I am a military wife who moves from station to station with my family every couple of years. We are never really in one place long enough to build that strong location foundation that many other photographers get to create and include in their marketing. I’m also a mom who prefers not to be away from my family while off shooting in various locations. I had to figure out a different way to gain momentum (and clients) for my boudoir studio brand, Sugar & Lace. Here are five things that helped pave the way to positive brand exposure.

1. Using Models and Makeup Artists to build a portfolio

I started to scroll social media platforms looking for models I could use to help build my new portfolio. I would tell them a bit about me and that I was new to the area, just opened up a boudoir and portrait studio, and was looking for models who would be able to use the images for their own portfolios as well.

After I photographed my first model, I was approached by a hair and makeup artist in the fashion industry who loved my work and was also trying to build her portfolio. She had connections to a modeling agency, so with her hair and makeup skills and my photography, we worked to shoot the agency’s new faces. Finding models was no longer a “scroll through social media”—I now had a list at my fingertips.

2. Shooting for free

As a boudoir photographer, it’s understandable that a lot of my clients want to stay private. This makes it a little trickier to always be showing new images of clients on social media. Until you have a lineup of clients ready and willing to have their images shared, keep shooting for free to build your portfolio. A lot of people advise against this, but I say shooting for free is better than not shooting at all. There is a positive, forward-moving energy that exists when you keep shooting. This momentum will help paying clients find you. Trust me.

3. Finding Clients through Image Connection

Your potential clients will feel connected with the images they see you posting. These images will draw them to you and will entice them to be photographed by you. I began styling all of my sessions with models to the exact style I enjoyed shooting—sensual and moody, which I achieve through lighting, hair and makeup—and all of the images I was putting out on social media were the exact images I loved and wanted to keep creating. Through this intentional styling and image creation, clients started to find me and book me for my style. I also started to offer wardrobe consultations, and eventually l was able to market my boudoir as a luxury brand. What does that mean exactly? I used the wording “Photographic Experience” and I gave more value by implementing the wardrobe consult, which helped qualify my brand by the experience, value and service. And it’s all aligned with a higher price point (my prices went up 50 percent for my boudoir brand).

4. RELYING ON Word of Mouth

I put out a Black Friday sale one year and, though I only booked a few clients, one of them was the “right client” who ended up connecting me with the right people in town, including another hair and makeup artist who worked for a local hair salon. We cross-promoted and began collaborating regularly. I sent my clients to them for hair and makeup before boudoir sessions, and in return, they talked about me to their regular clients. Soon, word of mouth was spreading like wildfire. There was an energy set in motion and soon, half of my clients were referrals.

As happy as I was with the growth of my business, though, it was disheartening to come to terms with the truth: It was time to move again, and to a more rural area. I contacted a modeling agency in the next big town (Arizona Model Management in Tucson) and asked to shoot their new faces. I also went through social media again to find models and found women that I used as models later. For example, my hair and makeup artist booked me before I moved to the new area, and after that I used her as my model and as my hair and makeup artist for future clients.

I also booked a few other clients through social media in my new location before moving there. They came from other towns (Phoenix and Tucson) and paid my prices. Through word of mouth and social media, I also started booking clients in my new little town.

While I was concerned with being able to charge luxury brand prices in a new, smaller market, my portfolio didn’t change and potential clients understood the value of what I was offering. It worked out better than I had imagined.

5. Marketing Multiple Brands

With my most recent move, I knew I would be out of clients for a while—as I was beginning my process all over again—so in the interim, I started to create and sell Lightroom presets to other photographers.

I created my Embrace Presets and through selling them, I started to build up my social media platforms again. I also created the brand Jasmin Jade, in which I offer mentoring sessions and workshops. I currently have three Instagram accounts: one for my regular work and private things, one for my boudoir clients and one for my presets catering specifically to photographers. I have Facebook groups to market my offerings as a photographer and mentor, too.

Since my mentoring and workshops were catered only to boudoir shooters, I decided it was time to pull in other genres. I started shooting some families and couples, working off the same template as before: find models and put it out there to the world. Suddenly, I was getting inquiries for couples sessions.

Bottom line: Know your worth, the experience and value you can give your clients—it helps to shift your mindset and get bookings. I had clients first telling me they couldn’t afford my services only to write me back a week later telling me they wanted to book me and wanted the looks they had seen on social media.

Image © Emily Piper Photographer

Jasmin Jade is an award-winning and internationally published boudoir and portrait photographer from Germany who currently resides near Tucson, Arizona. She is the owner of Sugar & Lace Studio and of Embrace Presets, where she creates post-processing tools for other photographers. She believes in community over competition and in empowering other photographers to lift up the industry.

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