This is the 45th Fast Food Friday series from the SCU Diner. Each one has hit a different aspect of building a successful business. And, while many of the "blue-plate specials" are photography related, the majority apply to almost any small business. I started the series in the hopes these short reminders would help you develop your own blueprint for success. Photographers are artists and artists are typically right-brain creative types. That means you can't help it if you hate the operational side of the business - the less creative structured side. Just about every Friday for the past year I've shared another suggestion to help you do more than just survive - I want you to thrive! Today's Fast Food Friday special is seasoned with a little sarcasm but still prepared with the same dedication of a chef in your favorite restaurant. There's even a special free side order of the backstory behind the image below! Procrastination is NOT a Skill SetProcrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday! Don Marquis We're almost halfway through the slow season, and there are still many of you who are re-enacting the 1806 fairy tale about the shoemaker and the elves. You've turned procrastination into an art form. You're acting like the elves are going to come in while you're sleeping. There's no need for you to do anything because they'll clean up your website, your blog, start building relationships and even write up a few promotional ideas for the year ahead. Well, the only elf around to help you isn't Will Ferrell but the face you see in the mirror each morning. The good news is you've still got time to reinforce the foundation of your business for 2019 before things start to pick up. But, if you're not ready then it's going to be a you-snooze-you-lose scenario. You know how to focus your camera - now it's time to focus your business and career and yes, for a few of you it's time to pull your head out of your ass!
No one blog post could ever cover everything you need to build a solid foundation for the year ahead. Every business is different, and if the seven ideas I just shared don't apply to you, take the time to be honest with yourself about what you're missing. This is one of the most competitive markets in the history of photography, and you've got to develop the ingredients to make yourself and your business different and better than your competitors. As I've written so many times before, you can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in it! There are no "focus fairies." You've got to take the time to focus on your business for 2019 - you're the only one who knows what it's going to take to exceed client expectations and make yourself habit-forming! And, last but not least, you know where to find me if you're stuck and need some help! About the image: Having spent my life in the photographic industry I try to always be sensitive to copyright issues. It was at least twenty years ago I first saw the photo above on the Internet. Yesterday when working on today's post, I decided it was perfect to make the point and decided it was time I researched who owned it.
There's nothing you can't find through Google and the company owning the copyright is Davidson & Company out of Atlanta. It took a little explaining to one of their staff, who started out having no idea what I was talking about. Think about it how it sounded answering the phone and hearing, "I'm trying to track down the company who owns the right to the shot of a guy with his head up his butt. Are you the Davidson & Company who owns it?" A few minutes later I was on the phone with Ken Davidson and not only did he give me the okay to use it today, but he shared a little of the backstory which adds to my appreciation for the journey so many of us have been on in this industry. The image was a conventional image, shot on film and manipulated with conventional retouching. It was created for a commercial client in the late 80's! Click on the link below to check out more of Davidson & Company's work. You'll see some stunning work, but on their about page you'll see a number of testimonial quotes, all with a few common denominators of "extraordinary service," "Trust," "Customer Service," "Quality," "Consistency," and the list goes on and on. They're a company who's stayed on course with what must have been their original goal - establish a reputation for being one of the very best! A BIG thanks to Ken for allowing me to use the image, which he described as one of the most ripped off shots in photography!
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Since starting this feature almost a year ago, I've rarely missed a Friday post, but things got busy last week. Sometime just after dinner, like a cartoon character with a great idea, that imaginary lightbulb went off above my head. I realized I forgot to post for Fast Food Friday. Well, there's now a reminder on my calendar, and that's the perfect topic for today. Fast Food Friday is all about ideas to help you build a stronger brand and business. Today's blue-plate special couldn't be easier to help reinforce your presence in the community and with your readership. Remember, your website is about what you sell, but your blog is about what's in your heart! Here's an incredibly easy feature to add to your blog, and before you say, "I don't have time to follow-up on this," think about how great it would be to get a little help from a family member. This is nothing more than keeping track of events in your community and then sharing them on your blog. Building a Community Calendar on Your BlogOne of the most important keys to success for a great blog is being helpful to your readers. Putting together a calendar of events in your community is a terrific way to only keep your readers up to date, but show your support for various non-profit organizations and activities you're involved in supporting.
Making the concept even more useful is the simplicity of it all. From important fundraisers to gallery openings, school events, and seasonal things that happen around the holidays, the list goes on and on. And, best of all, you become the one sharing the information making you a focal point. Now, take it a step further. Some of the events/programs you might be directly involved in, are perfect for blog content with a post leading up to the event, and then one following the event with your photographs. You become the "clearing house" for community activities and each time you share a post about an event or organization you're working with you become an ambassador for that group. Even if you're not directly involved, you're helping to spread the word about what they're doing. It's a win-win every time, and it's a great project to turn over to a family member to help you build content, share in creating brand awareness for your business and best of all, giving them a level of responsibility in your success. You're looking for the community to be good to you...so you need to make sure you're good to your community! Everyone in the "kitchen" at the SCU Diner is surprised that we still haven't run out of menu items for Fast Food Friday. However, if you think about how many different aspects there are in running a business, then it really shouldn't be that surprising. Fast Food Friday blue plate specials aren't always quick meals, but they are nutritional and fortunately, with the government shut down we don't have to worry about dealing with the FDA! (Sorry, with the nonsense going on in Washington and thousands of people not getting paid while the members of Congress still draw their salaries, it's hard to not have a little sarcasm spill over into today's post. Sheila had a great idea the other night, suggesting every member of Congress also have their pay docked and be fined $20,000 a day.) Okay, back to this week's special - I do not profess to be an expert on this dish, but it is one I'm cooking today, and it's all from the heart! Let's talk about things you can do to find balance. And, while "balance" is such an abused all-inclusive word, we're really talking about adjusting your priorities. Wearing Multiple HatsToday's special is my own recipe. It's taken me years to perfect and ironically, most of what I learned I first heard from my grandmother but wasn't sharp enough to understand! I'm hoping you can learn from my mistakes so you can make new ones of your own.
We all wear multiple hats as business owners, parents, spouses, friends, and children, just to name a few. The challenge comes in remembering you've only got one head! And, while the buzz-word today is multi-tasking, you're still only one person.
So, here's what works for me and it's taken me years to perfect it, and I'm still work in progress. I have a morning routine:
Obviously, there are phone calls and interruptions throughout the day, along with scheduled conference calls, appointments, etc. but at the end of the day, usually around 5:30 everything shuts down, and it's family time. Sheila and I have dinner together and then move to the TV for our favorite shows, a fast run through the news and maybe a movie. Our day typically ends around 10:00 PM watching a rerun of Friends. Why? Because the news used to be the last thing we watched and it's become so depressing we needed to laugh before going to sleep. I think back to my folks always watching the 11:00 PM news before going to bed. Well, these days it's all nightmare material, so we finish the day watching something entertaining. That's our routine, but it only works if there's a lot of open, honest communication. Both of us have learned to share the challenges in our life, our aspirations, and disappointments. We've learned to trust each other and for example, when I'm off balance and too focused on a business challenge we talk it out. We're both work in progress and it's not always smooth sailing. But there's also that great quote about calm seas not making skilled sailors! Most important of all, take the time to be thankful. So many of you are obsessed with finding success, but you've never taken the time to think through what that really means. For me, it's about waking up with a smile on my face every morning. We've worked together to find balance. We're like a medieval castle. We think of our home as surrounded by a moat. When the enemies are clamoring at the gate, we recognize when we need to help each other and pull up the draw bridge. It's the second Fast Food Friday of 2019, and the perfect time to talk about educational support in the new year. We've talked a little about it in past posts, especially about getting the most out of a convention. But today, I want to hit all the opportunities for you to expand your skill set in virtually every area of photography, business and here and there, even in life. Remember why I started this series - to give you short tips on how to make your business stronger in quick easy to "digest" topics each week. Well, this is number 42 in the series and with a little help from my buddy, Scott Kelby, let's talk about education for 2019. One of the most diverse educational resources that should be on your radar is "The Grid." It's loaded with content shared by some of the finest educators in professional photography. Photography, Education and Support - On the GridThis past Wednesday I was invited back to The Grid, hosted by Scott Kelby. Our topic was getting the most out of educational opportunities in 2019. We covered a lot of ground, including maximizing your time at conferences. If you haven't checked out "The Grid" you're missing an opportunity to expand your skill set in just about everything to do with imaging including marketing, business, Lightroom, capture, printing and the list goes on and on. There's a lot of great information in this episode. However, let's look at a bigger picture. This is the slow season and just because business might be slow doesn't mean you should be! Now is the time for you to fine-tune those areas you're not strong in and as Scott and I discuss, there's an endless supply of places to get help.
Here's my point with today's Fast Food Friday special - you've chosen a career field that's driven by creativity and technology. Our industry is continually changing, and if you keep doing things the same old way, you'll never grow. Remember, growth only occurs outside your comfort zone. One of the things Scott and I talked about was the importance of always taking at least one class completely outside your core specialty. Imaging has become a giant umbrella about helping people capture memories and tell their story. You never know how something you learned in what seemed like an off-topic class is going to help you later on. One perfect example is video. Most of you are working with cameras that allow you to capture video as well as still images. However, only a handful of you are taking advantage of the technology that's right there at your fingertips. Even if you have no interest in videography as a core specialty, understanding how to best capture video will give you better material to share in your own mixed media marketing presentation. There's very little that beats the impact of still images, short video clips and great music, all combined to tell your story as an artist, and presented to your target audience each time they visit your website. And last on the list of educational resources are all of us in the industry here to help you grow. Scott and I talked about being educators, and while we might not always have the answers, we have networks of incredible people who do. But, you've got to let us know you need help. Got a question or a challenge you need help with? Just ask! Whenever the holiday falls on a Tuesday or later like it did this week, it's always a strange, yet terrific time of year. Many of you are still on vacation. Those of you who are back at work are recovering from the holiday surge in business, and might even have a few last minute orders and loose ends to wrap up. Technically this is the first Fast Food Friday episode of the new year, but we're going to keep it light and give you a little time to kick back and chill. We're working on lots of great content for 2019, and a few new directions and guest "chefs" to join us in the kitchen of the SCU Diner. Meanwhile, if you missed last week's wrap-up, it includes the links to all forty "blue-plate specials" in the SCU Diner, starting last February. From your website to your blog to relationship building and customer service, there's not very much we missed in ideas to help you build a stronger business. Take a scroll through last week's post with a click on the banner below. And, if you think there's something we missed, let us know! As You Kick Back and Chill...I started this series because so many of you are right-brained artists who need left-brain support. Your skill set depends on the creative juices flowing from the right side of your brain, but your survival as a business is thanks to the left side! While some experts believe the right brain - left brain theory is a myth, it's still a great metaphor. At least in part, it explains the differences in discipline some of us have in various areas of business. Click on the illustration on the left to connect to a website I stumbled across called "The Brain Made Simple." It's not my intention to turn today's post into a lesson on how our brain works, but this site does do a nice job of explaining the left and right side functions. In the meantime next week brings business back into full swing, but you need a fully charged battery to hit the ground running and start building a solid foundation for the new year ahead. Take today and the weekend to kick back a little. Reflect on last year; catch up on your reading; relax and even enjoy a few of the past Fast Food Fridays in those areas where you need the most help. Most important of all, get your mindset in line with your heart and your passion for the craft. You can't create images that tug on people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in it! In January of 2013, with a lot of help from my good buddy Scott Bourne, we launched Skip Cohen University. Over the last six years we've shared thousands of posts, videos, sound bites and podcasts about business, marketing, technique, events, and the list goes on and on. When it comes to helping you build a stronger business, Fast Food Friday has become a personal favorite. Started last February, and coming up to year end, it seems like a fun and helpful idea to publish a complete review of everything on the SCU Diner's menu to date. If you think about it, it's mostly a FREE e-book to help you pick those areas where you need the most help. Besides, it's December, and we're all used to watching repeats as our favorite television or streaming shows close a season and prepare us for the new one next year. Only with Fast Food Friday, there is no grand finale or a loaded with suspense cliff-hanger. In fact, how much of a cliff-hanger you want is up to you and finishing 2018 as you embark on a new year next week. For SCU, we've got new projects and programs coming your way thanks to companies like Panasonic, Marathon Press, Tamron USA, ProfotoUS, PhotoShelter, ProPhotographerJourney.com and some great technique pieces from the SLR Lounge! And, adding to the fun is working with Chamira Young on new content ideas and a new podcast. We're co-hosts on two podcasts, Mind Your Own Business for Photofocus.com and Beyond Technique sponsored by PhotoShelter. We're going to continue the fun in 2019. Remember "FUN?" It's one of those words too often lost under the stress of business today. Three letters that need to be part of your day, EVERY DAY, from the time you wake up to when you shut off the lights at night. So, have fun with the forty "blue-plate" specials below. Click on any of the specials that best match your appetite, and Happy New Year from the SCU Diner! Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by:
Back in February, I had a fun idea to launch the SCU Diner. The concept was based mostly on fast food, which most of us have a love/hate relationship with. It serves a purpose, and there are few things better than a great sub sandwich when you're on the run. So, we started sharing fast business ideas, and just like fast food, they're meant to fill a need. They help you remember things you need to stay focused on when you don't have a camera in your hands! We've shared forty different "blue-plate specials" over the last few months, and it's time for one more before Christmas and New Years! With a new year right around the corner, you're down to the wire for 2018. You've essentially got ten days left to tie up loose ends on business and set things up for a cleaner slate in January. But December isn't just about closing the books on the year. Today's Fast Food Special is a reminder of things you might want to do beyond just wrapping up business. December: Wrapping Up More Than Just Gifts
It's not directly about wrapping up business but it does deserve top billing:
There's no question that December is one of those months that's incredibly busy and then slows down so you can let out a sigh and kick back a little. It's a great month to finish looking at this past year and be a little reflective. Pat yourself on the back for another year in business and start to think about your goals for the new year! Fast Food Friday is brought to you by: Since February the SCU Diner has served up thirty-nine new blue-plate specials. The project started because there are too many of you who ignore the operational side of your business. You need a quick reminder now and then about operational components outside your gear. It's not because you don't care, but that you're artists, and more focused on capturing and creating the ultimate image than worrying about the business. So, we started a series of relatively short tips to help you build a better biz, reach more clients and build lasting relationships rather than just purchases. I've written about playing offense many times in the past, and since this is an active month for wrapping up the football season, it's a great way to look at the new year. Playing offense is always easier than fighting to build your livelihood as a photographer on defense. Even in business, we'd all rather carry the ball than chase it! Today's special is a list of seven key things to think about in the year ahead. And, while you're hopefully buried in holiday orders right now, there's no excuse not to be ready to kick the year off right in January. Building a Stronger Business1) Marketing: Many of you already have ideas for 2019, but you haven't turned those mind's eye visions into reality. You should plan at least one consumer promotion a quarter. Start to think about things you could be doing to create some excitement for your business in the form of consumer/client-based promotions.
2) Conferences: What programs or workshops are you going to attend next year? Not every conference requires you to hit the road for a week of hotels, air travel, etc. Should you be at one of the big convention/trade shows? The year kicks off with IUSA in Atlanta, WPPI in Vegas, ShutterFest in St. Louis, Photoshop World in Orlando and Las Vegas, ClickCon in Chicago and PPE in NYC in the Fall. These are all big conferences - but don't forget a lot going on closer to home you should know about. Check on the dates for your own state or regional conference. 3) Credit Line: Establish a credit line with a leasing company - even if you're not buying anything right now! Here's where you can utilize somebody else's assets without depleting yours! You need the credit line in your back pocket so when you do need new gear; you're ready to obtain it without hitting the panic button because you don't have the funding. Your camera is your lifeline along with lenses, lights, printers, and your computer! Most of you are always flying without a net - having the ability to obtain gear on a lease will give you a little extra security when you need it most without tying up cash flow. 4) Insurance: Fifty percent of the wedding and event photographers in this country list themselves as part-time. That means many of you are playing Russian roulette with your home insurance policies, which generally don't cover equipment used for business purposes. Check with your insurance agent and make sure your gear is covered under your policy. Also, do you have indemnification insurance? Are you covered if you shoot a wedding and you lose the images before they're downloaded? PPA's insurance policy covering you in this area is outstanding. 5) Backup: Everyone talks about backing up their images and backup gear, but what about you? I wrote about it a few years ago - when I battled it out with the gallbladder from hell. I lost two solid weeks in my own business and had never thought about backup. Fortunately my good buddy, Scott Bourne stepped in to help. There's a great line I read about safe driving on a billboard once: "Accidents only happen to other people. So, all you other people, watch out!" You need a person or two you trust to know the critical aspects of your business just in case you're caught in a bind. 6) Diversity in your skill set: What's your specialty? Are you a one trick pony or do you have a couple of other tricks up your sleeve? If business disappeared in the specialty you're strongest in, what's your game plan to still have a company? 7) Your Network: If you got a call to shoot the biggest wedding of the year and needed help, who's on your list to call? The same would go for all you commercial photographers - if you had a job more significant than anything you've ever done how would you do it? I started this Fast Food Friday post talking about offense versus defense. It's also called being proactive rather than reactive. In a successful business you've got to cover both, but then Murphy jumps in with Murphy's Law, "If anything can go wrong it will!" Well, I'm a big fan of Murphy's second law - "Murphy was an optimist!" Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Every week since mid-February the SCU Diner has shared a "blue-plate special," just like those great diners in New Jersey I used to enjoy in my Hasselblad days. The whole idea behind Fast Food Friday is to give you a taste of things you should be doing to build a stronger business. And, while I know this is your busiest time of year, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking ahead and building a stronger foundation for establishing better brand awareness! Today's special hits on a favorite challenge for every business - finding new customers. There are too many of you who thought just by opening your business and hanging a sign; customers would flock to your door. Well, it doesn't work that way. Think about how much noise is in our lives. You've got to find ways to get through that noise and utilize your very best marketing tool - building relationships. The Hunt for Opportunities"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door!" Milton Berle To figure out today's Fast Food Friday menu I started looking for motivational quotes, and I ran across one of my favorites above. It really hit home for me personally and fits for so many of you. Whether you've recently just started as a professional photographer or you're a seasoned pro trying to jump-start an established business, you've got to look for new opportunities. Every business, no matter what line of work you're in, has the same challenge, finding customers and keeping them. You've got to find that sweet spot that makes you different from what everybody else is doing. Own your zip code: When was the last time you got out and literally knocked on doors to introduce yourself to every business in the community? When I was a kid, I remember moving to a new neighborhood and a woman from "Welcome Wagon" came by the house to introduce us to the vendors in the community. She left a basket of goodies, coupons, and information. You need to do the same thing, with or without a goodie basket. And, it's holiday time! This is the perfect time of year to be meeting every business owner in your community. You don't have to sell them anything, just wish them "Happy Holidays," and remind them as a photographer and artist, you're there to help with any help they need in imaging. All of your past clients: Everybody is busy looking for new clients, but they forget about building relationships with their existing base. These are people who already know you and have other photographic needs or friends who do, but you've got to stay in touch. Holiday cards, email, phone calls and even a personal visit here and there are all perfect to keep in touch. Remember, a great business is built on a foundation of relationship building! Partnerships: Other businesses, including photographers, are the perfect partners to create excitement in the community. New alliances can be just what you need to "build some new doors." It can be as simple as sharing the cost of a mailing to actual cross-promotions of each other's products/services. Again, it's holiday time, and you're going to be meeting so many different people at community events as the year comes to a close. Think about those people you meet who might be terrific partners in the future. Social Media: Each day you've got an opportunity many of you miss to expand your presence in social media. Without question, for photographers, those new doors are through a well-done blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest when it comes to reaching new potential clients. However, you've got to pay attention to your presentation, the quality of your images and being helpful in what you're sharing. You know how to focus your camera, but what about your business? Opportunities are everywhere, but you're the only one who can go out and find them! Fast Food Friday is brought to you by: Every week the SCU diner has served up one more specialty to help you build a stronger business model. To date we've shared 36 different ideas/concepts, all in an easy to "digest" format, to help you think through how to fine-tune your business. I called it Fast Food because you're artists. The time you spend on ideas to run a better business are often on the back-burner. There are very few of you who want to get involved in the operational side of the business. It's not that you don't respect what you need to do to build a successful business, just that your heart is more focused on the creative side of life. You'd much rather discover a better way to light a portrait than put together a direct mail piece....and the list goes on and on. Well, we're down to the wire with just a few weeks to go for 2018. Hopefully, you're busy with holiday orders, but that doesn't mean you can ignore things you need to do in the future. Today's "blue plate special" is on the lite side of the menu in terms of anything you need to implement. It's about four ingredients in your business future - dreams, products/services, profitability, and fun. It's fast food and just requires you to think a little about your business and the future. Building a Foundation for Success"If you don't do it excellently, don't do it at all. Because if it's not excellent, it won't be profitable or fun, and if you're not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?" Robert Townsend This is a very short specialty today. It's meant to get you thinking about a few of the things you do to compromise your dreams, your products and sometimes even the services you offer. Dreams: There's no reason ever to let go of your dreams, and that includes pressure from loved ones who don't understand your passion as an artist. That doesn't mean you don't have to modify them here and there, but if you let them slip under the umbrella that life is a compromise, then you're only going to replace your dreams with regret and sooner or later, growing resentment. Products: There is no room for compromise delivering anything that isn't "excellent," just like the quote above. There's a standard of excellence in photography, and mostly it boils down to exceeding your client's mindset. You're living in the most competitive time in business history, and every consumer needs to know they made the right choice. Think about how many photographers they had to choose from! Every product and service you offer has the same goal - exceed client expectations and make yourself habit-forming! Profitability: Loving what you do, but eating macaroni and cheese every night eventually grows old. Going into the new year, look at your costs, ALL of them. Invest in marketing. Pay attention to consumer trends in your community and price your services appropriately. There's a ton of information out there to help you and even more educators who have focused on the topic. Earlier this year SCU diner offered a Friday special on pricing, which included a terrific video from Sal Cincotta. If you missed it, it's just a click away! Fun: I gave "fun" it's own paragraph. It's the most important word in business today and also the most forgotten. It's not a crime to have fun when you're working. We all have the same challenge - we get so caught up in the pressure of the day in day out business we forget to have fun. Having fun is critical to your success as an artist and a business person...make it a priority. "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Confucius Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Excire's ability to help you with Search and SearchPro is just a click away on the banner above. If you're not familiar with the product, check out the video below featuring Suzette Allen as she put Excire to the test searching for various images. You'll also find a wealth of information to help you raise the bar on the quality of your work with a visit to Suzette's blogs and YouTube channel. She's always sharing outstanding information as one of the industry's leading educators. It's the Friday after Thanksgiving, and if you're an American, you're probably enjoying leftovers from yesterday's holiday dinner. So, having fun with Fast Food Friday, I ran across this post in the SCU archives from four years ago, and it's perfect for today. Looking for new blog content? If you have a blog and said "No," you're lying! Everyone is looking for content, especially about topics to draw in readership. Well, here it is - as today's "Chef" I'm giving you one of my favorite recipes, and it's going to expand your audience, and get your community more involved. A well-done blog is one of the best marketing tools you've got. The only thing that will render it useless is if you don't know what you're doing with a camera in your hands! As with everything I write about - you've got to have the skill set. Your website is about what you sell, your products and your services. Your blog is about what's in your heart. An excellent blog gives you the opportunity to go off track a little and be involved in your community. There are very few things with this strong a potential to help you build brand awareness. This is all about working to establish yourself as the photography expert in your community. It's a soft-sell approach, without getting in anybody's face. There's a bonus with today's Fast Food Friday Special...listen to the minute and a half "First Byte" that gives you a taste of what's coming and why it's so important! Blog Content That Pulls in Your CommunityHit play to hear about today's special... The whole idea with today's post is to build terrific content using businesses in your community. So many photographers complain about not having enough material and needing things to write about. Why not start featuring all your favorite places, starting with retail establishments? Here's a great example - everybody has a few favorite restaurants, pizza places, etc. Start with a visit to one of your favorites and shoot an environmental portrait (wide angle) of one of the staff in the restaurant. Maybe it's the chef in the kitchen or the host/hostess, a waiter or waitress or the manager. The point is, you're going to pick somebody who's added something to your life in your community, even it's inches to your waistline! Next, do a short write up: 50-150 words is plenty. Talk about one of your favorite dishes and include a link to the restaurant's website or if they don't have a website, give their address. This is about recognizing one of the places in your community and why you like to go there. It's about sharing your experiences. Having trouble understanding environmental portraiture? It was one of the legendary Don Blair's favorites. He'd shoot with Hasselblad's 30mm fisheye and pull in as much of the subject's environment as he could. Here are a few examples I pulled off of Google when typing in "Environmental Portraits." Click on any image, and you can find out more about the artist and how the image was used. Now, let's pull the concept together with a marketing plan. Each time a new community profile post runs, print out a hard copy and put it into an inexpensive acrylic free-standing frame. I went online and Googled "Acrylic Frames" for the example at the right. This one is an 8x10, but depending on what you print, a 5x7 might work as well. At the top of the image add the following text, "Community Profiles - As Seen On ______________'s Blog (_____________.com)". Drop it off as a thank you to your subject for their time to pose and contributing to your content. Here's one of the best benefits of community profile posts - They help establish your expertise as a photographer along with being an enthusiastic member of the community. Every establishment loves a little publicity, and you're giving them a chance at more exposure, as well as showing your appreciation for whatever role they've played in your life. Each subject is going to become one of your ambassadors. Don't under-estimate how excited they're going to be about being featured on your blog when you drop off that acrylic stand. Here are a few more tips to help you make this more effective...
This is about giving back to your community using your skill set. You're looking for the community to be good to you. So, you better make sure you're good to your community! The concept of Fast Food Friday started as quick things to think about to help fine-tune your business as a professional photographer. I started playing off of our love for fast food. We all understand the concept of quick lunch at a place like McDonald's, Arby's, etc. although my personal favorite for quality is Chick-fil-A. The ideas that have been shared keep growing, and the blue plate specials have become more complex, often "tasting" like a full course meal at Ruth's Chris. But the concept is still the same - ideas to help you make this year and 2019 more successful. Today's special is hardly fast food. Each one is a meal by itself. I hope you'll read the post as if it was fast food and there was little more to think about. Then, come back and go through each of the five questions below. If your goal is to continue to grow your business and make 2019 your best year yet, the time to start thinking about it is NOW! Most important of all, there are no right or wrong answers to the questions. You've got to understand your business and your audience and most important of all, procrastination should NOT be part of your skill set. Five Questions Leading Up to the New Year"Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown." Ross Perot Every year business gets a little tougher, and too often many of you get frustrated that things aren't coming together as quickly as you had hoped. You're losing patience and even considering giving up! Often your frustration is the result of not thinking through the business side of being a pro. So, let's get you focused on building a solid foundation and keep you out of Ross Perot's definition of "most people." What's your goal for each of the next three years? Let's start with this year and write them down. Most of you started your business, but never really thought about what you wanted it to look like. Many of you are trying to hit too broad a target with clients in weddings, family, children, seniors, boudoir, etc. You've got to build each business element one step at a time and make sure you have the skill set to meet the demands of each group. Who is your target audience? Based on a Kodak survey done many years ago, women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer in the portrait/social categories. I don't believe it's changed one point since then. Does your website have a feminine appeal? Are you hitting the right points in your marketing to appeal to Mom? Is the content you share on your blog interesting to her? Do you have the skill set? Okay, this is the toughest...you know when you look at an image if it genuinely represents professional talent or could anybody's Uncle Harry have gotten the same shot? Look at your galleries and then dump those images that aren't spectacular. At every conference, you should be taking classes on new techniques and expanding your skill set, because growth starts outside your comfort zone. Are you signed up for every convention and workshop you can hit in the next year? The benefit isn't just in what you'll learn in classes or walking the trade show floor - it's in the networking. Nothing can help you more than spending time with other photographers and building a network of associates who are dealing with the same challenges. Don't forget to add all the vendors whose products and services you use. You should know some of the staff at every company you work with. When you look at this past year to date, if you're a little disappointed, is the problem in revenue or what you're shooting? So often I've met photographers who hate what they're shooting because it's so far from the passion and glamour of what they wanted to spend their time doing initially. The challenge is to build your revenue stream with whatever is going to pay the bills - but here's the best part of being an artist. Special projects can help you stay focused on the passion and give you a way to vent a little of that frustration when you're shooting subjects you're not crazy about. It's an easy question to think about - what do you love to photograph most and how can you build a special project around it to keep your heart and soul where it should be in the coming year? "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer." Albert Camus Whatever pays the bills can often feel like the "depth of winter", but that's why I love that quote. It's that "invincible summer" we all have inside us that gets us through the challenges. You've got to keep your passion for the craft alive and when you feel like you're about to crash and burn, that's the time to step away from the business and often special projects can help you stay focused on what's most important to feed your creative genes. Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take the award-winning Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own just extended FREE 30-day test drive. And follow Excire on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver. Stay tuned for an incredible offer coming up on Black Friday! The SCU Diner has been serving up Fast Food Friday specials every week since February 16, and just when I think we've run out of nutritious "blue plate specials" something new comes up that's perfect. Fast Food Friday's are all about ideas to help you focus on the challenges of building a stronger business and making yourself habit-forming to your target audience. You're a working photographer, more than likely a right-brain creative type and more you probably hate the operational side of the business. So we started sharing ideas to help you through the challenges. This week's special is a little different than many of the past, and it's all thanks to a good friend who recently sent me an IM on Facebook. He wrote, After almost three decades I am switching gears. I'm headed back to school to get my MS in Instructional Design and Technology. Photography will be a plus as far as life experience. I immediately thought of you when I made this decision because of how successfully you have switched gears more than once. Well, that got me thinking about how many of you hit the panic button when you think about changing paths. Some changes are significant in the form of full-blown career changes, others easier to handle, like expanding to another photographic specialty, etc. In 2009 I made the biggest change in my career - inspired by many of you, I decided to head out on my own and start my own company. As I hesitated to take the plunge, Sheila asked me, "What are you afraid of?" My answer was immediate, "Failing!" Sound familiar? So, I'm dedicating this week's lunch special to my best buddy, my wife, Sheila. She's my support group and has been there every minute of the way, now coming up on ten years. To quote Jerry Garcia, "What a long strange trip it's been!" This is the time of year when so many of you start thinking about future changes. Let's see what the SCU kitchen can whip up to help you through the process. Changing Paths as a PhotographerHere's the fun of being in a career field that's in line with the arts...everything can change, and each of you has to go with the flow. Success in photography is about what's in your heart. You can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in it.
Stop beating yourself up for changing your mind. It's like going through my closet...I've got my fat clothes for when my weight is up and the thinner ones for when I'm trying to get in shape, but every day when I get dressed, I have to go with what fits! Okay, so as an analogy it's a stretch, no pun intended, but think about the passion you have for the craft and then let it take you in the direction that feels best. Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take the award-winning Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own just extended FREE 30-day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver. Stay tuned for an incredible 24 hour offer coming up on Black Friday! Fast Food Friday is all about things you can do to build a stronger business. Each "blue plate special" here at the SCU diner, and there are 33 of them to date, is meant to help you identify those fundamental building blocks you need in strengthening your brand. I started this series in February because it's so obvious how many of you want to be successful artists, but fail to recognize the importance of critical ingredients to pave the road to success as a business owner. So, with the help of Excire Inc. we expanded the weekly selection with a menu that was more extensive. Although today's special is out of the SCU diner archives, it's the perfect entree for November. We're into the fourth quarter and it's the busiest time of year for all of you. Albums, reprints, sittings for family portraits, fine art prints, etc. are all part of holiday gift ideas and hopefully the demands on your time are starting to ramp up. At the same time, as a business owner wearing multiple hats, you're pulled in different directions. Stress is rearing it's ugly head and the pressure for a strong finish to 2018 is nonstop. I'm having fun with this Fast Food Friday today, just like a chef trying out some new ingredients. I've shared five mistakes so many of you have made in the past in the hopes you don't repeat them. There's even an audio bonus. Think of it the same way you'd get a singing waiter! Happy Fast Food Friday and as always, wishing everybody a terrific weekend. Wandering through the Internet several years ago I came across Desk.com and a list of "Five Annoying Customer Quotes" written by Allyson Stone. Today the site is called Salesforce.com and it's loaded with a lot of good content. Reading her five quotes, I wanted to put them into perspective for the business of photography.
Here's the thing about excellent Customer Service - it's about your attitude. It's not a department that's part of a large corporation. It's meant to be the foundation of everything you believe in business and about your customers. Excellent Customer Service is about making yourself habit-forming and exceeding customer expectations. Every client needs to feel like they're your most important customer. "Your customer doesn't care how much you know until they know how much you care!" Damon Richards Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take the award-winning Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own just extended FREE 30-day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver. Check out the special promotion launched at Photokina - "Search" is $49 and "Search Pro" is just $99. As always, Fast Food Fridays, especially with our new "menu" is meant to give you ideas to help you build a stronger business. I've been sharing these since February, and each "blue plate" special has offered help on a different aspect of your business. Thanks to Excire, we expanded the menu in the SCU diner offering bigger entrees. Posts with more details also mean they take longer to enjoy but we're stepping away from fast food with concepts to help you increase reach and sales. Today's special is a little different because we're serving up a plate about advertising. So many times over the years I've heard stories about wasted money and poor results. Most often the problem is the business invested too much in just one type of advertising without looking at all the other things they should have been doing. The result is almost always too much money spent on one vehicle and no coordination through a few other channels for reach. Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck With AdvertisingMany a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising. Mark Twain Over the years I've heard so many photographers talk about advertising as if it was some strange new food they tried and didn't like. Look, my Dad hated lima beans, but that doesn't mean he gave up eating! The same logic applies to virtually ALL publications regardless of whether they're an Internet or printed media. I know a lot of you, especially those of you who are wedding photographers, get hit for advertising in upscale local printed magazines. For today's special, when I use the word "publication" it covers everything from websites to printed magazines and newspapers. "We advertised once, but..." The whole statement is absurd. If you only ran an ad in a particular publication once you wasted your money, no matter how good a rate you had. Why? Just about every authority I've ever read has talked about a minimum of running an ad three times. Think about how much noise there is in our lives. You have to build awareness and consumer recall isn't going to happen with just a one time run. Poor Results: You need to find out why your ad didn't pull well. Was it confusing? Was there too much copy? Did you hit the consumer with something exciting or could it have put a rock to sleep? Did your ad match the demographics of the web publication? Was there a sense of urgency for your target audience to respond? Location, Location, Location: You've heard the expression as it relates to commercial real estate, but advertising in a publication is no different. Where was your ad in the publication? With magazines, a lot of companies believe the forward third of the book is more prime than anywhere else. On a website that changes, but the concept is still the same - maximum visibility. Obviously, with a magazine, the inside and back covers are strong, but there are some other great locations...for example, opposite the Table of Contents or dead center of the magazine, if there's a tip-in subscription card or some other piece of literature. Fractional vs. Full Page: A full-page ad will always drive your ego, but will it drive traffic to your business? I'm a huge fan of fractional ads but used in multiples on sequential pages. I learned this lesson from the master himself, Bruce Landau, who the industry sadly lost many years ago. When Bruce was the VP at Bogen he almost always ran multiple third-page ads, typically three in a row on the right-hand page. It was very effective and gave him as much, if not more bang for the buck than many of the big companies running full and double-page spreads. Leveraging Editorial: Many of you get approached all the time by reps offering a great rate in local publications. They'll cut what seems like a great deal, but you can make it even better. Let them know you're interested in advertising, but you'd also like some editorial support. There are so many opportunities - a profile story about your business, a story about a particular application you specialize in or an article about a community fund-raiser you're involved with. Editorial in any publication has room to be less objective, as long as there's something newsworthy in the story. Don't forget about links to enhance your online presence. A publication offering additional exposure with links in solid relevant editorial can drive traffic to your site, just like a good magazine article can drive traffic to your front door. Again, make it part of the negotiating process. Ask to see the demographics: You need to know who the readership is before you spend your money. For example, if you were a cosmetic company launching a new nail polish would you advertise in "Guns and Ammo"? Anybody who says "yes," lock up for the day and go home. For the rest of you, pay attention to the readership of the publication. We know that women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer in the portrait/social categories. If that's where your expertise lies, then you want to be advertising in publications that reach women. The same applies to children and family photographers, fine art photographers, etc. Every specialty has its own audience with a few that overlap. Advertising is just one part of the marketing equation. A print or online ad with a particular company followed by inactivity in any other area will never accomplish as much as it could. Don't forget all the other components as shown on the right. Print and Internet advertising are only two of the areas targeting consumers. This is where your blog comes in along with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Social media plays a huge role today in helping you expand your reach. And, don't forget the look and feel of your website, community involvement, and publicity in your community. Direct mail, if done right, is another strong component. The point is, you can never slow down on building your brand and for any campaign, you need 3-6 of the elements in the illustration above to be effective. Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC out your own FREE 15 day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver.
Check out the special promotion launched last month at Photokina - "Search" is just $49 and "Search Pro" is $99. We launched the Fast Food Friday series to give you quick ideas on fine-tuning your business. I called it Fast Food Friday because everybody understands the concept of a no-brainer decision to grab something at McDonalds, Arby's or my new favorite, Chick-fil-A. They're fast, easy and it doesn't take a whole lot of brain power to figure out what you're having for lunch. A few weeks ago, thanks to Excire, we expanded the menu in the SCU diner offering full entrees, posts with more details and content to help you build a stronger business. Today's special is a perfect example. With the Photo Plus Expo show coming up in two weeks in NYC, now's the time for you to make sure you plan your trip BEFORE you get there. Plus, IUSA, WPPI, and ShutterFest all come along during the first few months of the new year. Time is your most valuable commodity. If you plan each trip you'll not only spend your money wiser, but you'll come home energized, better prepared to take on the challenges of being a photographer and business owner. Getting Maximum Bang for Your Buck at EVERY ConventionIt's essential for you to attend as many conventions/conferences each year as possible, but you might be surprised at why I believe that so strongly.
So, let's get specific and come up with things to think about and do while you're at the next convention:
The one thing I find most frustrating with attendees at a big convention is they just haven't planned their trip. They got their tickets and made it to the show and then completely fall apart. Plan each convention experience so that you're not wasting time and even more important, your money! Fast Food Friday's are brought to you by: Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own FREE 15 day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver.
Check out the special promotion launched on September 26 at Photokina - "Search" is just $49 and "Search Pro" is $99. Fast Food Fridays are all about things to help you fine-tune your business and create stronger branding and awareness in your community. And, we're at the very beginning of the fourth quarter with great seasonality to close the year. There are so many things you can do to create strong awareness for your business and in turn, not only close this year with a good finish but set the stage for 2019. It's time for another entree from the new menu at the SCU Diner. I want to focus on promotions, but with a very different approach. Let's look at some of the things photographers think about when it's too late, after the promotion is over. We all do it - We "Monday Morning Quarterback" our disappointments. Although every promotion can be done better, it accomplishes nothing to "should" on yourself. Focusing on PromotionsWe'll never completely get away from realizing things that were missed and playing "Monday Morning QB," but let's see if today's "blue plate special" can help you become a little more proactive on the front end. I'm hoping by thinking about what you might miss before you even do the promotion it'll help you create a stronger concept, right from the start. Did the program have value? Recently I got a direct mail piece from one company offering a $5 off coupon and another with 10% off. Does $5 or 10% off anything these days get you excited? Think about the value of what you're going to offer. Within photography, I've seen photographers offer something free from their lab. The concept would be fine, except the target audience doesn't know the product. You have to create promotions that get people excited, and they have to recognize the value of your offer. If you're thinking about offering free goods, then spend a few months in advance with the product in your price list. Use your blog to talk about what it is and show examples. Establish value on the promotional product BEFORE you share it as part of a campaign. Did people understand the concept? One of the most difficult challenges we all have is explaining/describing something. Here's a good example. I took a speech class in college, and the assignment was to explain to somebody how to put on a coat. We had to assume they knew nothing about what it was, what sleeves or a collar were or what was the inside or outside. It was almost impossible. Sadly, that's the way many of you write up a promotional offer. You assume your clients understand what you're talking about. The best way to resolve a challenge like this is to write up your offer and then read it out loud. Next, have somebody else read it. Then, read it again and last on the list, get another person to read it. Most effective of all, get your "proof-readers" from outside the business. Did you price it right? There are sensitive pricing thresholds throughout the consumer world. There is no specific formula in photography because every market is different. You need to pay attention to the demographics of your audience and then price things accordingly. Do a little research before you launch and as I once heard Denis Reggie say, "Don't price things on what you can afford. It was years before I could afford myself!" You've got to look at your target audience. Pricing in itself is a challenge, and you might want to read this post from my buddy Bryan Caporicci several years ago. He did a great job of talking about pricing in general, but the same principles apply to promotional offers. Did people know about it? This is one of the most common problems. You created a promotion but did a horrible job of getting the word out. Remember you have to keep getting your message out there again and again. Utilize every vehicle at your disposal including email, direct mail, advertising, your blog, partnership marketing and publicity, just to name a few. You have to use all of them at the same time to get your message out to your target audience and get through the noise. What were your competitors doing at the same time? You can't avoid this because you don't have control over your competitor's business, but look at the community when you launched your promotion. Then, do your best to find windows unique to your reach with minimal noise. Check out this guest post from Bruce Berg on the Lane County Children's Contest. It's five years old and still completely valid! Here are three studios working together during the first quarter to create excitement at a time when the market couldn't be slower. How did you present the idea? It's a combination of design, timing and with printed material, being a wordsmith. Think about things from the perspective of your target audience. Did your presentation get their attention? There's a great line I heard thirty years ago from Ed Foreman, a motivational business speaker from Texas. I've shared it many times in previous posts. "if I can see the world through my client's eyes, then I can sell my client what my client buys!" I guarantee somebody out there just rolled their eyes and said, "put yourself in their shoes." You don't need to be in their shoes - it's only going to make your feet hurt. For most of you, your target audience is "mom" - that means you need to see the world through her eyes. You need to understand what's important to her; where she needs help; and the things she worries about regarding her family, children growing up, etc. "Moms" wear multiple hats and it's your job to understand the importance of each one. Successful promotions don't happen overnight. It's a process, often of trial and error. The days of just putting together a great two-for-one offer and then sitting back and waiting for consumers to charge through your doors are long gone. You have to create excitement, have value and above all have a product people want! Be patient - keep trying new combinations of offers with value - pay attention to how your message is received and keep fine-tuning your process. Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own FREE 15 day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver. Check out the special Photokina promotion just launched on September 26 - Excire Search is just $49 and Excire Search Pro is $99. This is the 29th Fast Food Friday feature and just about everything on the menu has been about components for a stronger business. There are so many things you can fine-tune to establish a more powerful brand and create a better business model. However, today's "blue plate special" is a little different cuisine than what we usually offer. Indirectly it's about better utilizing your time, but directly it's about staying out of time-wasting discussions that drain your creativity and take you away from your core goal - building your business. The idea was influenced by a series of stupid, inflammatory comments on a Facebook Forum where I'm an administrator. Dozens of artists got into a series of senseless battles accomplishing nothing. Then, as I was scrolling through the SCU archives, I found a rant from four years ago on a similar topic. Like any good diner from my days living in New Jersey, I brought back a favorite, but with some new ingredients. Next week we officially hit the fourth quarter and if you're going to capitalize on seasonality, you can't be wasting your time-fighting battles and dealing with trolls. It's Time to Stop the Madness!Time is your most valuable commodity, so let's stop wasting it on things that don't matter! Let's start with the way, so many of you get involved in battles on Facebook: Read the complete thread before you comment. By the time there are 20-30 comments, more than likely whatever you're going to add has already been said. So, why bother? Don't respond to the most recent comment, but to the request from the person who did the original post. Somebody says something that's less than politically correct, and all hell breaks loose as one blowhard after another decides to show he/she can enter the battle of wits to see whose sarcasm can take the trophy...the truth is, most of you are terrible at this game anyway. In the end, you just make a fool of yourself. "There are no erasers on the Internet!" Unknown "Act as if your grandmother's watching!" It's from my buddy Levi Sim, and I've used the quote at least a dozen times over the last few years. You don't need to shred people when you don't like an image. You also don't need to sugar coat your criticism, just be honest, but do it under the umbrella of being helpful. Get a thicker skin! The problems on Facebook go both ways. A few of you love to play the bully and crush people because they're just not as smart as you. On the other side of the coin, some of you get offended over somebody's "tone" when they've told you your image is bad. Seriously, everyone knows when they post an image whether it's a "wow" print or simply sucks! Let's get a thicker skin and accept that nobody matters except your clients. "Beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder." Dean Collins Learn to communicate! The hardest vehicle for communicating is the printed word. It shows no emotion. You can't hear the inflection in anybody's voice. It's just what you wrote, and a lot of you are not very good writers - you don't express yourself the same way you would if you were face to face with somebody. You write what you feel, and what's in your heart never makes it to the printed words. Stop reporting posts just because the topic offended you. Not everybody likes the same things you do. It's important to report posts that truly are offensive, and they range from the porn mongers to sunglasses ads. However, there's nothing worse for an administrator than one of you deciding a comment about a bride's ugly dress was off topic, and you choose to defend her "say yes to the dress" choice. It doesn't mean the thread wasn't appropriate. Don't believe everything you read! Just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's true. Yet, every day somebody posts something that sets off hundreds of photographers. I'm not talking about the challenges we all deal with in hearing things from Washington, but about changes in technology, rumors about new and old products, information about our favorite photographers and educators, just to name a few. Check the sources before you react. "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that no one can confirm their authenticity!" Abraham Lincoln Social media has given us a platform for communication and education our parents never had, but it's only as good as we make it. Don't waste your time and everybody else's fighting battles over moot points...or as Joey from Friends once said, "Moo Points." (Is there nothing that can't be found on YouTube?) Wishing everybody a terrific Friday and a great weekend! Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Need help better utilizing your time? Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own FREE 15 day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver.
Check out the special Photokina promotion just launched on September 26 - Excire Search is just $49 and Excire Search Pro is $99. I started Fast Food Friday to help more of you think about those things you need to do to build a stronger business. With the seasonality of the fourth quarter right around the corner now is the time to be fine-tuning your business to be proactive rather than reactive! Today's special isn't fast food at all. I'm sticking with bigger entrees, giving you more to work on. While these new lunches are more extensive, they also have the potential to provide you with bigger and better results. We've got a guest "chef" today. My good buddy Scott Bourne is sharing an archived recipe for building traffic on your blog, but we're "cooking" today's special together! He's got the entree, and I'm throwing in dessert! Remember, this is only one "meal" - building a successful blog is about great content, consistency and paying attention to your target audience. Too many of you have let your blogs become nothing more than an extension of your galleries with image after image from client shoots! Building Traffic for Your Blog - Five Primary Tipsby Scott Bourne If you're attempting to become (or already are) a professional photographer, in my opinion you need a blog. But not just any blog will do. Your blog needs to be an extension of you. It needs to show off your work for sure, but it also needs to show off your personality. Once you build a blog, it won't do you much good if people coming to it don't stick around, because you aren't giving them a reason. So here are five ways to increase your blog's audience. 1. Avoid too many ads, too much sales talk, too many banners and too many commercials on your blog. Make sure there is a nice content to marketing ratio. Read your blog as if you were someone else and ask yourself, would I find this blog to contain enough helpful, valuable information to put up with "X" amount of marketing. 2. Publish your blog on a dependable and regular schedule. While publishing new posts every single day will get you a bigger audience faster, it's not a requirement. What is important however, is publishing with consistent frequency. Publish every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for instance and let your audience know the schedule. Whatever day(s) you promise to publish, stick with it so people know there's a reason to come back and more importantly, so they don't forget your message. 3. Tell stories. Be engaging. Talk more about your subject expertise or your clients than yourself. Make sure your content solves a problem for someone else, not for you. Narrative is a powerful form of communication. Use it. 4. Be yourself. You can't make a blog work unless it's honest, transparent and truthful. It has to be written from your very own true perspective, NOT the perspective you THINK people want to hear. It's way too hard to be someone else and to keep it going. Just be yourself. Not everyone will like what you do. Don't worry about that. There's a big world out there. You only need to reach the people who DO like what you do - the rest can head on down the road to find someone or something else. Life goes on. 5. Be helpful. Make sure every blog post provides the possibility of help to your audience. Your content has to be useful, or nobody will care about it. The more targeted, and niche oriented, the better. The more problem solving the better. Staying on Targetby Skip Cohen Scott's shared five outstanding tried and true tips, but I want to add to his list.
Can you survive without a blog? Of course, but here's why I believe it's so important. Your website is about what you sell. Your blog is about what's in your heart. The two work together just like publicity and advertising to help you establish a stronger brand. And, if you're stuck and need a little help or have questions, then you know where to find me! I may not always have the answers, but I've got a fantastic network, and we're all here to help you thrive, not just survive! Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own FREE 15 day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver.
Last week we turned up the volume on Fast Food Friday with a new "menu." Each blue plate special since February has included things photographers need to do to fine tune their business. Now it's time to get into some bigger entrees! Remember the reason I started this series - there's so much you can be doing to strengthen your business and secure a stronger market share in 2018. I'm staying with the new menu, and this week let's put together a time-sensitive list of things you should be doing NOW! Every year many of you do the same thing, you think of great ideas too late. Let's make this the year that none of you should on yourself! The seasonality of the fourth quarter is right around the corner with great potential for increasing business, but why not be ready? Let's turn 2018 into the year that made you a "showstopper" in your community! Ready for the Holiday Season in Professional Photography?While this has the potential to be one of the SCU Diner's best entrees, it's up to you to make it all work. So, here are some things to be thinking about NOW to capitalize on business during the holiday season.
Since I'm having fun with the diner analogy, your dessert with today's entree is the added strength to your brand awareness and eventually your bottom line revenue! Most important of all, remember to include your family in discussions about what you're doing to create more excitement this holiday season. Food tastes better when you eat it with your family! Anonymous Fast Food Fridays are brought to you by: Click on the banner above to visit the Excire website. Take Excire Search Pro for Lightroom Classic CC for your own FREE 15 day test drive. And follow us on Facebook for the latest information on this exciting software and time-saver.
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Our Partners"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 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.
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