Should a real estate photographer call themselves a marketing company?

Yes, where the agent reads it: site headline and bio. "Photographer" is a line item she compares on price. "Real Estate Marketing" puts you on a different list.

What should my real estate photography website headline say?

Ours says "Real Estate Marketing." Not photography. The headline and bio are what she checks after you text her, so that is where the name has to change first.

What do real estate agents want to hear from a photographer?

Their own words: leads, follow-up, leakage, fiduciary, portal. Not lenses, HDR or turnaround. Open with one question: is she building a brand or getting leads off this listing?

Answers › Bold takes

Ask the agent

Should I stop calling myself a real estate photographer?

I’ve been 360 Imagery Services for a year. You keep saying ’marketing company.’ Do I rebrand or is that just words?Asked by a photographer on Mike, outside Washington DC (a strategy call)

It isn’t just words. Call yourself a photographer and the agent files you next to every other photographer in town, then picks the cheapest one. The name sets the category, and the category sets what she compares you to. Change it where she reads it, then change how you talk.

A photographer is a line item

Picture an agent’s listing budget as a spreadsheet. Sign post, lockbox, photographer. One row each. Line items get compared on price: three quotes, lowest wins. That isn’t her being cheap. That is how anyone fills in a row.

And here is the part photographers miss. You’re not up against other photographers. You’re up against her changing nothing. She has a guy, or she has a phone, and either one costs her less thought than you do.

The word decides which list she puts you on before she sees one photo. "Photographer" goes on the vendor list. Something else goes on the list of people who help her sell. Pick the second list.

Say Real Estate Marketing everywhere she looks

Mike thought this part was just words. It is the part agents read first, and the part they read fastest. Our site headline says "Real Estate Marketing." Not photography. Not services.

Headline and bio first. That is where she checks you after you text her. If those say photographer, the rest of the site doesn’t matter, because she has already filed you.

What agents pay us for is consistency in branding. Every listing of hers looks like hers, and the seller sees a brand before she sees a house. All any business owner wants is more business, and the name on your header tells her whether you’re in that business or the photo business.

The minute you quit calling yourself a photographer, they start respecting you.

Talk in her words, not yours

The headline is the easy half. The hard half is what comes out of your mouth on the first call, when she asks what you do.

I sat on her side of the table for ten years, and in that time no photographer asked me what I was trying to do with a listing. The first one who did would have had all of them. Nobody asked because they were busy telling me about lenses.

Her words: leads, follow-up, leakage, fiduciary. Say "portal" and she says, now you’re speaking my language. Drop yours: lenses, HDR, turnaround. She doesn’t buy those.

So here is the question I ask before anything else on a consult: "Are you trying to establish yourself as a brand, or get new leads off this listing?" Either answer tells you what to sell her. Neither answer is photos.

The line

Are you trying to establish yourself as a brand, or get new leads off this listing?

The big lesson

The word you pick is the list she puts you on.

Do this

This week: change your site headline and bio to "Real Estate Marketing." On your next agent call, open with the brand-or-leads question.

Where you actually are

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Straight answers

Should a real estate photographer call themselves a marketing company?: Yes, where the agent reads it: site headline and bio. "Photographer" is a line item she compares on price. "Real Estate Marketing" puts you on a different list.
What should my real estate photography website headline say?: Ours says "Real Estate Marketing." Not photography. The headline and bio are what she checks after you text her, so that is where the name has to change first.
What do real estate agents want to hear from a photographer?: Their own words: leads, follow-up, leakage, fiduciary, portal. Not lenses, HDR or turnaround. Open with one question: is she building a brand or getting leads off this listing?