Marketing and Promoting your Photography Business

Hello everyone.

This week I wanted to touch on another few aspects of marketing and promoting your business as we really move into the busy Holiday season.

I know we all want to be that creative geniuses that create all those beautiful imagery. It is the part of the business that I love the most. As I write this I am actually thinking about the wedding album that I submitted to my printers, Zookbinders.com and why they have not gotten back to me about the album design for my client yet.

Does not sound all that bad, but I have been working on getting photos edited and resubmitted with my client for about 2 months now and I am really tired doing this. However, it is an integral part of making sure that you get your photographs into the marketplace. You need to order sample albums, wall art and other promotional material that continual let's people know that you are in business.

Today, we see so many photographer's discounting their prices thinking that when I speak about adding value it really means offering lower prices. That is not what it is all about. If you keep doing that you are just going to be heading down a downward spiral of lower prices until you cannot afford to stay in business anymore.

One great thing to remember is that you are not only a artist, but a professional as well. You want to make a living as a photographer and to do that you have to think about the business side of your business as well. The side of the business that is going to be bringing in the clients. There is no magic formula.

It is something that you have to do on a daily basis, day in, day out. Some times you have to just sit back and think of different ways that you can make your business better. What can you offer the marketplace that will differentiate you from the other few hundred people in your area? Yes take some time out and just think about ways that you can make the photography experience better for your client. Investment in your company is not always about buying a new camera or lens. It is also not just about coming up with new innovative ideas. You have to put them into action. If you don't do it then someone else is sure to come up with the idea and they want to succeed just as much as the next person, maybe more.

Remember, that no matter what the product is in the marketplace there has to be something to buy. Yes, there is a bit of selling in everything. Many of you might think that just because you are creative that selling is beneath you. Well, a reality check. If you do not make money then you are out of a job and you might as well pack-up and work for someone else. If you prefer photographing different genre's then make different pages for your different work and see what works best for you.

I love head-shots, family portraiture and weddings. They are all people connected, but what is stopping you from branching out and photographing peoples pets or even adding some great video to your packages so that people have these additional segments to add to their buying experience. I recently added mini-albums to my orders and packages, but the thing that pulls people in is the free HD video I add to the entire order. I recently started using Animoto.com and that monthly is now part of my clients packages. They land up buying more and I can offer more to my clients.

These are the added value items that you need to consider when marketing your business. One thing that we are all aware of today is that social media plays a very important role in getting out photographs to people in the market. How are you able to tap into your clients circle of influence so that you can build this referral business. Here are a couple of companies that use social media and your photographs to help build a circle of influence.

Pass.us - If you are a photographer just starting out then this one is for you. If you keep your clients photograph selection under 100 images then everything is free. You get social media exposure and you might even be able to pick up additional sales because you are able to selling prints.

Pixieset.com - is another great client photography web site where you can display, share and sell your photography. They have some great pricing structures and well worth the investment.

So in closing a few additional things you have to remember. If you have a web site, then Google likes that you update your content on a regular basis. If you don't you might just get a call from some business saying that your score is 1.9 on Google's rating scale and they have the solution to get you to number one spot. Just update your content on a regular basis and you will be fine.

Lat but not least. Blog to your fans and friends. No you don't have to get a wiki page or free blog page. Many hosting sites where you have your portfolio might have this option already. I also use Exposure.co to get my photographs out there. It is a visual blog and the cool thing about it is that you might get your page showing up on Google browser. They have a add-on for exposure so that every time someone opens their Google browser they might just see your blog.

So get out there and just keep putting out your photographs for the world to see. Have fun and keep on shooting.

Denzil

I will leave you with a great photograph I submitted to Gurushots.com  I made the Elite level with this photograph and it is giving me some really great exposure.

Six Tips for Maintaining Sanity During the Busy Season

Hello everyone

I had such a hectic day yesterday and today so my apologies for not writing anything and posting in a timely manner.

For this quick post I wanted to post a link to a great review of what to do during the coming holiday season. It is a carry over from what I discussed last week, but here are what some other professionals in the the business think you should be doing.

It is from the Shootproof website blog. It is where I host all my photographs for my clients.

Hope you like the article.

Denzil

Fall Season and Christmas Marketing

Hello Everyone.A happy Wednesday to you.

Now as we all start winding down from the Summer vacations and our month of giving back. It is really not a time to relax, but rather a good time to start ramping up your marketing for the coming season.

Most photographers normally make most of their incomes from the next 3 months. So it is not a time to recoup but take some extra NRG  and then push ahead.

Normally your marketing plans should have been drawn up a year in advance so that you have the entire year mapped out. This is usually decided upon by taking percentage of your annual income and using that money for your marketing campaign. Mine is roughly 5- 10% of total income.

I have a separate account for marketing expenses and then when planning my calendar I have this money available to spend.

Now if you do not have the funds or you are marketing as the money comes in, then it could be that you are not seeing the results that you would like. Why do I say this? Well from experience I have found that if you are not consistent then you have the tendency to lose momentum. Not everyone is looking for the same message at the same time. So by being consistent you can minimize your losses by spreading your marketing over a longer period of time focusing on a smaller amount of campaigns.

The free social media platforms work well. Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Instagram are daily methods of operation.This is where you have to post on a daily or weekly basis depending on your available time. However, you have to do it on a regular basis to actually see results.

You always have the option to pay for advertising. It is a personal choice, but I have found that you can use your personal circle of influence to generate quite a substantial income if you consistently mine the new opportunities that you encounter.

I use a lot of the free marketing videos and tutorials that I find from websites that I am subscribed to. One of them is from Sarah Petty of Joy of Marketing. There are great tutorials on her Youtube channel that can show you how to earn thousands of dollars.

Creativelive.com is also presenting their Photo Week conference starting Sep 18 - Sep 25th. It is all free and you will learn from the industry professionals how they find new customers and retain them.

So whatever your marketing plan is. Make sure that you are consistent and you are doing it on a regular basis. Don't spend any money if you have to until you have exhausted all your free options. Word of mouth is a great untapped secret that needs to be exploited and last but not least make sure that you get all your customer details so that you can start a marketing campaign using emails.

Try Mailchimp if you do not have any email marketing campaign and then you can always expand from there depending on your own business requirements.

I wish you all the best for the coming season and happy sales.

Denzil

Do Things That Scare You!

Good morning everyone.

This morning I am not going to be giving you any of my insights and experiences. I am not going to be telling you what you should or should not do. This morning I am going to let you read an article by Pamela Wilson. It was previously published over at Big Brand Systems.

It is more about who you are and what you have to do to get your photographs seen by people and what you have to do as a person to get that exposure. It's more about what you have do yourself to excel and become the photographer that you want to be.

We can show you all the applications, their tips and tricks. We can talk about composition and show you great photographs, but if you do not apply any of what you learn in the real world then we will never know your true greatness.

I hope you enjoy the article.

Lessons Learned From Down Under.

We look forward to seeing your photographs this month. #aipodvolunteer

Setting up for your Charity Event

Good morning everyone,

Well, you have done all the hard work. You secured a great community event that you are proud to stand behind. You arrive at the event with your camera and are ready to take some great photographs.

People come and go, you ask if they would like to have their photographs taken, but you only seem to get one or two people willing to have their photographs taken. What is wrong? Didn't you tell the organizer that you will be turning up? Why is everybody not so interested in having a photograph taken?

Well for starters let me tell you that just turning up for an event does not guarantee that you will have a successful event. You have to come prepared. Here are a few tips that I found helps build a great relationship with the event organizers and the customers or guests that will be attending your event.

Here is what I have done to ensure that I have the exposure and response that I want.

• Arrive at the event early. The reason you do this is to make sure you have the best location and you can also work out some logistics with the organizers or shop owners.
• Make sure you choose a location where you get the most feet passing through. You should also try and not interfere with regular business, but the location is good enough so that everyone can see you.  Now as a photographer it is not always about taking the photographs. Yes, it is important, but a lot of what you do as a photographer is marketing yourself. 
• You need to setup a table. Yes, bring along a folding table where you can display your promotional material. You will need some flyer's, business cards and other marketing material that is small and easy to grab. You want people to leave the event with some of your marketing material. It is a place to pull people in, so make it interesting and people can take that along with them when they either pass your table or when you are finished with your session. I found a great place for some customizable marketing material. Have a look at Designaglow 

You want to make a great impression and also let them know that you are a professional studio that could actually do more than what you are currently helping the community with.

• A great investment would also be creating a beautiful pop-up banner or posters of your work. This you can put up a strategic points throughout the event if it is allowed or even above the table. It gives the visual visitor a great 1st impression about some of the work that you can do. Vista Print offers some really great deals in getting pop-up banners where you can use your own photographs.
• Props. I don't know how many times these have made a photograph as well as made me some extra profit. People want to see something different and if they are holding a prop it also gives them something to do with their hands. Bring along large photograph frames, stuffed animals for the small children if that is who you are catering to. The props have to be related to your event so don't forget to add them to make your special day even more memorable.
• You need an assistant! As you can see from all the work that goes into a charity or community event. You will need someone to help carry and setup. Phone some friends or even extend your reach even further and approach other students doing photography in your area and discuss it as an "intern" or training event. It is a great way to get some help and it may lead to additional teaching classes where you can make some additional money. You never know.
• Don't forget to take some photographs of the sponsors venue, location or shop. Also take photographs of people involved in the event. These can be used for future advertising for the company and it can be another revenue stream. It is also a great way to stay in-touch. A framed photograph could also be a gift to them for letting you use their venue. A great framed photograph hanging in their offices or shop is a fantastic way to get some free advertising as employees talk about the great event that they had. Remember to leave some pamphlets and business cards with the owners when you leave.

So in closing, there is a lot of work that needs to be done before you even pick up a camera for your event.

Invest in your promotional material. They are items that can be used over and over again. You will need a great banner. WHCC also makes some great banners where you can create a collage instead of a single photograph. The stand alone banners are the best because you can put them around the event.

Finally, don't forget to carry business cards on your person. You are not going to be at the table all the time so make sure to have enough to hand out to everyone.

And let me leave you with one final tip. Have a way to capture peoples names and email addresses for future marketing purposes. I use Chimpmail.com 

In connection with this application I also have Chimpadeedoo which is available for IOS and Android.It captures peoples Names and Email addresses when setup on your device. I normally leave my IPad with my assistant at the table and they, my assistants,  encourage people to sign-up and we will send them some promotional material or we have additional incentives at the table, where we offer them mini-sessions in the comfort or their own homes or at our studio. 

You can use any incentive to encourage people to sign-up so that you can get some additional information for your marketing campaign.

So have a great month of photographing. Just remember that being a photographer is just as important as being a great marketer. People have to see that you can take great photographs before they trust you. That only comes from practice and experience.

So we look forward to seeing all your photographs in the month of August.

Designing Your Business Card

When you get to the point where you are ready to start marketing yourself as a professional, one of the first things you will need is a business card.  It sounds easy enough to slap on your personal information and sit back and wait for the calls to come in, but are you including the right information?  Not sure?  Not sure if you're ready for business cards yet?  Don't panic!  Below are tips for making the right decisions about your business card.


1.  Do you need one?

If you are not going out and meeting people or taking on work that would lead to future business, or if you're doing all of your networking electronically there is no need to get business cards...unless you just really want them then continue reading.

2.  Where do I order them?

There are so many options for ordering business cards.  Personally, I order my first business cards from Vistaprint because I got a good deal on them, and, since I am not profitable yet, I needed something to get me by as I market myself.  Right now I saw they were advertising 40% off any item in your cart.  MOO is another great resource.  They caught my eye with their mini cards--a new trend in self-marketing material.  Check them out!

3.  Contact details?

Nowadays we have innumerable way to get in touch with people: home, cell, office, secondary, fax, personal email, business email, website, IM, Facebook, Twitter, and snail-mail to name the most common.  Maybe most of these don't apply to you, but if you're like me, you have most of these to consider.

There is no point in adding contact information that you don't answer/check every day.  You will thank yourself in the end for not adding too many sources when you only have a couple inquiry streams offered!

Personally, I have my name and address (because I run my studio out of my home), phone number, business email, and website (I have a price guide on my website--saves me the time of having to explain it).  I also included some extra text up in the corner that says "Find me on Facebook" instead of posting my Facebook URL because I am big on posting teasers and updates on my page.

4.  Does it need a purpose?

Do you want to include links to your social media?  Include it if:

• Your social networks are useful to your potential clients/employers.
• You have an online community you would like to build.
• You regularly check and update your social media pages.

You might also want to avoid advertising your social media if:

• The content on your page is inappropriate for clients/employers.
• You don’t regularly check or update your social media pages.
• You don’t have the time or resources available to respond to people via social media.
• Your customers are not using social media.

Do you want to include any additional text or information for  clients to take action such as: "Call for a quote," "Follow me on Twitter," or "Award-winning ______!"?  Omit any information that takes away from the clear message/intent.  Keep it simple.

*Bonus*  Your card, if you choose, can also double as an appointment card, a loyalty card, discount card, etc. that you and your clients will get more use out of.

5.  Do I need a logo?

Yes!  It helps people get familiar with your branding and will be more likely to remember your symbol/graphic/logo, especially if you have a simple business name.  Here are a couple examples of my personal logos and graphics that I created using Photoshop.

6.  What about a QR code?

No, just no!  It stands for Quick Response code and is a bar code that people can scan with their phones.  Although they are slowly gaining popularity in our culture, unless you know that most of your clients will have a QR reader app and can scan your QR code then you can consider using a QR code generator for your business marketing.  Still not sure about it?  Refer to the flowchart below.

Do you have a business card already?  What information did you include?  Have any other questions?  Please comment below and I will find an answer that's right for you!

Works Cited

"Businesspeople shaking hands." Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 11 Aug 2014.
<http://quest.eb.com/#/search/154_2882895/1/154_2882895/cite>

Curry, Niq. "Flowchart." Photograph. niqcurry. Uniq Creative, 4 May 2014. Web. 11 Ayg. 2014. <http://niqcurry.com/what-info-should-i-have-on-my-business-card/ >

Curry, Niq. "What Info should I have on my Business Card?" niqcurry. Uniq Creative, 4 May 2014. Web. 11 Ayg. 2014. <http://niqcurry.com/what-info-should-i-have-on-my-business-card/ >

moo. MOO, Inc., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://us.moo.com/ >

"QR Code Generator." Photograph. qrstuff. QRStuff, n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://www.qrstuff.com/ >

vistaprint. Vistaprint, n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://www.vistaprint.com/ >

What Am I Doing?

Greetings fellow shooters! Tuesday Ambassador Stanley, here welcoming you to another Tuesday.  It has been a good six, maybe seven, weeks since I started writing Tuesday blogs and I think it is about time to let my readers know what I have been up to lately in school. As I am nearing the end of another set of courses, I will be met with new classes to which I am sure will take its toll on me in the coming weeks. So what classes will I be leaving within the week you ask? Well Studio Photography and Marketing are the two classes I will be departing from and to be quite honest, I did not find those classes to be quite as hard or time consuming as I had been told by many. However, I guess not having a full-time job can leave a person to have boat loads of time to do whatever they desire.

Yes, I know I should have taken Studio Photography earlier in my studies but having financial stress prevented me from taking that class in the order recommended by The Art Institute. The out of order class did not stop me from continuing with my studies though, so that is one big plus on my part. However, that is the story of my life. Usually when something does not go right I just have pay not mind to it and move on to the next. If the opportunity arises again then I should know what to do for the next time. Right?

With that said, I am sure you are itching to see some photos of my prior work in Studio Photography. Keep in strict mind that I am a person that has to learn to crawl before walking as you can clearly see in my photos. You will see how much different these images have changed over the course of five and half weeks. Now these assignments were basically exercises for our final project, which by the way will be posted by the time the course ends. For the last shot in this series you will see a multi light scenario where we had to initially freeze our subject and move it all in the same frame. It’s a very cool technique that I am sure I will exploit later on in my career.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3
 

Week 3

Week 4

Week 4

Week 5

In a previous blog of mine I mentioned the need to test your equipment and make sure everything is working as intended in order to prevent any unfortunate circumstances with school. What I did not mention is that it if you do test your equipment, not only do you prevent situations that could bar you from class, but you prevent unfortunate situations when it comes to your job, if you have one, even yourself. I figure that if you are in school for something that you enjoy doing, then it should help to drive that passion even further. So the next time you receive that sexy piece of glass, or a boat load of lights, maybe literally, then test that equipment out that you love so much! I know I do. And as always, thanks for reading.

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

Oh ya, my next classes will be Editorial Photography and Portraiture I. Now I do not have a good feeling about timelines with these classes. Let's hope I can keep up with the blogs in the coming weeks. 0_0 Please leave any questions and

comments below.