I've noticed when I got into business at first I wanted do anything that the market was demanding locally. Sadly, after 2, almost 3 years in business its not much demand at all at least with the budget for advertising and marketing I have. Here's my experience with only running a shoestring budget of advertising my business, and when I say shoestring I mean like a monthly budget of $5 to $100 max, and annual maybe $1000.
I tried 1 year of yellowpages.com, results were about 2000 hits on average monthly, and numbers counted from their end, but google analytics counted a few hundred only on a monthly basis, turn around on actual clients, none at least during the advertising stages where they place me on top when people search for X terms in X areas, but I did get 1 client, after I ended the contract and kept the free version.
I also tried weddingwire.com, with their 1 year commitment, and just "showing up" form of advertising when people search in the X areas, no bookings, 3 people contacted me... AFTER I ended the contract and went into the free version.
Now I know, there are tons of variables such as portfolio, website, reviews (if any) and perception of experience in portraiture or/and weddings, and of course pricing.
During the past 2 years I did play around with pricing from low to now local average, I did get about 3 paid wedding clients, built from $300 to $600 being my most.
So from the above I didn't get much traction, I went into Thumbtack, I got a lot more paid clients compared to the numbers from "traditional online" advertising channels. I got hired about 10 times from there. Mostly for headshots. Price tiers I was hired for was good for the area excluding the 1 wedding I was hired for. Could I have gotten hired a lot more with much lower prices, of course, but honestly that wasn't my goal in business. Quantity over quality not my style, nor high volume for little pay. My goal is high pay little volume, especially when I compared my photography work with competitors as my work did stand out in my opinion when compared to most of the market, but sadly the non-commercial market does not have trained eye so they see the amount of reviews/testimonials, and likes a photography business has around here and they choose them cause they look "more legit" so looking like a "more safe" option.
I have thought of playing more around with more traditional advertising, like mailers to very specific target audiences for markets I primarily focus on either I enjoy most AND get most profits or when I need cash I for the bigger profit only rather I like it or not. Sadly since I mostly go on "word of mouth" method which is gold in our industry, it works better in my opinion in bigger populated areas.
I believe word of mouth would work best in bigger cities because of simple math and economics, more people the more it spreads, the more it spread and the more they hear of your name being passed around in a positive note and the more likely you'd get more bookings. But noting that name being passed around to your target audiences too is what will get the client, sadly in my area not 100% of the population will be able to afford me or value me enough to pay me what I'm asking for. So even if my own city has 25,000 people living in according to census, not every person is making a living on their own, not every person is making enough wages to have spending cash to spend on photography, not every person values photography. Heck, I've noticed in the non-commercial world (like portraits) women are the ones who care and want beautiful imagery, the men could not care less unless they had a trained eye in art or similar areas, and sadly from studies I've read men have a more sensitive to eye sight than women, but women are more concern of public perception of how they look and how people see them than men. So, that 25,000 easily becomes 50-100 people in my city alone, hence why now I focus on the region and not only my city. Now I know this sounds like a lesson of some kind, just sharing what I've learned here.
Next things I plan to do when I have the budget is to use more traditional advertising strategically, and I know it is very risky, many in our industry claim it doesn't work at all and is a complete waste of money, but who knows if you study on how to do it right and have the budget to try it, it may have some impact. I know one area I won't be spending my traditional advertising on is our local paper, why you may ask? Simply, their prices are outrageously high with the amount of (or lack thereof) potential readers and actual readers. The prices are $300/per publication (day) for a tiny 4"x2 or something like that, which may or may not sound outrageous to some, but for the average prices for photography (not weddings/commercial) in my area it is $150-$300, and the chances of my target audiences will see it in the newspaper is very slim where even if I get 1 booking from it I may lose money or at most break even.
The better option I will be trying and I think others should try is 1 day specials at very high traffic areas like a mall. Where it is likely to be pricey for peak hours or a full day even (maybe $1000 for the day), and the best I could do is break even, the positive part its not a full blown shoot for everyone, just a tease, you charge 70% less than you normally world, like if its headshots for $300 you charge $50 on the spot, but without de-valuing yourself too much you obviously give less edits/photos, etc. than if you would shoot a $300 headshot session. Throw in 1 edit fully retouched headshot, either do it on site depending on volume/demand and if you have help or you're by yourself you give them the digital high res. (just 1) via email or online gallery (for the event) one private for just the high res. and public with the low res. with watermark (if you use them) and they share the hell out of it. Or if you got the budget print on site too, give them one to take home (either 4x6 or 8x10) with promotional materials/goodie bag. Since its a tease, its more of a marketing opportunity than actual photography work when though I will be "performing" in person with actual clients. If they love the work they'll call back for a full session or/and friends/family.
When is the best time to do this you may ask? 1; obviously when you got the budget, and 2; your branding, website, and especially portfolio is consistent and strong. I personally feel I am not ready on any of this but I thought I'd share with others who may want to try it! As well studying the foot traffic on specific days or seasons, obviously the summer/warm months would work best.
I am working on the branding, heck made an entire website just for certain aspects I want to really focus on in the business side which right now is headshots since I've been hired mostly in that in the region, I feel this market for me is best to focus on year round for both on-location cinematic headshots during the warmer months (indoor if I can find interesting indoor locations too) and studio headshots. Check it out www.CA-Headshots.com/cms (do not have a www.ca-headshots.com yet working on a splash/opener page, not ready for public consumption just sharing it with you guys). I also have to work on my portfolio to show more consistency to ensure my future leads feel very comfortable in hiring me, if you're interested in knowing how right now I am looking to work with a bunch of charities and hopefully giving some headshots to help them in exchange for exposure+portfolio will help me a lot, or even better help raise some donations for the charities!
I feel that most traditional advertising would be a waste of money. When you need a plumber or electrician in an emergency, you go to the Yellow Pages, or do a quick online search. But when you are planning some work done on your house, what do you do? You ask friends to refer you to someone. And in my experience, photography is no different. People ask their friends when they are looking for a photographer. Of course, you can't get referrals without first having clients. So you need to figure out ways to market yourself to your target demographic.
It sounds like you're considering headshots at the mall? How many could you shoot in a single day? A better idea would be to set up a small booth with your very best work on display, and some marketing materials. Rather than discount your work, offer something extra as an incentive to book on the spot. If you get $300 for a portrait sitting, don't devalue your work AND give them less. That's counter-productive. You want full price for your work, and then give them a set of lo-res images for the web as a bonus. Get paid what you're worth, and let them market you via Facebook.
As far as timing, I would spend a few days at the mall, scouting out stores at lunch time. For example, the women shopping Nordstrom's on their lunch are probably going to have a bit of disposable income. So you need to look for stores that cater to the clients you want, and find out the best time to make yourself visible to them.
The lab that processed my film had a small photo studio attached. They didn't do wedding or location work. Their location in a large outdoor shopping center provided a lot of traffic, with great visibility. Thousands of people drove past their storefront on a regular basis, and when they wanted a photographer, that was their first stop. By building a good relationship with the owners (they saw my excellent work every week), they became my number one source of referrals. The moral here is to align yourself with businesses that can help you. Offer your services to your local florists. Introduce yourself at the shops that sell high-end wedding dresses - if you can do some portrait/headshots for the women that work there, you're in a great position for referrals.
One final thought. I didn't specialize. While portrait, wedding, and event work made up the bulk of my business, I did the odd product shot here and there, and even shot customized motorcycles on a regular basis. But somewhere along the line, I became known as the "2nd wedding" guy. Couples that had both been married once before. (Hey, this was SoCal) Second weddings are so much better than first weddings. The expectations are different, the stress is lower. For their first wedding, they either made time for photos, and treasured them, or didn't make time, and had regrets. So I found that not only did my clients have a better idea what they wanted, but they gave me a lot more of their time and attention on the day of the wedding. Just something to consider.
Sadly in my city only, the most foot traffic is in the mall or walmart, everyone else in town drives to the next bigger city with bigger mall and stores. I think holding space rentals for a day a month or once every few months whenever I can afford it may be the goal for me. I did build a local relationship with a business at a salon, had it for 3 years, honestly the only clientele I got from there was the employees, and maybe 2-3 clients of theirs came to me for photography. It's something, but I think the target demo was different than what I was targeting (I was targeting higher end more willing to spend). I do seek out other places to partner up with but bridal/gown shops already have agreements with other photogs, and these places are in my region but not in my city since my city doesn't even have a bridal/gown shop. I've been looking more on "following" fanbase, likes, how popular they are in social media as I partner with them and we do cross promo on social media it should help me, but in most cases my target demo is under serviced in my area since my area average income is very low so there is maybe 2-3 high end shops around town that gets little to no foot traffic. Maybe putting a spot by a jewelry store inside the mall may work best, or Boscov's as those 2 are higher prices than walmart.
I know the ways, just right now lacking the cash to do it now. I can purchase emails and mailing addresses of specific income brackets for specific geographic locations I think would help a lot, at least increase in 10-20% of what I'm currently getting within a few months after implementing mailers and email blasts to specific local targets. As well do in-person marketing at the mall in front of the shops targeting my same demo. Right now though I am working hard to getting noticed by locals by doing charities and public event coverage. More people see me and hopefully the more I push myself to interact with them too the more they'll call me.