Photo Success

A Place to Grow

Marketing is all about coming up with offers and creating products that clients want.

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Family by the falls photo promotion…

What is the family by the falls photo promotion you ask?
I dunno…I made it up. Last year.
And it worked. So, we tweaked, modified and ran it again this year. Kaching.
Marketing is all about coming up with offers and creating products that clients want. Products that have very desirable benefits. The benefits will be your main marketing message.

A blend of good value, attractive features and easy to respond to. With a deadline of course (hey, you gotta add some pressure).

I talked about this promotion in last years Marketing Mastermind meeting.
And will be talking about it some more, as update, in the next, soon to be announced, November marketing mastermind.
The point it, you need to try different ideas.
No orders or instructions will come down from over yonder or above with marketing direction. You, I, we all, as professional photographers who rely on our photography marketing to live, need to create and be responsible for marketing.
It’s what makes the wheels turn.
The family by the falls promotion was just one of many strategies I hammered away at this fall. This, among many others.
I love the saying from Dan Kennedy: “Don’t look for one strategy to get 100 clients. Use 100 strategies to get 1 client.”
I’ll admit, this lifestyle is not for everyone. It’s too uncertain and unstable for many.
I get it.
But know this, in order to succeed in business you need to become a marketer. And it’s a skill, not something you’re born with. You get better with time.
ABOVE…my VAL….voice activated lights stand….
Tina , the boss and queen bee, and Danielle, the princess and millennial padawan in training, trying to adjust the Octodome….and doing their best not to fly away like a kite.
Below…a sample of the promotional image. To be discussed. Stay tuned….
Yours in photography,
Rob

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

My first wedding and first near nervous breakdown….(how I got through it)

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“Self-belief is the catalyst for spectacular achievement.”
~Robin Sharma~

My heart was pounding.

My legs were like rubber. My brain was exploding in a flurry of stress and fear…all cascading down onto my young fragile and vulnerable soul.

I was freaking out in a big way.

I tried as best I could to keep up the illusion of control while inside me I was like a duck paddling furiously under the water, trying to stay afloat, looking sorta calm on the surface.

All an illusion.

This by the way wasn’t my first wedding. This was my first year. My first 5 years to be honest.

When I started shooting schools, families and especially weddings, and, well, people…. I was so close to having an all out nervous breakdown I have no idea how I got through it all.

But get though it I did. It’s hard to say where the drive, the inner fortitude comes from that keeps one going. I can’t say.

Maybe, just maybe it has something to do with having goals and a vision for something bigger and better for oneself. Yea, let’s go with that one.

In the best self-help business book ever written, Think and Grow Rich, there are 13 key fundamentals.

The first one is “Desire”.

From the book:
“The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.”

I suppose I had two choices. Let the fear dominate and let the chips fall where they may. Or, make a decision as to what I wanted for myself. Desire.

You can get far in any and most endeavors, including a photography business, or photography marketing, or in trying to enhance your photographic skills, by simply asking yourself this one easy question: “What do I want?”

If you have that knowledge, you now have a map, so to speak. And having a map may give you the edge you need to keep going on your journey.

I created some goal setting forms to help others create self-awareness and a strong personal vision. These forms have helped me immensely in my lifetime.

You’re welcome to them. Download HERE

If you’re a member of noBs photosuccess you can also watch/download the video replay HERE.

Either way, download and print out the PDF forms and sit down for 20 minutes.

This is some of THE MOST IMPORTANT work you can ever do in your life.
I guarantee it!

The choice is yours.

Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

Join us…Content, Coaching & Community

Marilyn Sholin-How to brand yourself as artist instead of “photographer” in your market…REPLAY

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How to brand yourself as artist instead of “photographer” in your market.

Marilyn gave us many insightful and practical ideas on branding and growing a business selling photography based art.

    • She showed us how she completely retooled and overhauled her personal website
    • She showed resources that detail where to sell art
    • Quote: “I’d rather compete in the market of green dollars.” In other words, it’s all about business and marketing first.
    • The value of connecting and buying from other local artists
    • Quote: “I don’t teach art, you’re learning a software.”

And much more…check it out:

CLICK HERE FOR HER 3 DAY 2017-18 Painter Tutorials OFFER

Yours in success and in photography,
Robert Provencher

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

7 Of The Biggest, Baddest, Classic Business Breaking Blunders Photographers Make….(in business)

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Let me get straight to the point…..7 mistakes photographers make.

1- Market Too Soon
This is a newb mistake. They start doing all sorts of marketing, and spending money on ads and other “magic pill” solutions…..when the truth is….their work is crap.
Increase the marketing too fast, and you’re only speeding up the process with which the marketplace finds out how crappy you are.

2-Not Market Enough
Another mistake. Often with established photography studios.
They sit back and think: “Yea, we’re so dam good we don’t need to lower ourselves.”
What a load. It’s all fine until the eventual winds of destiny come blowing into their studio business and all is gone because we sat on our laurels.

Listen, everyone needs to market. Always….publicity, networking, greeting cards, social media, offers, clubs and programs, monthly offers, specials and themed portrait offers, affiliation strategies….

All you need to do is lose the ego, get on the marketing mule and go panning for gold. No one is immune to this.

3-Suffer From Technitis
Way too much focus on gear and processes. ’nuff said.

4-Pursue Wrong Markets
I love the story from my good friend Alicia Birch, from Australia.
I’ve had her pitch in and help me with a few coaching calls, and she told us about how she used to photograph horses. Yes, she made some money.
But not much.

The reality is, it’s not a large market. Sure, she could offer some sessions as horse themed photography sessions, or shoot the occasional show, but to niche in that area is a losing proposition.

5-Copy Cat Syndrome
I call this marketing incest. We see another photog we admire, and do everything like them instead of creating our own style, our own voice.
Our marketing gets dumber, watered down and weaker because of this. Our style doesn’t sing and resonate. Be true to yourself and shine. It takes courage. Brass balls.

6- Lack Big Picture Vision
Michael Gerber wrote one of the best business books of all time…The E Myth. Read it if you haven’t yet.
In it he tells how it’s vital for all businesses to envision what their (photography) business will look like five years from now.
This is a powerful exercise. And it forces us to use our imagination. No one else can do this for us. Only we can.

7-Fail To Treat The Craft Like A Business
This is common. So many don’t get this and it’s likely the number one reason why photography “businesses” fail.
It’s a business. You must make a profit. The final vote goes to the client who opens up their minds and hearts and votes with their wallets….over and over…

Their is no shame in making money.
It’s a business.
Get it?

Get it and you’re on the right track.

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

High speed synch and off camera flash portraits..using the Sony A7R and Sony flash

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Of course, this will work with any brand, Canon, Nikon, or any system that allows high speed synch.The goal is to use flash outdoors in bright light, and set the aperture as wide as possible. This creates a painterly, beautiful soft background with separation and bokeh. Controlling the light is also a benefit by adding reflectors and and over head scrim to “subtract” the light.


ABOVE: Using my Sony A7R, 85MM Batis 1.8 lens, the HVL-F60M Sony flash with small soft box and onboard the camera is the much smaller, but used as commander, Sony HVL- F32 flash, all set to high speed synch.

Shutter speed at 1250th of second. ISO 100 at 2.2


I added  a “canopy” over top. This is inspired by the Fuzzy Duenkel “subtractive” lighting strategy.

And one small reflector, as noted above, on the ground to kick in a little more specular highlights in the eyes.


I talk more in depth on this lighting scenario, and many others, in all my monthly lighting mastermind meetings.

Go here for members access.

Yours in success in photography,

Robert Provencher

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

“There’s always money for spinach….”

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“There’s always money for smokes” I told my daughter Danielle the other day.
She was like, uh? I explained that way back, when I was 30, and a smoker, as was my girlfriend at the time, and her dad. He’d say this if cash ran out, and we needed smokes: “There’s always money for smokes.”

It means we’ll find the cash. Cuz’ we need to get our nicotine on. No option.

I told this to Danielle as metaphor that whenever you want something, or need something, whether you actually need it or not, you’ll FIND a way.

It’s that simple.

Nowadays I am much healthier, smoke free, near vegan and making huge ass spinach smoothies every morning. The budget for good food is limitless because health, and smoothies, are what I want.

There’s always money for spinach.

When you know what you want, you get what you want. It’s really that simple.

When Danielle was young, I had a rule: “There’s always money for books.”

Same idea, you get it. I wanted a smart kid.

If there’s one activity that will guarantee you success in life and in your own photography business it’s the effort you put into digging deep into your heart and soul and pulling out a list of meaningful challenges worth pursuing.

In other words, have meaningful goals. Have purpose to your life. Dig deep, kick butt and no excuses.

In this presentation below I reveal to you what I feel in my heart is the most effective ways to break free from the limitations that hold you back. Grab a pen and note pad, turn off your phone and facebook and focus in on this for an hour.

GO HERE and watch, download, get the goal setting PDF form.
It may change your life.
Yours in success in photography,
Robert Provencher

Light is light…

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Light is light. I’ll take it any way I can get it. What matters is the end results. Case in point, a recent wedding.
I noticed the windows facing west in the reception hall. Looks like a huge softbox.

See two images below:

My plan, which I executed right after supper, was to grab the brides maids, and the bride and groom, and capture some extra images using this light source.

Sony A7R, Batis 85MM 1.8 lens shot at 1.8

ISO?? Who knows….I use auto ISO when necessary.

I’ll take the light anywhere I can find or. Or, I’ll bring my own…

Also, last week I had Ricky Miles, originally from Venezuela, now settling down successfully in Columbia, on a Frontline webinar….his story and his photography, photography marketing is amazing. You’ll learn tons!

CHECK IT OUT
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

Join us…Content, Coaching & Community