Photography marketing is just like any other type of marketing. You need to know what your market will bear, you need to know your audience, and you need to know your competition. What it really boils down to is this: You need to know the features and benefits of the service you're offering. Let's take a closer look at Photography Marketing 101.

Know Your Market

Before you decide what types of services you're going to offer and how much you're going to charge, you need to find out what your local market needs. Are there already a dozen wedding photographers? What about portrait photographers? Is there a need in your local area for something specific like someone who does awesome graduation photos or kids' parties?

And when you find an area that has a need, how much are people in your area willing to pay for that service? What's the economy and employment situation like where you live? If you live in a small town with a dozen wedding photographers all fighting for the same business, it wouldn't make sense for you to also become a wedding photographer and try to charge fees like you'd charge in New York City.

Know Your Competition

And what about those 12 wedding photographers? What kind of services do they offer? How's the quality of their work? And how much are they charging for their album packages? Don't let the fact that there's already some competition scare you away. If you can offer a unique type of photography or a special service of some type, and you feel you can be competitive, then by all means go for it. Just make sure you understand you're going to have to deal with some competition.

Define Your Service

Now that you know what your market area needs and what the economic conditions are like, take a look at what your competitors are offering and carve out your own niche. You have to be very careful here, though. Don't compete on price alone. Especially if it means you'll be operating at a loss.

Instead, look for ways you can make your service different from the others. Maybe you have a really artistic eye when it comes to portraits. Make sure you have examples of your best work to show potential clients. Maybe you have a flare for putting together unique albums for clients. Again, make sure you have samples to flash around.

As you can see, there's a lot more to Photography Marketing 101 than just putting some ads in the paper and posting some notices around town. If you want your business to be successful then you have to look at it like any other business. You have to do the research and know your market.

If you'd like to learn how I got publishedished in over 70 wedding magazines and blogs, download my free photography marketing guide to getting published and learn how to promote your photography business.