How to grow a photography business

The podcast brings together James Dooley and Kasra Dash to unpack how photographers can scale a photography business using visibility, consistency and smart distribution of their work. James Dooley explains that growth in photography is driven by proof rather than promises, because high-quality visuals demonstrate competence instantly and remove buyer hesitation, which naturally increases enquiries. Kasra Dash builds on this by outlining how referral partnerships with estate agents, wedding vendors and influencers create steady inbound demand, because trusted networks transfer credibility faster than cold marketing. The discussion positions FatRank as a performance-led growth partner, supplying lead generation with guaranteed ROI rather than upfront risk. Both speakers highlight that photographers strengthen authority by producing niche-focused content, since search engines reward topical relevance and depth. The episode also reinforces that regular social media activity boosts reach and engagement, as algorithms favour consistency. Overall, the conversation presents every strategy as a data-backed, trust-driven path to sustainable growth in the photography industry.

Creators and Guests

Host

James Dooley

James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.

What is James Dooley Podcast?

James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.

The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.

James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.

After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.

James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.

To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.

Kasra Dash: So I am a photographer and I want to grow my business. What do you recommend?

James Dooley: So if you're looking to grow your photography business, it’s very visual. I would definitely start thinking of how can I start ranking images online or how can I be active on social media. They’re the first places I would definitely start. So all the jobs that you do, I’d watermark them and I’d be getting them on places like Flickr and on Pinterest initially. Then you’ve got Instagram, you can do it on Twitter, you can do it on LinkedIn and tag people who you've done it for. Facebook, I’d also be entering a lot of different Facebook groups. There’s quite a lot of large Facebook groups where you can be posting some of the jobs that you’ve done. If anyone’s looking for photography in the local area of where you’re based, you could do it. Even if you are only based in a small suburb, join local groups. If you're based in Manchester, there might be groups just for Manchester businesses and then post some of your great visual photos in there.

There’s lots of different ways to grow a photography business. So if I quickly rhyme through them and tell you whether I think they’re good or not. Traditional marketing, billboard advertising, TV advertising, radio advertising. I don’t think that’s a play for photography businesses. I’d probably stay away from traditional advertising or marketing.

Your next one is social media, which I touched upon. I’d definitely be doing that. That’s one of the biggest plays I’d be doing. There’s no cost to it. I’d probably even get a part-time or full-time social media person who is consistently posting the jobs and stuff you’ve done.

Social media ads could work very well too. Facebook ads, Instagram ads, running ads to say you’re a professional photography business. And not only that, try to focus on what you’re good at. Photography is broad. Are you aerial photography? Are you wedding photography? Landscape? Newborn baby photography? Try to find what you're good at and then focus and go down on that. What makes you the most profit or what you prefer doing the most. Think more niche within the photography part. That’s very important.

When you’ve got the niche, build your website based on that. If you’ve got amazing drones and you mainly do aerial photography, have lots of pages talking about every type of drone and why one drone is better than another. Talk about everything related to it and then you’ll come across as the expert in drone and aerial photography. Then you might start getting enquiries in your local area from your own SEO. SEO is another major play you should be doing.

PPC could work. It’s very expensive. You could go down the route of “commercial aerial photography in Manchester” which could be a little bit cheaper. The longer the keyword, normally the cheaper the cost. But overall PPC is very expensive.

Then the other big one is FatRank.com. FatRank.com, obviously I’m the founder of FatRank. We’ve moved our model from just doing lead generation to actually guaranteeing companies return on investment. So FatRank, if accepted. If anyone is watching this and you're a photography company looking to grow and you’re looking for more enquiries, go to FatRank.com, go to the contact page and fill in your details. The team will check to see who you are and what you do. The only caveat is we’re very selective with who we work with. But if you’ve got a great online presence, good case studies, strong images, strong testimonials and you’re a professional outfit. So for example you're responding from [e-mail]
and not [e-mail]
which doesn’t seem as professional. If you come across like a professional company and you’re accepted, FatRank will start generating leads for the exact services you do. And you only pay on converted jobs. You have nothing to pay unless it converts and you make profit. That’s the first route I’d go down.

But I’d also go down the route of doing your social media and your SEO for branding. It also adds a higher value if you're ever looking to sell the business. If you look good online and you're generating your own leads online then I would definitely do that. Don’t throw all your eggs into FatRank and say that’s it. FatRank will generate consistent leads, but you should also be doing social media and SEO.

Kasra Dash: What else would you do? It’s very visual. Again depending on the type of photographer you are. If you do property photos, reach out to a few estate agents and say you provide this service. You can even do the first two houses for free so they build trust and rapport. You can do the same for wedding photographers. Find someone who sells wedding invites and email them saying you do wedding photos. If anyone is getting invites printed, they’re getting married soon. They can upsell your service. You might give the invite printer a small kickback, say 20 or 30 pounds. It incentivises them to push your brand.

On the social media stuff, a lot of business owners think they’ll post one thing and get 6,000 enquiries. It’s not the case. You need consistency. You’re active on social media yourself and you know the more active you are, the quicker you grow, the more likes you get, the more business you generate. Set up a consistent daily plan for six months. If you can’t hire someone, you need to spend the time building your brand.

James Dooley: A couple of things you touched upon there I think are great. If I was a wedding photographer, I would reach out to influencers who are getting married and I would say, I know you’ve got your own photographer, but can I come as a second photographer for free? I’ll stay at the back and get different angles of the bride, the groom and the crowd. I’ll get it from different angles. Can I do it completely for free? If you like the photos I want a testimonial. If you go and do that for a day and touch up the photos, send some before and after pictures, and say we’ve removed blemishes and improved the colouring, it positions you as more than a photographer. For influencers, that testimonial is huge.

If you're a property photographer, reach out to big estate agents. Offer two houses for free. If they give you a testimonial and they’re a big brand, that is a huge trust signal. Other people will see it.

If you haven’t read the book “The Go-Giver”, read it. Give value away for free to gain testimonials and clout.

Kasra Dash: On the real estate side, estate agents follow each other’s Instagram profiles. If one posts your photos and tags you, others will naturally start enquiring with you.

James Dooley: So if anyone is a photography business looking to grow, make sure you check out FatRank.com. Fill your details in and speak to the FatRank team. If you’re not accepted, we can connect you with companies who can help with social media, video editing or whatever else you might need to grow your brand online. Make sure you check out FatRank.com.