Video Marketing for Photographers: Where to Start

Most photographers have a strong portfolio and no face to go with it. Prospective clients can see your pictures. What they can’t tell is whether you’ll calm a nervous bride or loosen up a stiff executive, or keep a wriggling toddler happy. Video answers that in seconds.

This guide is for working UK photographers who shoot weddings, portraits, families, headshots, commercial jobs or events and want to add video without turning into full-time videographers.

Why should photographers use video marketing?

It builds trust before the first call

Choosing a photographer is a personal decision. Clients are letting you into a wedding morning or a family home, or into their business. Watching you talk and laugh while you direct a shoot lets them work out whether they like you, and people who’ve already decided they like you arrive at the enquiry warmer and far more certain.

It shows your personality and process

Two photographers can produce very similar images, so the experience often settles it. A short film of you at work shows your pace and your patience, and how you talk to people. That’s hard to get across in a gallery.

It gives you more ways to be found

Every place clients already look supports video. Your website does. So do Instagram and Facebook. YouTube and your Google listing handle it too. One filming day can give you material for all of them. Our marketing for photographers overview shows where video sits next to everything else you do.

What types of video should photographers make?

You don’t need every one of these. Pick two or three that suit your work.

Not sure where to start? A behind-the-scenes film is usually easiest. It piggybacks on a shoot you’re doing anyway, and it sells your style and your personality at the same time. That’s the thinking behind our videography for photographers service, which makes films of you capturing the moment.

Where should photographers use their videos?

On your website

Put a short film wherever a visitor makes up their mind, such as the home page or your about page, and on the page for each type of shoot. Make sure it’s visible and loads without extra clicks. Google’s Search Central guidance recommends a dedicated watch page for each video where that suits your business, embedded with standard HTML and given a unique title and description, plus its own thumbnail.

On social media

Short vertical clips suit Instagram and Facebook. Longer films can sit on YouTube or your website. Post different cuts of the same shoot instead of filming new material every week. Our social media for photographers page covers how to plan that rhythm.

In your emails

Drop a friendly clip into your enquiry reply or your booking confirmation. It shows the client there’s a real person behind the business and gives them a sense of what to expect, and it saves you answering the same questions over and over.

How do you use video on your Google Business Profile?

With a verified Business Profile, you can add videos next to your photos. Google’s help page says videos can be up to 30 seconds, 75 MB and 720p or higher, and that media should represent reality. It also says uploads get reviewed and may take a day or two to show up.

Thirty seconds is plenty for a clip of you working or a walk round your studio, or a quick hello. Use footage that looks like your business. A generic montage won’t do it. And check Google’s current limits before you upload, because they can change.

How do you start without a big budget or crew?

1. Choose one purpose. A single goal, like getting more enquiries from your about page, beats a fuzzy plan to “be on video”.
2. Film one session in several ways. Grab a few seconds of you working, a client’s reaction and a detail shot. Edit them into a reel and a vertical clip, plus a longer cut.
3. Get permission. If clients or guests appear, ask first and note down what they agreed to.
4. Add captions. Captions provide a text version of speech and non-speech audio. They mainly help people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and they also help people who take in written information better than audio.
5. Use a consistent look, with similar colour, type and music, so people recognise your films as yours.

A professional can take care of the filming and editing so you can keep your mind on the shoot. If you’d rather stay in control of your diary, that’s a sensible way to spend the budget.

How do you tell whether video is working?

Watch what happens after someone has seen it. Do enquiries mention the video? Is time on your about page going up? Do followers message you after a reel? Platform analytics will show you views, but views on their own aren’t bookings, so ask every new client how they found you and what made them pick you, then write the answers down where you’ll see them again.

How we can help

The Limelight Company is a UK personal-branding and marketing agency, and our team includes working photographers. Through our video production for photographers, we can plan and film behind-the-scenes films and about me videos for you, as well as reels, and edit the lot. We agree a clear brief, scope and fee with you before any work begins.

Sources

• Google Search Central: Video SEO best practices
• Google Business Profile Help: Photo and video guidelines
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: Captions