Fast Food Friday - For Professional Photographers

© tashatuvango

Missed a "meal" ? Check out all of the past Fast Food Fridays! Just click on the menu board.

With this being number sixty-four in the Fast Food Friday series, I have to admit; it's finally getting hard to find something to help build your business I haven't already shared.

But, yesterday while fine-tuning one of my upcoming presentations for ClickCon, I hit a topic I've missed, the art of partnerships. I've talked about various aspects of partnerships in the past, but there are so many ways for you to save money; build your expertise; expand your reach and live a better life - all through partnerships.

I started the SCU Diner and Fast Food Friday, to share easy to implement concepts to help you build a stronger business. Just like the fast food we all enjoy - each blue-plate special is meant to have enough "nutritional value" to get you through part of the day...or aspect of your business!

​I hope you'll pay attention to today's, because partnerships can unlock so many doors you may have previously thought were farther down the road in your growth as a business owner.

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The Art of Partnerships

This is one of those topics that requires no explanation - so, like a cookbook, let's go right to each component!
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• Direct Mail is as strong as ever, especially when you consider how much email we NEVER read. Snail mail can still get you through the noise and be noticed. I've shared this concept before - design an over-sized postcard and bring in two other partners. For example, a wedding photographer, a florist, and a limo company - each get 1/3 of the card and share the cost for the mailer and postage. A boudoir photographer could partner with a lingerie shop and makeup artist or spa. But here are the real benefits - all three partners get the advantage of each other's reach; each partner becomes an ambassador for all three entities, and your cost is reduced by 1/3 of what it would be if you were a solo act! (Note: Need help designing your mailer? Call Marathon Press!)
• Sharing Gear: I'm not talking about your day-in-day-out camera gear, but the more exotic things you need to grow your business. A large format printer, exotic lens or lighting equipment are all high ticket items - why not split the cost and share the use with a colleague?
• Studio/Office Space: There's nothing wrong with working out of your home. In fact, with fifty percent of professional photographers being part-time, most of them have a home office. However, depending on your goals, especially for a studio, partnerships with other photographers might get you to the space you need much faster. Again, sharing the costs gets you a level of business development that might be years away from you being able to support on your own.
• Exhibit/Gallery Space: My good buddy Kevin A. Gilligan is a member of the South Bay Artists Collective in Hermosa Beach, CA. Twenty different artists share the space, exhibit time and the costs with some incredible benefits: They inspire each other's creativity; they share expenses; they get increased exposure through each other's exhibits; they motivate each other, and they benefit from everyone's network! 
• Community Events: A few years back, I shared a guest post by Bruce Berg, the Lane County Children's Contest. It's been going on for close to forty years with three competing photographers launching a children's photo contest during the first quarter of each year - the slow season! And Bruce was very open about the revenue the contest brought in at a time when most markets experience the slowest income of the year.

The bottom line? Stop thinking you have to do everything alone. Your greatest marketing tool involves relationship building. Strategic partnerships are one of the very best, most efficient, and effective ways for you to grow your business!