Archive for sales – Page 5

Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – The Local Business Group Shot

By Michael Shilling
Friday, December 2nd, 2011

This marketing campaign is useful not only as a networking tool but also as a way to introduce your business to the local community.

You could try this at any time of year but I’ve found it works particularly well either when you first open your studio or in the run up to Christmas.

What you offer local businesses

  • A group photo of the staff either taken at your studio or in their place of work.
  • Put together a staff discount pack and including some of your Local Business Discount Cards we talked about in a previous article.
  • Offer a complimentary print or even the digital file which they can use either to put on their wall or in a company newsletter.

If the staff want to order extra prints then it’s worth making this an option. At the very least this should cover the costs of your promotion.

It’s not a bad idea to post the group photo on Facebook and link to the company’s page. This will begin a social media relationship and cement those made in person. Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Marketing Campaigns
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Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – The Local Business Discount Cards

By Michael Shilling
Friday, November 25th, 2011

Here in the UK there is a almost unspoken rule on the high street that businesses share their staff discounts. Unspoken as most big brands don’t allow this but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t had the odd half price coffee here and there!

That said, most high street stores have a high staff turnover and many bosses tend not like their staff giving out discounts left and right.

This marketing campaign aims to bring back the sense of being part of a local business community. I should stress that the aim of this campaign is not just to get half price coffee but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be a little added bonus.

Creating your discount cards

Ideally you want to create something that isn’t just a badly printed card from your desktop printer. Plastic credit card style cards are cheap and easy enough to create and all you need to do is to decide on how much of a discount you want to give away. 10% is generally accepted as standard but it’s entirely up to you.

Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Marketing Campaigns
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Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Teach Photography Basics

By Michael Shilling
Friday, November 18th, 2011

Let’s face it, everyone today is an aspiring photographer whether they are taking pictures of their kids with a camera phone or shooting over your shoulder at a wedding with an entry level DSLR.

Photography tuition and training is a busy marketplace, especially at the semi-pro level (these are the ones with the spare cash after all) but I think some photographers often overlook people that could potentially turn into photography clients as well as tuition clients. It’s all very well training other photographers who want to go pro but at the end of the day what is the likelihood of them asking you for a family portrait session?

Back in the days when I was working as a cruise ship photographer I hosted a series of photography basics classes aimed at people with very little knowledge of their camera other than knowing that the big button makes the picture (that’s not a typo it’s a direct quote).

The first class we offered (which was free) would always attract a full house of up to 200 people. That was about 10% of our rather uniquely captive audience.

Follow up classes, for which we charged a rather modest $20 for, would usually be compromised from about 10%-20% of the freebie crowd.

$400 might have been a drop in the ocean (excuse the pun) when it came to our $60,000 weekly target but it did help us build relationships with our clients in a different way than we had before. Most of the time we were hassling the passengers for pictures on gangways and in the restaurant so this sort of interaction was a welcome change.

We sold cameras and probably more photos than we did before so it did prove a success. Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Marketing Campaigns
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Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Sell a Non-Photography Product

By Michael Shilling
Friday, November 11th, 2011

Perhaps it’s my entrepreneurial spirit they made me think of this marketing campaign, or perhaps it’s just another good way to create some interest in your business.

The products or services you sell don’t have to cost tens of thousands of pounds (or dollars), they can be simple, affordable and convenient.

The nature of running a photography business is that at least in the beginning, you have to pretty much do everything yourself from bookkeeping to website design. After a while you might even consider yourself an expert in some of these areas. As I write this I am on my way to do a bit of website consulting work. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no expert but there’s certainly things I can show people that they don’t have time to teach themselves.

In terms of physical products you don’t even have to create the product yourself. As photographers we often have a steady client base which other businesses would be certainly interested in taking advantage of.

Ideas for services

If you are a wedding photographer then it makes sense to partner with other businesses that are dealing with the visual aspect of the wedding. I am of course referring to make-up artists and hair stylists.

Offering a complete package of photography, hair and makeup will not only make your life easier because you will undoubtably only work with hair and MUA’s that aren’t a pain in backside but it will also tick two more boxes on the bride and groom’s to do list.

Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Marketing Campaigns
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Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Creating a Viral Video

By Michael Shilling
Friday, October 28th, 2011

Creating a video with the intention of it ‘going viral’ isn’t the easiest of things to accomplish but if you use your imagination and stay clear of Gay Asian Kittens then even a modest amount of interest can aid your marketing efforts.

Using a channel
When most people think about YouTube success they often think in terms of individual videos but the truth behind real YouTube success is having a good channel. Your YouTube channel can be just as powerful (perhaps even more so) than your blog.

Creating your video
I’ve already talked about creating a behind the scenes video but try and think a bit more out of the box. I’ve picked out a few examples to give you a bit of inspiration.

Have a bit of fun
One of my favourite videos has to be the Joey L. Nikon Girl. It fits perfectly into the rock star photographer persona that Joey L. embodies. Catchy song, simple production and over 800,000 hits to date.

Sandy Puc

This is a good example of using a YouTube channel to post a variety of different content. There are promo videos, tutorials and even a blooper reel. In fact it is the blooper reel which has some of the most hits. Read More→

Categories : Grow Your Business, Marketing Campaigns
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Guide to Keywording Images – Part 6: by Jody Apap

By Guest
Thursday, October 27th, 2011

How Should I Keyword the WHY and HOW in My Images

This is the final installment of my series on how to keyword your images to increase your stock photography sales.  All the suggestions I’ve made should be applied to your images, whether you’re a full-time stock photographer, an hobbyist who hasn’t taken the plunge into selling stock yet, or if you are managing an image library for your company, school, non-profit or group of any kind.

Today we will cover the why (concepts, emotions, actions and adjectives) and how (photographic techniques used) of your images.

If you’d like to read the whole guide to image keywording, start here: How Should I Keyword My Images.

However, if you’ve already read the first five parts and are dying to read the exciting conclusion, then let’s get to it.

WHY

The why of the images is often as important if not more important than the actual objects in the image.  These keywords are generally describing why the people or object were worth photographing and, hence, worth buying.

For my own convenience, I’ve found that dividing the why into four distinct separate categories help me find more appropriate keywords. Having more discrete categories of keywords makes it easier keyword every element of the image.

I’ve divided the why into four categories: actions, concepts, emotions and adjectives.

  • Actions:  What’s happening in the image, whether it’s people or animals doing things, such as children eating or skipping, or an actions that is being depicted by objects, such as snow falling or raindrops splashing.
  • Concepts:  What’s the story of the image?  Home security, achievement, globalization, or the roaring 20’s are just a couple examples.
  • Emotions:  What are the people feeling?  Joy, love, apathy, and pride to name a couple.
  • Adjectives:  Important adjectives to describe the subjects of the image, such as red, shiny, expensive, bent or lazy.

Skimping on these keywords may very well mean missing out on marketing the most important part of the image–the story being told by the photo. Read More→

Categories : Guest Bloggers, Make Better Photographs, Stock Photography
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