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I'm not a photographer, but as someone who just hired a newer photographer to shoot my wedding photos, here is what made my gal stand out:
1. She had galleries of the different kinds of photos she had taken so far. It was obvious that she had both artistic style and actual talent (the photos were both good lighting and in focus, artsy, etc.) She had clearly both taken classes to learn how to use her fancy camera and taken the time to practice and get good at it.
2. She was in the local Facebook groups of the regions she wanted to travel to. (Ex: if you're in say, Chicago, and you only want to work in neighborhoods on the west side, join the neighborhood groups for those areas.) Then, when people in those local groups would ask about local photogs, several people would always recommend her.
3. She has an actual website.
4. She had an LLC. (Shows she took the directive to set up the foundation for a business.)
5. She was pretty prompt to answer our questions via email or text.
6. She had a lot of "stock poses" at the ready and was not shy about telling us to pose differently. This made our photos better.
7. She had a standard retainer/deposit agreement and was not weird or stingy about letting us have the raw files for our photos. Don't be that photographer that has to tightly control how your clients can use or print their photos. Obviously, keep the ability to show them on your website, but no one is profiting from their own wedding photos.
Finally, one thing that I see that creates a ton of leads is that local photographers on Facebook will say that they need 2 families or so of X number of people to volunteer for a shoot to help fill out their look book. People share that post like crazy, a drawing is held and suddenly you have market reach of a few thousand local families.
It wouldn't have been a deal breaker, but LLC's are usually cheap and easy for a non-lawyer to do. Just look up your secretary of state website and fill out the form and pay the fee. (They often have a how-to on there as well.) In some states the LLC opening fee is as low as $25. If you then open bank accounts with the LLC's name, it'll help keep everything straight for taxes.
Also, FB and Instagram pages are free. If you figure out a name for your business, the LLC will also preserve that name for you and you then use it across FB, Instagram and your website.
I’m not a photographer either but I found people through social media from other people who used local photographers. It’s good to be able to see their work.
Thanks for the feedback.