One of my fave books was the bio on Steve Jobs. Steve considered himself “different”.
A rogue, freak and geek…..I can relate. Can you?
I think we’ll agree. And we can all learn a valuable lesson.
People love the Apple brand. They’ll tell you they are well designed and give you reasons why based on the physical virtues and functionality.
However, that’s not the real reason they feel so religiously bonded to this brand.
The real reason is Apple sold them on the idea that they too were different. And because they were different, they used Apple products.
Rogues, freaks and geeks and proud of it.
The first comparable that comes to mind is the Harley motorcycle. These people feel cult like bonded to their brand. Just like the Apple users.
Where else do you see an entire look based on slapping corporate logos over just about every accessory and attachment for their “hogs” and call it bad ass?
(need proof? just go to any coffee shop in the summer where 20 or more Harley owners congregate and count the logos. You’ll get dizzy…)
It’s not the bike. It’s the feeling they get when they own and ride one. Like being in a gang.
I read the best description of a Harley user:
“It’s the only time a 44 yr old accountant can ride down main street and have town folks be afraid of them.”
Years ago when I started in photography I noticed, even in myself, that many people looked up to the gurus du jour.
We wanted to be like them. We mimicked their style and even their marketing.
The truth is, you can’t really give your studio marketing power until you feel deeply connected to it. Until you think different. And become a rogue and a freak.
Everything else is just marketing incest and eventual cannibalism.
We WANT to be different. But getting there isn’t done by swiping wholesale what another photographer does in their marketing.
Owning an Apple or Harley won’t make us so. It’s a vapious lie, of sorts.
But dammit, it sells a lot of computers, ipods and motorcycles. (and motorcycle helmets, jackets, boots….)
Are you throwing darts in a blizzard when it comes to marketing your photography business?
Maybe it’s time to think different.
The first headline I created when I started NoBs PhotoSuccess was… “no whiners, egos, prima donnas…”
I wanted people who thought different.
In order to truly think and act different, you need the right information and a great place where you don’t feel the need to conform.
You get to be yourself.
That, my friend, is one of the founding principles of NoBs Photo Success.
Thankfully, many feel this way. NOT everyone does. Since some leave and look for a place that is more “like them”.
Where it feels safe.
Forget about feeling safe. One never does when one ventures out.
Stay real, stay frosty my friend. Be authentic, be yourself, think different.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
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Hey Rob I love reading all of your blogs but this one especially. It is insightful and brilliant, and like you I have been saying this for decades.
The problem (and yes here I go again) is that 99% photographers are copiers, not creatives. And it is heartbreaking to spend hours or days coming up with a new marketing idea, or tagline or service only to see it stolen and pasted word for word on several of your competitors website within 24 hours.
I was at a Home Show a few months ago and saw a part time self proclaimed “professional photographer” with the tag line “Your Face is Your Brand.” I told him this was the third time I had seen a photographer using this as a tag line in the last 48 hours. He said “I know, I got into this Home Show at the last minute and didn’t have time to think of something original.” No idea that there was anything wrong with taking another (in this case) well know photographer’s tag line.
Most real professional photographers would never think of copying another photographers photos and passing them off as their own, but have no problem copying a tag line or anything else from their fellow professionals.
Photographers have been doing this since photography began. They don’t seem to understand it is wrong, and unethical. Now we have a couple of generations that think everything is public domain.
thanks Robin….feeling the love. very true! R