You’ve just finished shooting an amazing ten hour wedding. Two cameras, perhaps even a second shooter. Total clicks are in the range of 3k-5k. Even though you’re on such a high, in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “ugh this is going to be such a long edit!” Monday morning comes around and you start culling, but then your inbox starts filling up, Facebook is calling your name, and the dog is barking at you. What do you do? As professional photographers, we’ve all been in this situation before. You need help. That’s exactly why I created this wedding workflow checklist. Feel free to use any or all of it to help you stay streamlined. 1. Download cards – 1 hour I personally don’t cull as
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How to Increase Brand Awareness Using Blogging
If you haven’t heard, blogging is one of your greatest advertisements. (Actually, we think it’s even better than traditional advertising. Seriously.) But while there’s huge potential for your blog to be your greatest tool to increase brand awareness, there are also A LOT of blogs out there. So how do you effectively use your blog to help more people get to know your brand? 1. Create offers. An offer is the most effective path for lead generation and your blog is a great place to share these offers and build buzz around them. Offers are premium pieces of content that your reader can get for free in exchange for his or her contact information. Offers are designed to guide your reader through your sales funnel and are the
What are Professional Photographers Really Selling?
Let’s clear our minds for a minute. Think about the things that influence us. Maybe it’s the lustrous elements from our daily routines that are full of inspiration and creativity? So many things sway our thoughts, right? Commercials convince us to call NOW and “GET ONE FREE!” The guy that dances on the corner with a $5 pizza sign beckons us to “come get the freshest, hottest pie in town!” We see so many things in “lights” trying to sell us something – trying to get us to buy into something – but how many of those bright, sparkly things truly help us understand the products, services and benefits? As photographers, we want clients to “buy in” to what we offer; everything from our brand’s
How to Create a Pre-Shoot Guide for Portrait Shoots
The reality is, no matter what information we send to clients to prepare for their shoot, we can’t make them read every word. As much as we want our photography clients to thoroughly understand (and care about) our creative process, some of them are willing to wing-it. Even if we send them great guidance in advance, they tend to skim it for topics they’re curious about. This is why, in the last eight years, my “Pre-Shoot Guide” has evolved from a clever, colorful 4-page PDF into to a brief, persuasive email with a link to a short-and-sweet six paragraph, bullet-pointed Pre-Shoot Guide page on my website. Before I book, much of my process is conveyed to clients through my website, during the initial phone consultation
One Photographer’s Journey from Part-Time to Full-Time
When I started my part-time professional photography career, in the days of film photography (2001), I didn’t have higher aspirations to become a full-time photographer. I already had a full-time job in the corporate world, so I was perfectly content photographing on the side, especially since photography income was not paying my bills. There’s a very different mindset for someone who does something on the side (and makes extra income) versus someone who does photography full-time. It’s not just the obvious things, like more expenses, etc. I think it’s also the way you think about photography – not just as a hobby, but as a business. As a full-time photographer, all the decisions you make affect what you do as a photographer. The thing is,
A Rebranding Story (Part 1)
There always seems to be plenty of information and advice available to those adventuresome entrepreneurs starting a small business: the steps to take, pitfalls to avoid and best practices to start off on the right foot. What about an instance when you’ve already started your business and want to rebrand? You hear about this process far less and yet there are many reasons why you may want to refresh your current brand, identity and logo. As society grows, changes and evolves so do its people and their businesses. Rebranding an operating business can seem like a daunting effort; however, the process can be a tremendous marketing opportunity that will strengthen your position among photography peers, professional partners and clients. I started my first photography business,
4 Best Practices for Blogging to Generate Leads for Your Business
In order to generate leads, you first need to generate traffic on your website. Good thing you have access to one of the most effective tools for generating website traffic — blogging. Believe it or not, before blogging became a popular way for individuals to make money from advertising, it was invented as a way to create consistent content for search engine optimization. Smart search engine optimization = inbound website traffic Here are four blogging best practices for generating traffic and turning those visitors into leads: 1. Choose Topics Wisely The topics you choose are key to generating inbound traffic through search engines. To be truly effective, they need to satisfy both search engines and searchers. Appeasing both of these groups will ensure that you’ll rank
Vacation Portraits – Tap into the Multi-Billion Dollar Travel Industry
When do you have money burning a hole in your pocket? When do you save money just so you can spend it in one short period of time? Vacation! I learned how to tap into tourism and capture some of the billions of dollars that flow through the travel industry by treating my photography as a vacation activity instead of a traditional portrait session. Tourism exists in all 50 states and all over the world. Whether you’re in a tropical locale or next to a natural wonder like the Grand Canyon, there is a market for vacation portraits. When I first moved to Maui and decided to start a photography business, I did an online search to see what was out there, and I found
How to Engage Your Audience and Kickstart Social Media Conversations
If you’re tirelessly working on ways to capture the attention of your target audience on Facebook and Twitter, welcome to the club. You, along with millions of other businesses are in the same boat, trying to turn the social media microphone into a way to make more money. While many companies make the mistake of thinking that the number of fans and followers they have is what’s important, true social media ROI (the kind that translates into dollars and cents!) isn’t just about popularity. It’s about ENGAGEMENT. In other words, is anything meaningful happening with those fans and followers? Audience “engagement” can mean anything from someone re-tweeting your content, replying to your posts, clicking on a link or getting more information from your website. This type
How to Build a Studio Team
When I started my business, I was solo, working out of my apartment while working a 9-5 job too. Needless to say, it was hectic. So I knew that IF I went full-time as a professional photographer, I couldn’t do it alone. I am a people person; I love working in collaboration with others. So I knew that building a studio team would be essential to both my success AND my happiness. Today, I have three associate photographers who work in my office, helping me manage my studio. Do you want to build a studio team? A team looks sexy, but it isn’t for everyone. If you’re considering adding photographers or staff to your growing studio, ask yourself a few key questions. Do you want