This post is the 4th and last of this series. If you haven't read the first three posts I highly recommend that you start from the beginning.
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 1, Search Engine Marketing and Optimization
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 2, Social Media
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 3, Press Releases and Paid Advertisements
Associations
Joining local associations is where the rubber can really meet the road. There is only so much you can do sitting behind a monitor and keyboard. Many associations have regular meetings, which will allow you to shake hands with many of your area influencers. Let them put a face to the business they have hopefully heard of by now, and build some trust. Many associations rely on the services of their members for meetings too. Maybe they have an awards ceremony and would like a photo booth donated. It’s a great way to show off your services to people that could possibly refer or even book you.
Most associations also have a website, with a directory of members and a web link. The link might bring you qualified traffic, but at the very least it’s just one more link voting for your website bringing you a little closer to the top of your local SERPS.
Sponsorship
There is never any shortage of people, companies and non-profit organizations that want you to sponsor them. Of course being selective is key, and coming up with a sponsorship strategy is worth thinking about. Saying no to every opportunity that presents itself is a knee-jerk reaction, but one that could leave you feeling regret if you go to an event and see your competitor’s logo plastered all over a venue during the launch of your cities hottest new non-profit.
Your parameters for participation should include the possible reach, a target market that parallels your own and what your upper time and financial limits are. If your target market is event planners, then a sponsorship at an awards show for wedding planners is going to be more valuable than a 5k race for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
There is obviously a theme developing, but many special events will also have a website with links to the sites of their sponsors. Yet one more vote for your business site!
Competitive Analysis
Not only will doing a good in-depth analysis of your competition often reveal methods you hadn’t considered, but it will also reveal their weaknesses. There are a lot of tools that will let you identify their backlink profile to determine if any one competitor has a strength in any one type of backlink. If you can determine that the entire backlink profile of any competitor is made up of spun articles on blog networks, you will know that churning out some similar articles, but mixed with some comment links and directories could easily overtake them in the SERPs.
In the photo booth industry knowing your competitors is especially helpful. Some photo booth companies have all events listed on their website, and this allows you to see how many events each company is doing by month and annually. With a little more digging you can also identify who is using which type of photo booth. Who is using a “Vanity Photo Booth” who has a “Open Air Photo Booth” or which companies set up a tripod and camera. Using this data can guide you in identifying what is currently popular in your area and if there are any gaps in service that you could take advantage of. If you are using an “Open Air Photo Booth” and 70% of the photo booth companies in your market are using the same equipment you might consider coming at your marketing strategy from a different angle.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line is that marketing is just as important as managing your finances and making sure that all your equipment is maintained. Many owners in the photo booth industry don’t take it as seriously as they should, giving the rest of us a default advantage! So manage your marketing, test, evaluate, adjust, and repeat.
What are your thoughts on marketing for your photo booth business? Join the conversation and leave a comment below.
This post is the final of this 4 part series. If you haven't read the first three posts I highly recommend that you start from the beginning.
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 1, Search Engine Marketing and Optimization
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 2, Social Media
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 3, Paid Advertisements and Press Releases
- Marketing Your Photo Booth Business: Part 4, Associations and Sponsorships
Damien Hutchins is the owner of Flicker Stage Photo Booths in Dallas TX, a company that has shed the more traditional aspects of the photo booth, leading the movement to redefine the special event guest entertainment space in the Dallas area. Previously Damien served as an early employee of one of the top online wedding marketing platforms in the US. You can follow him online at Facebook and Twitter.
