Commercial Photographer: Your Guide to Marketing, Creativity and Growth

Stefanie has been a professional photographers for twenty years in the St. Albans area. Her focus is now 100% on commercial photography. Stefanie says it’s important to think about what motivates people to get photos. What are the triggers that make people want a photograph? This could be an event for a family, it could be being asked for a headshot as a business leader. Stefanie says it’s very im...

Why blog? It's amazing for SEO It gives you things to talk about on social It gives you content for your newsletter It’s good for authority marketing It increases engagement on your website Sam explains that if you only write your blog and don’t promote it, no one will ever find it. He says your blog needs to be about a theme. It needs to be about a topic and help to show that you are an exper...

Are you a commercial photographer working in isolation? In this essential episode, we speak with Philip North Coons and Graham Dittpros from Photographers United Pro about why true success comes from community, not just creativity. 1. Escape the Screen: Learn the non-negotiable strategy for networking for photographers that forces you to put down the mouse and leads directly to more work. 2. The S...

Marcus is going to talk about your personal brand. He wantsto talk about the aesthetics of this. First, what is a personal brand. So, it’s a combination of who you are, what you do, what you are known for a who is your target audience. Marcus is going to focus on how we look. Marcus thinks women are much better at this than men. Marcus thinks that when people book a photographer, they have certain...

He works as a top beauty photographer, particularly for hair brands in the US. He is also the fastest 100-metre runner of his age. Marcus points out we have a show about getting into hair photography. Alec also does some cinematography work and went to film school. He also went to Harvard to study digital media. He says he now uses AI a lot in his work. He uses it to create mock-ups of how shoots...

Are you still shooting basic headshots? This week, branding photography veteran Heike Delmore reveals how she elevates her work into a premium service. Learn how to transform your approach to personal branding photography and attract high value clients by focusing on their future, not just their present. • Purpose over Pose: Discover the game changing technique that starts every shoot with your cl...

Marcus started as a bass guitar session musician. He did this freelance for about ten years during the 90s. So, in his early 30s, he had a change of direction. He got hold of a camera and thought this was what he wanted to do next. He realised that as a session musician, he was always playing other people’s ideas, while with photography, he could be much morecreative. Marcus then went to universit...

Christian is an expert in cinematic storytelling. They don’tjust look beautiful, but sell beautifully. Christian started as an insurance broker and then moved on to setting up his own business. But eventually, he thought something was missing. He didn’t start knowing he wanted to move into filmmaking,he just knew he wanted to do something different. Based on a childhood memory, he went to film and...

Fabrizia started with family photography, but moved into brand photography. She says brand and pet photography are the two rising genres. She started as a brand photographerwas emerging. She used to work as a fashion and beauty editor.  She started photographing young people and managed to get a headshot of an author (family friend) of hers to be published on the book cover. In her 50s, she made a...

In this show, Marcus interviews Sam. Marcus asks Sam to start at the beginning, and Sam splits this in two and starts sharing his photography story. Sam’s Dad was a professional photographer who shared his interest in photography with Sam. He had cameras from a young age and an SLR from a young age. Sam says that after university, he was travelling. One thing he did was photograph white water raft...

Ros Jones helps people grow their business while avoidingburnout. Ros started in corporate in London, working in change and systems management. With her last job, she was feeling very discontented, getting bored and felt she couldn’t go anywhere. She was thinking of moving into training. But then she got a call to buy into a business coaching franchise, which she did. Ros introduces a formula from...

 Kate works at Humber HR and has been doing HR for over 20years.  Kate has lived in several European cities before coming back to Yorkshire. Kate says understanding how people present and communicate at work is useful for photographers. Understanding how this works will help us work better with more clients. Kate’s degree is in psychology, and she says the way we present ourselves to the world dep...

This show is about how to be seen as an expert in a particular topic without being seen as a poser and a know-it-all. How do we get that balance? The relevance of building a position of authority is linked to the type of photography you do. How can you build authority? Posting authoritative content on Linkedin . Use your knowledge and experience to help people rather than explain things to them. A...

Charlotte set up Shot by Char in 2019 and is a brand Photographer. Charlotte studied fine art photography at the University of Manchester. After university, she started working for photographic studios, selling portrait vouchers on the streets. From there, she also managed to secure work as a photographer in the studios. While working in a studio, she also started to build her own business. Eventu...

Are you a commercial photographer afraid to niche down because you think you'll lose work? This week, industrial photographer Dan Barker reveals the secret to making specialisation work. He explains why nichingfor photographers is a powerful marketing strategy that not only reduces competition but also allows you to significantly increase your prices • The Niching Secret: Discover the simple t...

This is the 100th episode of the show with Jeff Brown, Zoe Hiljemark, Gillian Devine and Martin Hobby. All our guests have been on other shows and you can listen to them here: ⁠ Using LinkedIn to its full potential as a photographer with Jeff Brown ⁠ ⁠ Jeff Brown, Photography mentor ⁠ ⁠ Guest Interview with Zoe Hiljemark ⁠ ⁠ How to not leave “money on the table” with Gillian Devine ⁠ ⁠ Guest Inter...

The High-Income Blueprint: Are you tired of competing for "budget" clients on Facebook and Instagram? Andrew Collier joins us to reveal why the most lucrative Commercial Photography leads aren't found online at all. • The AB1 Income Trap: Discover how to identify and target the "AB1" demographic—clients with high disposable income who value quality over a bargain—and how to...

Your Most Important Kit: It’s not your camera or your lighting—it’s your body. Sam and Marcus discuss why neglecting your physical health is the fastest way to sabotage your Commercial Photography Business Growth. • The Double Whammy: Discover the specific physical dangers of the "12-hour event" vs. the "editing desk marathon" and how to protect yourself in both scenarios. • The "3-Pillar" Exercis...

Want to use LinkedIn to find commercial clients but hate the thought of sending spammy sales messages? You're not alone. This week, Sam and Marcus are joined by LinkedIn expert Craig Dean to unpack a clear, ethical, andhighly effective four-pillar strategy to turn connections into paying customers. This is essential marketing for photographers in the digital age. This episode is packed with us...

Jamie is passionate about sales strategy, LinkedIn, socialmedia, and sales training to help businesses improve their revenue and processes. Focusing on selling to different personalities! In this show, he talks about setting up an e-learning course, and we could do this as photographers. After being a podcast guest, the host asked Jamie if he wanted to make an e-learning course with him. They used...

To get the Shoot to the Top Podcast in your inbox every week to ensure you don't miss an episode, ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Shoot to the Top Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ group to meet fellow photographers, guests and Sam and Marcus Marcus says street photography is about capturing incidentshappening around you. He also says there is so much to learn from street photography that all photographers should...

Abi and Giles have a background in film and TV. Abi as a producer. They met while working on Jonathan Creek .  Abi says she does the organising side doing the paperwork, keeping the clients happy and getting the next client while Giles does the creative stuff. Giles started doing stills photography as an assistant in the movie industry. He then moved into being a movie cameraman. Eventually, they...

The old ways of selling are dead. Sales trainer Martyn Sloman explains why success in Commercial Photography is now about helping, not closing. Learn the non-pushy techniques you need to survive in the modern "social selling" era. • Rule #1: The Mindset Shift: Discover the non-pushy mindset you must adopt to immediately earn client trust and redefine your Commercial Photography Sales pro...

Problem: Feeling lost trying to convert contacts into paying clients? Solution: Sam breaks down the often overcomplicated concept of the Sales Funnel for Photographers, showing you how to build a clear, step-by-step system for Commercial Photography Lead Generation. The LinkedIn Hook: Discover the specific, non-generic message you must use to connect with your target niche (e.g., solicitors) and i...

This is Gillian’s second show with us. Gillian uses social media a lot as one of her marketing pillars. Today's show is about the extra ways we can make money, the extra money we are leaving on the table while working with our clients. Sam and Gillian discuss the fact that in many cases our clients want the extra services we offer, but simply don’t know we offer them. Offering these does not n...