by Skip Cohen I restarted this series to give you ideas on how to build a stronger business, no matter what the challenges were! Most of you are right-brain creative types with too little focus on growing your business. Many of you don't think of yourselves as small business owners. Even if you're working for another studio, imaging is a career choice that lends itself to freelance assignments, and you're ALWAYS building your brand. Even through it's the slow season, it's not who you know but who knows you! Here's a list to help you keep your name out there in the spotlight. Your goal is to create top-of-mind awareness, so anytime somebody is thinking about photography, your name comes up first.
Too many of you think there's nothing you can do to build your brand until business picks back up into spring seasonality. Relationship building is your most vital marketing tool, so set up a time every week to build your foundation of awareness beyond your skill set. Author Scott Stratten says it best with the tagline of his book Unmarketing. Stop Marketing. Start Engaging!
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by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday, 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 your messages to your target audience. Whether you're blogging or simply sharing on social media like Facebook, for example, so many of you have trouble coming up with topics to write about. As a photographer, you do things every day you take for granted. Let's help your readers become better artists. They're not going to open up down the street and compete with you. So, whether they use a real camera or a cell phone - let's help them raise the bar on their images.
Remember, your website is about what you sell, but your blog or social media posts should be about what's in your heart! It's important to simply be helpful. And think about the demographics of your target audience, which for most of you is "Mom."
And to take it a step further, some of you have the skills and ability to hold physical classes and photo walks to help your audience capture better memories. As their skills grow and you become more established as the expert in your community, you're opening the door for more advanced techniques. And at the same time, you're developing top-of-mind awareness when they need a professional photographer. This might be the time of year labeled as the slow season in imaging - but it doesn't have to be slow when it comes to building your business! 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:
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! by Skip Cohen Many years ago I launched a series called Fast Food Friday. The series was all about paying more attention to your business. Most of you are artists, right-brained creative types with a minimal interest in the operational side of the business. So, I set out to give you a new topic with each post to help you fine-tune your business and, in turn, help secure better results for the year. Well, it's time to update and bring back the series—only business has gotten much tougher. Trying to run a successful business today is about breaking through the noise bombarding your target audience. Welcome to Business Breakthroughs, a series of business 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 message you send to your target audience. It's the perfect topic for Hump Day in the slow season...slowing down procrastination! Procrastination is NOT a Skill Set! Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday! Don Marquis ![]() We're a third of the way through the slow season, and many of you still think the marketing fairy will grant your wishes to build your business while you procrastinate! You've turned procrastination into an art form. You're acting like there's no need to do anything because he'll clean up your website and blog, start building relationships, and even write up a few promotional ideas for the year ahead. NOT! However, the good news is you've got time to reinforce the foundation of your business for 2025 before things start to pick up. But, if you're not ready, it will be a you-snooze-you-lose scenario. You know how to focus your camera - now it's time to focus on your business and career.
No one blog post could ever cover everything you need to build a solid foundation for the year ahead, but I'm going to do my best in the weeks ahead to give you things to think about. Every business is different, and if the ideas I just shared above 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 in the past, you can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in them! You've got to take the time to focus on your business for 2025—you're the only one who knows what it's going to take to exceed client expectations and make yourself habit-forming! Last but not least, you know where to find me if you're stuck and need help! |
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