Focus your marketing where your ideal local clients already spend time. Social platforms like Instagram and Facebook are strong options for portrait work because your images can showcase your style directly. Tailor posts to the platform: strong visuals for Instagram, and images plus a story for Facebook.

Consider targeted digital ads, especially on Facebook, where you can define a local audience by demographics and control your budget.

Your cheapest source of new business is usually repeat clients and referrals. Create reasons to stay in touch with past clients, encourage referrals, and make it easy for happy customers to recommend you.

You can also build visibility offline by making portraits in your community—with permission—then sharing or emailing those images and including your business card or signature. That can create word-of-mouth exposure, especially when people share images online.

Joining local online communities and engaging where your target clients already gather can also help. Overall, the key is to consistently show your work, stay visible locally, and make referrals and repeat bookings part of your process.