Nicole,
my approach to marketing is very simplistic. First, I identify who my market is; then I figure out how to reach them; I try to understand how they buy (their buying process); and then I find the media that will reach that audience with the right message(s). Now that's pretty abstract so let me focus it a bit.

First of all, the "pet photography" market is a pretty big, amorphous group. Are you talking about dog owners; cat owners; bird owners; all of the above? Are you looking for all of the people in one of those groups egs. dog owners? Or are you looking for a segment of that market such as dog owners who show their dogs? Or, dog owners that live in upper-middle class to affluent neighborhoods?

Once you've targeted your market a bit the question is do they buy what you're selling and if they do, how do they buy it? For example, if dog show exhibitors buy pet portraits at dog shows then you know you have to be at dog shows. If upper-middle class dog owners tend to buy on impulse at special events, then you would need to be at those special events.

Then you'd have to shape your marketing program/materials/offers to those people and that buying process. Obviously, it gets far more complicated than that when you take into account the differences between markets geographically -- James in NYC and Julie Poole in Knoxville -- but within those variances is an approach you can use to reach a particular segment. Once you've reached it and started to produce paying customers, you'll have work that you can use in your marketing program and references/referrals for additional work which is ultimately your pot of gold. That's where social media plays a huge role. You would be amazed with the number of puppy shoots I get from publishing pictures of my own puppies on FaceBook.

You have to start somewhere. You can't reach everybody and offer everything. I suggest you focus on a particular segment of a particular market and work that segment. Get some business. Get some exposure. Get some clients. Get some samples. Once you've done that for one segment -- and it may become your only focus for a long time -- then you can expand your program to other segments or other markets. In my experience, the hardest thing to do is find that one niche where you will have immediate success and leverage it to build a larger business.

I apologize that this message contains a lot of broad generalities but I'll be happy to answer specific questions if you'd like.

Jim