Archive for Business – Page 14

Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Online Directories

One of the easiest ways to build inbound links to to your website is to sign up to online directories.
It seems that every month I get an email from a new directory offering me ‘the opportunity’ to list my business on their site “For Only £xxx a month!” The effectiveness of such sites is of course debatable but online directories do come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and the right ones can help bring in some good referrals.

Different Types of Directories

Online ‘Books’
Theses are the traditional book directories, or rather their online equivalents. Sites like this normally offer a basic free listing but this doesn’t always include a web link. This is a technique which the companies use to get your information so that they can up sell a premium listing to you.

Traffic wise, these are going to be the most popular of the directories and they usually have smart phone and tablet applications as well. That popularity comes at a price and in all honesty I’m not convinced that their effectiveness is equal to the spend.

Being larger, more expensive and of course more established, these companies do offer a lot more information in terms of traffic insights and analytics. One service that has come from the print days are special phone numbers which allows you to track how many calls you actually receive from your listing. You can also expect a break down of how many impressions and click throughs your listing is receiving.

Generally speaking these directories are working harder than most to get your business listed and offering more and more features and apparent benefits but if the cost is going to consume a large amount of your marketing budget then I would perhaps suggest that you look elsewhere first. Read More→

Starting a Photography Business: Part 43 – Keep Knocking

A few things have happened in the last couple of weeks and I wanted to share these with you, because you may be in similar situations. I’ve got in contact with different people for running courses of different styles, photography and the mental health courses, and not everyone has got back to me straight away. Previously I’ve not always been so self-assured if people don’t respond immediately; I’ve always assumed it means a no or they aren’t interested.

Recently I was listening to a business coach who was teaching you how to create a sales pitch properly so that by the time you get to the end of it the people will want to buy whatever it is that you are selling, particularly if it’s on the phone. And, if at the end of the sale people said they need time to think it over, he was imploring us, not to be put off by that and to keep in contact with that person until you get a definite answer one way or the other.

It doesn’t matter how many phone messages you leave or emails you send, you keep following up until you get an answer.

And it is good advice; just because they haven’t got back to you doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested, they could have a mountain of things to do on their desk. I’m looking to run photography courses at a local hotel and just making the initial contact has been quite a long winded process. It took me ages to track down the person in the hotel that I needed to speak to; whenever I rang the receptionist would take my name and try and reach the woman and then come back and say we can’t find her.

Not for a moment did I let myself get paranoid that she might not want to speak to me, I continued making contact until eventually, I got an email address for her. She responded quickly and positively to the email forwarding it on to a different manager who would make the final decision. Read More→

Welcome to the Friday Business Challenge

Hi everyone, I’m Robyn Mayne. I am a photographer  and workshop facilitator in Sydney, Australia with a passion for working with other photographers to make their businesses the best they can be.

Welcome to the very first Business Challenge bought to you by CurrentPhotographer.com and Today is Different (that’s me). And can I just take this opportunity to say woohoo! I am super excited to be joining Trevor in bringing you The Challenge!

What is it?

Every Friday* for the next 7 weeks (yes 7! good things take time and work) we will provide you with 7 quick, easy (OK not always easy!) and practical steps on a topic relevant to your photography business.

Each Business Challenge is designed so it can be done 1 task per for 7 days, one a week or all at once.

*Note to Aussie readers: that’s Saturday for those of us “down under”.

The Challenge & the Reward

We want to see you succeed in your photography business. Participating in the 7 weeks of challenges will help you focus on taking action towards making your business the best it can be.

Sharing your experiences with others is also a great benefit to the community, so we want to hear from you. Tell us how you did with the weeks challenge in the comments below. In return we want to give you a little promotion (and who doesn’t want that?) Be sure to include links to your website, blog, Twitter profile, Facebook Page, LinkedIn and any other profile you’d like to share with the community.

We’ll select the best, most thought out comments to be featured in next weeks challenge along with a post on the Today Is Different blog. Just think of all those wonderful links you’ll get to help your SEO!

As an additional incentive we are offering you a chance to get one of your favorite photographs featured at the top of CurrentPhotographer.com. We’ll include your image, your name or company name along with your website url. When the graphic is clicked the viewer will be taken directly to your website. Nice way to get a little extra attention huh?

So how do you get your image featured you ask? It’s simple, just click the “Tweet & Get It” button below. You’ll automatically tweet the special phrase and get immediate access to a free e-book that Trevor has put together titled “How to Pimp Out Your Twitter Profile in 4 Easy Steps”.

We’ll pick 4 random Twitter followers who tweet the special phrase and send them a Direct Message with details on how to submit their photo and information.

At the end of the 7 weeks we’ll have a special gift for all those who participated and commented. Trevor and I have put together a couple of great e-books that we’d like to give to you for FREE just to say thanks.

So keep participating in the challenges, keep the comments coming and share your accomplishments with your friends on Twitter and Facebook to let them know “you’re in it to win it!”

This Week: Social Media Planning

This week, the first challenge, will look at how to take control of your social media. And how to get your life back if it’s taken control of you!

See you next Friday for How to be Remarkable in Your Photography Business…

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I am a portrait photographer and a workshop facilitator. I am passionate about what I do and thrive amongst people who are innovative and love what they do. I am in my element in the midst of conversations where ideas are spread and opportunities are discovered.

Today is Different provides workshops, retreats and consulting for professional photographers in Sydney, Australia.

We help you to:

  • Find your uniqueness and your fantabulousness
  • Stop selling products and services and start providing
    an experience
  • Find clients that you love and that love you right back
  • Simplify by focusing on what is truly important

Today is Different

Company: Today is Different
Phone: +61 403 500 801
Email:
robyn@todayisdifferent.net
Website:
http://www.todayisdifferent.com.au/
Blog: http://www.todayisdifferent.com.au/blog
Twitter:
@RobynMayne
Facebook:
http://facebook.com/TodayIsDifferent

© 2017 Robyn Mayne

Here’s how you can share your tips, techniques and tutorials on CurrentPhotographer.com

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Starting a Photography Business: Part 42 – Work Perks!

I can imagine that there are a lot of organised events that happen throughout the year, that come under your type of photography. So for example for me, I’m looking at agricultural and horticultural shows, as within those shows there are a lot of opportunities for images that I can use within my business.

These events may be places that you already go to year in year out, yet now you need to think about it from a business point of view; you are a photographer, and your photography gives you the opportunity to promote this event in some form, by selling online, in your gallery or maybe displaying them in an exhibition. And these events all give you the opportunity to use the subject within your work.

So should you be paying to go along as a member of the public? Or should you be contacting the event or marketing company to ask for press passes? I’ve done this for a couple of things now and I have been surprised by how willing people were to grant me press passes.

There are a lot of perks to being press, besides always having somewhere dry to go if it’s bad weather and generally being provided with free refreshments, you get great access that you wouldn’t normally have; good positions for photo opportunities without anyone asking questions.

At the agricultural show I went to I got there very early and went into areas that I would have felt a bit intimidated to go into as a member of the public; with a press badge on I didn’t have any qualms about getting quite up close and personal with the animals, as close as was safe to, without getting kicked by a cow or a horse! Read More→

Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – The Directory

Link love is a wonderful thing and regardless of it’s actual effectiveness in terms of SEO (increasingly less and less if you believe everything you read from certain experts) but it’s still the top of people’s marketing agenda.

But be honest, how many clicks does your links page get? For that matter, are the links in your blog-roll getting any real traffic from you? Sometimes link sharing isn’t just about SEO it’s actually about sharing useful information.

Today’s marketing campaign is a simple one but it could help build new relationships with other vendors and offer your clients a useful resource.

Creating a industry specific directory.

If you’re a WordPress user there’s some very good directory plug-ins. One I can certainly recommend is the WordPress Link Directory which has some nice features including automatic checks for reciprocal links and Categoryies and Sub-Categories with parenting. Read More→

Tying The Knot: Three Steps To Networking Nirvana

I’m coming to the end of my first year as an emerging wedding photographer and what a ride it’s been! From seeking my first wedding to building a brand identity and website; from running promotions to blogging for Current Photographer, it’s been non-stop all the way and I wouldn’t change a thing!

I’ve gained a huge amount of knowledge from first hand experience of running a business as well as the hundreds of hours spent learning, training and networking online.

And it’s that last point that I’d like to focus on in this post: the need to network.

For a lot of photographers and artists, it’s about being an individual and expressing their thoughts, feelings, passions. They’re happy to spend all day alone and even enjoy having a reputation for being a bit aloof. But when you make that excited decision to turn your hobby into a business you have to realise that, like it or not, it’s the business side that becomes a priority. Sure you can sit at home after shooting your first few weddings and expect that one day you’ll be discovered by a celebrity couple who are dying to have you shoot their six figure wedding. Good luck with that! The reality for the rest of us is that you have to get out there are make yourself known ‘cos bills don’t pay themselves!

Looking back on my first year there are three clear ways that I’ve made networking pay off for me and I’d like to share them with you.

1: Network with suppliers

Committing yourself to a life in the wedding industry means accepting that wedding gowns, hair styles, flowers and table decorations are going to feature a lot in your day to day conversations (in addition to “cheesecake” of course for me!). That means you need to gain the knowledge to speak intelligently to clients and peers as an informed wedding professional. And if you’re a guy this means you’re heading for one steep learning curve! So look out for regular supplier meet-ups in your area where you can get to know local celebrants, planners, stylists, florists, stationery designers and other photographers. Meet-ups are quite often organised by wedding planners as they have an intrinsic need to know suppliers who can be matched to their clients’ requirements. I go to the monthly Thursday Throwdowns in Sydney organised by Girl Friday Weddings which essentially involve catching up over a lot of red wine! But that’s the fun of networking; not only do you make useful contacts and learn loads about the various industry niches, but time builds trust and pretty soon you find yourself part of an invaluable referral system. And on top of that you also make awesome new friends who actually understand what you do! Read More→