Your Bio as a Professional Photographer - Who Cares?

© cacaroot

​Who cares? Your target audience. Too many of you are sharing about pages (your bio) loaded with content nobody is interested in. It's time to throw out things like how you got started; who gave you that first camera; what gear you shoot with, or what awards you've won! That information would be great if you were talking to a room of photographers, but you're not - most of you are talking to "Mom."

I've written a lot about this over the years, but it's been a frequent topic lately. I'm still amazed at how many of you just don't get it! In the portrait/social categories, women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer. That means you're dealing most often with "Mom" or a future bride.

Here a few suggestions:
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• Remember Your Target Audience: "Mom" doesn't care what awards you've won unless it's a Pulitzer. She doesn't care how you got started, what camera you have, or how much you know about technology! She wants to know why you love being a photographer. She wants to hear how much you love to capture memories. She wants to know why you love doing what you do because she needs to know she can trust you. She's looking for an opportunity to look into your heart. Yeah, that sounds sappy, but think about who you are and what you're expecting people to do.
• Can Humor Play a Role? Absolutely, but there aren't very many about pages I've read where it worked. I did a post on this topic a few years back and a reader challenged me with his own bio. It was light, funny and very effective. But, it worked because his sense of humor was relevant to what was important to his audience.
• It's About Trust: You're asking a potential client to trust you to be their eyes for the day at a wedding, a family portrait, a children's shoot or a portrait session. With a commercial client, you want them to hire you because of the confidence they have for you to capture images of the concept or products near and dear to their hearts. You're asking a client to trust that your mindset and vision are the same as their's!
• Make Your Opening Statement From the Heart! You want to convey your passion and ability to capture an event in a way that exceeds their vision. My good buddy Scott Bourne's artist's statement has a few favorite sentences that convey what he's all about, and I've shared these a few times in posts in the past: "...As a wildlife artist, my gift is to know how to "show up prepared" to interact with beauty that I do not control. I must learn to be at peace with my subject on their terms, not on mine...I struggle with finding the patience and the path. But when that struggle becomes the hardest, I remember my calling. I speak for the creatures which have no voice. Perhaps this is why the experience is so emotional for me."  Check out Scott's new blog​, Picture Methods.​ He's always sharing great content.
• Always In the First Person: Write your about piece in the first person, because it's you talking to a visitor who just walked into your "store." 
• The Location of Your "About" Page: Make it your second tab after your galleries. Just like in the retail world, it's location, location, location! Your galleries should be your first tab and your "About" section next. My thought process is simple - hook clients on your work first, and then why you're their best choice. After that everything else falls into place.
• Sign It: Sign your statement with your signature or a facsimile. Make it personal, the same way artists sign their work.
• ZZZZZZ - Kill Those Boring Headshots: Instead of a boring headshot or irrelevant photograph of you and your family, use a shot of you photographing a client. Or, create a small collage of images, 2-3, that show you in the role of being a photographer. My favorite core shot is an artist photographing a client. The image is captured from slightly behind and off your right shoulder. Let them see you, camera in hand. In the background, slightly out of focus is your client. Let's plant the seed you're a photographer early on.

I'm convinced you can't be in business today without a website, but how well that website works for you is up to you. There may be plenty of technology shortcuts in building the infrastructure of the site itself, but there are no shortcuts in convincing potential clients you're the one they need to hire!

Your most important marketing tool is all about building relationships with your target audience. That first building block comes with opening your heart and sharing why you can be trusted to tell their story. 

"It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter!
Alfred Eisenstaedt