“The link between clarity and energy, stamina, resilience, ability to influence and inspire
and ultimately make things work out to your benefit is profound.”
Here’s a situation I hear occasionally with photographers……
“Rob, I’m in trouble, I have few sessions, no sales and little income. I need to make money like yesterday. Help!!!”
HHHhhhmmmm…not sure, but you must think I’m a miracle man or something.
Look, you basically have 3 choices:
1. You can bend over, put your head firmly between your legs and
kiss your butt goodbye.
This is what a lot of photographers are doing.
(And it’s kind of a shame…)
2. Get a time machine and go back a few years when you KNEW you
should have been preparing for something like this to happen.
What?
Can’t find a time machine?
Not even on eBay?
Then, here’s the 3rd option I’d recommend:
3. Start building a targeted list of clients and prospects, and stay in touch with them with cool offers, often, monthly, with emails, studio newsletters, displays in stores and other affiliations.
Yeah, like yesterday.
Don’t POOPOO this advice.
Do it! Marketing is everything.
What kind of photographic services and promotions and programs you ask?
That’s entirely up to you, well, sorta….if you decide you want to offer scenics and awesome sunsets, maybe some pictures of old buildings or logs in swamps, you might hear nothing in response to your offers.
But if you offer pictures that people want….you know, family portraits, baby images and babies first year programs, fairy portraits, senior portraits, wedding images…are you getting the picture?
It’s mainly about them and their families. And events in the life and times of their families.
Give them what they want.
Create offers that people drool over, and sign up for, and do this over, and over, and over, week after week, month after month, year after year…
….and do as much publicity and networking and displaying until your fingers bleed (well, your finger won’t ‘bleed’, but you get the metaphor..)
You didn’t think this was going to be easy was it?
I know few business’s that are. Come to think of it. I know of none that are.
And to make matters worse, they aren’t even consistently reliable. Who knows what the future brings?
Tell me you didn’t think that all you had to do was take really nice photographs and everything would fall into place?
Tell me you didn’t think that. Did you?
Relentless follow up is KEY, baby….it’s a lot of time, and hard work.
And also, stay away from distractions.
Turn off the TV. Flakebook.
And quit listening to hype. Time to focus.
Build a business… and show it love every day…get to work. And next time…
Dig your well BEFORE you’re thirsty. It takes work to get to that point.
What I teach is NOT a magic pill.
If you want clarity, I might be able to help. But you’ve got to be committed to yourself and to treating your photography business, well, like a business.
Not a dream, a fantasy, an ego-fest feel-warm-and fuzzy-all-over-good-time, one time event.
A business. That’s what it is…. Get over it and get on with it.
It takes a lot more than what most people think it takes to succeed in their own photography business.
I know. I been at it much, much longer than most have been driving. And it’s still working out for me.
And for a bunch more photographers who know that hard work, dedication, a willingness to go above the call of duty….
Being in business is by far the toughest thing I have ever done. But, where there’s pain, there’s pleasure….right?
One can’t exist without the other.
But who’s willing to work through the pain. Are you?
Marketing is everything,
Robert Provencher
Leave a Reply