Are You Putting Rocks to Sleep?

by Skip Cohen

In doing website reviews recently, I stumbled on a common occurrence with too many photographers: When they described their products/services, what they wrote could put a rock to sleep!

I'm convinced the problem goes back years with too many of them cutting English class on the day they talked about adjectives and creative writing!

For example, you're not selling a wedding album, but the first family heirloom of a new family. A wedding album isn't full of pages, but memories of intangible moments to be cherished for a lifetime. And for those of you who just rolled your eyes thinking, that's a little over the top - think about the products you buy and ads/commercials you've watched.

When it comes to pricing on various services, once again, most descriptions are like a can of soda that's been left open all night...they've got color, flavor but no fizz! Add words to describe your packages that tell people more than good, better, and best. 

​Years ago, I had a section in my marketing program about better descriptions. While it's a little dated in content, it still makes a point about wedding coverage. ​

​In the first section, I wanted to hit the assurance that the photographer worked quickly. One of the top "urban myths" with brides at the time was missing part of the wedding because they were tied up with the photographer. Every bride seemed to know someone it happened to, even though I'm betting it was rare.

​And the close of "deluxe first edition prints" were just the proofs. While most photographers today don't do proofs, there are a few who have kept them in the lineup. Again, it's about creating value, and today could just as easily be a "stunning custom-designed web page."

I get that you didn't sign up to be a writer, but if you don't make your own business sound exciting, nobody else will! Two suggestions to help: Use grammarly.com to raise the bar on the quality of what you write and to get more into improving your writing skills; and wandering through cyberspace, I found this article on the wordstream.com site. 
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​You've got to put your heart into your business, as well as everything you write about. You can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't totally committed! And the same goes for describing everything you sell.

"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining,
but the feeling of being rained upon."
E.L. Doctorow

Backstory on The Rocks of Oceanside:  Right after WPPI last February, Charles and Jennifer Maring headed to southern California for a mini-vacation. Never without a LUMIX camera, they hit the coastline. Shooting with a LUMIX GH5 and Leica 45mm f1.2 macro lens, he captured some of my most favorite images. Here's the link to their website, 'Together in Style."  Meanwhile, while photos are beautiful, rocks aren't your target audience! You still need those adjectives to spice up your services, products, and about page.