Photo Success

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The rainbow neon colored cannabis leaf wife beater shirt marketing strategy….

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I’m in Costa Rica, sunny hot days, monkeys and birds everywhere.

In a small beach town called Tamarindo, which attracts swarms of tourists, surfers, hippies and retired folk looking to get away from the cold, cold north.

Life is good, indeed.

The other day while walking home I noticed in the window in one of the funky little clothing stores, one of the ugliest pieces of men’s clothing…ever.

It was a black, ‘muscle shirt’, with multicolored neon bright cannabis leafs all over it.

My first thought was: “Who’d buy a wife beater shirt?”

Then I realized I was wearing one. But not like that one of course.

I swore I’d never wear a “muscle” shirt, but gave in two years ago.

Too warm down here, too dam comfortable.

But black, with bright fluorescent neon weed leafs all over it? Ugh!

And fishnet see through mesh fabric no less. Double ugh!!

But if you’re gonna wear them, at least have some class. Some style.

And this one! U*G*L*Y…..nothing less.

Which made me think….“I bet this is a marketing strategy. Designed to grab your attention.”

This store is known for funky cool stylized, offbeat, retro selection of young hip clothing.

Why not highlight this abomination?!

For effect, no less. No doubt. It grabs your attention.

Grabbing your attention is one of the foundations of good marketing.
Done right, of course.

One of the very best marketing strategies for photographers is the display. You know, in a mall, a store, restaurant, instagram, facebook….all are displays in a sense.

We put our work out there, for all to see. To “grab” attention. Over and over.

And it seems this strategy favors the bold. Certainly worked for me.

Here’s my short list of display ideas:

*In our studio we have an 8’x12′ billboard on the side of our building, facing one of the busiest streets in our city.
*Business cards
*ALL social media….daily posts
*website blogging
*store front…(my two large windows are covered each with display images-the kind you can’t see in, but can see out- perforated is the term used I believe)
*sales room…high impact large display images and well appointed decor…impact!
*mall/tradeshows/art shows…any and all displays at events in your city….old school, very, very effective

Some free,  some paid, all effective attention grabbing publicity. One of my favorite marketing strategies and a must for any photography studio.

Be shameless, brave, bold….like a multicolored neon cannabis leaf encrusted muscle shirt on display.

I talk about this at length in my marketing manuals I’ve created (3 so far), in the monthly marketing mastermind  meetings I run.

By far, as a photographer, you need to grab their attention. They ain’t gonna come looking for you.

Last night during our marketing mastermind with special guest Warne Noyce, he showed us an image he created right in his front yard, in the water. (he lives in the boonies on a beautiful lake.)

The image was of a high school senior in her prom dress, in the water, with a huge giant moon on the horizon, reflected in the water. (0bviously added, but very effective)

Would anyone want that style of shot? Maybe some, maybe not.

An image with impact that draws them in. Pushing his brand of uniqueness and style.

Like a black see through mesh neon cannabis leaf encrusted wife beater shirt.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. Members can watch the repaly of last nights presentation with Warne here.

P.P.S. My entire collection of marketing manuals, replays and meetings are ALL part
of your membership.

Is this the biggest marketing mistake in photography? Me thinks it is….

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I knew these two photographers, a mom and pop studio. Very successful purveyors of traditional, classic portraits.

Problem is, many didn’t like what they were creating…

“Too much retouching”...I would hear all the time. Over and over. And indeed, their work was over the top retouched.

I didn’t like it either.

Never could figure out who did and why, so I assumed, wrongfully so, that
that was what traditional portraiture was all about.

“Every one has the same pose, background and lighting…..”…was another complaint I’d hear.

So, this begs the question. How were they so successful?

I think I figured it out. They were the proverbial big fish in a small pond.
Big mistake.

A pond big enough to prosper in, but not too big where competition
would nudge them out.

They operated in a bubble, so to speak. They lived in a vacuum.

Until everything changed. The bubble went away, fast.

And all the air rushed into their space completely removing the protective moat that surrounded them.

What happened, you ask? Digital of course. Film went away, digital took over and changed the landscape of photography forever.

Changed it for professionals and made everyone a photographer.

POOF! No more vacuum. No more business, literally. None.

Technology sucks sometimes, doesn’t it? Depends on your perspective I suppose.

Not braggin, but I saw it coming, and switched to digital very, very early. My studio was pumping out over 700 sessions a year, plus weddings.

I painted myself into a corner and figured it out.

I also quickly realized that marketing my photography business was going to be more important than ever before.

Why? Simple….no more vacuum. That, and, EVERYONE is a photographer.

The BIG question is: How do I stand out? What can I offer? Where is my market (who’s got my money???)??
What products and services will resonate with that market?

These are all questions that live in the magical realm of marketing. Notice? Nothing to do with technique, lighting, photoshop etc etc?

Marketing is everything.

Marketing is, was, and will forever be THE MOST IMPORTANT activity to your success, growth and profitability in your photography business.

By far, my most valued and favorite activity.

It’s also why I like following other successful photographers who get it. Photographers like Warne Noyce. A dude who defies the odds and kicks ass.

All because of marketing. Well, he is  a solid photographer too. His work is stratospheric good.

But without marketing, he’d be nowhere.

In conclusion, we ALL need to create our own bubble. Our own vacuum. Never rely on it coming from external sources.

‘cuz everything can change. The bubble can and will burst. Be  ready. Be smart. Be a marketer.

Join me tonight for a Marketing Mastermind meeting with Warne.

All are welcome.

REPLAY LINK FOR MEMBERS:

It’s live and it’s free.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. Check out Warne’s site.

Lighting , infinitely complex, and crazy simple, all at once…

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Lighting is everything, or so it seems.

In photography it certainly plays a huge role. After all, photography means: painting with light.

We are artists who paint with light.

One of my all time favorite “painters of light” has been Fuzzy Duenkel.

I know of no one who can create such fluid, balanced and flattering portraits.

All done on location. All done with his unique lighting style.

Seniors, families, couples….he has a knack for using the right light,
whether it’s the lighting available, or complimented with his own modifiers,
he seems to consistently create unbelievable high quality images over and over.

One of his tools is what has come to be called the “fuzzy flektor”. A homemade
sandwich board style light reflector that works gangbusters.

And Fuzzy showed up how he uses it, and all his other lighting “secrets” in the four part
series we ran last winter.

This was one of my all time favorite Advanced Training Series ever. I mean, they were all good.
But this one was even gooderer. One the bestest. Ever.

And I recorded the whole thing, installed it in the noBsphotoSuccess™ inner circle forum.

Have you ever looked at a beautiful portrait of a high school senior, or a family, or children
and babies,  and it just screams quality?

And you wondered how did they do that?

I have the answers. His name is Fuzzy Duenkel.

Read about it here and transcend the ordinary

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

The turbo charged pixel myth…

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Well, I never thought this would happen.

I met a photographer who started out in digital before the dawn of all things digital like I did.

I met Kirk Saint a few months ago at a 2 day convention. I couldn’t believe he started out with one of these cameras like I did.

We’re talking way back. As in the year 2000 back. When Canon introduced what I consider to be their most groundbreaking camera ever.

The Canon D30.

And few, very few have heard about it. Maybe because it was primitive, at a mere 3.4 Megapixels.

But most thought it simply couldn’t do the job. Many, in fact, thought digital was crap and a passing fad. Even the dude who owned our local camera store thought this.

The best thing about this camera was the price. A very reachable $3,500.00 for the body. Not bad considering the next best thing was about twenty grand or so.

By today’s standards I consider this camera, if I were to compare today, on par with a Model T Ford. With a hand crank no less.

But whatever. Back in the day, it was revolutionary. And I bought one, with a Canon 50MM lens.

I was Hasselblad and Nikon. I sold everything I owned. All of it.

Except for my Nikon 105MM lens.

Hey, I needed a portrait lens. So I found a dude in New York who sold Nikon to Canon lens adapters. I was in, in a manual focus way, for $85.00 plus shipping.

Kirk’s story was similar to mine in that he got great results from this camera, in spite of the small file size.

I was pulling off wall portraits the first year I switched.
(see link below for examples)

I had to be able to otherwise I wouldn’t have taken the plunge.

Consistently I was getting great results. While everyone told me I couldn’t. My reply to the nay-sayers, was “bullsh*t, look what I had printed from my dinky little 3.4 MB file.”

Proof’s in the pudding, as they say. It ain’t bragging if you can do it.

My next camera was the Nikon D1x or something like that. A whopping 5.5 MB. Again, I pulled off hundreds, nay, thousands of wall portraits over and over.

If it does the job, it does the job. I prefer to obsess over marketing, than file size.

See samples below….

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. Last month I interviewed Kirk. He runs a successful studio in a small town shooting amazing Santa images, cool sports photos and more….Members, login, go here.

Not  a member? no problem.

Below…a few samples from my Canon D30, images that were enlarged, with ease, to over 30 inches….:

Insane moves create insane success

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Maggie moved to Canada from Poland when she was only 16.

She attended OCAD, one of our finest art universities and in spite of her lack of English and being in a foreign country, she acquired a degree in art.

When I met her, about 7 years ago, she had been in her own photography business for about 5 years, and most recently took some seriously insane steps.

Even she admits what she had done made no sense, was at the worst time one could imagine, under less than ideal circumstances.

She had two young children at home. A husband. Mortgage, the whole nine yards. What did she do that made everyone around think she completely lost it?

It was 2009, one year after the big economic meltdown, when more people were leaving photography than joining.

Here’s the story of a true renegade.

She mortgaged her home, and paid half  a million dollars into the purchase of a new mall storefront condo.

AND, she drops about an additional 100K in renos.

See, she had a vision. And the passion needed to rise about the nay-sayers and doubters.

One thing she has is passion. More than anyone I ever met. And balls. Great big audacious balls.

When she was guest speaker at my 3 day inferno, two years in a row, everyone in attendance would tell me the same comments:
“I love this lady! By far my favorite speaker.”

Her story is amazing. Her studio is rocking. She’s top of the mountain. And she helps other photographers like as if they are her own children.

This lady is my hero.

And tonight, along with her studio manager Ian Cuthbert, who also has an amazing legacy in the photography industry, they will be judging the noBs Bull Pen Print Show.

Your welcome to join in, watch and learn.

If you want to submit an image or two, it’s PHREE! And you might win #hard-cold-cash

I don’t know if there’s room to submit your images at the late time, but worth  a go.
Don’t delay, it’s only hours away.

DETAILS on registration and submissions.

Hope to see you there.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. Here’s even more about Maggie’s story.

I had a dream….

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Call me Jungian or call me crazy.
Last night I had a dream. A strange dream. All my dreams are strange.

There I was, checking into a hotel in a strange city. I was attending a photography convention.

And I couldn’t find the front desk. I kept walking around the hotel, looking.

There was none to be found. Where’s the front desk!??

I did bump into the occasional photographer I knew from years ago.
They were indifferent to me. Not very chatty. Nothing personal.

Keep walking, keep searching. No luck.

When I woke up I wondered if this was prophetic.

Or at least indicative of what I already noticed about the photography industry.

Photography, as in, professional photography.

Professional, as in, a getting paid professional….as in, for me anywho, running my own photography studio.

You see, in the last few years, the conventions I attended, was like being in the Wizard Of Oz movie.

You know, the wizard was an illusion. An allegory for truth.
The truth being, things aren’t what they appear to be.

Sounds cynical, but it isn’t.

There aren’t as many profitable photographers anymore. But, there’s a ton of folks looking to enhance their skills. (and eager instructors…nothing wrong with that! Gotta fill the demand….)

You can still make it in photography, but it’s gonna take hard work, business savvy, focus, daily effort and marketing. If you want to make money.

The photographers I know fit this description. Others lack in one, more, or all those areas.

Business is hard. Period. Therefor, photography is hard. Period.

But still possible. Just don’t have any illusions about it. Stay focused, adapt, everyday do something to market, have goals and everyday do something to achieve those goals.

And be ready to pounce when any and all opportunities show up. Instead of sitting back, wondering.

It’s why I interview real working professionals. People like Maggie Habieda, Maria Sampaio, Fuzzy Duenkel, Kirk Saint, Danny Rabalais and many, many more.

And yours truly, of course. Running my monthly mastermind meetings for members. No fluff, no hype. (all in the noBs photosuccess forum BTW…)

If you want to wake up from the dream, you need to focus on business.
Making money. There is no shame. It’s called reality.

I ain’t dreaming this up.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. If you want, we still have  a few spots left for this Thursday’s NoBs Bull Pen Print Show.

Why I don’t golf…and why I would if I did….

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The last time I went golfing I almost killed a dude.

That’s how bad I am.

Besides, I don’t really like the game. I find it odd, like yoga.
(I started yoga last month…what a weird activity that is…more on that later)

Strange, strange stuff…..but it could be me. Who knows.

One thing about golf that is super cool, is the tight feedback loop.

You know instantly if you’re doing ok. Music is the same way.

You hit the ball, it responds with scientific accuracy.

You play a note, it’s either in tune, or not.

You take a photograph….well, maybe it’s ok, maybe it’s not.
Who knows?

So you post it on flakebook. A hundred peeps tell you it’s amazing. You feel good.

Wow….I am a photographer. Look at what I created. Look at the love and admiration.

I’ve said this a million times.

Love it or hate it, it’s about as scientific as you can get in this field: the only feedback
loop that matters in the business of photography is the money.

Show me the money.

Unless, of course, you’re in it for the hobby and therapy, which if perfectly OK.

But if you’re in the biz side of things, the ONLY feedback loop that matters is sales.

Profits. Cash. Sheckles. Don’t fight me on this one. You will lose.

There is no alternative. We live on an economic planet. It’s always been that way.

Don’t like it? Find another planet. Or, take up photography for other reasons.

For me, it’s my passion, and my “job”.

My feedback loop is the profit loss statement. Everyone wins when I win. My wife, my family,
and especially my clients.

They must. They keep coming back.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S.Want more information on shooting photographs that sell and marketing your photography business?

HERE