are done.

Marcus and Sam run through the on-site checklist that decides whether Google takes your site seriously — speed, structure, content, and the free tools that make it easier to check your own work.

• Why an image-only website is quietly invisible to Google
• The site speed test that tells you if Google is already suppressing your results
• Why one page should target one keyword, not several
• What alt-tags, meta-descriptions and sitemaps are actually doing for you
• The free tools (Yoast, Hemingway) that check your on-site SEO for you
• How page and menu structure quietly affects how Google reads your site

If your site has never had an SEO audit, this is the checklist to run through first.

This episode is sponsored by Website4Photographers — helping photographers get more leads from their websites. [email protected] or 01482 765871.

Internal SEO wraps up a series that started with case studies — Photography case studies for SEO is where that series began.

Denise Brady spent years shooting weddings and families before Covid forced a pivot — she has now been a food photographer for two and a half years, working from her base in Suffolk.

Marcus and Sam talk to Denise about swapping genres mid-career, developing a signature dark-and-moody style, and the surprisingly tight choreography behind photographing food while it’s still hot.

• How a disappointing set of wedding photos turned Denise into a photographer herself
• Why Covid pushed her out of weddings and into food photography
• The dark-and-moody style she keeps coming back to, and when she lightens it up for clients
• Why her son-in-law, a chef, has become an unofficial industry advisor
• What a food stylist actually does on set
• The planning that has to happen before hot food ever reaches the camera

A masterclass in reinventing a photography career around one very demanding subject: dinner.

Denise’s influences: Jonie – The Bite Shot and Sarah – Broma Bakery.

Food photography is its own specialism — Why is film photography still important today? zooms out to why film photography still matters in a digital-first industry.

Every episode has an extra bonus tip that we give only to newsletter subscribers. For the show about fashion Marcus’s tip as if you want to shoot fashion, don’t shoot fashion. And now Marcus has a whole show on this principal.

When Marcus was working in fashion lecturing, students would come up with great fashion work. But he would say remember editors commissioning this work see picturesall the time. So if you want to get noticed, do something different. Sam says this reminds him of the interview with Joe Giacomet. He spent ages making football cards as a personal project and it was almost these that made hisname.
Marcus thinks that if you shoot fashion then getting out and doing street photography. This is so different to fashion. You have to be much quicker and be in a much less controlled environment. It will really improve your craft. It then means you have some photos to show to the fashion editors as well as your fashion work. This can help to get you noticed. Marcus spent a lot of time taking street photography which he really loved.

Richard Avedon was one of the first photographers to get the models out of thestudio and out into the streets of New York, which at the time was quite radical.
Marcus suggests that portrait photographers should think of trying still life as an alternative genre. Still life photography is all about the lighting, composition and attention to detail. The skills learnt here can then be applied to your portrait photography.
If you are product photographer perhaps try landscape photography. When you are in the studio with a product you can control everything, while you have no control over the environment, which makes it very different.
Marcus and Sam discuss that wedding photography has changed greatly over the last ten years with it becoming much more documentary style. Marcus suggests that wedding photographers should go and try fashion photography. Fashion photography is all about style and making the models looking great, which are perfect skills for wedding photographers.

Marcus’s other suggestions are:
Street photographers try portrait photography.

Landscape photographers could try art photography, the sort of thing in galleries and museums. Marcus suggests looking at Jem Southern, Beckers (Bernd and Hilda) JohnDavies, Edward Patinksky. These are people taking images with a political message.

Family photographers could try painting. Looking at them for ideas, styles and light.

Food photography gets a proper look in Guest Interview with Denise Brady - Food Photographer, one of the genres touched on here.

Sonya Dove has spent 45 years in hairdressing and 40 of them at Wella, and now flies around the US and Canada shooting and mentoring on hair campaigns - she also happens to be Marcus's big sister. She explains why lighting dark hair right is one of the hardest things to get correct in a shoot, why a mood board saves almost every hair photoshoot from going wrong, and how a local photographer could realistically build a career in hair and beauty work.

The early run of guest interviews continues in Guest Interview with Photographer Gemma Griffiths, another photographer's story from that same format.

SEO Part TwoThere are going to be three podcasts on SEO.

1. Planning
2. External SEO
3. Internal SEO

This episode is looking at External SEO.

This episode is sponsored by Website for photographers. Website 4 photographers help photographers get more leads from their websites. You can get in touch here

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

⁠⁠01482 765871

This week Sam is talking about external SEO. That meansthings you can do, external to your website, to help your SEO.

One of the most important things you can do is get a GoogleBusiness account. A Google business account gives you a pin (or area) in Google maps. It also gives a table of information within Google about your businesses within the Google search. It is worth spending time setting up a good Google maps account. If you work from home Sam suggests you set it up showing the area where you work, so it’s not a pin at your house.  Posting on Google business is useful, but don’t expect engagement from this. You can add products to your business account. If you don’t have any packages, come up with some. The most important thing you can do is get as many reviews as you can on. Lots of reviews and recent reviews are both really useful. As you always need fresh reviews you always have to stay on the ball with this. Marcus manages two business accounts promoting different sides of his business.
Social Media is another  vital part of your SEO. Google isn’t checking every post. But it is keeping an eye that you are active. To ensure this helps with SEO you need to make sure your social media profile shows your website. The one social media account you need to treat a little differently. That’s YouTube, that is owned by Google. Videos can be a great way to bypass the website search. When you search for a term Google will often put Google map entries and videos ahead of websites. So that’s one reason why having a good Google business profile is so important. It also means you can create videos to target specific search terms.

Back links. This means other websites linking to your website. Google thinks if other high quality websites are linking to your site then your website must be good. So trying to get links to your website is important. A simple way to do this is get on as many free business directories as possible. As a warning reciprocal links don’t really work. So don’t trade where two businesses link to each other. Guest blogging and guest podcasting are great ways to build backlinks. If you do a podcast or guest blog ensure youget links get back to your website. Links from high quality sites provide more kudos than links from low quality websites. Over time back links will build over time if you keep producing high quality engaging content.

The SEO thread wraps up in SEO Series Part III: Internal SEO, the last piece of the puzzle after this one.