Photographers: Becoming the Lead Dog

Going through some old files, I found this shot I grabbed at the beach one day.  I don't know who gets credit for the quote or the company who made the t-shirt. I'll also admit it borders on pathetic when inspiration for a blog post comes from a t-shirt at the beach. LOL

However, it's a great line, and it makes a great point. To grow as an artist as well as business owner, you have to take some risks. You have to step out of the box and change your view. You have to look at what all your competitors are doing and then do something different.

• Do you need to diversify in your specialty? There are logical connections no matter what your specialty might be. A wedding photographer has a great segue to babies, children, family, and pets. Family portrait artists have a logical link to just about anything involving people. Commercial artists, even table top specialists, have a great connection to business headshots and better support for your clients, and the list goes on and on.
• Do you need to ramp up your blog posts? Becoming the lead dog and attracting more readership to your blog might be as easy as being more consistent in how often you post. Posting once every full moon isn't going to do it, but building a stash of posts in advance so you can be out there at least twice a week, might be what you need.
• Offering something different in your services/product mix might set you apart. For example, bringing in a large format printer might give you access to different services to offer clients, along with instant fulfillment of their printing needs, especially for publicity images. And, if you just want to offer big prints with great quality, right up to poster size, check out Marathon Press and their new Bella Art Prints.
• Are you involved in the community and do people know about it? You don't have to brag about what you're doing to help a community program or non-profit, just write a few blog posts about their events. Become known as somebody who gives back.

There you have it - four easy ideas to help you step out from the masses and stop looking like everybody else. If you take an hour and sit down and brainstorm a little I'm betting you'll find dozens of things you can do differently to help you get that lead dog view!

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