Expanding the Reach to Your Target Audience

​by Skip Cohen

It's Marketing Monday. What better topic to write about than ways to expand your reach?

We're out of the usual spring/summer seasonality and into what I think of as business-as-usual mode. While there's a lot of business to be had over the summer, especially in bridal and family portraiture, this is also the time to prime the pump for activity in the fall and fourth quarter.

I'm hitting just two points this morning: there is no single vehicle to expand your reach and increase brand awareness. You need to weave a web around your target audience. But before you start a few different campaigns, it's critical to identify your target audience! Many of you shotgun the market, feeling that since you have the skills for almost everything, why not go after everyone? NOT! 

You understand focus confirmation with your camera. Well, it's the same with marketing, demographics, and your target audience. Start with the demographics of your core specialty and worry about the other things you like to photograph later--after you get a little momentum going with your primary business.

Think about how you're going to hit your target audience. Check out the illustration below - ALL of these vehicles, and this is only a partial list, will help you build top-of-mind awareness with your audience. At any given time, you should be generating activity in at least 3-4 categories...and over a year, all of them!

​Your goal, besides building more business, is brand awareness. Think about how much noise there is in your lives and how much you personally ignore every day. Your target consumer is the same! 

Remember the Rule of Seven: The Marketing Rule of 7 is a principle in marketing which suggests that a potential customer needs to be exposed to a brand's marketing messages at least seven times before they make a purchase decision. Google

I've heard so many photographers over the years in reference to many of the above activities, say, "I tried _____ once and didn't get anything!" The Rule of Seven isn't a myth. It's your blueprint to build traffic and awareness, founded on solid research and past performances by businesses all over the world. And with each category in the information above, there are spin-offs that allow you to drill deeper into your reach!

It's not rocket science, but it takes patience, consistency, and continuity in your message.