Marketing Tips Insider: Blogs Aren't Dead ... Only Photographers Think So.

Blogging seems to be the dreaded word in our industry. It’s that big black cloud that hangs over every photographer’s head and drives them to the dungeon of guilt.I’m here to take that guilt away from you.This isn’t to shame you, guilt you, or make you feel like you “have” to blog to be a good photographer.No, I won’t tell you any of that. My goal is to help you look at your blog in a completely different way than you’ve ever looked at it before.Why? Because I believe it can be your number-one marketing tool. Think I’m crazy? Let me tell you why.The old way of using blogs in our industry goes like this: post one session after the other, with a “marketing voice” that feels and sounds forced. Post every single client, with lots of pictures and forced stories.Don’t feel like you’re all alone if you post 20 sessions all in one month only to let your blog grow cob webs until you wearily, guiltily crawl back to it 3 months later to “catch up” on yet another group of sessions.How is that working for you? Probably not too well and on top of it you’re asking yourself “why do I even DO this when no one even stops by to comment? I feel like I’m in an abandoned city, while everyone else is over on Instagram and Facebook!”No wonder so many photographers think blogging is dead.But…what if you didn’t use it for a “dead” platform anymore just to post one session after another? What if you thought about your blog in an entirely new way? What if you started using it to “serve” your audience with information that truly benefits them?What if you used it to write about fashion and makeup and session-prep and portrait décor and your “why” and other subjects that benefit your clients and the community…and then…pushed THAT out to your social media channels?In that sense, your blog becomes your voice…and your social media becomes the speakers. And you now have content that can be re-purposed everywhere you hang out with the people that love to hear about the stuff you talk about.This type of blogging is what I call “Blog Push Marketing”.Blogging…with a new purpose.Blogging…as a marketing tool.Blogging…as a way to share your personality and then create information that can be shared all over the internet.Revolutionary? No. Not at all. Everyone else out there is doing exactly this. Everyone…except photographers.Yes it takes a system and yes it takes purpose. But now, blogging can become “purposeful” and that, my friends, takes blogging to a whole new level.Not only does it give you incredible SEO benefits, but it also gives you a platform to establish yourself as the expert in your field.Blogging…it’s the new black in marketing (except it’s not new…it’s the oldest kid on the block).Step back, rethink your blog, and come up with ideas and topics that would actually interest your current and potential clients.PS: You just read this on a blog - that I pushed out to social media :)