This simple advice from Mandy Johnson in her “How to Stand Out In A Crowd of Child Photographers” article is applicable to a photographer in any niche.

For a child photographer, it’s all about finding your way, finding your unique passion and running with it!
You can’t be everything to everyone. I chose to stand out in a number of ways, starting with offering a higher-end experience and a full-service studio in a beautifully historic, affluent part of town. At the studio, we pride ourselves on awesome customer service, catering to each client and their needs. From the first phone call, we are set up to ask prospective clients what they want from their session, and to identify their real needs. It’s high-touch throughout the entire process, from the initial inquiry to the moment when we deliver and install their finished pieces.

read the whole article.

If you spend sometime to create an environment that will help your customers feel good. They will tell their friends or come back for more sessions. People buy things not because it’s logical to buy, they buy things because if feels right or it feels good to buy.

The other nice thing about this tip is, if they buy from you and you produce a very good conversational image, your product becomes it’s own marketing piece: 1) when their friend sees your photographs, they’ll ask your customer about it and there’s always a good chance to get a new customer from this. 2) People talk about good experiences, if your customer had a really awesome experience with you, wouldn’t they talk about it over dinner with friends?

So think about your customer service, think about your customer’s experience when they are having a session with you. It’s your opportunity to win them over and become your marketing machine. How can you make it an experience of a lifetime for them?