Business Breakthroughs for Photographers: Part II

by Skip Cohen

It's Hump Day, and I'm continuing with Business Breakthroughs, a series of tips to help make your message as a small business owner and artist stand out. I want to help you crush the chaos that gets in the way of the messages you send to your target audience.​

I'm always surprised by how many businesses, especially in imaging, don't spend a lot of time defining their target audience. How can you focus on the subject when you haven't paid attention to who the target is? It's like a maternity/newborn photographer opening a studio in a senior retirement village in Arizona! 

​It's Time to Define Your Target Audience! Every day, we get emails and snail mail that aren't relevant. They go into our spam folders or if snail mail into the recycling bin. I remember Levin Furniture, which had a new discount offer every month when we lived in Akron. As a consumer, we were buried in analysis paralysis trying to determine the best deal on their prices. They were caught in what I call riptide marketing - unable to break free or change without a potential loss in business. That's at least part of the reason why I believe Bed, Bath, and Beyond is now in the past tense!

So, let's come up with some ideas to help you get more targeted with your promotions:

• Do you know your target audience? I've written so much about demographics and the importance of having promotions that excite your potential client base. If it's a dud and you're not excited about it, then don't launch it! It has to appeal to your audience, but you have to know who they are!!!
• Use your social media to create more excitement. Your website is about what you sell, but your blog and sharing on social media are about what's in your heart. Use your blog and posting on Facebook for example, to help build a stronger relationship with your readership, which should be your target audience. For most of you, that means Mom! Remember, women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer in the portrait/social specialties.
• Pay attention to where you're spending your advertising dollars. Advertising isn't just about print media but includes you being everywhere your targeted client goes. That means websites, email, direct mail, events in the community, and publicity.  When you do pay for advertising, pay attention to the demographics of the publication/website. You need to pick communication vehicles relevant to your audience.
• I keep writing this, and some of you just don't get it! Discounting should be a last resort. Develop programs with added value rather than a discount. Put yourself in their shoes. Do you honestly get excited about any discount today that's 20% or less? We're so conditioned to discount programs. We automatically assume the retail price was initially too high, to begin with! However, the added value of an additional album, framed print, or an extra hour or two of coverage at an event can have powerful appeal. Pick up the phone and call your lab for a start. They're constantly developing new products and programs to help you create stronger reach with your audience. All it takes is a phone call to ask, "So, what's new?"
• Partnerships: Joining forces with at least two other companies targeting the same audience expands your reach and reduces your costs by two-thirds. For example, a wedding photographer, florist, and bridal salon all share a common target. Yet each entity has its own database that, when combined, can give each company a significantly larger reach.
• Most importantly, Pay attention to the big picture and look at your promotional calendar for the entire year. Don't look at any one promotion as a single entity. All of your promotions together need continuity from one event to the next. You don't want to be reactionary all the time but have a planned-out series of activities and programs. This will give you the time to align yourself with the appropriate partners, advertising, and publicity elements you need for success.

There's no such thing as knowing too much about your target audience. There's a great line I've used for years, thanks to Ed Foreman, a motivational speaker from Texas:

 “If I can see the world through my client’s eyes, then I can sell my client what my client buys.”

You've got to see the world through your client's eyes and understand what they're looking for. I heard Jerry Ghionis once talk about the secret to creating incredible images. The key is to photograph your subjects as if you were looking through the eyes of one of their loved ones.

Well, marketing is no different - you've got to know your client and see the world through their eyes!