How to promote mini sessions as a photographer

How To Promote Your Mini Sessions

Ready to promote your mini sessions? Hell yasss! There are so many ways you can get the word out there. However, there are just a few I’ve found help to fully book out my sessions every time. 

After launching my mini session course the first time, I realized marketing was the #1 roadblock holding most photographers back. We can’t have that! So today, we’re going to go over 5 ways to promote your mini sessions. And I’m including both free and paid strategies – because sometimes you gotta be boujie on a budget to make the dream work!

The 5 Best Ways to Promote Your Mini Sessions

Social Media

Social media is one of your most powerful tools as a photographer. It’s not the first place you should go to announce your minis, but it’s definitely the first place you can tease it. Social media is great for building anticipation. My mini session marketing starts at least six weeks before I drop the full details. In that time, I’m giving out breadcrumbs, explaining what minis are, and doing market research to pick the perfect theme. 

I’ve found doing this makes people eager to book their spot by the time you launch. It’s also a great way to get people to join your email list to be the first to book. Speaking of…

Your Email List

Email marketing is a great place to promote your mini sessions. You should put all your clients onto your email list – past and present. That way, as you gear up to promote your mini sessions (or anything), you can offer it to them first. Think of it as a VIP perk of being on your list. 

Along with past clients, an email list is a great place to collect prospective dream clients. You know, the people who dream of working with you but may not be ready to invest thousands yet. Mini sessions are perfect for them. They get to work with you to create beautiful images for less. 

If you haven’t started your list or tried and were too intimidated – I get it. Flodesk is my favorite email marketing platform. It’s inexpensive, so easy to use, and has some nice drag-and-drop design templates. 

Side note: If you plan to market your minis via email, make sure you’ve sent regular emails prior to that to your list. So if you’re planning to do Fall mini sessions, sign up for Flodesk or another email marketing platform and start sending regular emails now!

Your Website

One of the mistakes I see photographers make is having a website but having no mention of their mini sessions. This is a big no-no. You should always add a page on your website to promote minis and, when you’re actively promoting them, add an eye-catching pop-up or CTA bar to take people to that page. Putting a page on your site for minis is good for two types of people: the testers and the plan-aheaders.

The Testers:

Imagine going to a photographer’s website who’s a little out of budget for you and seeing a big CTA bar at the top mentioning Fall or Christmas mini sessions. Even if you’re not able to drop thousands on a full session, it reminds you to book photos with the family. So, you book that mini session instead. Don’t you think that person is more likely to book your full session later if they loved their mini session gallery? Of course, they are! Don’t be afraid of people booking your mini and not your full sessions. It often leads to lifelong clients.

The Plan-Aheaders:If you’re like me and you NEVER take your mini session page down, it’s likely to start showing up locally when people are looking for minis on Google. I’ve had people reach out to me in May who found my mini session page from 2 years ago. I wasn’t offering minis at the time, but I told them to join my email list to be the first to scoop up a spot when I do my Christmas in July minis. And you know what? They booked! (Yassss!) Sometimes having past mini pages can lead to future clients.

Local Facebook Groups

If you’re new or just starting to build your community – local Facebook groups are your best friend. They’re filled with families who want photos of their kids. If your mini sessions are kid and family-friendly, let them know you’re booking sessions! Hit up your local mommy groups, town groups, and even HOA groups. (With permission from the group admin, of course!) 

It only takes a few minutes to make a post. You may even find people who are more interested in your full sessions.

Paid Advertising

A little preface – I’ve never paid to advertise any of my mini sessions. I just figured, why pay to get paid? But I know a lot of photographers who use Facebook ads to promote their mini sessions with various degrees of luck. If you’re looking to branch out of your core community of past clients, social media followers, etc. – then you may have luck finding fresh new prospects doing ads.

A word to the wise though, make sure you read up on how to run ads first. You want to make sure you’re paying per click to your website and not per impression. Start small, and continue to use your free marketing channels.

You don’t need to be a salesperson, you just need a better marketing plan

Truly. If you learn better strategies to promote your mini sessions in advance – you don’t need to try so hard to sell. Doing the upfront work makes a big difference. When I realized that, I went from barely making $500 profit to making 5-figures a day. You can do it too.

I hope these tips inspired you as you’re gearing up for Fall mini session marketing. If you want more help, check out this article or join my self-paced Mastering Your Minis course. We have students ranging from being in business for only 3 months to 3+ years. You’ll fit right in!

Happy promoting, Queen!

Mini Session course for Photographers

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I'm Angelica Pompy

I'm a photographer, business coach, speaker, wife, and dog mom. I can also be your biggest cheerleader. Let's turn your business dreams into a fierce and profitable reality!

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Queen!