That’s a wrap – another successful session and the beautiful gallery is on it’s way to your client!! You’ve wow-ed them with an amazing experience and you can’t wait to see what part of their experience they loved most. Am I right?!

You’ve prepared a testimonial request email with all the appropriate links to your pages (more on what links you should include later). You even sent a hand-written thank you note to really seal the deal on another great client experience. Now all you have to do is wait for that happy mail to come in! 

But once you receive that gleaming testimonial, what are you supposed to do with it? 

In this blog, I am going to walk you through specific examples of where I use client reviews and testimonials to market and grow my photography business. 

So, let’s dive in 🚀

1. List Testimonials on Your Website 

Testimonials from a past client could be the difference between someone submitting an inquiry form or simply leaving your site. When someone lands on your page, they want to give them enough information (and examples of your work) so that they feel confident moving forward and inquiring about your services. 

On my website Weddings Page, I have a section dedicated to testimonials. 

With eight different couple testimonials, prospective couples are able to scroll through each of the testimonials and read what people have to say about working with me. 

You can add testimonials in several places on your site as an affecting marketing tool. Some options include: 

• About Page 
  • Tell them a little bit more about why it’s amazing to work with YOU 
• Your Investment Page 
  • As a way to justify the cost of the investment. Explaining why you are worth it! 
• Snippets on the Contact Form page 
  • Give them that little extra push to click submit and send their inquiry through 

2. Repurpose Testimonials on Social Media 

It goes without saying that social media is one of the best places to market your photography business online. Your images and posts are what capture people’s attention and give them a glimpse of what it would be like to work with you as their photographer. 

So instead of simply posting pictures from your beautiful portfolio in your feed and stories, use this as an opportunity to tell people what it’s like to work with you. From the perspective of someone who’s already hired you and had an amazing experience! 

Cue, testimonials. 

Use snippets from your past client testimonials in your post copy or even in your story. Show your audience exactly what the experience is like behind the beautiful photo. Give them a reason to head over to your profile and click your website link to learn more! 

3. Inquiry Follow-Up Sequence 

So you’ve received a new inquiry form from your website…now it’s time to bring it to the finish line. Your inquiry emails + all the follow up emails that you include in your inquiry workflow are key to converting inquiries to booked clients. 

Use snippets from your favorite client testimonials as the basis of one of your follow-up emails. Here’s an example of how I use testimonials in my second follow-up email after I’ve had a consultation with the prospective client. 

In the image below, I’ve included the exact copy I use in one of my Wedding Email Templates for Photographers. You can see that this email is titled “here’s what other people have to say…” This is an easy way to show prospective clients a few examples of past client referrals and give them yet another reason to move forward with booking you as their photographer! 

Consider this little image my email template freebie to you 😉 

And last but not least, where should you be asking for testimonials? 

When it comes time to send the testimonial request email to past clients (ahem, this should happen every time you finish a project), you want to make sure you are requesting testimonials for ALL of the places you market your business online. 

Those places could be: 

• Google 
• Facebook 
• The Knot
• Wedding Wire 
• Local Facebook pages 
• Wherever you are getting traffic for your business! 

🌟Pro Tip: Ask your clients to copy their review to all the social media accounts/sites where you are requesting a testimonial. That way the single review is posted in more than one place. More 5-star reviews in all the places! 

Alright, that’s all I have for you today. Now, I want to hear from you! How do you optimize your client testimonials to market your photography business online? What have you tried that works best? What hasn’t worked? Let me know in the comments below 👇