Archive for Tips & Techniques
Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – The Pinterest Competition
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There’s no denying that in regards to social media, 2012 is all about Pinterest. Everybody seems to be racking their brains to find a way to make it work for them as a marketing tool. There has also been a lot of talk about copyright and the Pinterest terms and conditions so before you sign up you might what to check this article published recently on Mashable -http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/pinterest-copyright-legal-issues/. It is also worth noting that Pinterest have since updated their T&C’s which will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012
One simple idea that I’ve seen is a competition in which participants aim to create a board in order to win a prize.
The Competition
Create an inspirational Pinterest board (on your own account) that reflects the theme [insert theme]
The board must be named [Your competition title] and finished by [insert end date]
To enter your board share a link [via email/on your Facebook page/in the comments of a blog post]
We will choose the best board that reflects [insert theme] and the winner will receive [insert prize]
What you do
Follow all competition boards and creators.
Comment on pins you like that reflect your style (the theme for the competition should already reflect that anyway).
Share boards on other social media sites and your blog
Wedding Albums, Should You and Why
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Many of my prepackaged Wedding contracts today come with what is called a Wedding Album. The wedding album has come a long way in the last ten years or so. Gone are the days of the 50 4×6 albums in an ornate album much like the ones that your parents wedding photos are displayed in. No, today’s albums are truly works of art designed to do more than simply display the images from the couple’s great day. They are designed to tell a story, the fairytale if you will, of this couples love and how it blossomed into the marital bliss of the wedding day. Today’s albums are essential to your wedding package offerings.
Everyone has their own style and while we are photographers at heart and not necessarily Graphic Artists many times we can get by with just simple Photoshop skills to get things done. Many imaging companies today offer software to make this process easier. I have used several from several different printers for several different styles of books. I can say 1st hand that the software can range from very easy to use (beginner) to more of a moderate user level. They all offer their own version of free templates and most let you do some minor editing to those templates. Fortunately for those of us not graphically inclined there are plenty of Graphic Designers out there who have created custom templates for you to purchase to use for your photography album clients. Read More→
A Photographer’s Diary, Five Daily Minutes With the Law of Attraction
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Springtime
This week I have been doing a mixture of head clearing and focusing on things. Firstly I decided to get my desk organised and have bought myself a new in tray so I have somewhere to dump, sorry slap on the wrist! I mean so I have somewhere to put things that need my attention. This came with a few other things, an index box and best of all some drawers to get my office neat and tidy.
Oh and of course a beautiful notepad, no trip to the stationers is complete without coming home with a nice notepad. And I do need this for seminars! Oh gosh who am I kidding, I love notepads and need no excuses to get a new one.
Just bringing these things into my life has suddenly freed up all the clutter I’ve been holding onto in my mind which has given me room to dream. This last week I have initiated five or more minutes every day where I just close my eyes and see what I want to happen in my life. I see, breathe, smell, feel and taste whatever I’m thinking about. I visualise everything down to the smallest detail. This goes back to seeing the bigger picture that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago.
You know how it works; you do it all the time though maybe not consciously. When you focus on something or someone so much that you eventually pull it into your life, be it good or bad. Well this technique I’m using fully now, the law of attraction, is used by business men and athletes alike, it helps me to see where I am going, more than that; it helps me to let the universe know where I am going and get me into the vibration of success. Read More→
Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Create a Competition for Charity
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I’ve seen lots of different promotions from photographers who have run different competitions and many that do charity work but this marketing campaign is a little different.
The biggest difference is that you will be raising funds for charity but you’ll also be making some money for your own pocket too.
What you need
1. Friends
Not just any friends, but lots and lots of what my wife likes to call my “photo friends”. To be more specific, you need a network of photographers either locally or nationally that photograph the same sort of subject as you (babies, pets, seniors etc).
The next thing you have to do is convince them all that you have a wonderful idea for a marketing campaign and it’s not going to cost them too much time or money.
You will need to have all the photographers on board before you begin the promotion of the competition.
2. A Charity
It does help if you choose a charity which will help you with your marketing and promotion. Ideally your charity needs to reflect your area of expertise so if you are a pet photographer then work with animal shelter, if you’re a baby photographer then a children’s hospital might be your choice.
3. Judges
They don’t have to be celebrities but it’s certainly wouldn’t hurt if they were. Obviously they can’t be the photographers entering images but if you manage to sign up a couple of industry experts with judging experience all the better. Read More→
A Photographer’s Diary, Springtime is Arriving
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I love this time of year, the spring bulbs are all coming into flower, the grass is starting to grow again and the blossom starts to bloom on the trees. It does create a divided call on my time, between choosing to stay and work inside on courses and contacting companies, or nipping out when the sun is out to take some photos of the joys of spring.
Of course there isn’t really a decision to make; if I have the time I grab hold of my camera and head off to the countryside to take lots of photos. This last weekend I went back to a location I discovered last summer. I really just went back to explore it and make sure it was as beautiful as I remembered.
Whip Crack Away
Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Be a Fool
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“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on –shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
There’s something about April Fools day which I love. It’s not recognised as a national holiday, Hallmark don’t sell ‘happy fools day cards’ (then again I could be wrong about that one) and there’s no real target market as adults and children both equally participate.
But it is jolly good fun and these days it’s not restricted to silliness in the playground or fake stories in the newspapers.
Google (or should I say Topeka) have led the way online in recent years but its not just the larger companies that have been noticed. The viral effect of social media means that any small business with the right prank can generate themselves quite a large amount of exposure very quickly.
So why shouldn’t a photography business be any different?
Well, be aware that there is such a thing as bad publicity and if you’re a family portrait photographer then tread very carefully.
3 golden rules for creating an effective Aprils Fools prank Read More→
Wedding Prep Is A Lifesaver!
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Procrastination, we all do it. It’s easy to fall into a routine and become complacent. When it comes to your client’s event date though, the last thing you can do is fall into a routine; you need to be prepared for everything. Here are some of the things I do to prepare for an event to make sure everything goes smoothly for me.
Batteries, new batteries, charged batteries, just batteries. Besides your memory card these are the most important and most easily forgotten about part of your camera bag and it can bring your event to a screeching halt. I always prepare for an event by ensuring all of my flashes have new batteries, not barely used but new, and I always test them. One time I had the misfortune of buying new batteries an hour before the event only to find out the batteries I just bought at the store and hour earlier were completely dead and had I not kept my old ones I would have been in a lot of trouble. Test your equipment once you load the new ones and keep enough spares to run through however many cycles you think you’ll need. I keep enough in my bag for 3 battery changes just in case. I charge my camera batteries the night before and make sure everything is working before I leave. You don’t want any surprises when you get there.
Memory cards! On those tiny little wonders of technology can really put a cramp in your style if you turn on your camera right before your client’s event only to discover the photos from the event of the previous weekend are still on the card and you forgot to transfer them to your computer. You can’t erase them and you don’t have enough room for the photos for the current event. That will bring your event to a screeching halt and you want to avoid shooting an entire wedding in low resolution. Always check your cards at least the night before and make sure that any images on there have been transferred to your computer and make sure that you format your cards before your event. You will want to have a clean slate for your client’s event. Bring spares even if you think your 60GB card is enough. You never know when that little devil will suddenly decide to start giving you a card read error and then you not have a backup plan. Ever heard the joke about the film photographer running out of film during the wedding???? Well, it can happen to us digital photographers as well so remember the Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared! Read More→
Scenic Outlook – Embrace Manual Mode
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Modern cameras are truly wonderful devices, every time a new one comes out it’s seems to be packed with more and more cool stuff to temp you into parting with your cash. Of course many of these features can be quite useful in certain situations but for the most part a good proportion of functions will rarely be used. This is very true for the landscape photographer. Sturdy build, good glass, a decent viewfinder, a reliable light meter and the ability to alter the aperture and shutter speed separately is all it needs to do. The question of resolution/pixel count really comes down to what it is that you’re going to be doing with your images, and if you never print larger than A4, a 6MP DSLR will do the job just fine. 12MP seems to be a good amount for the majority of folks but even the lower end cameras are now offering more resolution than this; cool if you want huge prints or to aggressively crop your images, but most of us just won’t utilize the full resolution of our cameras.
So, your camera will come with a number of exposure modes; Program, Shutter priority, aperture priority, Auto, Manual and in addition to this there will be a selection of scene modes to choose from. I only ever use two of these modes; Aperture priority and Manual. Aperture priority is great in situations where you have to work fast; you get to choose the aperture and thus the depth of field, and the camera selects an appropriate shutter speed to get a good exposure, or at least what it deems to be a good exposure.
A Photographer’s Diary; The Bigger Picture
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I’ve started putting some more nurturing activities into the end of my day to help me unwind and relax; a steam room, sauna and whenever I feel like it, the gym upstairs.
A day sat at the computer as you no doubt know yourself, doesn’t give you much chance for exercise. So a quick walk on the treadmill whilst watching, what is fast becoming, my favourite comedy and then retiring to the leisure facilities with a good book, has become a cherished part of my day.
My old back garden
The one thing though that has become a bit tricky is recognising people that I meet in the steam room or sauna once I’m out of it! Let me explain; I wear contact lenses though remove them before going to gym as lenses are uncomfortable in the steam room. So I wear glasses, though obviously not in the steam room or sauna and this is where the problems begin. Read More→
During Digital Photography Café’s live WPPI 2012 coverage this past month, Joseph Cristina and I had the opportunity to chat with Roy Meyer from Ultimate ROI Marketing about how appreciation marketing can help build referrals to grow your photography business.
In the first video below, Georgia McCabe created a great presentation with marketing strategies designed for innovation and maximized return for your business.
We also review some case studies of how appreciation marketing has worked for other companies and show how it can work for your photography business through some real world examples.
We hope you enjoy these information packed videos and be sure to stop by their website at UltimateROIMarketing.com and connect with them on Twitter and Facebook.
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