Kanchenjunga and the Eastern Himalaya, October 2002. Fuji Velvia.

At first you may think that only working photographers need to be concerned with promoting themselves but you could easily argue that any photographer who wants their work seen by others needs to spend a bit of time promoting themselves. There are as many different reasons and goals for doing it as there are ways to do it but a few stand head and shoulders above the rest as proven methods to success. Let’s take a look at a few.

Most photographers want their work to be seen. It may be just by your friends and family or it may be by art buyers at some of the world’s top ad agencies. What is common to both is that you have to do some self-promotion in order to get your work seen. If it’s just your family and friends that you’re showing photos to, it’s pretty simple. All you need do is give them a call or send an email saying “Hey, take a look at my latest pics”, or attaching some photos and a link in an email.

If you’re after a wider audience, you may look at uploading to Flickr. There are lots and lots of photos on Flickr and other photo-sharing sites, so simply uploading them is often not enough. You need to let people know that they’re there. Adding other photographers as contacts is a passive way to do this, as contact relationships are usually reciprocal and so your photos will appear the “Your Contacts” section of others. Going a step further, you can join groups and add photos to them. A lot of groups encourage commenting and the awarding of virtual prizes which all serves to have people look at your photos as long as you do the same to theirs. Other options at this level include posting them to public albums on Facebook, or in photo threads on various forum sites.

Stepping things up from there is the blog. It seems that pretty much everybody has a blog these days and blogging can be a great way to create a bit of buzz around your work. Of course, it’s not simple enough to just create it, again, you need to promote it if you want people to see it. Some people create blogs only for their family and friends but most are probably after some good traffic and comments on their blogs. Submitting your blog to the various search engines, promoting it via blogging communities and competitions, and posting links in social media networks are all good methods of making it known.

Entering prestigious competitions offers some opportunities for self-promotion but you’ll be up against others here and it won’t work unless you are creating and entering some very strong work. The more prestigious the competition, the better the payoff in terms of name recognition for you there is if you win or place highly but the harder it is to do so.

Working photographers need to use a range of methods in order to self-promote. No one single method will work, rather, it’s the combination of approaches that brings success. For those of you in the field of professional photography, you’ll need to use good research, cold calling, email marketing, direct mail, portfolio showings, social media, referrals, follow-ups, creativity and more. This is where you can really benefit from programs such as Clarion Call 2011 that bring together industry experts to offer advice and pathways to success.

Whether it’s a little or a lot, most photographers will find themselves doing some self-promotion. You may already be doing it and not even realize it.

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