CHAPTER 14:

MARKETING MADE SIMPLE

A holiday direct mail postcard for Darbonne Portraits.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and issue a statement that might make me unpopular in certain circles: Speaking strictly in monetary terms, great marketing and sales ability are more important to one's ultimate success than great photographic and artistic ability. This isn't fair. But it's true. I speak from my twenty-plus years in the business, observing my own and my colleagues' studios. There are photographers who are more talented than I am whose studios have failed. There are photographers who have little vision whose studios are thriving. The factor that separates the “Captains of Industry” from the photographers is simply the ability and the willingness to put yourself out there and forge and maintain relationships. In other words, those who are willing to market and sell.

“You don't just find a client base, you have to get out there and create your own client base,” says Karen Melvin. “I think having a marketing plan is even more important than having a business plan, because if you have clients, you have business. You can have a business plan, you can have talent, you can have equipment, you can have a studio, but if you don't have clients, you're out of business.”

“You really do have to sell. It's essentially like being a sales guy who's strictly paid on commission. When you don't have a guaranteed salary, you only get paid based on what you sell. And to sell, you have to be likeable. It can almost be like a congeniality contest more than like a talent show.”

You are your own product. Like it or not, when you're wooing a client you're not just selling your services or your products — you're selling the experience of working with you; you're selling your image, your personality.

It sounds so simple! If selling is the key to success, why are so many of us reluctant to get out there and just do it?

“Shyness,” says Lee Standford. “There is a reason we like the back end of the camera instead of the front. It's scary to put yourself out there.”

Makes sense. But how does one get over it?

Peter Aaron suggests that a young photographer does well to remember that the potential client welcomes the opportunity to see good photographs. “Call them up, and say, ‘I've got some interesting pictures I'd like to show you and I'd like to meet you and see what it is that you guys do.’ You'll be surprised at the warm reception you'll get. They welcome it; it's a break in their day.”

But be aware that not every call or visit will lead to an assignment or a new client, at least not right away. “I call it ‘planting seeds,’” says Patrick Fox. “You make a contact, you're nice to the person on the phone, you're nice to the person at the reception desk. You get your book out there. Sometimes it results in a job right away. Sometimes it takes years. You have to plant a lot of seeds.”

KNOW THYSELF

Every good salesperson knows her product inside and out. She knows its history and its use. She knows what makes it unique. She knows how to tell its story. Before you can market yourself, your services and your product, you need to know exactly what it is that makes you different from all of your competitors.

“This is so important, now more than ever,” says Karen Melvin. “More people want to be photographers than ever before and the market is soft. So you really need to stand out; you need to be specialized. You need a story about yourself.”

Every successful photographer has something that makes her stand out among her peers, she knows what it is and she knows how to get her message out.

A gift certificate from KidCapers Portraits, distributed to guests of Peace House Foundation at their annual dinner and silent auction.

HAVE A RECOGNIZABLE MESSAGE

When I started my studio in 1988 my own message went like this: I am the only photographer in town who specializes in wall portraits of kids. I only shoot kids (parents and pets welcome when accompanied by a child). I only shoot black-and-white film, and I only offer black-and-white, sepia-toned and hand-painted prints. I only shoot kids acting natural, both in action and at rest. I use no traditional posing. I capture the true spirit of your kids. I am the kid specialist.

Ibarionex Perello's story is about story-telling. “I'm a writer and a photographer. But no matter which medium I'm working in, it's all about storytelling. My clients are all trying to woo their own clients, trying to find a means to connect with them and get them excited. Each individual person has their own unique and powerful story to tell, and each company is made up of people. So my clients hire me to find their story and then to tell it.”

Karen Melvin is an architectural photographer who specializes in commercial shots of architectural products. Her message is all about lighting. “I use light to tell a story, and therein lies my uniqueness,” she says. “When I take someone on a tour in my picture, the light is our guide. Each element in the photo has a different value as told by the lighting and the composition. It evokes a feeling. People respond emotionally to a picture in which light tells a story. They may not realize it; it's on a visceral level.”

Once you have refined your message, what's the next step?

Says Karen, “You have to hit 'em with it until they get it.”

BE PERSISTENT

Usually people aren't going to call you up and hire you the first time they hear your name. You have to get under their skin. They need to be exposed to you and your message multiple times before they take action. So you need patience, you need persistence and you need a lot of ammo.

FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS

Back before the days of e-mail I decided to do a direct-mail piece. I wanted to spread my budget as far as possible to reach as many people as I could. I was determined to purchase a mailing list of five thousand households and send them each a postcard. But my contact at my mailing service was insistent that I take a different tack: Buy a list of twenty-five hundred households and send them each two postcards, about two weeks apart. I hated that idea! I couldn't get over my naïve impression that more households equaled more bang for the buck. Apparently a lot of people think that way. But in the world of marketing, common wisdom holds that people need to see your name five and a half times before they will buy from you. So hitting a few households (or architects or art buyers or ad agencies) repeatedly will yield better results than a blanket approach.

Whatever method(s) you use to get your message out, concentrate your efforts on a small hand-selected group of potential clients for the biggest return.

TELL THEM WHY THEY NEED YOU

You've told them your message, the story of what makes you unique. Now you need to tell them why they need your special talent. You need to tell them how they will benefit from working with you.

“It goes like this,” says Karen Melvin. “I would call an art buyer and say, 'Hi, I see ABC Window Company is one of your clients. I shoot a lot of architectural products and lighting is my thing — I imagine great lighting is very important to showcase your product. I'd like to come in and show you some of my work I think you'd find germane.”

CHARGE YOUR BATTERIES

Marketing takes a lot of energy and inspiration. You've heard it said, “You can't create in a vacuum.” You can't market in a vacuum, either. Keep your batteries charged by sharing marketing ideas and woes with other business people. Don't limit your contacts to other photographers. I recently sold my house and through a few casual conversations got a boatload of interesting marketing ideas from my realtor, and he got a few from me.

Take a class or seminar now and then on marketing. Again, don't limit yourself to offerings targeting photographers. Cross train. It'll help you be as creative about selling your work as you are about making it.

Even examining your junk e-mail and snail mail from a student's perspective can give you a little inspiration. Instead of throwing it away without opening it, study it. Does anything about it appeal to you? Attractive graphics, a nice layout, a call to action, a compelling story, a special offer? Make a file to save the promotional pieces that contain some aspect that inspires you, and refer to it when you create your own mailings.

SET GOALS

In order to be successful at marketing and sales, you need to set quotas for yourself. If you give yourself a goal to make twenty-five cold calls a week, or send out twenty-five e-mails, you'll be much more likely to follow through than if you say to yourself, “Well, I think I'll make some calls each morning between nine and ten.” It's unbelievably easy to find other things to do and to never get around to those calls or e-mails. Ditto for printed material: Set a goal of say, four postcard mailings and one newsletter or blog entry a year. If, after a little time goes by, you find the goals you've set prove to be either too easy or too tough, adjust them. It may seem somewhat arbitrary, but the point is to have a realistic, workable marketing plan. If you set the bar too low, you're only cheating yourself. If you set it too high, you won't stick with it. So set it at a level at which you're comfortable, and maintain it.

Be sure your goals relate to the action and not the result of your marketing. A goal of making ten cold calls or sending ten queries a week is more measurable and gratifying — and therefore more conducive to success — than is a goal of getting one new client a week, which may or may not happen regardless of how many calls you make.

For a fun promotional tool, Kathy Locke of Child's Play Photography makes pictures of every child she shoots with her studio mascot — a sock monkey! She posts the images on her blog.

DRAW ON YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE

You have marketing and sales experience. You might not realize it, but you do. Have you ever applied or interviewed for any job? Then you have sold yourself. Have you ever worked as a server in a restaurant and recommended the daily special or suggested a special glass of wine to complement a meal? Ever worked in a library and recommended books? Then you have sales experience. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to name any job that includes people contact that doesn't involve selling.

“All of my marketing and sales experience I drew from jobs I had when I was in my twenties,” says marketer extraordinaire Karen Melvin. “I did cold calls for Block Drug, and later for a photo finisher. It's dialing for dollars. That's where I learned everything I needed to know about marketing.”

That's not to say that you shouldn't study sales and marketing in a more formal setting. But don't overlook your own experience.

MARKETING TOOLS

In the years since the first edition of this book came out, the marketing tools available to the photographer (in every specialty) have changed as dramatically as our camera equipment. In the past we talked about directing mailings, buying spots in creative source-books, showing portfolios, making cold calls on the telephone and making printed brochures, postcards and other material to use as leave-behinds. This was all very expensive (consider four-color printing, postage and paper costs) and it required a lot of fortitude to follow through and follow up with your prospects. Not so in this day and age.

Printed paper mailings are widely known to be bad for the environment and seriously frowned upon by much of the public — it's known as junk mail for a reason. There are now lists one can get on that prohibit advertisers from sending catalogs, there-by saving a lot of trees and avoiding the aggravation of recycling unwanted solicitations. Creative sourcebooks, in their printed forms, don't exist anymore. While they still exist online, none of the photographers I spoke with felt they had gotten any work from their participation in these sites — although admittedly that is hard to track, because a sourcebook visitor who likes a photographer's work will in all likelihood go to her website for a closer look at her images and information. Cold calls are generally viewed as an intrusion and are often screened so that you can't get to the decision maker. Most commercial photographers I spoke to say they still maintain a portfolio but that they only show it once or twice a year, if that. And if you aren't going to physically see your prospective client and show your book, a leave-behind is a moot point.

So many of the old marketing avenues are blocked; but there are new ways to get the word out that are kinder to the environment, faster, more efficient, more cost-effective and easier. That's the good news and the bad news — now everybody can have equal access to art buyers, decision makers and other prospective clients. Here are some of the new marketing tools and ideas for how to best use them for your business.

WEBSITES

While websites aren't really new (when the first edition of this book came out in 2004, many photographers already had them), they are now absolutely necessary for any photographer who wants to be in business, whether full-time or part-time.

“A website can be a wonderful marketing tool. It opens more doors because you can drive potential clients to your site to view your work instead of threatening them with the thought of spending fifteen or twenty minutes sitting down with you face-to-face and looking at your book,” says Karen Melvin. “And another plus is that they already know your work, your philosophy and what makes you stand out in your market when they call and want get a bid. They're probably not just ‘browsing’ — they are already sold on you.”

Rob Levine hosts several photographer websites. “People expect a photographer to have a website. Your website is you. It's what your portfolio and your printed pieces used to be. But you don't have to go out and show it in person or pay printing or mailing costs, and you can change it at will, and the changes are instantaneous. It's a great way to get your work out there. Where some photographers mess up is in thinking they need to have a huge, hard-to-navigate, unwieldy site. Your site should be simple and clean, and easy to use.”

You don't have to be a computer whiz or spend a fortune setting up a site or maintaining it. There are several online websites including my favorite, BetterPhoto.com, that sell ready-to-use out-of-the-box websites complete with domain registration and hosting. The rates are amazingly reasonable, and the templates are so easy to use even I can do it (and that's easy!). Even well-known commercial photographer Patrick Fox has switched to a template after years of maintaining a custom site. “It's a little boilerplate, but I'm selling my images, not my web-design skills,” he says.

You can maximize the marketing value of your website by encouraging your visitors to sign up for a newsletter or special informational e-mails.

Be sure no one downloads your images by using watermarks and/or low-resolution scans. You don't want anyone to use your work without giving you credit or without paying for the privilege, and you don't want a low-quality example of your work to be passed off as a good example of what you do. Many website templates for photographers are designed so that you have the option of automatically watermarking your images when you upload them. Photoshop and Elements both have watermarking capabilities, so if your website doesn't have an automated option, you can do it yourself while editing your images for the Web. I've noticed that some photographers use their logos for their watermarks, creating yet another way to present their brand to potential clients, and the logos actually look beautiful rather than looking like a mark that is solely intended to make the image unusable.

Link your site to related professional organizations for greater exposure. If you're an architectural photographer, you might provide links to architecture firms, designers and stylists. If you only do interiors, you might want to provide a link to someone who does exteriors. If you're a portrait photographer, you might include links to clothing stores, toy stores, interior designers and anyone else who might give you referrals. I like to blog about my clients and include links to their websites in my articles.

And, very importantly, keep your website up to date. Your potential clients will feel like they're lost in space if they visit your site and the images and information are years old. I'll never forget in the spring of 2001, when I was surfing the Net for a kitten for my daughter, one breeder's home page read, “… visit us in October 1998 to see our new litter of babies!”

MAXIMIZING YOUR WEB PRESENCE

Having a website is your first priority. Driving people to it is your next priority. It's all about how many people find your site while they're cruising the Web. Say you're a portrait photographer in San Francisco. There are a lot of portrait photographers in San Francisco, so how can you make sure that when a prospective client goes to her search engine and enters, “portrait photographers San Francisco,” your site will pop up right at the top of the list?

• SETTING UP YOUR DOMAIN: If you use a hosting site for your website, they will register your domain for you and you won't have to do anything at all. If you want to register your domain yourself, godaddy.com is a great, low-cost resource.

“A Big Mug” by Vik Orenstein.

• CHOOSING KEYWORDS: Keywords are words or phrases that will lead people to your site. Be sure to choose your keywords thoughtfully and you will be rewarded with many more hits (people visiting your site) than if you ignore this part of your setup. Pretend you are your client for a moment — you are going to use a search engine to try to find a photographer. What words will you enter? Use as many as possible that are descriptive of what you do. For instance, my keywords for my KidCapers website include: children's portraits; family photography; baby pictures; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Mpls.; St. Paul; contemporary; classic; traditional; hand-painted; hand-colored; black and white; creative; custom created; hand created; location; studio; kids; kid; kid's portraits; senior portraits; and pets; pet portraits.

• LINKING TO OTHER SITES: The more sites you can link to, the more hits you'll get. Again, let's pretend you're a San Francisco portrait photographer. Are there local clothing boutiques you recommend to clients? Toy stores? Dog groomers? Portrait photographers in other markets you admire? Include a link to their websites on yours, and encourage them to return the favor. It's a surefire way to increase your Web traffic.

• PURCHASING KEY PHRASES: The big search engines will allow you to purchase key phrases for a fee. For instance, say you want to come up first on the list when someone goes to Google or Yahoo and enters “San Francisco family photographers.” You can buy that phrase. Then everyone who enters that phrase into their search engine sees your site first. When more than one photographer purchases the same keywords, then the order in which the “sponsored” names come up rotates.

• SPONSORED LINKS: You can also buy a sponsored link. You know those ads that come up at the right side of your computer screen whenever you do a search? Those companies are there because they have paid to be there. The cost to purchase keywords and sponsored links varies depending on the words you chose and the size of the market share you are seeking. Often you can have a choice of different fee structures based on the number of “clicks” or “click-throughs” — that is, the number of people who enter your site via the sponsored link or search. These links and key phrases can be worthwhile even for small fledgling businesses. To find out more, search Google Adwords, Yahoo search marketing and keyword advertising.

• BLOGGING: I was skeptical at first that blogging would in anyway help bring more traffic to my site. After all, who except my closest friends and maybe a few clients would want to read my ramblings? But having a blog can drive many, many more visitors to your site. And on top of that, it's one more way to get your story out.

• FOLLOW YOUR STATS: Many services are available that will help you find out who, when, how, why and from where people access your site. I use Google Analytics. GoStats.com and Joomla.org are others. By using a service such as this, for free or for a minimal fee, you'll be able to see that someone in England came to see your website at 3:00 A.M. on Saturday, November 12th, looked at your streetcar gallery and your prices, stayed for 1.6minutes, and got there from a Yahoo search. If that's not truly amazing I don't know what is! You can use this feature to keep tabs on what brings visitors to your site. For instance, whenever I add a client's portraits to my galleries or blog, I tell them to take a peek at their photos online, and they tell their friends, and it results in a spike in both new and previous visitors — and every visitor is a potential client.