Four promotions to take advantage of World Photography Day (August 19th)

‍What is your hotel/VR doing for World Photography Day?

Don’t forget to post about your promotions on social media, and tag them #WordPhotographyDay and #WorldPhotographyDay23. More social media tips to follow. 

Display and sell prints from local photographers.

Many cafes regularly allow local photographers to display framed prints of their best work. This is a terrific way to provide some local color to your accommodations. Not only are you featuring a local business, but their work will likely depict the character of your town. 

By including a discrete price tag or a notice for price inquiries, you offer guests a unique momento for their trip. Be sure to put up a notice about World Photography Day. This will clarify that this is a temporary display. 

You can still take advantage of this promotion if your space doesn’t have a lobby (or the lobby style doesn’t suit small photos). If you have a vacation rental you can even post the art inside the rooms, along with a card explaining the promotion. You could even place the photos along a hallway; just make sure it’s on camera. Most guests aren’t thieves, but it only takes one to create a situation. 

Word Photography Day is a good excuse to get those photos up, but you should probably keep them up all month to make the most of it. 

Hire a portrait photographer for the day. 

Guests visiting for a special day will love to pose for your portrait photographer. Even those in town for business may welcome a fresh look for their LinkedIn page. 

This is an ideal option for those of you with a gorgeous lobby that gets plenty of foot traffic. You want your photographer stationed in an area where the backdrop for the photos will highlight the beauty of your accommodations. 

Post the photos to social media as soon as possible. If possible, provide cards with your social media handle and instructions for looking you up. Otherwise, be sure to post a prominent sign informing guests how they can locate your social media to get their photos. If the photos are shared in a Facebook album, make sure you have permissions set that allow the guests to tag themselves and share with the public. 

Hire a local photographer to give photo tips.

If you're at a no-frills hotel with no gorgeous lobby to feature, you might still benefit from bringing a local photographer out for the day. Instead of bringing them in to take pictures, hire them for the day to answer questions and give advice on getting the perfect shot. Provide them with a table in a high-traffic area and a huge sign indicating they are providing photography tips.  The photographer should be encouraged to provide free swag that may promote their business. 

This promotion might work best if your business is in a tourist area, wherein your guests will be capturing precious family memories. 

Make sure you send out promotional emails so your followers know that a photographer will be “on call” all day. This event can combine well with the gallery promotion above, as they can both meet the photographer, see samples of their work, or purchase a print. 

Run a social media contest for the best local photo.

Offer a free stay or some other lovely prize for a photo of your fine city. If you’re feeling generous, you might offer multiple prizes by category: landscape, nature, local people, or even particularly famous destinations. 

Participants can enter simply by posting their submission to social media with a dedicated hashtag and tagging your business handle. It might be wise to limit submissions to one per person, both to keep things fair and so that you don’t have to review too many photos. 

Your staff may choose their favorites and write a blog post on why they loved the winner’s photo (along with any runners up). Or keep things democratic and allow your followers to vote by replying to the photo’s post declaring their favorites. Since sites like Facebook bury posts without comments, the democratic option could be a significant boost to your social media. But be wary of taking this option if you have few followers. It’s not a great look if your winner only got two votes! If that is your situation, you might consider running a short ad campaign promoting your contest so it is sure to get some traffic. 

Be sure to check any local contest regulations or franchise rules, such as not allowing staff to enter the contest. 

What do you think? Do you have a better idea?

Will any of these ideas work for your business? Why or why not? Have a better idea? We’d love to hear what your hotel or vacation rental is doing to promote obscure holidays. Let us know on LinkedIn. 

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