Almost Out of Time: Seasonality Checklist in Photography

AI Image from Adobe Stock

by Skip Cohen

It's Marketing Monday, and I thought it would be helpful to create a checklist of things you should be doing or, at the very least, planning.

1. Your Holiday Card: No professional photographer should ever send a store-bought card. Use your holiday card to show your work and remind your audience what you do for a living. 
2. Blog and Social Media Messages: Now is the time for SNL's "Subliminal Man" to crank up the volume. Use your social media and blog to create content with reminders about photography as a holiday gift. It's a simple, direct approach: "So, what are you getting for grandma this holiday season?" Use photography with examples of great gift ideas.
3. Client Holiday Cards: Whether a printed direct mail card or holiday video, both need to be in your offerings for the holiday season. And keep an eye on Marathon Press because they always have a BOGO program on holiday cards! 
4. Client/Vendor Thanks: Throughout the year, a few people have helped you beyond normal referrals. Whether it's with a gift basket, flowers, or taking a vendor to lunch, make it a point to reach out and let them know you appreciate their support.
5. Partnerships: With any project, having partners reduces your cost. Whether a direct mail holiday promotion or sharing the cost for a holiday party in the community with a partner or two, each of you becomes an ambassador for the concept, and you increase your reach.
6. Your Client Archives: Most of you are sitting on a gold mine and don't know it. Those archived images from the last year or two have value to each client. But you have to plant the seed of what to do with them. How about a personal letter with a printing special on canvas or whatever new technology you think your audience will find exciting? 
7. Holiday Portrait Sitting: Dean Collins used to contact the senior executives at companies he had worked with earlier in the year. He did a free holiday family sitting as his way of saying thank you. And David Ziser would contact past bridal clients for a free holiday/anniversary sitting. Imagine the excitement of a bride a year after her wedding when she gets a call from her photographer for a free holiday sitting! 
8. Who's Photographing this Year's Kiwanis Holiday Party? Every community has multiple associations, such as Kiwanis, Rotary, Exchange Club, etc. Now is the time to check in with each organization to see how you can be more involved.
9. Teach a Class: How about launching a campaign to clean up your community by upgrading the quality of the photographs everyone is trying to capture this holiday season? From posing tips to composition and lighting, there are so many things you have the skills to pass on to your audience. Doing a live program at a church or community center focused on better holiday images is a perfect way to create top-of-mind awareness of your skills and the services you can provide.
10. Community Calendar: Use your blog, website, and social media outlets to share events in your community. Each event you promote makes you an ambassador for that organization, again creating more brand awareness.​

No blog post could include everything you should be doing, but it's a start. Stop procrastinating and start doing!

"If you wait for all the lights to turn green, you'll never get started on your journey!"
Zig Ziglar