by Skip Cohen
I wish it was mandatory for EVERY small business owner to pay more attention to building a stronger brand based on exceeding consumer expectations. So many of you underestimate the power of exceptional service, not just to create a more substantial business but to sustain it. This is a short post in the continued series of Friday cleanup ideas - One of the very best tools you have to make 2023 your best year yet is your database of past customers. A few years back, I stumbled upon groovehq.com. It was packed with statistics supporting the importance of Customer Service. And how it was presented made so much sense - unlike statistical sites that could put a rock to sleep. For example, I pulled three key points from their information:
There is NO substitute for excellent service, and nothing will improve your brand more. It's about more than great products and on-time deliveries but the entire customer experience. It starts and ends with you! How can you exceed expectations and make yourself habit-forming? *https://www.groovehq.com/blog/
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“Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home... it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.” Chuck Palahniuk by Skip Cohen WARNING: SAPPY ALERT! Ever had a day that just started out perfect? Welcome to my Tuesday - and while I'm not questioning the day so far, I am trying to understand the ingredients that have me so content and simply happy. I'm off on a quest...
I know it's sappy, but life is good and way better than the alternative! LOL
No pun intended following "Idalia" last week, but this really is the calm before the storm. Thanks to Labor Day, it's a short week, and holiday seasonality is still a little way away. That means you have time to do a little fine-tuning on this year's promotional efforts. Last but not least is all of you...Barring the frustration of dealing with Facebook's algorithm and the continued challenge of how they now limit our reach - so many of you have contributed new ideas and feedback through IMs, email, and phone calls. You're responsible for a big part of my smile every morning when I get out of bed. Thank you for your support, feedback, passion for the craft, and especially your friendship. by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday, and parts of today's post are from SCU's archives. However, that doesn't change their relevance. Think about it for just a second - Walmart, Amazon, most of the camera manufacturers, along with just about every retailer, all have programs in place to launch in the next 8-10 weeks. Well, the good news is - with the rush to start shopping earlier and earlier every year, that means more time for you to impact your target audience. Don't wait to start taking action! Here's a short list of things to think about to help make your presence more recognized and be a leader through the seasonality of the fourth-quarter crunch. YOU NEED TO BE PROACTIVE NOW! It's always more fun playing offense than defense. The obvious foundation to prepare for this year's holiday season is to define your marketing plans, including partnerships, etc. But here are a few less obvious things to help you fine-tune your planning.
There's a saying I heard years ago that's been modified numerous times by writers over the years. I still like this one: If you do what you've always done, you'll never get more than you ever got!
Growth only happens outside your comfort zone! Anonymous by Skip Cohen
The start of fourth quarter seasonality is only a few weeks away, and you're all hoping for a busy holiday season. Time flies, and before you realize it, you'll be chasing last-minute details for IUSA, WPPI, CES, or smaller state conventions. TAKE THE TIME NOW to think about your 2024 first quarter schedule and what conventions and workshops you're going to want to invest in. Taking it one step further, I'm really writing to encourage you to do a skill assessment. I know how much fun it is to attend programs with your favorite speakers but balance them with programs that focus on your weaknesses. For example, I'm so tired of meeting photographers who tell me they're a "natural light specialist." That means they haven't taken the time to learn lighting. (If I just described your skillset, then look for classes in lighting.) The same thing goes for other specialties. Don't be a one-trick pony. For example, according to the Census Bureau, most young couples wait three years before starting a family. So, if you're a wedding photographer and you did a great job at the wedding, why wouldn't you want to be there when the first child is born? That means maternity, newborn, and family photography are logical extensions. But they're only logical if you develop the skills to become habit-forming and exceed client expectations. Here's my point: Step outside your comfort zone and look for at least one program each day at each convention to expand your skill set. Look for ways to become more diverse and support your target audience even more than in the past. Once things get busy for the holiday rush, you won't have as much time to put together a game plan for the new year - it's not too early to start now. *Part of the fun of a Hump Day post is finding a stock photo that makes me laugh...it's amazing how many camel shots there are! You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you. Habits for Wellbeing by Skip Cohen Wandering through cyberspace, I follow hundreds of photographers each year. Put them together with IMs, phone calls, and catching up with friends at various workshops and conventions, and there are hundreds more. The younger the artist, the more they're focused on the numbers - especially bottom-line dollars. It took me years to find a definition of success. I've learned that it's waking up every morning smiling and excited about the day ahead. I won't deny the financial side of business is essential, but it took me years to realize that being happy helped me stay focused on all my goals. "You can't create images that tug at people's heartstrings if your own heart isn't in it." And there you have it - if you stay focused on what you love to do and capture/create images that move people, your reputation will grow, along with brand awareness, and the business will come. But the quote below from Mark Twain takes it all one step further. "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you figure out why.” None of us can go back and change our lives, but I'm suggesting you learn from my mistakes - focus on what you're most passionate about and then figure out your "why?" Keep the negators in your life on short leashes and don't let anybody stand in the way of your dreams.
Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people. Steve Jobs by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday! After writing about business and marketing for the last fourteen years, it's pretty tough to come up with something you haven't heard before. But there are different reasons for becoming more proactive, especially this time of year. For example, I've noticed more and more, there's a business "pandemic" slowing too many people down - stop believing you need to fly solo on everything you do! Start looking for partners! Even though it's late in the year and fall/holiday seasonality is right around the corner, consider finding a few partners. Partnerships expand your reach, save money, expand awareness, and increase revenue. One more challenge in our lives makes the timing for a partnership such an advantage - the noise in everyone's life today. It's getting more and more challenging to reach your target audience. Great partnerships help you get noticed faster, and help you stand out in a very noisy world!
Stop thinking you always have to fly solo. Business has changed dramatically, but along with the frustrations, there are some unique opportunities for creative leadership. You don't need to grow or jumpstart your business alone - think about strategic alliances in your community to build together! Coming together is a beginning,
staying together is progress, and working together is success! Henry Ford The fool speaks, the wise man listens. Ethiopian proverb by Skip Cohen Hump Day thoughts are short reminders to help you build a more substantial business. And as I've written previously, I love the camel shot for the header each week. So, until I run out of things to suggest, welcome to Hump Day. We live in a rushed instant fulfillment world, and so often, even in a simple conversation, people aren't really listening because they're already thinking about what they want to say next. We often draw the wrong conclusions simply because we heard what somebody said but didn't really listen. Going back to my Polaroid days, I wrote some pretty good promotional programs for the photo specialty dealers, which was my channel of responsibility. But honestly, I didn't come up with the ideas; the camera stores and Polaroid salesman did! All I had to do was talk to a salesman and ask, "If we doubled your sales quota for next year, what would you need to make your number?" And with retailers, the same kind of question, "If you were going to double your Polaroid sales for next year, what would you need from us?" Then I'd kick back and listen to the responses - they had all the answers. From extended billing terms to advertising to better in-store displays...the list went on and on. Not everything was doable, but that didn't change the collection of great ideas I was pulling together. Here's the bottom line...You've got two ears and one mouth - so listen twice as much as you talk! I found the piece below about listening skills - we all need a reminder now and then. All the answers you need to build a stronger business are all out there - you just need to listen! Happy Hump Day! by Skip Cohen
Every morning Sheila and I share a quick reading of something inspirational. We each have a different motivational author, and whatever we read is always short and to the point. Mine really hit home this morning, and I want to share it with you. WHAT IS YOUR SUPERPOWER? There are many things that we are good at, and our superpower is the one thing that if we didn't do it, we would feel a void in our life. This is the thing that you're passionate about, that people come to you for. Tap into your inner power and find the things that keep you from sharing your talents. Do less of what drains your power and more of what empowers you. - Emily Silva, Sunrise Gratitude Short, sweet, and to the point...so, what's draining your power that takes you away from being able to focus more on what you're most passionate about? by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday, and after reading several threads with small business owners concerned about targeting their ideal audience, I realized the solution is relatively easy. Ironically, we grow up learning never to put all our eggs in one basket. Yet now, as adults running a business, the vehicles we use to promote are so limited. Many of you launch programs with singular approaches, leaving you to make comment later like: "We tried an email campaign, but it didn't work!" But did you do anything else at the same time? You need to expand your reach and use every resource you've got. There's no such thing as too much exposure, but not getting enough is very real. So I went off into cyberspace to chase down a little more information. "It's been proven over and over that the more positive contact you have with customers and prospects, the easier it is to develop and sustain relationships and, ultimately, close more sales. Unfortunately, you're one of thousands who are vying for your customers' attention." KruseControlinc.com The quote above is from an article about the "Rule of 7." It's an old rule, going back to the 30s, and states that you have to hit a consumer at least seven times for them to remember you! If that was then, what's the number today? This is a short post this morning with a long list of all the vehicles you need to keep active to maintain brand momentum:
The list goes on and on, but the more vehicles you use to reach your target audience, the greater your success rate in gaining recognition for your brand. Essentially the concept is to weave a web around your target consumer. You want your name coming up in multiple locations throughout the day. Over the last ten years, I've written about each bullet point above in more detail. But just for today - pick at least five off the list and consider how to do more within each area. The more activity you generate, the greater your brand awareness. And while not putting all your eggs in one basket is the standard expression, here's an old African proverb that's so much better: Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable!
Bondei proverb Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth! Muhammad Ali by Skip Cohen It's Hump Day, the middle of the week for some of us, and just another day for event artists working the weekends. But, this is a great time for short posts planting a few idea seeds to help you grow your business and elevate your brand. Besides - the camel shot is still one of my favorites! If you're not involved in your community, you're missing one of the best ways to expand your reach. You need to give back and be perceived as more than just another retailer. And, if you do it right, it's a great way to build more relationships and get people to know you. What good is working hard to create the finest images of your career if nobody knows who you are?
And for those who like to say, "Our community doesn't have much going on," take another look. Every community has something. Sometimes your most rewarding involvement will be with the smallest nonprofits. If you're still stuck, check out senior centers, programs for veterans, high school art programs, adult education centers, pet adoption centers, and local hospitals, just to name a few. We make a living by what we get.
We make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill Procrastination is not a marketing strategy! by Skip Cohen I've written a lot about this over the years, but it's Marketing Monday, and it's August. We're into that business stretch between back-to-school ramping up and the fall. And while technically it's still summer - it's the perfect time to be proactive with a little business analysis and thoughts about this year's holiday seasonality. You want to be known as the photography/imaging expert in your community. What are you doing to make yourself different from your competitors? What are you doing to build relationships with your target audience to build stronger revenue this fall and then right into the holiday season?
Recently I shared a post about Christmas in July that was done by a local restaurant. Well, now's the time to demonstrate leadership in your area. Leadership opportunities abound for small-business owners these days. It's not rocket science. You need to make an effort and get yourself out there. This is about establishing a more substantial presence in your community, and the areas above are the tip of the iceberg! But you'll never have any impact with a mañana attitude - you don't have to tackle everything, just stop procrastinating and find a place to start. Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow
what should have been done the day before yesterday! Napoleon Hill by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday, and time for a little mid-summer madness. Think about it - nothing major is happening in the consumer world. There are no significant holidays in sight, no seasonality, and, for the most part, the consumer side of the market is quiet. Even in the world of snail mail, things are quiet - this past week, our mailbox was empty almost every day. This is an excellent time for you to get everyone's attention with a special offer via email or direct mail! At the beginning of July, one of our favorite local restaurants launched the gift card promotion to the right. "Christmas in July" was the perfect promo to get my attention. Most of us think of gift cards as gifts we will give, not necessarily for our own consumption. But Sheila and I eat at Deep Lagoon several times a year, and there's nothing to say we can't give a gift to ourselves, and pick up the discount. While my interest was only with one of their restaurants, the July offer also got them exposure to other restaurants in the brand's family. From my perspective, it was a no-brainer to participate. Now, take this model and build a promotion for August. Whether special discounts or some sort of free goods with recognized value - it's an excellent noisemaker for mid-summer. Plus, it's ideal to bring in partners. Pretend the four restaurants above were different vendors targeting the same consumer group. Even better, how about several photographers working together to target different groups like bridal, maternity, and newborns? Here's my point today - We live in a noisy world! The timing is perfect NOW to promote your business and expand your reach when there are fewer distractions in your target's world. by Skip Cohen
Because I love the illustration from Adobe Stock above, and it makes me smile, I'm going to stay with doing a "Hump Day" feature. It's too much fun not too! I'll do my best to keep it light and continue this series of quick thoughts to help you through the back half of the week and build a stronger business. Years ago, I did a podcast with Matthew Jordan Smith as my guest, and we talked a lot about special projects. Special projects help you stay focused on your creativity. This is especially important when your bread-and-butter business isn't as glamorous as you had hoped. A unique project allows you to be in complete control and can be virtually anything you decide to capture. And you never know when a special project can become something bigger than you planned. Special projects can become exhibits, gallery shows, books, and even new businesses. For example, Matthew's book Future American President was based on an idea that was part of his life for at least three years before publication. Most important of all is a special project helps to keep your sanity! Special projects help you stay focused on your passion for the craft beyond whatever pays the bills. When did you last shoot for your most important client - yourself? So often, what might have started as a just-for-the-fun-of-it idea evolves into something more focused and substantial. Well, it's Hump Day, and the rest of this week is perfect for finding yourself a special project involving your skillset, camera, and unbridled creativity. by Skip Cohen
Your greatest marketing tool is relationship building. You can't establish relationships if you don't engage more often. And one of the best engagement tools, second only to being face-to-face, is a phone call! Yes, I'm old school, but there's a reason - email and text messages are missing something - your voice! Yesterday an old friend, who many of you might know, Barbara DeMoulin, sent me two text messages. I was busy and couldn't respond right away. A few hours later, she sent me an IM on Facebook, checking to see if she was sending messages to the correct number. I started to write back and decided just to pick up the phone and call her. The call was terrific. We hadn't caught up to each other in many years. While a text would have been shorter and faster, I would have missed a nice look in my rearview mirror with a wonderful friend with whom I'd lost touch. Here's my point - Regarding communication, we live in a cold, instant fulfillment world. Text messages and emails have their place and get the job done, but they're minimalistic. But if your communication concerns an issue involving even the smallest amount of tension, it's tough to write an email. But with a phone call, you've got so much more expression to add, and from a Customer Service perspective especially, nothing beats direct contact. Just pick up the phone! by Skip Cohen
It's Marketing Monday, and here's a concept I wish I could make mandatory, at least to read, for every photographer in business! I started this blog over ten years ago. Today there are thousands of posts, many of them guest posts or ideas I've shared, thanks to other photographers, educators, and business owners. One of them is good buddy Doug Box. Loaded with wisdom and outstanding marketing concepts over the years, he's never stopped sharing or helping artists maximize their business. Every few years, I like to pull one of my favorites from his archived past posts. While I'd like to take credit for the foundation of today's post, it's all thanks to Doug. I first heard him talk about this concept with his bakery demonstration at least twenty years ago. So while I've written about it before, most of you need the reminder! Paraphrased from Doug's presentation: Pretend you're a baker, and somebody calls and asks you, "How much are your cakes?" For most of us, we'd ask a series of qualifiers: How many people do you want it to serve? Sheet cake, layer cake, or ice cream cake? What flavors would you like? Is anything to be written on the top? Any allergies we need to know about? When do you need it? Will it need to be delivered? And the list goes on and on. Why, then, when none of us own a bakery, do we know what we'd need to ask, but as artists, most of you ask almost nothing? For example, a potential client calls and asks, "How much are your 8x10s?" and most of you would answer with a price. That's it - nothing more to clarify what the customer needed, and no effort made to upsell with ideas of other products you offer, package pricing, cross-promotions with other vendors, holiday specials, etc. While I originally shared Doug's concept as a preview idea for holiday seasonality, it's a practice you should use EVERY day. With that new focus on family coming out of the pandemic, there's an increased demand for portraiture and creating/capturing new memories. Take a minute and think about everything you have to offer a client. From holiday cards later this year to prints to capturing memory-making events. When you're contacted, don't just answer their question. Instead, take things one step further and give them something to think about that ties back to your skillset and everything you have the potential to offer. Another good buddy, Tony Corbell, has used Disney as an example over the years. If you ask a Disney staff member when is the Electric Light Parade, they'll answer you, but then include, "And you know where there's a great place to watch it?" They'll then give you a suggestion on where to be in the park to enjoy it the most. They never just answer your question. Your success with every client is based on exceeding expectations and making yourself habit-forming, even when they're contacting you for the very first time. Don't just answer their questions - give them a little more to think about and help them understand why you're the best choice for their imaging needs. The bottom line is simple - we've been experiencing it with every fast food order we've ever made... "You want fries with that?" by Skip Cohen
It's Friday, and I'm continuing this series with short ideas to help you fine-tune and build a stronger business. And I always consider them a "clean up" theme because, like weeds in a garden, many of you have ignored these areas for so long that what-not-to-do has taken over the what-you-should-be-doing. So, as you roll into the weekend, here's a simple idea to think about - let's make your website/blog a community resource. Jay Conrad Levinson, known as the "Father of Guerilla Marketing," always listed community involvement as one of the critical things great marketers should do. People like buying products/services from companies they perceive as giving back to the community. You need to be involved, and it can be anything from capturing images of an event to helping a non-profit filling ketchup and mustard bottles for the Boosters Club at Friday night games. It doesn't matter what you're doing, as long as you're giving back. Publish a Community Calendar: Here's the twist, and it's perfect for your website and blog. Start publishing events of non-profits in your community. The fun of this is obviously self-serving - by sharing information and the links to upcoming fundraising events in the community, you're showing support for each association/group. You're setting yourself up as an ambassador of goodwill for each nonprofit. In addition, many of the events will give you the opportunity to photograph the activities and the participants. And while you don't have time to attend every fundraising event, each time you can work on one, you've got new content for a blog post! Here's an easy place to start - check with the local Chamber of Commerce about events that are coming up. Next, take a few minutes and look at the non-profits in your community and their websites. Look at the Senior Center, Alzheimer's Association, Breast Cancer Awareness groups, Programs for Veterans, support for the homeless, United Way...and the list goes on and on. Make a list to start building content for your community calendar. There's one more great little benefit - the more frequently you publish community events in a calendar, the closer you get to becoming a clearing house for community activities. Your calendar has the potential to become a resource for the community, all under the umbrella of you giving back. You're looking for the community to be good to you - so you need to make sure you're being good to your community. Perfection is an illusion. If we keep waiting for the stars to align, we will reach the end of our lives regretting that we never tried. Stop the waiting game and take action toward the change you want. Emily Silva by Skip Cohen It's Wednesday, hump day, and If you think about it, there really is no middle of the workweek any longer. The expression started in the 50s when Saturday was a coast day, and no businesses were open on Sunday. Today most retailers run seven days a week. Plus, if you're a wedding and event photographer working Friday - Sunday, there is no "coasting" into the weekend. Still, and probably just because I love the illustration above from Adobe Stock - I'm going to keep it light and start a series of quick thoughts to hopefully help you through the back half of the week. After making a big change in their life, we've all heard people comment, "I wish I had done it years ago!" Change doesn't come easy for most of us, and big changes are always slow, depending on the risk involved. In business, especially, there's a lot to consider. But the challenge so many of us have is finally taking that leap of faith to make a change. Whether it's big or small, we procrastinate too much through the process. The point is, we're looking for perfection - exactly the right change. One of my most favorite quotes is thanks to Zig Ziglar: If you wait for all the lights to turn green, you'll never get started on your journey! There's my point - stop chasing perfection, but don't slow down on continuing to set high goals. Whether it's running your business, working with clients, raising the bar on your skill set, or simply recognizing what it takes to make you smile every day - all you can do is your best. And if there's something slowing you down then just like a garden - it might be time to do a little pruning! "I'm careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for, perfection is God's business." –Michael J Fox Happy Hump Day!
"Beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder!" Dean Collins by Skip Cohen It's Marketing Monday, and as I sat down to write this morning, I was thinking about some of the questions I read in the various forums on Facebook. The ones that bother me the most are the ones where too many of you waste time worrying about what people will think. We all have our challenges with self-confidence from time to time, but when it impacts your business decisions, it's time to step back and collect your thoughts. This isn't my normal kind of post under the marketing umbrella. However, unless you can put 100% into your creativity, worrying about what other people think will slow you down. The only people that matter are you as the artist and your client. So, do the best you can and keep raising the bar on your skill set. Looking through the SCU archives, I found this guest post from my buddy, Scott Bourne. He puts the topic into perspective - stop wasting time worrying about what people think and focus on giving your clients and business your very best. Exceed expectations and make yourself habit-forming! by Scott Bourne
People ask me how/why I produce so much content. It doesn't matter whether it's photography, painting, writing, music, etc. It's always the same simple answer. I've come to realize that my own effort is the only thing I can control in this life. Period. I can't control what people think of my effort or of me for that matter. I can't control what others say about my effort or about me for that matter. So why worry about it? I spend 100% of my time on that which I CAN control. My own effort. I do everything I do with gusto. I don't ever go half way. I don't ever ask for permission. I just go for it. For me it's always pedal to the metal, from sun-up to sun-down, seven days a week. And that's the way I like it. As artists, it's none of our business what others think of our art. That's a rabbit hole and if you go down it, you'll never know how much work product you lost and time you wasted searching for empty compliments and dealing with vapid trolls. So my advice is direct and to the point. Just do the work. Throw yourself into it 100%. Express yourself. Give the world your point of view without fear. Don't look back. When others hate. We create. That simple philosophy has served me very, very well for more than six and a half decades. I hope it will serve you too. Your website is the center of your digital eco-system, like a brick and mortar location, the experience matters once a customer enters, just as much as the perception they have of you before they walk through the door. Leland Dieno by Skip Cohen The whole idea behind this Friday series of cleanup suggestions is to give you things to think about and consider working on to build a stronger business. Recently I was on a well-respected photographer's website. It was slow to load, and there was no logic in the content he was sharing. Plus, I had to mine for some of the most important information.
There are over 300 million Internet active households in the US. As of 2022, that was 92.0% of the population. And globally, Internet active households are over 5 billion! Your website is your most important piece of real estate, but you have to keep it fresh and make a visit to your site a great experience. “Great web design without functionality is like a sports car with no engine.”
Paul Cookson What fools call wasting time is most often the best investment. Nassim Taleb by Skip Cohen It's "Hump Day," and for whatever reason, I wandered into cyberspace to check out when the expression got started. Here's what Google gave me: Wednesday first came to be known as hump day since at least the 1950s. The expression figures Wednesday, the middle of the workweek, as the hump people get over to coast into the weekend. Throughout the 20th century, Wednesday was especially referred to as hump day in an effort to liven up the drudgery of the workweek. If you think about it, there's no middle of the workweek any longer. In the 50s, Saturday was a coast day, and no businesses were open on Sunday. Today most retailers run seven days a week. Plus, if you're a wedding and event photographer working Friday - Sunday, there is no "coasting" into the weekend. But here's how I use "Hump Day:" I have several ongoing projects. On Wednesdays, I like to waste time. "First and second Tuesdays" (see my previous post) are always a little insane. By Wednesday, I want to look at what I've done and what I have coming up, and I'll often take time to kick back a little to think through my game plan. I review my calendar, check out any deadlines I have coming up, and then do some of the prep work for specific things I'm working on. It's a day to reflect a little and then ramp up for things I want to complete by Friday's end. We all should have our routines, but sadly, for those of you just starting out, it's natural to be reactionary. You're trying to be all things to everybody. You'll eventually lose focus, and that's when something gets missed. It took me a lot of years to recognize my own limitations versus my available time. I had no choice but work to get a little more organized. Learn from my mistakes so that you can make new ones of your own. Establish a few standard routines you do each day that involve various aspects of your business. And while marketing is a category that needs to be ongoing all the time - remember, your greatest marketing tool is relationship building. Make sure you have time allotted for customer contacts and building a brand that demonstrates your accessibility and passion for the craft. |
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