You've just wrapped your professional photography photoshoot and if you’re anything like us, you are giddy with excitement awaiting that email notification saying Your gallery is ready! With good reason too. For months you planned and prepared for the project and now it's time to see the rewards of your labor. Before you start blasting them all over social, here's what you should do next.
First, take a minute enjoy your gallery without the pressure to share it immediately. You just hit a milestone! This is a moment to be savored. Next, formulate a marketing plan for releasing your images to the world. This will ensure you make the most of your gorgeous photo gallery and won't miss a single marketing opportunity. Goldenbrand clients receive an in-depth delivery guide with their digital gallery and today I'm sharing our best tips with you.
Back up your photos
I can’t stress enough how vital this is. You’ve spent good money for these precious memories to be documented, and the last thing you want is for them to be lost forever. Goldenbrand clients have access to their online gallery for 90 days before it is archived. During this viewing period, they are able to download all of their images with the options of high-res and web-sizing for maximum use of each image. The gallery may also be easily shared with their marketing and PR teams, and website designers making it easily accessible for project completion. We highly recommend downloading and backing up your images after viewing them. We archive every gallery so if you do accidentally delete your images, we can get them back for a one-time unarchiving fee of $300. You can avoid this altogether though by simply backing them up onto a hard drive.
Organize your images
For Goldenbrand marketing images we use a series of naming systems to help us find client images, self-portrait studio images, marketing images etc. If you don't have a handy naming system of your own, I highly recommend starting one today. This makes your images searchable and will save you wasted hours scrolling camera rolls for that one shot. Our client Galleries have one hero image with the project name, then all the images are organized by location and set up. This makes following a similar system for organizing your photos easy to create.
Pitch to publications
Select your top three images to pitch to publications and remember to pitch one media outlet at a time. This is important to do second because publications love fresh images and are more likely to publish them if you can offer them exclusively, ie. if they haven’t already been seen by your entire social media following. This is especially crucial for interior designers.
Update your website and portfolio
Update your website to reflect your current images and branding. The same goes for your portfolio. You always want your latest and greatest work and images front and center on your website for potential clients to see. Regarding the above tip, publications won't mind seeing it on your website, they just don't want them to be front and center on your socials...yet.
Share with your e-mail list
Reward those most loyal to you first by sharing with them before you share to publicly to social media. Make them feel special by crafting a special sneak peek or preview email with a few (3-5) images from your gallery. Share the story behind the photos, describe the details and tell them how excited you are to share the upcoming reveal. They will be thrilled to be included as an insider.
Print them
In this digital age, it’s so easy to let our photographs live on our screens, on our profile pictures and timelines, but the most beautiful part of photography is the ability to keep your memories in physical form. Printing your photos is an incredible way to hold onto your photos forever. Hang them on your wall, frame them, or put them in an album. Goldenbrand clients have access to easily print, share, and create unique items with their images. Perfect for client gifts and thank you cards.
Share the Full Project on Your Blog
Once your project has been published, reveal the project gallery on your blog, including all the project images, behind the scenes, and details of the photoshoot. Share the story behind the images and planning process.
Pin portfolio images
Now is the time to pin the images and that blog post to your Pinterest account. Pin all of the images from your portfolio page onto all appropriate boards (your boards might be sorted by style, room, project, theme, color, movement, etc). Feel free to reference our boards for ideas if you need a few. Just make sure all images link back to your site.
Now you can share on Instagram & Social
Congratulations! You've maximized all possible marketing opportunities for your gorgeous gallery! Now you may proceed to post on social, but go slowly. Try to test one image at a time on your Instagram Stories, with a follow-up story on how the image came to be. This is an excellent way to tease content and will also provide a little background before you share more.
As always, we recommend using the same photographer for all of your project shoots. Not only does this ensure consistency in your final images, it is also immensely helpful to build a solid relationship with one photographer who will be able to work in sync with you on every photoshoot.
To learn more about working with the Goldenbrand for your next project, click here.
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