SkipCohenUniversity
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us

the SCU Blog

Building a Photography Business? Nothing Beats Community Involvement

8/24/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
© Marek
When it comes to building brand awareness for your business, there's very little that tops being a part of your community. You can't just sit on the sidelines and watch the "parade" go by, you have to be right in it!

Jay Conrad Levinson, better known as the father of Guerilla Marketing, in a presentation I attended many years ago, listed “being involved in your community” as one of the top 100 things guerrilla marketers need to do and for good reason. Simply put, people like to do business with companies they see involved in their community and doing good in the world. If you want your community to be good to you you have to be good to your community. Go figure right?
 
The worst excuse I hear though is “how difficult” it is to find ways to get involved. This means your view of what to do in your community is incredibly narrow. Don’t believe me? Just look at this list off the top of my head:

  • Check out the local organizations like Kiwanis, Exchange Club, Rotary etc.
  • Talk to the president of the local PTA and don’t forget there are usually several, with the elementary, middle, junior and high schools.
  • Got a local hospital? They’re always looking for help.
  • All of the sports teams from soccer to little league always need help.
  • How about talking to the guidance counselors at the high school and finding out about the school paper and yearbook?
  • Big Brother, Big Sister, local children’s charities can’t find enough help, ever!
  • Contact your local Chamber of Commerce to find out where the greatest needs are in your community.
  • Animal and pet shelters always need help.
  • Retirement, senior citizen homes and Senior Centers
  • Then there are all the usual national charities supporting the fight against breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes – you name it and there’s an organization out there trying to make the world a better place.
  • Food kitchens and efforts to help the homeless abound in most of the larger cities.
  • Support for our military have cropped up everywhere, especially photographers helping families with portraits before being deployed and upon their return. Check out Hearts-Apart for example.
  • Looking for something more photo-centric - check out groups like Help-Portrait and NILMDTS. There are hundreds of non-profit groups in our industry, all using photography as a vehicle to help the community.
 
So there you have it. This is just to get you started. I know some of these ideas may not appeal to you, but the key is to not lose site of how important community involvement can be. You've got to build a reputation as a photographer who gives back to your community. It's one of the very best ways to build brand awareness.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Your walk is just a click away
    Picture
    Picture

      Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Our Partners

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    "Why?"

    Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 130 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Beyond Technique
    Business
    Business Breakthroughs
    Clean Up Series
    Customer Service
    EDU10
    Excire
    F64 Lunch Bunch
    Faculty
    Fast Food Friday
    Guest Post
    Humor And Sarcasm
    Hump Day
    In The News
    Lessons Learned
    Lighting
    Luminar
    Lumix
    Marketing
    Mark's Corner
    Mind Your Own Business
    Miscellaneous
    Motivational
    One Step At A Time
    Photodex
    PhotoShelter
    PhotoTexting
    Platypod
    Podcasts
    Profoto
    Sales
    Search
    Skylum
    Social Media
    Sunday Morning Reflections
    Tamron
    Tamron Recipes
    Technique
    Throwback Thursday
    Wedding Photography
    Westcott
    Why?

Categories​

Business
Marketing
Technique
Sales
Fast Food Fridays
​

Podcasts

Tamron Recipes 
Beyond Technique
Why?
Mind Your Own Business
Pro Photographer Journey

 Partners

Tamron
Photofocus

​Lumix

Marathon Press
​Platypod
©  2019 Skip Cohen University
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us