How to book your "Ideal Client" as a wedding photographer
When you first start out taking on weddings, you take on anything and everything that comes your way to fill your books and fill your pocket! But slowly over time, you start to realize there are certain types of couples that you immediately click with, and some that you don’t. So, how do you keep booking that couple that really aligns with YOU? Let me tell you!
Let’s break it down: what really IS an ideal client??
I think a lot of photographers tend to think an “ideal client” is someone who fits a certain look or has a certain wedding theme. But, that’s not it at all! Think of an ideal client as someone who lines up with your values, and ultimately someone who you’d love to work with and get along with. Here are a few things to consider when figuring out who your ideal client is:
What type of wedding days make you come to life? Do you feel a little bored shooting indoor ballroom weddings? Are wedding days with 350+ guests weighing you down and elopements make you jump for joy? Try to narrow down what TYPES of wedding days you love shooting and go from there.
Out of all the couples that you’ve worked with so far, which ones did you LOVE working with? Were they laid back the whole time? Maybe they were super organized? Maybe they trusted your every move and gave you all of the creative freedom! Make note of WHO those people are because you’ll be marketing to THEM.
What are the values this couple holds? What do THEY value as a couple when planning their wedding day (what’s most important to them?) and you can even think about what they value as people (Do they love to travel? Love family? Support current events? Etc.)
Okay, now that we’ve defined what an Ideal client actually is, how do we start and KEEP booking our ideal clients?! I’ll dive into it!
It’s a little simpler than you think: show what you want to shoot!
This means all the content you put on your website and social media should reflect who you want to be booking and what types of events or weddings you want to be booking. Whenever I get a new coaching student, one of the first things they say to me is that they want to stop shooting families and seniors and just shoot couples and weddings, but I take a peek at their social media and website, and they still have galleries of families and seniors, and are still currently posting that type of work on their platforms. When a potential client comes across this, they are going to assume that the photographer currently offers this type of booking since that work is still prevalent and options to book are still on their site! SO, you need to only show what future you wants to be shooting.
Biggest takeaways from this blog post?
Your “ideal client” is more than just a pretty wedding with a cute couple. It’s a couple who you align with not only in morals and values and how they are planning their celebration, but a couple that you’d get along with!
Find out who your ideal client is, and start marketing to THEM!
Show what you want to shoot! This means showing the content and photos that future you wants to be booking!
I hope you learned a little more about how to book your ideal client as a wedding photographer! Drop any questions below about ideal clients if you have them!