A client recently asked me….”how will new clients find you if you don’t blog frequently?”

My reply was…”Are they really the clients that I want to work with?”

Okay, so I answered a question with a question, but really, let’s think about this.  I have been in the wedding photography business since 1998 and I have seen some very dramatic changes in the way that we meet new clients.  We have gone from film to digital and with that change came a wave of new and amazing ways to promote ourselves as photographers.  We now have: Facebook, Youtube, Blogging, Websites, Referral Websites, Magazines, Bridal Shows, and last but first in my opinion…Personal Referrals.

Since the beginning of photography, personal referrals were the #1 way to meet new clients.  The only challenge we face as photographers is to make our clients so extremely happy that they want to refer us to their family and friends.  This does not always happen, and in most cases, photographers fall back on the new-age ways of acquiring new clients online.  However, I have always kept true to the old saying that if you make one client really happy, you will get 2 more in return.  I have run my business with the thought that my promotions start and end with the client.

So, what does this all mean?  Well, for me, it means that I don’t have to spend hours trying to lure in new clients with my blog, or online portfolio, or any other new-age media draws.  It means that I can be available for any and all new clients who want to find me with these new methods (as I still am on FB, twitter, youtube, etc.), but the focus of my business promotion is from individual people.  With all of this techie stuff (and believe me…I’m a HUGE techie) and online networking, we have forgotten how to make real connections with people.  Connections so real that we are super excited to have a new referral come in from a past relationship with a client, because we know that any client that is referred is probably just as awesome as the people who referred them.

Bottom line is, I could spend hours a day, updating my blog, and Facebook, and Tweeting, and promoting myself on Google, and I would probably get a lot of new clients flooding through my door.  New clients who know nothing about me as a photographer, or as a person.  New clients that just want to see what I’m about and what my packages are.  But, I would rather spend all of that time actually serving the clients that I have connected with and build our relationship and trust so strong that they can’t wait to tell one of their friends to hire me as their photographer.

So, I apologize for not updating my blog every day, but I have more important things to do for my current clients

If you happen to be a completely new client and haven’t been referred to me….I would still love to meet with you and show you tons more of my work in my studio….so don’t feel left out…this might be the start of a beautiful new relationship!