Stop Pondering and Like Nike's Tagline: "Just Do It!"

by Skip Cohen

Although I've shared many of these ideas over the past few years, we're well into seasonality, and if you keep pondering without making a decision, you'll miss the opportunities altogether. In past posts, I've done my best to cover many different things you can do to help make this year's holiday season one of your most successful. Sadly, there are still too many of you caught in analysis paralysis, trying to figure out what to do next.

STOP OVERTHINKING! First, you're only one person - even if you have a staff to help support your business, it still comes down to you. Second, you're better off doing something and being only moderately successful rather than being complacent and going into the holiday season without any marketing plans. Last but not least - remember the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.

Here's a checklist to work from; it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you maintain a presence with your target audience and do something!

• Get your holiday card together! This is one of your images on the front, a holiday message on the inside, and your logo and contact information on the back. It's just like the back of a Hallmark card! Remind people what you do for a living.
• What products and services are you offering your clients? We're really down to the wire here, but if you still haven't decided, pick up the phone and call your lab! From prints to albums to canvas, metal, and novelty items - don't let the holidays go by without sharing something new. And remember, holiday cards for your clients! Marathon's holiday program on cards starts on November 1!
• "Day in the Life" Albums: I love the concept because it showcases your storytelling skills. Plus, rather than just one portrait, you can build an album that tells the story of a client or their family. It's also perfect for capturing a few hours of images of kids and pets. Remember, you don't have to spend an entire day with a subject - just enough time to capture images that tell their story.
• Legacy Sessions: This is an incredible opportunity to work with REAL seniors (not high school). Whether it's a series of portraits with a soundtrack or a video, the market potential is enormous. It's a video session where you capture a subject telling the story of part of their journey in life. How many senior members of your own family have you lost over the years, and wish you had a video of them talking about their lives?
• New Markets: The restaurant market is still one of the fastest-growing in the country for photography. So many restaurants, originally because of the pandemic, started offering both carry-out and outdoor dining. But they had virtually no images for their website. And if they're offering outdoor seating, they've got nothing decorating the area! It's not a new idea, but there's still so much business potential!
• Partnerships: Stop thinking you have to go it alone. This is the perfect season to cross-promote with florists, venues, and other photographers. And if you want to put together a direct mail piece, what better way to reduce your costs than to share the project?
• Support Gifts: Now's the time to think about those key vendors who helped you over the past year. Holiday cards are great, but most of you have at least a couple of people who deserve something more. Maybe it's taking them out to lunch to say, "THANKS," or some sort of gift basket. From referrals to simply going the extra mile to help, don't let the season go by without showing your appreciation.
• "With our Blessings ": This is a program Bob and Dawn Davis discussed in a podcast a long time ago. They send pictures to the various vendors of their contribution to the event and sign them with our blessings after every wedding. Clay Blackmore told a story years ago about a caterer who asked him to grab a few shots of the buffet and other parts of a wedding they were both working. Clay took it a step further and captured/created a short video. Today, that caterer has become one of his biggest sources of referrals.
• Own Your Zipcode: Start going door-to-door with other retailers within a 2-5-mile radius of your location. You're not selling anything—just being helpful and reminding them what you do for a living. You're their number one resource when it comes to imaging!
• Coloring Books: During the pandemic, Steven Gotz hit a home run, taking images of everything from animals to family portraits, pulling the color, turning them into line art, and sending them to clients with young children as coloring book pages! It's simple and perfect for building holiday goodwill this season, and all of you have the ability to create a product like this.
• Your Blog and Social Media: It couldn't be easier to write a post these days—just be helpful. How about a series of tips for Mom and Dad to get better holiday pictures this year? There are so many things you take for granted and do every time you click the shutter. Well, turn them into tips for content on your blog and social media pages. There are five post topics that most of you can write about immediately: fill-flash, depth of field, posing, composition, and storytelling. And it doesn't matter whether capture is with a phone or a real camera - all the techniques are the same!

Here's the bottom line - the future of your business is in your hands! I'm not suggesting it's easy, but nothing in life is effortless these days. Just remember that relationship building is your strongest marketing tool. You've got to be out there and shed the chains of analysis paralysis.

It's October 28 —what are you doing today to help secure more business over the next two months?