My husband has a small photography business and we are looking for some cheap, local advertising ideas.?

[Norm Jones]

Hello there,

I would be surprised if the Facebook advertising is paying its way. That is not a place I would think to look for a photographer. I would think the yellow pages is where most would look and that can be expensive also. For most small businesses, I believe the key to startup survival is networking. getting to know other business owners and discussing with them how your services could benefit them. Also in your particular business, I would think getting connected to various groups and organizations would be beneficial. For instance getting to know the local little league team organizers. By offering some free work to help them advertise their organization, you get exposure to the teams. Most of which are going to have a photographer take some team and individual photos. Also the league organizer may sponsor tournaments. If so, the organizer is going to have a photographer there. There is always a photographer set up at the invitational tournaments. Similarly, I would think other groups and organizations would be helpful to get acquainted with. I used the baseball example, because I am more familiar with that. With the business owners, they are going to use a photographer at some point in time. When they do need one, they will turn first to someone they have met.

Business networking is a two way street. You are looking to drum up more business, so you need to think of ways that your services can do the same for the other business owner. Maybe discussing with a local store owner the idea of putting a Santa Claus in his store. You get the photography setup, the store owner gets more people into his store. A lot of times it is just brainstorming, to find ways to help each other.

I do believe that networking is more effective than blanket advertising. It gives you the chance to sell yourself in person. You cannot do that with an ad in the paper or on the internet.

Later,