Time to Clean Up Your Approach to Planning

by Skip Cohen

​When the pandemic hit in 2020, and we had to hunker down, we all had to change how we were doing things. That was especially true with every business. Unless you worked for Zoom, revenue slowed down dramatically. Every manager had to look at what they could cut back on expenses and survive. The pandemic forced everyone to be more disciplined. So, what happened to the discipline?

It's mid-August, and fall seasonality is right around the corner. It's a relatively slow time of year with nothing particularly unique - no holidays, vacations ending, and kids returning to school. Labor Day is coming up, officially marking the end of the summer. It may be slow and a nondescript time of year, but it should be anything but slow for building a list of ideas to bring 2023 to a record-breaking close for your business.

• What do you have in store for a Halloween promotion? From kids to pets, it's a no-brainer to offer something exciting to your target audience.
• Thanksgiving Opportunities: It's perfect for a day-in-the-life shoot as families prepare for Thanksgiving. It's often multi-generational as Mom, Grandma, and the kids prepare for Thanksgiving. That makes the timing perfect for a photojournalistic approach to capturing and telling a family's story. 
• Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa - whatever holiday, you've got the skillset to tell a client's story. First, there's the approach I mentioned above in capturing multiple images for an album. Second, there's never been a stronger sense of family than we have in the world today. That sense of family is ideal for portrait photographers working with families to update their family portraits. 
• You don't have to do it all alone! Look for partnerships and cross-promote with other vendors in the community. The fourth quarter is perfect for photographers to work with florists, restaurants, salons, and travel agencies, for example. Create exciting promotions.
• What's your holiday card look like for 2023? No photographer should ever use store-bought holiday cards. Instead, use one of your own images on the front of the card; add a message inside and your contact information on the back. You've got to remind people what you do for a living!
• Video Holiday Cards: Now's the time to remind Mom about your ability to create a short video for this year's holiday season.

Need help with ideas? Start with a call to your lab and just ask, "What's new?" From prints to albums to metal prints and even canvas - find something new and stop offering products that could put a rock to sleep. Let's raise the bar on your game! Even canvas is still a product most consumers haven't seen. We might be tired of canvas, but the public isn't.

Here's the bottom line - the forecast for your business as a photographer and artist couldn't be more predictable if you keep procrastinating. So, take a couple of hours and scribble out some plans to bring 2023 to a strong finish. You're the only one who can create the excitement!

And if you're stuck on ideas - you know where to find me.