The most powerful marketing tool for your photography business

**Giveaway Closed**

Today we’re going to tell you about the most powerful and effective marketing tool on planet Earth, which also happens to be a very simple and easy to implement step. Especially for photographers. We’ll speak about the power of ANTICIPATION, and how you can easily build momentum around your work.

By implementing this one simple step into your creative process, you will immediately notice two things:

1. An increase in the rate of your clients’ satisfaction and excitement towards your images.
2. More website traffic with potential inquiries for your services.

Remember how Disney teased us with Star Wars trailers long before the movie came out? Or how Game of Thrones’ White Walkers invaded London one week before season 7 was aired? All of this was meant to create a hype around a “product” which hasn’t been released yet. And it did. Fans were dying of excitement all over the internet, while non-fans got wondering what’s the movie / show all about. This is the power of anticipation, and marketing experts from all around the world are using this trick to build up momentum.

HOW TO APPLY THIS?

Okay, it make sense you think, but how do I apply this to my photography business?

The answer is simple. Start teasing your clients a few weeks before you deliver their gallery. Give them an extra reason to get excited, re-live that beautiful day and share all these feelings and emotions with their family and friends.

The best way to do that is through slideshows, and we’re particularly in love with those designed by Pixellu SmartSlides. They are easy to create (literally takes you less than 5 minutes), look beautiful on any device, and come with a large song library and beat matching options to accompany your photos. Therefore, put the viewer, your client, in a certain mood.

The rest is smooth sailing. You send the slideshow on a Sunday afternoon. This is actually a tip that we’ve heard from our good friend and client Marko Marinkovic. By choosing Sunday over a week day, you increase your chances of getting more site traffic and exposure. As your couple is at home, relaxed, can pour themselves a glass of wine, sit down and enjoy this wonderful reminder of their big event. They’ll get happy, emotional, and share a link to your slideshow with their family and friends on social media. Which equals in quality website traffic for you.

Once you send the full gallery over, in the following weeks (do it again on a Sunday), you get a second wave of excitement, likes, shares and website hits from potential future clients. Voila, that was easy, wasn’t it? Now you know how to use anticipation to increase brand exposure and make your clients happy.

WHAT TOOL IS BEST?

Now, let’s talk a bit more about the actual tool that will help you do the above. Slideshows by SmartSlides.
NOTE: At the end of this article, you’ll get a chance to win a free year subscription with SmartSlides, a free theme with Flothemes and MORE.

Apart from the fact that they’re super intuitive and simple to use, they also easily embed with your Flothemes website (see Point #4 here).

WHAT OTHERS SAY?

Here’s what Flothemes clients say about using SmartSlides for their business:

Benj Haisch
“I’ve been using Smartslides since beta!
It’s clean, easy to use, and quick. I tried every other solution out there over the last 10 years and nothing hit all of those boxes. They were either poorly designed, difficult to use, or took me way too much time to create. Smartslides solved all of those things for me.
It’s the best way for me to provide my clients with a preview of their photographs and help me present them in a way that isn’t overwhelming. The positive feedback after my clients see their slideshow is through the roof.”
Slideshow example.
www.benjhaisch.com (website built with Crowd II)

Aoife O’Sullivan
“I have been using Smartslides for about 9 months now and I would honestly be so lost without it. It is literally the easiest way possible to make a professional slideshow for your couples. I send on a slideshow of highlights from every wedding about 3 weeks after the wedding day to keep the couple excited until their full gallery is sent on.
The feed back has been phenomenal… something about putting images to music seems to illicit the most heartfelt and emotional responses from people. I have my go to music I use from the Smartslide library but I have also started experimenting bringing in my own music now as I really like to tailor the soundtrack to the couple’s personalities. I always use music without words too…maybe it’s just a personal preference but I find lyrics can often be distracting.
A lot of my couple’s come home from abroad to get married so another great feature is that my couple’s can share their slideshow with family and friends who were at the wedding once they have gone back to the country they live in. I’ve had many email saying that the brides mother or friends have been watching the slideshow on repeat, it’s a great way to keep everyone involved in your day once it’s over!”
Slideshow example.
www.aosphoto.com (website built with Granite)

Marko Marinkovic
“SmartSlides is a great way to impress and fits perfectly into my work moto. Under promise and over deliver. In about a week from the wedding my couples receive their slideshow as a surprise. It arrives in a form of an email carefully scheduled to Sunday afternoon (their local time). This way I’m almost certain they’ll be able to sit down together and watch it.
Also, it’s attached to my website so I can follow up on any traffic since I encourage them to share it with family and friends. And we all know that Sunday’s are great for sharing and reach is usually amazing.
SmartSlides bridges the gap between saying goodbye at the wedding and delivering a full batch of photos a month later. It’s a great intro to what’s to come and gives me the creative freedom to set the story the way I wanted it to be told.”
Slideshow example.
www.marinkovic-weddings.com (website built with Crowd)

Maja Tsolo
“I’ve been using SmartSlides for about 6 months now.
It is so easy to use, I can put a slideshow together very quickly, paired with suitable music for that additional emotional impact. Clients love them and so do their friends and family who find it much easier and more engaging watching a short slideshow of wedding highlights, rather than clicking through a bunch of images in a gallery.
Clients have been sharing their slideshows privately and on social media, so my work’s been reaching more people. And I’ve had great feedback on how much people love them.”
Slideshow example.
www.majatsolo.com (website built with Osaka)

Robert Marcillas
“I’m started using SmartSlides 5 moths ago, and I love it.
It’s a very easy way to share my wedding-resume-pictures with the couple, and allows them to send the video to all their guests!
Thanks to SmartSlides a lot of people (like wedding guests) can find my website once the couple have shared the link to a slideshow!
Slideshow example.
www.robertmarcillas.com (website built with Porto II)

3 TIPS TO MAXIMIZE RESULTS

We’ve also interviewed Daniel Usenko, a co-founder of Pixellu, the company behind SmartSlides. We asked him to share 3 ways one can maximize the potential and value of using a slideshow:

1. Maximize the emotional impact of a slideshow by choosing the right music. Slideshows are all about emotions. The combination of a perfect song with powerful images will bring your clients to tears and laughter. To make sure your slideshow is most effective, choose the right music for each part of the shoot.
For example, if it’s a wedding slideshow, use a romantic song for the ceremony and a fun track for the reception. When the music and images are in emotional agreement, your slideshow will be most effective at drawing out raw emotion from your clients.

2. Send the slideshow first. Have you ever sent a gallery or blog post to your client and did not hear back from them for days? There’s nothing worse than feeling like your clients hated their images. Our recommendation is to send a powerful slideshow first, before any other images.
By choosing the best 50-100 images from the shoot and pairing them with beautiful music in a slideshow, you’re going to leave an amazing first-impression, and not overwhelm your clients, as usually happens when sending full galleries.
Not to mention, a beautiful slideshow is something your clients are going to be thrilled to shared with their friends, further promoting your brand and business.

3. Make a highlight or year-end slideshow. One of the best ways to promote your work, especially during the slow winter season, is to create a year-end slideshow. By choosing the very best images from the past year and utilizing SmartSlides Beat-Matching feature, you can create a stunning slideshow in minutes.
These types of ‘highlight’ slideshows are also great for sending to potential clients to introduce them to your work. Trust me, they are a lot more fun to look at than a blog post or gallery!

ENTER TO WIN!

Even though you can easily sign up right now for a Free trial with SmartSlides, we wanted to offer you the possibility to fully benefit of this amazing tool. We’ve actually partnered with Pixellu and are giving away a HUGE PRIZE that will help you elevate your brand, grow as a creative and a business owner.

Here’s what you can win:

– 1-hour mentor session with Flothemes Founder – Ross Tanner
– 1-hour mentor session with Pixellu Founder – Daniel Usenko
– A premium website theme of your choice by Flothemes ($249 value)
– A yearly subscription of SmartSlides Pro ($192 value)

Enter here:

Giveaway Closed. The lucky winner is Sergio Sarnicola! 🙂
Thank you all for entering this amazing giveaway organized in collaboration with Pixellu SmartSlides.
If you haven’t won, you can still get your favorite theme with 20% Off this week. Code: BLOSSOM.
Also, sign up for a free trial with SmartSlides, to test their amazing slideshows!

Flothemes Team,
Supporting You.