[by Judy Herrmann]

When it comes to how or why clients choose photographers, there are probably as many answers as there are clients. What really matters is how your prospective clients view photography and photographers.

Instead of imposing your own values and assumptions, why not go straight to the source? Depending on your relationship with the people you’re contacting,  you could pick up the phone and ask schedule an informational interview, conduct a formal or informal survey, go to an event aimed at your market and ask attendees or the speaker, post to an appropriate LinkedIn discussion, bring it up at a networking event, ask during in-person portfolio reviews, make it the reason you’re leaving a follow up voice mail.

You could even do something creative around it – make it a game, a test, a club – the sky’s the limit.

Every project will have different priorities, but the more you know about what’s important to your prospects and what they want and expect from companies like yours, the more successfully you’ll be able to market your services to the people you want to work with.

via Strictly Business.