3 Free Ways to Get Photography Leads This Week

Summary

Episode Summary: "3 Free Ways to Get Photography Leads This Week"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Marketing, Leads, Business Plan
• Host: Brooke Jefferson - Oklahoma Family Photographer, Photography Business Coach
• Release Date: August 7, 2025

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In Episode 3 of the Book More Photography Clients Podcast, host Brooke Jefferson delves into practical, no-cost strategies that photographers can implement immediately to generate leads and fill their booking calendars. Recognizing the hectic nature of August—with back-to-school routines and personal celebrations—Brooke tailors her advice to help photographers navigate this busy month without overwhelming expenses or complicated systems.

1. Leveraging Social Media for Visibility

[00:55] Brooke emphasizes the critical role of visibility on social media platforms. Instead of aimlessly posting, she advocates for a strategic approach to ensure that potential clients are aware of your availability and services.

• Intentional Posting: Brooke advises photographers to post with purpose, showcasing what it's like to work with them and clearly communicating their availability. For example, by highlighting a limited number of sessions available in a given month, photographers create a sense of urgency.

  "If you only have five sessions that you can take in the month of August or September, make sure that you make it super clear and give them their next step." [02:15]

• Showcasing Past Work: Reposting favorite sessions from previous seasons can reignite interest and serve as a portfolio for upcoming sessions. Brooke shares her strategy of resourcing her best fall sessions to promote new bookings despite seasonal challenges, like Oklahoma's lingering summer heat.

  "I know you think that you've shared that session too many times, but chances are they don't even remember it from last year." [04:30]

• Behind-the-Scenes Content: Utilizing reels and videos to display the photographer's process, beautiful locations, and client interactions can enhance engagement and attract more bookings.

  "Use reels, use video because it's not going anywhere and it's going to get you higher views and higher engagement." [06:45]

• Clear Calls to Action: Every post should guide the audience towards the next step, whether it's sending a DM, commenting, or visiting a booking link in the bio.

  "Don't just pop up your favorite session from last fall and talk about how beautiful it was. Tell people what their next step is." [07:50]

• Bonus Tip – Stories Integration: Brooke recommends blending personal stories with business content to humanize the brand. Sharing daily routines or favorite spots can build a stronger connection with the audience.

  "People want to know who it is behind the camera. Show things like your school drop-off routine, your go-to coffee." [09:00]

2. Utilizing Email Marketing Effectively

[12:30] Moving beyond social media, Brooke highlights email marketing as a powerful tool for re-engaging past clients and nurturing warm leads.

• Reaching Out to Past Clients: Emails targeted at those who have previously worked with you can reignite interest and encourage repeat bookings. Brooke shares her personal success story of sending out a fall calendar email that included mini sessions, resulting in immediate bookings.

  "I sent an email out to my entire email list releasing my fall calendar. And it worked. I did get bookings from this email." [14:00]

• Content of Effective Emails: Including favorite images, availability details, and straightforward booking links makes the email both appealing and actionable. Brooke emphasizes clarity and ease of response to facilitate immediate action.

  "Include a few of your favorite images from last fall, your session availability, or a link to your booking calendar." [15:45]

• Consistency is Key: Regularly sending emails, even once a month, can significantly boost bookings over time. Brooke encourages photographers not to wait for the perfect email but to start now with whatever resources they have.

  "Get consistent. Send one email a month from here on out and watch your bookings grow." [17:20]

3. Building Referrals and Local Collaborations

[20:10] The final strategy Brooke discusses centers on referrals and relationships within the local community. She underscores the value of personal connections over impersonal online algorithms.

• Direct Referrals: Reaching out to past clients with personalized messages asking for referrals can lead to new bookings. Brooke suggests a friendly, unobtrusive approach that highlights the positive experiences shared.

  "Jenny, I enjoyed working with you so much. Do you know anyone that you think would be interested in booking a fall session?" [21:15]

• Local Business Collaborations: Partnering with local businesses like coffee shops, boutiques, or salons by placing business cards or engaging with their social media can expand your reach organically.

  "Drop off a few business cards at a local coffee shop or a boutique where your ideal clients are hanging out." [22:50]

• Overcoming Hesitations: Brooke addresses common fears about appearing annoying when requesting referrals, reassuring photographers that a professional and friendly approach is typically well-received.

  "If you're doing this in a professional, friendly way, you're not annoying anybody." [24:00]

• Taking Action: She encourages stepping out of comfort zones to foster relationships that can lead to steady bookings, emphasizing immediate action.

  "Choose one of these to do this week... and put it into motion. Not tomorrow, not next week. Do it today." [25:30]

Conclusion: Taking Immediate Action

In wrapping up the episode, Brooke urges photographers to commit to implementing at least one of the discussed strategies within the week. Whether it's enhancing social media presence, ramping up email marketing, or fostering local referrals, the key is to start taking actionable steps today. She also invites listeners to engage with her on Instagram or via direct messages to share their progress and receive encouragement.

"Carve out 15 minutes to do one of these things. If you do this, I want you to either tag me with what you're doing on Instagram or just shoot me a DM and say, hey, this is what I did today so that I can cheer you on." [28:45]

Brooke concludes by encouraging listeners to share the episode with fellow photographers and visit her website for more marketing insights and coaching opportunities.

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By following Brooke Jefferson's three free strategies—enhancing social media visibility, leveraging email marketing, and building local referrals—photographers can effectively increase their leads and bookings without incurring additional costs. This episode serves as a practical guide for those looking to optimize their marketing efforts and achieve sustained growth in their photography business.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Book More Clients Photography Podcast.

[B]

You can stop spending hours on Google.

[A]

And YouTube because you just found your.

[B]

Number one resource for growing a profitable and sustainable photography business. Hi, I'm Brooke Jefferson.

[A]

I'm a believer wife, mama to two.

[B]

And Oklahoma family photographer. I left the classroom in 2018 to pursue my photography career full time. Now I'm here to help you do the same. In this podcast we're covering the most asked about topics including pricing, marketing, client.

[A]

Experience, and all things systems and workflows.

[B]

You won't find any fluff or BS here. Just tried and True Strategy. Are you ready? Grab your kids some snacks and charge those camera batteries. It's time to jump in.

[A]

Hey friend, if your kids are headed back to school this month, you might be staring at your calendar wondering how to start filling your session spots again. This episode is for you. I'm going to be sharing three ways that you can get photography leads this week using tools and strategies you already have access to. I'm not talking about anything that is going to cost you money. No ads, no complicated funnels, just real strategies that work. So let's dive in. If you're like me, you are in the month of August and you're already overwhelmed at everything going on. August, especially for my family, is extra busy because not only is it back to school season and getting back into routines, but it is also both of my kids birthdays and mine. So when you add all of that together, things get crazy. And we have other family birthdays in the month of August too, so it's probably the busiest month out of the year next to Christmas for us. And so if you're feeling this almost panic of okay, I don't know how I'm going to do all of this, my calendar is not as full as I want it to be. That's why I'm creating this short and sweet episode for you so that you can listen to this, you can take notes and you can go apply it to your business. So the first way that I want to talk about is through social media. It's about visibility, not just you throwing spaghetti at the wall. If people don't know that you're available, you're not going to get booked, right? The math is not going to math. So you want to approach social media, not winging it, but with a plan and with a clear idea of who you are talking to and what you are trying to book. So this month I want you to post very intentionally, not randomly. So some examples are when you're posting, I want you to paint the picture of what it's like to work with you, of your availability and of your brand. So one of the posts that you can do is you can talk about a limited number of full sessions. Again, we're very busy. Not all of us are shooting seven days a week. At least I hope you're not. That is, that is a pathway to burnout. So don't do that. But you do have a certain amount of sessions that you can take each month and I want you to utilize that. So when you're talking about what you have available, especially when you're talking about the rest of August and September availability, talk about that and get really specific. If you only have five sessions that you can take in the month of August or September, make sure that you make it so super clear and you give them their next step. So it could be to DM you, it could be to comment a word on your post, it could be to go to your link in your bio. So those are some examples. Now you don't want to necessarily tell them click on the link in my bio. Like that's definitely an outdated strategy. But you could tell them if you go to my profile, you will find the link to my calendar or you will find the link to, you know, book your consultation or however it is that you run your business. This other ways and other things you can talk about on social media is showing your recent sessions or a throwback to last fall. This is something that I do every single year. I know you think that you've shared that session that you had last year too many times, but honestly no one is paying that close of attention to what you're posting and chances are they don't even remember it from last year. So I go back and I find like my favorite five sessions that I did last fall and then I reshare those and I use them as ways to promote my upcoming fall sessions. You can also do this for your mini sessions. So if you're planning on doing fall minis or pumpkin patch minis or Christmas minis, go back and use what you've already done in the past to show people what your work looks like and real time images that's going to get them in the mindset of thinking about fall. I know where I live, it's Oklahoma. It is still really hot here. People aren't necessarily in the mindset of oh, I need to book my fall session, but the more I talk about it and the more I talk about the urgency on why they want to book it now even when it's 100 degrees outside is because I want to make sure that they don't miss out and that by the time their session date rolls around it will be a little bit cooler and it will be that much closer to the fall season. And then the last idea that I have for you for social media is to share behind the scenes reels, showcase you, you know, photographing in places that are really beautiful this time of year or that are showing how you interact with your clients or showing, you know, before and afters of your editing. Use reels, use video because it's not going anywhere and it's going to get you higher views and it's going to get you higher engagement. When you're posting, make sure you have a clear call to action. Where do you want people to go? What is the purpose of this post or this story? And once you know the purpose, then it's going to be easier to tell people what their next step is. So don't leave that out. Don't just pop up your favorite session from last fall and talk about how beautiful it was. Tell people what their next step is. How can they, you know, contact you, get in touch with you, book their session? A bonus tip for you before we move on to the second thing that you could do is use your stories to share your daily life and things about your photography business. People want to know who it is behind the camera. So I want you to show things like your school drop off routine, your go to coffee, do you go to a coffee shop every morning? Do you make your favorite coffee at home? Show those things. And then after you're showing personal things or you're putting up engagement polls or questions or you know, tapping the emoji or whatever it is, then you can move into business related things. So make sure that you mix it because people do want to know who the photographer is behind the camera. So if you're like, okay, I can do this social media, I'm ready to get back on the horse, I can do this. And then that is the one that I want you to go with. The second thing that you can do. Second strategy for you to start getting bookings on your calendar is to utilize email marketing. I know I've said it again and again and again but I want you to really lean into it and be consistent. Your past clients are your warmest leads so why not utilize email marketing to invite them back? Why don't you send an email to your past clients that where you're talking about like here's what's coming up this season. Here's what you can expect, and here's how to grab your spot. So in real time today, when I'm recording this podcast, it is August 3rd, and I sent an email out to my entire email list of people that were interested and to people that have worked with me in the past releasing my fall calendar. And this year I did it a little bit different. Yes, I released the fall calendar, but I also went ahead and released one of my mini sessions that people could sign up for as well. And it worked. I did get bookings from this email. So if you've never done something like this, let today be the day that you go create this email and you jump back on the email marketing course and you get consistent with it. So what should you include in this email? So you could include a few of your favorite images that you've taken from last fall, your session availability, or a link to your booking calendar, and an easy way for them to reply or an easy way for them to click to schedule. So make sure that you are clearly laying out the information. They can click a button or they can do something that's going to lead them to that next step of actually getting on your email list. I mean, on your booking calendar, same thing. Okay. But make sure that you are not waiting for perfection. Okay? This doesn't need to be a perfect email. I want you to go, you know, whip up the best one you can with the list size that you have. So if you have 12 people on your email list, I want you to go send that to 12 people because that's 12 people more than what you've contacted in this moment, right? Zero compared to 12. Maybe you have 200 people on your email list. Go ahead and send it to the 200 people on your email list that have already said that they are interested in working with you or they have already worked with you in the past. So utilize email marketing. It works. I'm telling you. Get consistent. Send one email a month from here on out and watch your bookings grow. My last strategy for you, and this is something I'm very passionate about. You've heard me talk about this before, but it's something that right now is the the best time to be doing this. And I want you to think about referrals and relationships, collaborations. How can you get your name out there? Who you know in your town or your city or your community can help you get booked faster than any algorithm out there, faster than email marketing, faster than social media, faster than just about any marketing Avenue you could have. So I want you to choose one of these to do this week. I want you to either message a past client and ask if they know anyone looking for a full session, or I want you to drop off a few business cards at a local coffee shop or a boutique or a salon or somewhere where your ideal clients are hanging out, or comment on a local business's Instagram and start a conversation with them. Okay, so these are three great ways. The pushback that I hear about messaging people is that they feel like they are being annoying. And I'm just here to tell you that if you're doing this in a professional, friendly way, you're not annoying anybody. They're not even going to remember the conversation five minutes from now. But if you know really good clients and you're like, man, I would love to have more and more of that type of person, then reach out to them and say, you know, Jenny, I enjoyed working with you guys so much. You really were dream clients for me. Do you know anyone that you think would be interested in booking a fall session this season? That's it. And you just wait for a response. Some people will leave you on Read and you will never hear back from them. It doesn't mean that, you know, they hate you and you're being annoying. It's just that they didn't respond. Maybe they got busy. Maybe they, you know, maybe they felt a little uncomfortable answering the question. But I really want to challenge you to get out of your comfort zone. Local marketing. It doesn't have to be awkward. It's literally just you being a kind, helpful human and putting yourself out there. And again, if you always come at it from the right intention, then you are going to be solid. You have nothing to worry about. I know it's scary the first time you do it, but if you will take one of these actions this week, one, you're going to gain confidence from doing it, but two, you very well might get a booking on your calendar. Okay, so now it's time to take action. Pick one of the things I said. Social media, email marketing, or getting out and really putting yourself out there with referrals and local collaboration. And put it into motion. Not tomorrow, not next week. Do it today. Carve out 15 minutes to do one of these things. If you do this, I want you to either tag me with what you're doing on Instagram or just shoot me a DM and say, hey, this is what I did today so that I can cheer you on. High five you. All the things so if this episode helped you, I would love for you to either a come tell me or b share it with another photographer that is in your life, someone in your community, someone that's brand new, that just started, someone that is your ride or die bestie in the photography industry. I would love it so much. It keeps this podcast going. It tells me that you guys are enjoying the free content that I put out week after week on this podcast. And if you're looking for more marketing ideas like this, come over to my website brookjefferson.com have a look around and I would love, love, love to coach you in your photography business. All right, I will see you guys next week. Sam.