Using Your Portfolio to Book Clients and Boost Sales
A portfolio is an important instrument to show a photographers strength and the content paints a picture of your overall ability to any new and potential client. How you display your portfolio is equally, if not more important, than the actual images themselves.
Digital portfolios and electronic images on the internet are convenient, but not as attractive as a well-done print portfolio. A consultation centered around walking a prospect through your website is pretty boring; books are so much more interesting and impressive! They are organic, something you can hold or put on the shelf for someone to unfold and just say “wow” as they are flipping through the pages.
Your clients will have the advantage of also seeing how you photograph a wedding from beginning to end! A smart bride doesn’t want to see your 20 best images from 20 different albums – she wants to see an entire session and your ability to tell the story of her day.
Your portfolio can also help you boost sales. We often hear from photographers discouraged by prospective customers who seem to focus solely on low price and digital file delivery. Yet when photographers show their work on a 12 inch laptop or 10 inch tablet it conveys to the bride that this is what she should also do with her images. Think of yourselves as in the business of selling memories, not image files. If you want your brides to keep their memories in an album, then show them a unique wedding albums.
A professional photobooks by Zookbinders can be the foundation of an awesome portfolio. The lay flat pages of the album will display your work at it’s best. The thick pages and hard bound cover will convey quality, and if you show off your work in a 12×12 album (or the up-coming 15×15 Bon A Vie) clients will want something similar for themselves.
Investing in an awesome website is how prospects will likely encounter your work – however, the next best investment is an awesome set of albums that display what you can do. The website will draw them in and allow you to set an in-person consultation where you can present your best work in a tangible and tactile way – and then to book the event!
