PHOTO: LISA ADAMS
WORST-CASE SCENARIO: AFTER YOU SEND AN E-PROMO, AN ART DIRECTOR CLICKS ON YOUR WEBSITE. YOU FOLLOW UP BY PHONE, SAYING, “I KNOW YOU WENT TO MY WEBSITE. CALL ME BACK SO I KNOW WHAT PROJECT YOU WANT ME FOR.”
WORST-CASE SCENARIO: YOU SENT OUT A MAILER AND HAVE NOT SEEN INCREASED HITS TO YOUR WEBSITE OR MORE REQUESTS FOR YOUR PORTFOLIO. WHAT’S GOING ON?
WORST-CASE SCENARIO: YOU ENTER PHOTO CONTESTS LIKE CA, BUT NEVER GET IN.
Assuming anything from someone visiting your website is a big mistake, and the chances of your mailer arriving at the very time someone is looking for your style would be amazing. In most cases, when an art director likes your mailer, she puts it in a special folder that might be labeled “One day when I have the perfect project, I want to use this person.”
Be realistic about your work and what will get you into contests. The judges are creative people who are looking at commercial images for Communication Arts, Lucie, IPA, PDN, Archive, and Graphis. Fine art can be appropriate for some of the competitions, but what does your entry offer? Submit work that would inspire creative people who give out commercial assignments.
Remember that marketing is a numbers game, and you are working toward a goal of educating the market. This may be a cliché, but if you are patient and consistent, your efforts will eventually pay off.
» Question
How do you find talent?
» Answer
It depends on the project. Do I need an advertising person, or maybe a person who shoots snowboarders for editorial, or an e-commerce Web photographer? Basic requirements like these drive my efforts. I will go to magazines and websites. I’ve even recently found a photographer of buildings through a website for the contractor on a building project. Most commercial ad photographers can be found in sources like CA, Archive, and Photo District News online. I also view the reps’ websites.
—JESSICA HOFFMAN,
Senior Intergrated Art Producer, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder
I use a combination of promo cards, online sourcebooks, individual websites, agent websites, award show books, other publications, and my own memory.
—KAT DALAGER,
Senior Art Producer, Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis
If there are no signs of work after a year of consistent marketing, sit down and review what you have done and what you can improve. Doing this with a consultant or marketing manager can be helpful, as sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.
Here is one of the most important pieces of advice we can give: You must make sure all of your materials are consistent. Carefully consider everything you present—from your website, portfolio, e-promos, and mailers to your correspondence mailers.
In this chapter we’ll lay out the options for your marketing campaign. Among other issues, we’ll discuss mass marketing versus specialized marketing. You’ll need to decide whether to send special mailers to a small group or an e-mail blast or maybe a postcard mailing to many—kind of like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks. The bottom line is that if you market to only a few people, you are limiting yourself. You really need to do both.
The chapter’s final section is a marketing template that you can use to get started.
To whom should you market? Open your eyes and look around. You will see what is being advertised and who is doing the advertising. Look at the magazine section in a bookstore. Check out local publications and survey in-store displays. Take a moment to think about what those images tell you. As photographers, we are in sales. We create images that sell a client’s product. You need to decide how your work can be utilized.
PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHER: ALEX MCKNIGHT/CONCEPT: TINA DELGADO/ART DIRECTOR: PAUL MAHAN/STYLIST: SUSAN SAWRENCE
You are targeting creative people, so be creative. For his dream client list, Alex McKnight created an attention-getting mailer. He put apples in a box, along with a mailer featuring an image of a man with an apple on his head, under the headline “I shoot people.” A great mailer like this gets the viewer’s attention.
Dream clients are up to 25 special people you would love to work with. Send them special campaigns of printed material four times a year, using a consistent campaign theme. For example, send large prints from a series, one each quarter. At the end of the year, an art director or buyer will have an entire series from an artist that they can hang up. Be sure to print your website address on the back. Everything is a marketing tool in the end.
The best places to find out who should be on your dream client list are award show/contest annuals like the Communication Arts photography competition, design or advertising annuals, the Photo District News photography awards, the One Show, Graphis, and Archive. Each of these annuals lists art directors’ names and the agencies they work for.
Periodically double-check the names on your list of dream clients. Have a database company like Agency Access (www.agencyaccess.com) research whether the art director still works at the agency. Often, after an art director wins a prestigious award he or she is lured away to a larger or more creative company.
PHOTO: PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATION BY LESLIE JEAN BART; COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER
Leslie Jean Bart was hired by Circuit City to do a photograph for a holiday CD; he then used that image as a marketing piece for his own promotions. A product with your image on it has an impact. When it speaks the language of your dream clients, use it as part of your promotion efforts.
In this category you should have everyone who has money who will hire you, plus your existing market and contacts. Your means of attack? Both printed and e-promotion materials.
Again: The more people you market to, the more exposure you will get. Your materials will have an impact on only about 1 percent of your mass mailing contacts. Do the math and make sure that your 1 percent success rate is enough. If you make 100 contacts, one person will go to your site, but if you make 10,000 contacts, about 100 people will.
Arrange an in-person meeting with one or two new potential clients every month. Doing this means you will meet between 12 and 24 new people every year.
If you are trying to get an appointment, first ask about the buyer’s portfolio policy. Some review portfolios only on certain days, while others allow only drop-offs. Others may require you to bring food, like breakfast, or a nice treat, like cupcakes. (Sounds crazy, but this really happens.)
Use both free online sources and those of local organizations. To find talent, buyers go to online source books like www.work-book.com and www.photoserve.com. (We give a longer list later in the chapter.) If you are a member of a professional photography organization, such as Advertising Photographers of America (APA) or American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), make sure you are listed in their database. Such databases are designed for clients looking for talent in the city where they will shoot.
PHOTO: KAT DALAGER
If you are planning to be part of these inboxes, be sure to make your promotions stick out from the rest.
PHOTO: AMANDA SOSA STONE
It is very important to have person-to-person meetings, which can be easier to set up if you are from out of town. After these meetings, make sure to maintain contact with the person who gave you his or her time. When you connect with a person, you open the possibility of being in contact with their colleagues in the industry.
Your hope is that an art director will remember you after a shoot, but this can be hard when they are seeing fresh names daily. You know the old saying: Out of sight, out of mind. You need to stay in their consciousness, so here’s another old saying: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If creative people don’t hear from you, they may think you have moved on to other pursuits. Don’t let this happen to you. Piggyback on mass marketing and holiday greetings. Send appropriate holiday gifts to the clients you want to keep.
The downloadable forms included with this book provides a Contact Database Template. Type onto the digital Excel document the names of your existing clients and those you are targeting for work in the future. (See Appendix B.)
We advise photographers to get started by using a formula that combines mass marketing and specialized marketing. After a year or two, you will know what works for you and what does not. Many of our clients have used this two-pronged formula, and what works for one does not always work for the other.
PHOTO: GREGOR HALENDA
Along with a terrific style, Gregor Halenda has a well-rounded campaign theme. His website, promotion, and printed promo complement one another.
Create the longest list you can afford, targeting the people you’d like to work for. Send marketing to these contacts with a plan in mind—for example, the type of promotion and how often and how long you will continue sending it—that accommodates your budget. We recommend repeating this pattern every two or three months for a year or two. Then use a consistent list or revised lists for the rest of your career. Marketing is a long-term undertaking.
Create a list of people or agencies you would love to work with and put together a very special marketing campaign specifically for them. If your budget is limited, focus on a small number of people. If you have a healthier budget, you can focus on agencies or companies as a whole. This can be a long-term or a short-term plan.
PHOTO: GREGOR HALENDA/COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER
To complement his website, Gregor’s designer came up with a campaign that had a “fade in" effect. The promotion was sent in stages over the course of a month. The image came more into focus with each arriving card. The final mailing was a three-panel card that opened up to show the sharp image. Gregor’s images appear regularly in national consumer magazines.
Most creative people save the best printed mailers they receive—photographers they hope to work with one day—or bookmark favorite websites to refer to later. Meanwhile, it may be months or even years before the right project comes along. We advise you to venture into marketing with no expectations and to keep in mind that your first year of marketing is an educational period. You are making the creative industry aware of your presence.
Be proactive when you begin your marketing campaign. Don’t take just one approach and get frustrated when your phone is not ringing or your e-mail queue is not filling up with portfolio requests. You have to try the entire marketing spectrum to find out what works for you.
Personal chemistry also plays a role. One client may be open to you dropping by for a chat, while another photographer may have no luck with the same client.
For a year or two, do the extra work involved in trying a variety of approaches, and find out what really works for you. If something is not working, don’t just throw your arms up and surrender. Ask why that something isn’t working and change it.
Once you start marketing, plan to keep the ball rolling. Plan to market until you retire—and, even then, market your retirement.
Later in this chapter, you’ll find advice about and sources for preparing promotions and other printed materials.
The four largest categories of companies that photographers market to are advertising agencies, design firms, corporations that do their design work in-house, and magazines and other periodicals.
At large agencies, art buyers, art producers, or creative buyers are the decision-makers who call in portfolios for the creative people (the art director or the creative director). The creative people are so busy with projects that they need “art supply” personnel to supply them with photographers to consider. In smaller agencies that don’t have business liaisons for the art, it is the art director or creative director who finds the photographer.
An advertising agency is structured with many layers. If an agency has an art buyer, art producer, or creative buyer, that person is usually the gatekeeper of the work the agency will consider. At agencies without a producer or a buyer, the art director should be your target.
You need to know where you have sent your book and who has seen it. Click here to access a PDF version of the Portfolio Request.
Design firms do not have set accounts; instead they usually work on projects. Many times they will work on several projects for one client, but their client list varies. The size of a design firm has no bearing on the size of the budget for its projects. At one small shop that works on international projects, for one project alone the fee was $30,000 just for the photographer.
A design firm is structured based on size. In a small shop, the creative director may be the decision-maker, while a larger shop may allow the art director to decide on talent. Even small design firms can do very large projects. To research the work of design firms, use a database such as an Agency Access database (www.agencyaccess.com), which gives you website addresses for quick reference.
PHOTO: Image 1 and Image 2: DESIGN BY BRAND ENVY/NADINE STELLAVATO BROWN; Image 3: DESIGN BY NADINE STELLAVATO BROWN, BRAND ENVY
Some of the most creative work comes from design firms. Nadine Stellavato Brown of Brand Envy created this award-winning annual report. An annual report can be a long-term project involving weeks of shooting. It can require world travel and may even win you an award.
A great deal of photography work for corporations is done in house. Best Buy, Target, Capital One, and Fruit of the Loom, to name just a few, all do it themselves. And “in-house corporate” is one area that is often overlooked because the rules are not as cut and dried as in the agency and design firm worlds.
Many projects done directly with corporations provide very large fees (think in the $50,000 range). In-house corporations are often more loyal to photographers than are agencies, which often want a new look for each campaign. Companies will often want you to sign a confidentiality form, which means that you promise not to reveal information about the company or its products.
Many corporations have their own in-house marketing departments. Even corporations that use an agency to handle large projects may still do quite a bit in house.
In the case of magazines and other periodicals, market only to the art director and the photo editor. These are your top-two “must have” connections. All others on the masthead are responsible for the written content of the magazine, and content editors generally do not choose the photography.
Some magazines have established a new position—design director—that many people recommend promoting to. The person in this position oversees the creation and production of design solutions, manages a team of graphic designers, and directs the magazine’s brand. The design director is responsible for the quality and effectiveness of the design team and makes recommendations when assigning talent to project teams. The design director generally reports to and works with the creative director.
In the magazine world, content editors do not make the decisions about which photographers to hire. The decision-makers for photography are usually the art director and the photo editor.
Editorial work is very important. Not only might it put you in the position of being a trend-setter; it also functions as significant and cheap PR and exposure. And while it doesn’t pay as well as advertising or design work, it is a wonderful vehicle since your work can be seen by the very people you are trying to reach. Clients, account executives, art directors, and buyers all review publications that advertise for their competition and read the articles for trend analysis. Great editorial photography is the creation of the photographer alone, and you can be sure that buyers are always looking at the photo credits.
Think about why well-known photographers are still doing editorial shooting when they can command much larger fees doing commercial assignments. While editorial work may not pay that well in monetary terms, do you really have the luxury to not want your images in front of millions of people?
INSIDER INFO FROM THE EDITOR
This section was written by Rob Haggart, formerly Director of Photography for Men’s Journal and Outside magazine.
The next time you’re browsing a newsstand, teach yourself to look at magazines not as a consumer would, but critically, as a potential future client. How do they use photography? What’s the quality of their paper stock? Do the photographs reproduce well? How does the color look? Is the advertising of a high quality? Are there a lot of ads? Look at all the magazines in a genre, identify the leader, and then look to see who has the best photography and design. See if they use similar photographers, and look at several months’ worth of issues to see if they use the same photographers over and over. All of this knowledge will be useful as you approach them for work.
Always start by looking at the masthead (located near the table of contents) of the publication you’re interested in shooting for. That’s where everyone who works there is listed, but note that they’re listed in order of authority. People report to the people listed above them. Generally, the art and photo departments have their own sections on the masthead, and you can see who’s the boss of each department. The top photo editor usually handles covers and features, the next person down will handle the front and back of the book, and then the next people down or any that are called photo researchers handle stock. Assistants and department managers are great people to call with questions about making contacts and getting submission guidelines.
Once you have done an editorial job, look for the accounts receivable contact info on the business masthead (usually below the editorial one or on the next page) because that’s the department that processes your invoices.
Generally speaking, you want to direct your marketing material to the top art and photo people on the masthead, and then direct your in-person contacts to the photography department. While the art directors will have influence on the hiring decision, the photo editor will be doing the hiring, and it’s much better if you build your relationship with the photo editor.
An excellent way to get your foot in the door at a magazine is to contact the junior photo editors. They sometimes get overlooked but are often given opportunities to make assignments or find new talent. And don’t forget: Someday they will be the top photo editors, and relationships forged on the ground floor can take you a long way.
E-mail is the best way to make initial contact with anyone at a magazine. If the e-mail address is not readily available, ask the receptionist, and if he can’t give it out, call the photo editor or art director and request their e-mail so that you can send them a promo e-mail or a link to your website. You can also easily determine someone’s e-mail address by looking at the naming convention used on any of the e-mails listed (usually on the business masthead, which lists PR or advertising contacts). If Tom Smith is listed as tsmith@anymagazine.com, or tom.smith@anymagazine.com, or tom_smith@anymagazine.com, then there’s a 95 percent chance the person you’re trying to reach has an e-mail address that is styled the same way.
When contacting editorial people, there are two very important rules. First, get your facts right. Editorial people are serious about the facts, and you should be too. Did you spell their name correctly? What about the name of their publication? Second, have some basic knowledge about the product they put out, the type of material they might be interested in, and how you fit into that. You don’t need to be a fan-boy of the magazine, but interest in the topics it covers helps and will certainly place you above other photographers vying for the same job. Showing interest in the publication in your marketing materials or when you talk to the photo editor on the phone makes him think you are actually interested in creating pictures the magazine’s readers will appreciate and not just looking for a job.
The absolutely most important thing about marketing is to make yourself easy to remember, which you can do by emphasizing the things that make you unique. Do you live somewhere interesting? Do you shoot unusual formats? Do you collect something related to the magazine’s content? Did you meet someone it did a story on? Tell the photo editor a story she won’t forget.
How do I pick a photographer to shoot an assignment? It’s an amalgamation of everything: your book, website, tear sheets, clients, awards, personal work, promo card, story in PDN, blog, photo I saw published somewhere, a story I heard, our meeting, someone dropped your name, the creative director likes your work, the editor knows your name (possibly a negative), one of my junior photo editors likes your work, the changes in your book since the last time I saw it, you have photos in my coffee shop, the phone message you left, the e-mail you sent that was interesting and personal, another photo editor told me you rock, your handshake is solid, the e-mail with a new tear that I think is cool, you care about my magazine (not just the cover and fashion), a gallery exhibit, or a photographer who is your peer recommended you. That’s a ton of evidence to consider, but in truth, since I don’t write any of it down, it really just adds up to an overall feeling about someone. There is no silver bullet.
A final piece of advice: Work on your craft, steadily contact the people you want to work with, deal honestly and fairly, and the jobs will come.
Database companies provide lists of contact names and numbers for all of the categories discussed previously and more. They provide regular mailer (as in snail mail) contacts and e-mail contacts, as well as account information that can be crucial when you are targeting your list or even when you are asked to bid a project.
Agency Access (www.agencyaccess.com) offers information on thousands of businesses within the United States, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Their database program is broken out into categories that are easy to navigate. Agency Access offers memberships in e-mail programs that allow you to send e-mails to large groups of people. On an annual basis, you purchase a bundle of names—12,000 or 24,000 or more—to which your e-mails will be sent. Then it’s like the minutes on your cell phone: As you do your e-mail send-outs, Agency Access deducts the number of send-outs from your total and keeps a running tab. Also, as with some cell phone plans, there’s rollover to the next year. The e-mails are not template-based; in other words, there’s no strict format that limits your options in designing the visuals for the e-mails.
PHOTO: Image 1 and Image 2: AGENCY ACCESS
PHOTO: Image 3 and Image 4: AGENCY ACCESS
[Image 1] Agency Access offers a yearly subscription that will provide you with the names and contact information you need to market yourself. A database subscription costs less than one day’s editorial fee. The information is constantly updated, which is crucial for the productive use of your marketing dollars. [Image 2] Agency Access allows you select the titles of the people you want to target. [Image 3] Agency Access allows you to pick the category you want to market to—advertising, in-house, graphic designers, magazines, and other categories. [Image 4] The database allows you to see the contact names and even an agency’s website so you can review the type of work they do and make sure it is a good fit for you. This feature is especially useful when you are searching for design firms. Another great feature is the map icon, which helps you find your way to a person-to-person meeting. Agency Access databases allow you to select the titles of the people you want to target.
Adbase (www.adbase.com) offers information for the United States and Canada. Their e-mail program, called Emailer, has a quarterly expiration date, so if something comes up and you don’t use your names during that quarter, you will lose them. You have to use their e-mail templates and cannot design your own.
Other marketing lists—of smaller and more specialized companies—are available as well. Fresh Lists (www.freshlists.com) is one smaller company that offers lists as well; it sells one-year subscriptions that you can update annually. You purchase, by category or location, one-time lists that you download and can use for the entire year. A smaller company may be a less expensive option, but be sure to research their accuracy and find out how often you will receive updates. With smaller companies, you are usually purchasing a list, not a database.
If you have expertise in a specific genre, such as architecture, and want to market to local and national architects, construction companies, and designers, there are organizations that provide databases of contacts within those industries, at a nominal fee. We recommend doing research for additional lists if the mainstream mailing houses noted here do not offer information on everyone in your target market.
E-promos (also called e-blasts) are promotional campaigns conducted via e-mail. They are a great way to do marketing with little financial outlay.
These promotions arrive in a potential client’s inbox. An e-mail blast should open within the main window of the e-mail program. The viewer should not have to open any additional windows or do any downloading. The image should be embedded as an HTML file. Once viewers roll the mouse over the image it should appear as clickable; when viewers click on the link, they are taken directly to your website.
The e-mail blast should include your branding (that is, your logo or type treatment), an image that reflects the work you want to be hired to shoot, and your website and contact info.
PHOTO: DIRK KARSTEN/DESIGN BY BRAND ENVY/NADINE STELLAVATO BROWN
PHOTO: DIRK KARSTEN/DESIGN BY BRAND ENVY/NADINE STELLAVATO BROWN
As Dirk Karsten’s e-promo campaign shows, you can feature more than one image or just one, but make sure that all the pieces you send have the same branding. Dirk’s e-promo is clean and to the point—with not too many words but a quick link to his website. Make sure your e-promos are less than 1 MB and that they download fast with the image embedded within the main message. Your potential viewers may not take the time to look at images that need to be clicked to or that are attached and need to be downloaded.
We estimate that more than half of all photographers have used or are using e-promotions as a form of marketing. Sending a printed card costs about $1.00 per name on average, while an e-promotion usually costs between $0.01 and $0.04 per name. In general, e-marketing yields on average a 1 percent click-through rate, meaning that 1 percent of the people you send to will go on to view your website.
People may say they don’t like e-mail blasts, but these are the same people who said they didn’t like printed mailers. The reality is that this is the new medium of marketing, and it does get results.
One client sent out an e-mail promo to get the attention of a buyer looking for a children’s photographer for a very large, consumer-based client. The photographer got the project, with fees over $15,000—all for what the e-mail campaign cost. Assuming an e-mail campaign cost of about $600 for 12,000 names, that is a great return on your investment.
Another client e-mailed a promo to an art director in St. Louis, who passed it on to an art director in the photographer’s home town—the same art director who hadn’t even considered that photographer for a huge consumer beverage project. Today’s young creatives like to IM each other and network about who is right for certain assignments.
» Question
What are your thoughts on e-mail blasts?
» Answer
Put an image in the e-mail (rather than just a type message with an attachment or download), or chances are I might not see your work. But do not send me huge e-mails with heavy files because my IT department and my laptop do not like that.
—JESSICA HOFFMAN,
Senior Intergrated Art Producer, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder
Do not send me an e-mail blast that is over 1 MB. I’m getting way too many of them, and it’s becoming difficult to get through my regular e-mail. I wish everyone would use the same subject name protocol so I could sort through them. Maybe start with the word “promo” in the subject line. Sometimes I just have to delete them without looking at them if my mailbox is too full, which happens a lot when I’m traveling.
—KAT DALAGER,
Senior Art Producer, Campbell-Mithun, Minneaplois
Buyers get e-mails all day long, and the time they spend reading them can be measured in seconds. When a buyer receives a card, he may throw it away, but he also may keep it. E-mails can get buried in a buyer’s hard drive, and if that hard drive crashes, the e-mail is gone. Postcards, on the other hand, can be filed away and kept for years.
When you are designing a mailer to create interest in your photography, make sure it shows not only the best of your work but also something that has “sales” value. In other words, you need to show images that will sell products or emotions.
PHOTO: SATOSHI/COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER
This is a wonderful example of a classic mailer and type treatment. It’s more than eight years old and still fabulous. If it’s a great mailer, art buyers will keep your promotions.
The intention behind a mailer is to motivate the viewer to go to your website and then call in your portfolio or ask you to bid. You need to make sure your images and the design of the mailer are strong enough to start the ball rolling.
PHOTO: LISA ADAMS
PHOTO: LISA ADAMS
Lisa Adams created a very clever campaign using the old Animal Rummy card game. She incorporated the cards in her work and sent out the mailers over the course of a year, instructing recipients to save all the mailers to accumulate a pack of cards. Not only was the campaign successful with buyers, it also got the attention of a great rep. See here for another image from Lisa’s year-long series.
Getting a click-through report (of people who went to your website after receiving your e-promo) does not mean that these people have jobs for you. However, it does mean your e-promo sparked their interest and got them to visit your site. We recommend that you follow up on these click-throughs with printed mailers. Of course, don’t write, “I know you went to my website”—believe it or not, this happens or we wouldn’t be saying it. Just send a card printed either on your ink-jet printer or through a printing house. Maybe say something as simple as, “Hope to work with you soon—John.”
The image on your follow-up card should be the same image used on your e-promo. With 25 to 50 promotions coming to an art buyer or creative on a daily basis, image recognition is very important. You can also call, but pick and choose those you will contact by phone. Call only the people you would like to meet in person to show your book to.
To produce your printed promotion card, there are many great options beyond your local printer. The suppliers listed here are only a few from the hundreds that are out there.
» modernpostcard.com. This company and other large printing companies generally provide low prices and quick turnaround times, but they usually do “gang-run” printing, meaning they run several jobs at the same time, using the same paper and ink. While gang-run printing can increase the margin for error in terms of color accuracy, it can also produce very nice printed pieces. It’s best to provide Modern Postcard or any company that does gang-printing with an accurate proof with a color bar so the printer has something to compare with what first comes off the press. The ideal scenario is for you to be there when the printing is done, to approve the color. If you can’t be there, ask for a match print or proof to approve prior to the full run. Working with a proof can add a week or more to the process.
PHOTO: CHRIS CASLER
If you want to be eco-friendly and not use an envelope and your designer has created a self-mailer promotion, here is a great option for sealing your promo. The wafer seal is a circular label that holds the mailer together while it is being mailed; it is perforated to allow the viewer to break the seal and view the images inside.
» www.paperchase.net. A great printer that offers different and in some ways more dynamic mailers at “custom” prices, PaperChase can make saddle-stitched and perfect-bound mailers and books as well as conventional folded mailers.
» amazingmail.com. A great resource for a few cards (say, up to 50) that you need to send out quickly. If you are okay with heavy glossy prints, this is a great source.
» clearenvelopes.com. Great alternatives to the traditional envelopes, this company’s products let viewers see what is inside and judge whether it is worth opening.
PHOTO: Image 1: CHRIS CASLER; Image 2: DAVID AARON TROY/COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER
PHOTO: Image 3: DAVID AARON TROY/COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER
[Image 1] Clear envelopes allow the viewer to see images before opening the envelope. When mailing out your work, make sure the viewer looks at the whole picture, literally. A clear envelope allows your image to show and entice the viewer to open the envelope. Here’s a “before” [Image 2] of one of David Aaron Troy’s promotions. The “after” version [Image 3] was the result of working with a consultant and designer. Now the addressee sees the image without opening the envelope. An attractive image will prompt most buyers to look inside.
This may sound elementary, but be sure to put your name and website on the back of specialized mailers or prints. We say this from experience: We have received beautiful art prints and once we disposed of the envelopes or packaging, the photographer’s name and information was lost. As a sad result, these photographers lost out on any number of jobs.
PHOTO: AGENCY ACCESS
Seeing your stats is an important factor when evaluating the success rate of an e-mail campaign. A reasonable goal for resulting click-throughs on your website is 1 percent.
PHOTO: AGENCY ACCESS
The Agency Access e-mail center allows you to track your e-promo efforts and see the results you achieved. The most important thing to remember is that marketing through mailings needs to be a consistent effort and that it can take considerable time to bear fruit. You may need to send a year’s worth of monthly e-mails before a buyer remembers who you are.
PHOTO: AGENCY ACCESS
Following an e-mail campaign, you can review a click-through report—a list of the people who went to your website.
PHOTO: FRED GREAVES/DESIGN BY BRAND ENVY/NADINE STELLAVATO BROWN
When sending out an e-promo, make sure the subject line states that you are a photographer. You can have fun with this, as Fred Greaves does. The subject line that comes up with this image is “So you think you’ve had a bad day”; the e-mailed image shows the results of a tornado. You are marketing to creative people, so be creative.
» Question
Why do you believe it is important to market?
» Answer
Marketing is important to get your name out there. If no one sees your work or knows who you are, how would they ever know to hire you? There are thousands of art buyers out there. If you don’t market directly to them, they will more than likely never know who you are.
—NICK ONKEN,
Photographer
» Question
What tips do you have for photographers who send out e-mail blasts or otherwise communicate with you by e-mail?
» Answer
I’ve been keeping track of how many e-mail promos I receive, which I keep in a separate folder. It’s about 15 to 30 every weekday. I highly recommend that photographers use an appropriate subject line when sending e-mail promos in order for me to prioritize what I open. For example, “Food Photography by …” will get me to open an e-mail sooner when I’m looking for a food shooter, plus it will help me file and find the e-mail for future reference. If someone is asking for a portfolio review, they should say so in the subject line; otherwise I’ll just file it away with the others until I get a chance to open it.
—KAT DALAGER,
Senior Art Producer, Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis
Here is what Rosie Henderson of Best Buy says regarding the value of person-to-person meetings: “Get out there and pound the pavement. Face-to-face is still great. Send a heads up by e-mail, but get yourself out there so that people get to know you and your work.”
If you are able to arrange a meeting, make it brief. These folks are very busy, and you must be aware of that. Ten to fifteen minutes and a portfolio review are all they have to offer. Do not push more work on them or ask for their advice about what your portfolio should look like. If you are too aggressive, no one will want to work with you.
Do not look at someone’s personal space and ask about the photos you see or the papers on the desk. Imagine saying to someone, “Is that your child?” only to find out the person is not married and longs to be a mother but hasn’t found the right partner.
You are more likely to get an appointment if you are from out of town. Local photographers, who will be around this week, next week, next month, may be in a sense taken for granted and have a harder time landing a face-to-face meeting. When you are local, an agency is more likely to ask you to drop off your portfolio since they know they can set up a meeting with you at any time.
Ask up front what the portfolio policy is. How can you be sure they actually review your portfolio? You can’t, of course, but maybe add a little food treat—like a cool Pez dispenser or gummy bears—and a buyer may be more likely to look at your book. It may sound silly, but it works.
PHOTO: KIYOSHI TOGASHI
Togashi consistently uses strong, stylistic still-life imagery in his marketing campaigns. This e-promo’s subject line was “Boobs and Jewels, Real or Fake?” The click-through rate was 13 percent.
If you decide to call to try to set up an appointment, nine times out of ten you will get someone’s voice mail. You might have more success by calling and leaving a message, acknowledging how busy the person is, and then following that up with an e-mail.
Do not leave your number and ask a buyer to call you back. Follow up with an e-mail and tell him you would love to show your new book (and if you say this, be sure that it is in fact a new book that he has not seen) and suggest a date and time: “Hey, this is Joe Blow, following up on my message. I know that you are busy, but I would love to take five or ten minutes of your time and show you my new book. Let me know if you are free on Monday or Tuesday of next week at 10 a.m.”
If the buyer returns your e-mail and sets up an appointment, be brief with a follow-up and thank him for his time. People respect you more when you respect that precious asset. On average, for every ten calls you make, you may get one appointment. Make the calls and see what your success rate is.
There are companies out there who will make those dreaded calls for you. One we especially like is Agency Access (www.wiseelephant.com). Having someone call for you means that you experience less rejection personally and have a better chance of keeping your ego intact. However, having someone else call also means you don’t always know exactly what the person on the other end said or requested. However, if you don’t have time and want to meet people or be able to drop off your book, it’s worth the cost (anywhere from $3 to $8 per call).
When you get to the meeting, be yourself and let your work speak for itself. Do not talk about your portfolio. Usually the story your images create is better than your story about the shoot. Sure, sometimes the story is better. But wait until you are asked—then you will have a willing audience for your story.
Likewise, do not talk about each image. Let the viewer look at the images at her own pace. If she has questions about the production of some images and you’ve worked with a producer, let her know that.
Let your host run the conversation. If he seems to be having a bad day, be aware of that and even acknowledge it with a comment like, “Thank you for seeing me. I know you are really busy, so I will be very brief.” Never ask what project he is working on that you may be considered for.
And never say, “I could have shot that” when looking at a portfolio in an art director’s office. If he thought you could have shot it, he would have hired you! And when you make such a comment, you risk insulting the creative person on their choice of photographer.
If you meet with a creative person or potential client and you connect and they seem to really like your work, Consider Doing Pro Bono Work. Don’t, however, come across as desperate, and make sure the work is something you are passionate about.
Stay only five or ten minutes. Again, follow your host’s lead and have no expectations of how the meeting will go. Make sure to leave behind a postcard or mailer.
Immediately after a meeting, follow up with a nice e-mail or snail-mailed card. Thank the person for taking the time to meet with you and ask her to keep you in mind for any upcoming projects.
Don’t expect a call or an assignment right away. You should view the initial meeting as a first step in connecting with a potential client. Then use that connection to build and continue a new relationship.
In the longer term, we recommend a six-month follow-up for all client and industry contacts.
People say, “If I build it, they will come,” or “They will find me on Google.” But if buyers don’t know you or know exactly what they are looking for, how will they find you? That is where pro bono work and source books (print or online) come in handy. Entering contests is another way to get valuable exposure.
Some of the best work in your portfolio can be pro bono—short for pro bono publico, which means “for the public good.” Pro bono is the standard term for work created without charge, usually for a client who does not have a budget to pay for your work; it can be, for example, public service advertising or work for a nonprofit. You might work in partnership with an art director who wants to get work produced to enter into the award shows and contests; the credit for such an image might read, “This image was a collaboration of James Martin, Art Director, and Chris Davis, Photographer.” Please note: We recommend working this way only when it will benefit you professionally. We are not suggesting giving your work away for free.
PHOTO: CHRIS DAVIS
One of the best ways to get exposure is to work pro bono (without charge). Art directors seem to do their best work pro bono, and such work often gets into the award shows and contests. Even though you are not paid for the work, it allows art directors to see your style and how you work. This image by Chris Davis won an award in Archive, a highly respected international publication.
In most award shows and contests, the pro bono work receives more awards since it is not always client-dictated. The award book will display a photo credit, so it’s a great way for you to get your name out there. Also, this is a great way for an art director to see how you work without risking the client’s money. Many photographers and art directors have formed strong bonds and long relationships by doing pro bono projects together.
If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas for a photo shoot, ask a local art director to work with you outside of his agency on his own—for barter, for free, or for compensation—to help you create concepts. It may cost you, but the result could be well worth it.
For editorial work (photography that accompanies a story in a magazine or newspaper), shoot subjects that mean something to you. Magazines prefer stories featuring multiple images rather than single-image entries. If you want to be considered for a feature story, you need to show the magazine that you can carry a single idea or theme through several images.
For fashion images, you could create a story based on makeup, a theme, or an item. If you are a food photographer, create a story around something like chicken, herbs, or a culinary style. Travel photographers can create a story on location that makes the viewer want to visit that place.
If a buyer is looking for a portrait photographer in Colorado Springs, source books make it easy to go to a location and search by specialty. But printed source books—annual and semiannual hard-copy industry directories made up of pages of advertising by photographers—are beginning to feel like a thing of the past.
However, it may be too early to count printed source books out. We know of photographers who have advertised year after year in printed source books with a great rate of return on their marketing dollar. In addition, source book houses are trying to re-create the need for and appeal of printed source books.
To help you decide whether to advertise in a printed source book, follow your current market. Ask your current and potential audience of buyers if they use printed source books. Being included in one is expensive ($3,000–$5,000), and if it is not going to bring in work, don’t waste your marketing dollars. Never be pushed by a sales rep to purchase space in one or more of these books. Instead, decide what is best for you.
The most important printed source books include Workbook, Alternative Pick, Black Book, and Le Book.
PHOTO: ALTERNATIVE PICK/COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER/IMAGES FEATURED BY LENNETTE NEWELL, WALTER LOCKWOOD, AND PETER BARRETT
Alternative Pick sent buyers something special for viewing their clients’ work. The deck of cards was a brilliant way to send buyers images in a functional presentation that was compact enough to store.
Online source books are emerging as the way for today’s photographers to present their work. They offer an easy way to be found, and many photographers no longer use printed source books, but now use online guides exclusively.
A simple listing in an online source book can be free, or you can spend anywhere from $600 to $1,500 for an online portfolio and hyperlink.
Some of the most important online source books are:
» www.workbook.com. Many consider this the industry bible.
» www.photoserve.com. Photoserve features “selected” galleries that are chosen based on recently uploaded and edited images. The best way to be one of the featured galleries is to change your gallery monthly.
» www.at-edge.com. Being invited to participate in this site—the online partner of AtEdge, an award-winning series of publications— puts you in the company of the world’s best assignment photographers.
» www.altpick.com. First recognized for its work in the music industry and for being very creative, this online source book (along with the printed book) has now expanded to reach a broader market.
» www.lebook.com. To appear in the online version, you must also be in the printed book (great for fashion or beauty photographers).
» www.asmp.org/findaphotographer. ASMP’s online resource is a valuable benefit to ASMP members.
WORKBOOK
PHOTO: WORKBOOK/PHOTOGRAPHY BY CURTIS JOHNSON
Workbook offers a great online source book targeted to buyers who can review your work based on your specialty or location. They will also list you for free—but just your contact info, no images.
PHOTO: Image 1: PHOTOSERVE; Image 2: PHOTOSERVE/PHOTOGRAPHS BY EDWARD ADDEO
PhotoServe offers the same thing as Workbook. Frequently updating your work on the site increases your chances of appearing at the front of the list in your category.
We encourage our clients to enter photography contests for the exposure they bring. The more people who see your work, the better. With some contests, only the winners are published and recognized, but in others, multiple finalists are featured, and photographers can get the intangible recognition as well as tangible prizes in the form of equipment and marketing.
PHOTO: Image 1: PHOTOSERVE/PHOTOGRAPHS BY EDWARD ADDEO; Image 2: ASMP/PHOTOGRAPHY BY LESLIE JEAN BART
ASMP’s “Find a Photographer” feature allows you to post your images as a part of your ASMP membership. Buyers use this database of images when looking for a photographer in a certain area.
» Question
How often do you use the online source books vs. the printed books.
» Answer
I don’t use either. I use my promos and my bookmarks. I have bookmarks for most of the reps, and I will use these sites first. I don’t like how the online source books are set up. I’ll look at the printed workbook before I’ll go to the online sources, but the direct sites are always first.
—ANGELA LEWIS REID,
Senior Art Buyer, Draft FCB, New York
I use the online source books more. I know them a little better, and they are obviously updated more often, whereas a book on my shelf remains unchanged. Also I can reference the online stuff anywhere (home, work, etc.). I do, however, also reference the printed books and just make sure that I keep only updated volumes.
—TIFFANY CORREA,
Art Buyer, Push, Orlando
I tend to use both because I want to weigh my options.
—JACKIE CONTEE, FREELANCE ART BUYER;
FORMERLY ART BUYING MANAGER FOR BRAVO, NEW YORK
I use PDN online, Workbook, and on occasion BlackBook or LeBook. Printed source books are good to have but are needed less and less. They just aren’t as easy to use as the Web these days.
—JESSICA HOFFMAN,
Senior Intergrated Art Producer, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder
Printed source books are great for knowing who’s out there and what they are doing. But after the initial run-through, a printed book usually gets shelved and is used rarely.
—ROSIE HENDERSON,
Senior Art Producer, Best Buy, Minneapolis
Bottom Line: There is no one answer. So it’s always best to cover yourself and appear in places where at least some buyers will look.
Contests are difficult to get into, but they are the “bibles” for art directors to see what their peers have chosen as the best. If you don’t get in, no worries—just keep trying. Getting in doesn’t mean that you are going to hit the big time, either. Instead of expecting that to happen, you should use the recognition as a press release advantage. In other words, take the bull by the horns! Most well-known photographers have used the PR factor (even writing their own press releases) to get their names out there.
It would also be beneficial to send copies of the award book to about 25 people you have wanted to work with. Make sure to have your image page marked.
Among the best forms of advertising are contests targeted to art directors. Some of the biggest are those run by the website Photoserve and by the magazines Communication Arts and Archive. The judges are looking for great images that sell. Remember, these folks are used to hiring photographers for their clients. We have actually seen art directors use the award annuals as source books. One client bought extra copies of the annual he appeared in and sent them to his dream clients with his images highlighted. This tactic kept him very busy with new clients and assignments.
Workbook.com is one of the best resources for finding contest dates; go to www.workbook.com/site_map and, under Database, download the Events and Contests PDF. Meanwhile, here are the top contests and the month when they usually set the deadline for entries.
PHOTO: DAVE SPATARO/COPY ART BY CHRIS CASLER
When you are fortunate enough to get into one of the prestigious contests, make sure to let people know. Dave Spataro sent out this e-promo showing that he got into the Communication Arts Photography Annual.
Archive. This is one of the hottest places to have your work featured.
www.luerzersarchive.us/submission.asp
Photo District News (PDN) Magazine’s Photo Annual
Deadline: January
www.pdnonline.com/contests
Communication Arts (CA) Photography Annual
Deadline: March
www.commarts.com/competitions/photography
» Question
What mailers stand out for you? What was something special?
» Answer
I still love mailers. It’s easier to sort through to see what I’m looking for than it is to sort through a non-visual list of website names to find someone. Postcards are fine, but I prefer something with more images on it.
—KAT DALAGER,
Senior Art Producer, Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis
Excellent photography will always stand out. Repetitive mailers can overload the inbox and be frustrating, but you do remember who the photographer is.
—ROSIE HENDERSON,
Senior Art Producer, Best Buy, Minneapolis
I like mailers that feature interesting work that doesn’t feel like it’s been around for ten or twenty years. I like receiving mailers and keep a lot of them.
—JESSICA HOFFMAN,
Senior Intergrated Art Producer, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder
PIX Digital Imaging Contest
Deadline: August
www.pixdigitalimagingcontest.com
International Photography Awards
Deadline: June
www.photoawards.com
Graphis Design Annual
Deadline: March
www.graphis.com
Graphis Advertising Journal
Deadline: July
www.graphis.com
Graphis Photography
Deadline: August
www.graphis.com
Create a marketing plan that both considers the details and looks at the big picture. The best way to start is to plan for monthly marketing activities that will take place over the course of a year.
The sections here form a “template” marketing plan that you might want to consider, with your own modifications and adaptations. Use them along with the Annual Calendar shown in the illustration.
» Question
How does someone who is unknown get work?
» Answer
Become known. PR, PR, PR. Getting into CA or PDN is worth gold.
—KAT DALAGER,
Senior Art Producer, Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis
PHOTO: THE DATES THAT APPEAR ARE ESTIMATED DATES. WORK WITH YOUR DATABASE COMPANY TO SET THE ACTUAL DATES FOR MAILINGS.
To keep yourself on track, record all your marketing efforts on a calendar. Make sure you look at the big picture (the whole year) not just one month at a time. Click here for a downloadable version of the Annual Calendar
Using your own personal research and/or with the help of a database company like Agency Access, create a list of the dream clients that you would most like to work with. For the best relationship building, target only one person per company.
Four times a year, create a single, dynamic, printed promotion, or other unique, consistent piece that you will send to this list. Make sure that your A-list campaign shows your style consistently so that after a year’s time you will have become identified in the clients’ minds with a parti-cular photographic style.
Create an e-promo that has the “Wow!” factor. Send it out six times a year to either your own list or one you buy from a database company like Agency Access (www.agencyaccess.com; ask Keith Gentile or Dan Caruso to give you a demo and pricing).
If you work with a database company, you will receive a click-through report. Send follow-up postcards that can be done on your printer or through companies like AmazingMail (www.amazingmail.com). Do not ask the contacts if they remember your e-promo and do not tell them you know they went to your website. But you can add a personal note on the card, saying something like, "Hope to work with you soon," and signing your first name.
If you can afford it, mail a printed promotion twice a year to the same list, always striving for the “Wow!” factor.
Meet with one or two new people per month. At the end of the year you will have made between 12 and 24 new contacts. To get an appointment, call and leave a message something like this: “This is Jane Doe, and I would love to set up five to ten minutes to meet with you in person and show you my latest portfolio. I know you are busy, so I will follow up with an e-mail.”
WHAT IS THE “WOW!” FACTOR?
A promo piece with the “Wow!” factor is the polar opposite of a boring, one-sided postcard with an address on the other side. It speaks the language of your potential clients, giving them a solid idea of what jobs to hire you for, and is interactive and engaging. A mailing with the “Wow!” factor is a “keeper” that potential clients will pin to their bulletin board or file away for future use.
When you follow up, make the subject line of your e-mail something like “Following up.” Then write a message along these lines: “Hello. I would love to set up five to ten minutes to meet you in person and show you my latest portfolio. Let me know if you are available next Monday or Tuesday at 10 or 11 a.m. Cheers, Jane.” You can also include a photo in the e-mail.
Whenever you complete a job for a client, write a thank-you note. Keep a list of all the clients you’ve worked for that you want to keep. Plan to follow up with them consistently two months after your last contact with them. At the end of the year, send holiday acknowledgments of appreciation (cards, prints, and/or gifts).
Keep track of important details that otherwise might “fall through the cracks”—updating your website, doing creative shooting, selling to stock houses, and organizing a gallery show. At the end of the year, be sure to review your activities over the past months and plan for the coming year.
Also review the various award shows and Contests and choose several to enter each year. Use your calendar’s miscellaneous column to remind you about the entry dates.
Contact the source books and online resource guides (see Source Books and Online Source Guides). Ask if you can be listed for free, and inquire about the cost of buying space for display of your work.
