In the upcoming issue of Shutter Magazine for June I wrote about the importance of continuity. It's a challenge shared by so many of you. Here's the issue - if you were to put all of your published material side by side, absolutely nothing matches! Your website, blog, brochures, business cards, stationery, ads along with everything in social media have all been built at different times and often with a different vision. The result is a nightmare of design elements that just don't fit. To make the point with my video piece for the article I went into my closet and pulled out a combo that demonstrated the problem...including a flannel shirt in 90 degree heat in Florida. It reminds of little kids when they finally get the opportunity to dress themselves. Well, I'm betting for many of you your support material doesn't look much better. While it wasn't intentional, it's happened nonetheless and continuity in building your brand is so important. So, let's hit some easy things to think about fixing. First, unless you've got a graphic design background/education get yourself some professional help. Most of you have a great eye for this stuff, but you're not really a trained professional. It's worth the investment to have somebody who knows what they're doing give you an assessment of all your material. Second, look at everything you publish starting with the pages of your website to your blog, Facebook page, Twitter page, Pinterest and then all your brochures, stationery and even business cards. Third, remember your target audience. I've written this many times before...98% of the decision to hire a professional photographer in the portrait social category are made by women. You're site doesn't have to be totally feminine and for you guys out there, you don't have to give up your masculinity, but you need to at least have to have a little "curb appeal" for female visitors to Internet properties and printed material. Fourth, pay attention to the way you describe things from component to component. Your content needs to be upbeat and maintain the same kind of continuity. Your website is about what you sell, while your blog is about what's in your heart. Your printed material is also about what you sell, your services. Be consistent in terms of professionalism, detail and your vocabulary. We all recognize logos and material from Tiffany's, for example. Every woman knows what to expect if she's handed a gift in their signature turquoise bag. Your recognition time on a Mercedes logo, BMW and Audi are all the same as well. Your brand needs consistency, but remember, just as important as the look of all your material is the service and performance behind it. Your skill set has to be just as consistent. Make sure you can walk the talk, then give your talk the consistency to build strong brand recognition! ...and if you haven't seen Shutter Magazine yet, check it out. Registration is free and it's just a click away from being at your fingertips. (My video with the fashion statement above is around page 170 of the June issue! LOL)
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Ray Kroc, the founder of MacDonalds is quoted as once saying,
“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” In today’s economy especially, it’s almost impossible to separate your success from your bank account, but it is possible to answer the question, “Do you love what you’re doing?” I know it sounds easy when people tell you to just be patient, trust your instincts or it’ll all come together. When your bank account isn’t where you want it to be and you keep hearing from everybody how tough the economy is, how do you stay focused on what you love doing most? Here are six tips to help you stay focused on your goals as a photographer, but this is only the beginning...
It's not easy to stay focused on your goals, especially when you've got to accept the impact of technology, social media, consumer trends and the economy on running a successful business. You've got changes to deal with all the time, but remember... “If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.” unknown author Photo Credit: © Marek - Fotolia.com In one of the forums recently somebody asked the old question, "What do you shoot, Canon or Nikon?" If you're honestly worried about being in the Nikon/Canon Club, then you're not paying attention to all the changes on the gear landscape. I'm blown away by what Panasonic's brought to the party with the LUMIX family, but you've also got new products from Fujifilm, Sony and Samsung, just to name a few. The question should be, "What new cameras haven't you checked out yet?"
In the same way technology is expanding the quality of gear available today, marketing has done anything but stand still. The way we communicate today has actually changed more in the last year or two than the way we capture images. Think about it for just a second. Twenty years ago Dean Collins said you can’t be in business without a yellow pages ad. A couple of years ago I probably wrote somewhere, you can’t be in business today without a website. This morning I’m reminding you that you can’t be in business without social media! While you can live without a blog, I believe that photographers who utilize their blog to compliment their website will do better than just those who are solo with one or the other. You also have to take advantage of Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Google+ and Pinterest. You need to be creating slide shows and e-hybrid products in order to stay cutting edge with your clients. Can you be in business today without getting involved in social media? Of course you can, but you won’t see growth as quickly with new clients. And, sooner or later, your existing client base is going to be looking for you in those social media hang-outs and you won’t be there. As I've written before, you can either be in the parade or stand on the sidelines and watch it go by. Don't underestimate the power of each platform in social media. For me Facebook, Twitter and this blog give me the reach I need to help aspiring and working professional photographers. YouTube is an amazing resource for educational material and Google+ is the venue for our "Mind Your Own Business" episodes. Then there's Pinterest and I'm a complete newbie just getting started. For finding clients in the portrait/social categories Facebook and Pinterest are leading the way along with photographers utilizing their blog to show their heart and personality, while stronger websites show their products and services. For the last few years we've all been caught in the perfect storm between the economy, technology and social media. Now you've got a chance to be a leader in your category and it's just as important to understand the marketing tools at your fingertips as it is lighting, exposure and composition. Work on your skill set to make it the very best and pay attention to the importance of every new tool in marketing. What a kick these next few years are going to be for everyone who pays attention to building their reach in the community! Illustration Credit: © Brian Jackson - Fotolia.com I've written a lot about getting published over the years, but it seems like a good time to talk exclusively about magazine covers. How many times have you looked at a cover, at least within the photography sector and said, “My work is better.” Or maybe you said, “I could have shot that.” (Of course nobody says that with a Gregory Heisler cover!) Well, the point is you didn’t, but you also didn’t do anything to go after the cover and another photographer did!
I can’t speak for other magazines, but I can speak for my Rangefinder days and with both print and online publications, today there are more opportunities for cover shots. Here are some things to think about:
But the biggest point of all relates to just being patient and following through on the process. If you’ve never been published, then work to build a relationship with the magazine’s staff. Submit work that's relevant to the magazine and never submit anything but your very best work! Don’t attack the book looking for a cover shot. Instead, submit your work for editorial consideration, because it’s interesting, there’s a story behind the technology or there’s something newsworthy about the images and your style. Being published with a cover shot is one of the highest honors any photographer can hope for. It’s a slow process, but so worth it when you finally catch that first break. I ran across a quote by Albert Einstein that got me thinking about my old buddy Don Blair. Don was one of the finest portrait photographers in our industry and passed away in his late seventies. There's isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss him or something triggers a thought about things we worked on together.. The image on the left was taken by Bambi Cantrell for "Body Parts", Don's guide to helping photographers raise the bar on their posing and lighting techniques. "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else." Don was a stickler for photographers knowing the rules of good solid portraiture, especially lighting and posing. He lived to create images that flattered the client in the pose rather than manipulating the image in the computer to clean it up. In fact, for most of his career there were no computers! You had no choice but to get it right in the camera. At the same time, as the industry changed, he was also supportive of photographers who broke the rules to create a more powerful image as long as they'd learned the rules first. He wasn't against new ideas, just people who proclaimed they "knew it all" simply because they had good gear and took a workshop or two! So, on this gorgeous Sunday morning, here's a thought for those of you who insist on taking short cuts and live by the philosophy, "That's good enough..." Your clients deserve the very best, but even more important, so do you. You can't be the best taking short cuts, spending hours in front of a monitor cleaning up your images and never learning the principles of lighting, posing and good solid portraiture. Allow yourself the time to truly master the craft. Help us all raise the bar on the quality of the images that every client sees. Raising the bar helps the entire industry and you've got an opportunity to build your house on something more than sand! Wishing everybody a wonderful Sunday with family and friends. |
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