Understanding light is the first lesson in photography. Understanding consumer psychology is probably the second.
There are rules consumers implicitly follow. When you're sick, you see a doctor, but not just any doctor. You see a specialist. When you’re choosing a college, you don’t just choose any college. You pick the one that aligns with your goals. When you need a defense attorney, you don’t seek out a business lawyer.
We trust specialists because their focus is tight and their processes are proven.
Up until this point, I thought I had complied with these rules. I’ve always been a portrait photographer. I don't scatter my focus across real estate, landscape, or product shots. I shoot people, posed and lit. Yet, despite staying strictly within my lane, business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing felt like shouting into a void. I found myself trapped on the content treadmill, performing for social algorithms that favor endless skits over actual craftsmanship.
As it turns out, I’ve still been casting a net that is still too wide to catch anything. Even though I only shoot people, I can’t be everyone’s photographer.
That’s why I have decided to shift my model to focus on business-to-business clients.
HOW I CAME TO THIS REALIZATION
It’s true what photographers say: I love the art. I’d do it for free. It’s the business part that’s not so fun.
In my case, it’s the marketing part. I don’t have a marketing background, so my methods have been more like throwing anything against the wall and praying that it sticks. (Spoiler alert: That doesn’t work.) I’ve tried business cards. I’ve tried flyers. I’ve tried ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google. I even taught myself how to set up retargeting ads so that website and profile visitors were gently reminded to come back. Want to know what I learned after over $1,000 of ad spend?
- A portrait artist running ads on Facebook is likely to attract men older than 50 who just want to gaze at young flesh. Women overwhelmingly are the ones who seek out and book photographers, not men.
- Meta’s entire business model rewards charismatic people who get on camera and show big, larger-than-life personalities. It’s just not a fair fight for this autistic brain with social skills that sometimes miss the mark.
- If you place flyers on public boards at Atlanta’s universities, they will be taken down in about a week, which is horrible for your bottom line and ROI.
- Marketing people giving marketing advice do not understand what it is to speak in layman’s terms. Things like find your voice, build trust, and funnels are industry jargon.
I’ve been spinning my wheels in the mud. How do I run ads on Facebook when there’s a chance it escapes containment to a demographic that would never book? How do I grow organically when I am neurologically disadvantaged from participating in the influencer behavior Meta’s algorithm rewards? How do I do grassroots marketing with flyers that have a seven-day shelf life? And how do I build trust?
FAILURE OPENED THE DOOR
I attended a networking event at The Gathering Spot in July. I saw a flyer for it on Instagram one morning and signed up. Normally, the idea of networking mortifies me. I have to go to a room full of people I don’t know, shake hands, strike up conversations, pitch myself, and hit on all the social cues expected in that setting. It’s not an easy thing for a neurodivergent mind to navigate. But this one felt different, at least it did at first.
It was marketed as a speed networking event. To me, that sounded like structure. I would know exactly how long I would speak to everyone, exactly when to approach, and when to exit conversations, and all of the expectations would be out in the open.
Whatever speed format I imagined was quickly abandoned. I don’t blame the hosts. It's just how neurotypicals are. They cluster and do their own thing. Even so, I felt like the odd man out. I no longer saw a path for openings, a way to join conversations, or to start my own. I found a table and sat for a few minutes while everyone else did their thing. I’m pretty tall and easy to find in a room, so when things get awkward, I’ve learned it’s better to be awkward out of sight than awkward and in the way.
As I sat there, I knew the night hadn’t gone how I pictured it. Story of my life, right? I badly wanted to participate in the social expectations, but I didn’t have the tools to do so. I thought to myself: “There’s got to be a better way for me to do this.”
There was.
THE BIG IDEA
I had the idea of being a vendor at future networking events. I would run a headshot booth, and then every attendee would come to me. I would shake every hand in the room, hand them a business card so they could retrieve their headshots and mayhaps stumble across my other art, but most importantly – I would get to perform my craft in front of dozens of people at a time.
Bless Andre from Networking Only ATL, because he took a chance and allowed me to be a vendor at his event in August. To both of our surprise, I was a hit. No sooner had I set up my last strobe than people started lining up. About 10 minutes in, I had a line nearly out of the door. People were coming to see me and participate in my craft. A lightbulb went off. I can get into the headshot booth game and make a living wage. The value of a headshot booth is the foot traffic it generates. So if a vendor at a conference wanted more foot traffic, it could pay my activation fee, and I would set up at its booth. The wheels were spinning, and I saw a path forward.
That same night, the MC came to get me and the other vendors to have us come on stage and pitch our businesses. Ordinarily, I would have panicked. Public speaking, and I’m unprepared? No thank you. But I was feeling so good that night; nothing was going to derail me. When it was my turn, I grabbed the mic, greeted everyone, thanked them for coming to my booth, thanked them for sharing their smiles with me, told them they looked wonderful that evening, and invited everyone who hadn’t been to my booth to stop by.
I came into that event with over 60 business cards. I left with one.
Everything went so well that Andre and I decided to do it again at an event at the Commerce Club. This time, I was better prepared. My initial business card was just a sloppy collage of my work, with semi-transparent color overlays, my logo, and incomplete contact information (I can’t believe I forgot to add my phone number to it). This time, I had a completely redesigned card. It featured all of the important bits, like contact info, a big QR code, and my logo. But it also featured a display of my most stellar work. My new card showcased my ability to paint a subject with light on-location, in studio, pose a couple at sunset, celebrate a graduation, and much more.
This time, when people came to the booth, I would hand them a card, and many times they asked, “Ohhh, so do you also shoot (families, holiday parties, couples)?” to which I would smile and nod, yes, I sure do.
I realized that night that I was finally doing what those marketing people had been going on and on about: Building trust.
- The first bit of trust came when they stepped into the booth, and my wife and I instructed them to take off their name badges for the photo.
- The second bit came with the micro-coaching. Things like: Chin up, turn your shoulders a bit, mind if I fix your collar?
- The third bit came when I showed them the results in the back of the camera. I’ll tell you, there’s nothing more gratifying than having a subject squeal over photos you showed them on your camera screen. I live for that.
- And the final bit is when they receive the business card, featuring all of my most spectacular portraiture.
I was building trust. I was grassroots marketing. I was networking.
I had found my path forward.
SO, WHAT NOW?
I have some direction now. I have felt most comfortable in my headshot booth than I have in any other shoot. My booth has been the only thing, thus far, that has made me feel like I’m doing this business owner thing right. I’m going to focus on corporate clients and allow that to feed me warm leads for portraiture. I’m not slamming the door shut on portraits. I mean, let’s be honest, I’m quite skilled at painting people with light. I’m still open to portraiture for clients who value creative direction and lighting artistry, but I am turning the volume down on portrait work. Corporate activations are where my main focus lies. I’m taking myself out of B2C’s race to the bottom of B2C.
You’re either competing with a college kid who shoots for $100/hour, or you’re filming skits for Instagram because Meta won’t promote anything else. Shifting to B2B headshot activations allowed me to step out of the content rat race and back into what I do best: delivering flawless light in every frame.
Planning an upcoming corporate conference, networking event, or team headshot day in Atlanta? Let's bring a high-impact headshot activation to your attendees.