Self Promotion Question

[dwdallam]

I've never given much credence to books centered around self promotion. They just seem kinda tacky, especially when the title includes "The Complete Guide." It's an insult. I mean what are you doing writing a book on how to make money if you're so successful, right? I know there are exceptions.

But yesterday I picked up a book by "Zukerman" and he actually had some really good ideas. The book was tasteful in that the suggestions were realistic. The book is called "Shooting & Selling Your Photos: The Complete Guide to Making Money with Your Photography" but it is far from "The Complete Guide." I really hate that marketing approach.

What other books can you suggest that may be better than the above, or at least on its level?

[Chris_Brown]

What other books can you suggest that may be better than the above, or at least on its level?
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Tad Crawford wrote [a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Your-Photography-Complete-Marketing/dp/B000LVFSYG/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213585071&sr=1-34]this book in 1980[/url] and it really helped me. It's out of print now and it has been replaced by multiple books, such as The Legal Guide for the Visual Artist and Starting Your Career in Photography which helps in setting up your bookkeeping and tax prep among many other things.

[dwdallam]

Actually, I don't need tax or clerical help.

What I am looking for specifically are clever ways to market yourself using photography, such as niche stock, advertising, and other means to get your photographs to people and  organizations. We're not talking about fine art publication, but more commercially oriented stuff. Some examples would be sending a tag sheet with images that represent a theme to a calendar company, shooting specific areas, like factories where you need permission, and be in or near a place that has them, since most people don't have access to that type of environment, or even something like shooting local baseball team's games and putting them on your website where they can order prints.

So in other words, what I'm looking for are unique ways to find sales, and not your traditional startup, clerical, pricing, and stock agencies or "two for one" birthday party suggestions for bored housewives (or house husbands). The types of ideas I'm interested in are more involved, but when you see them in writing, you think "I didn't even know that resource existed. What a great idea." These are the type of ideas that most people not professionally serious cannot carry through with because they require extended leaves from house and home, or repeated 1-2 day leaves of absence.

So any ideas given those guidelines?

[Hank]

Check out PPA.  I'm not sure about info to non-members, but we've had very good luck tagging onto their nationwide promos for studios, as well as applying some of their marketing insights to our other venues.  Bottom line is that marketing is not a one-shot deal.  It doesn't do to send out one contact, then wait for the business to roll in.  Sometimes you have to put something in front of an AD once a month for a year or more before they finally decide to give you a try.

[dwdallam]

Check out PPA.  I'm not sure about info to non-members, but we've had very good luck tagging onto their nationwide promos for studios, as well as applying some of their marketing insights to our other venues.  Bottom line is that marketing is not a one-shot deal.  It doesn't do to send out one contact, then wait for the business to roll in.  Sometimes you have to put something in front of an AD once a month for a year or more before they finally decide to give you a try.
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Yeah that's for sure. It's 99% marketing and 1% photography. It's like my brother said about having a sport fishing business: "Learning how to fish, tie the knots, run a boat, get your captain's license, run a GPS, fish finder, mark locations, read maps, navigate both GPS and mechanically, know all the fish laws and limits, build up clientel, go out on the ocean everyday for 10-12 hours, learn how engines and electronics work so you can fix them on the job, learn how to clean multiple kinds of fish, how to run down riggers, outriggers, two speed reels of multiple types, rod load and combinations,  Coast Guard lighting, flagging, read the water and cloud structure so you don't get caught and capsized in bad weather--that's the fun part. Then you got the paper work and marketing."

Yep.

[Hank]

Good comparison!

Our mantra is that a photography business is 95% business and 5% photography.  We advise up-and-comers seeking a college degree to attend a very good business college for a business degree with a fine art minor, then take only one of two photography courses among the dozen or so art classes they also take.  That pretty well sums up the relative importance of business, fine art training, and learning to push camera buttons.

[keith_cooper]

Our mantra is that a photography business is 95% business and 5% photography.  We advise up-and-comers seeking a college degree to attend a very good business college for a business degree with a fine art minor, then take only one of two photography courses among the dozen or so art classes they also take.

In a similar vein, I often get asked to speak about photography 'business' at a local university. I'm slightly kinder on them in that I say being successful is no more than 40% being able to produce really good photographs ;-)

In fact it was my activities being involved with a national organisation for small businesses (FSB in the UK) that got me asked to speak.

It doesn't always go down too well when I point out that my first degree was in geology and my next in Human Factors (ergonomics) - there is that slight let down, when I say you don't -need- a university degree in photography to be a 'professional' photographer :-)

Apart from the internet side of my business (good for getting known and bringing in new work), I've made an effort to keep up my levels of business networking - I may not wear a suit any more, but connections build up work over the long term. The more widely connected you are, the more likely that you'll find work of the type you want to do, rather than just for the money.

An example of a global networking group would be Ecademy, where I recently set up a networking 'club' for pro photographers and potential clients (Ecademy has a lot of members) It's one of those things that -might- work, but doesn't take too much effort once it's up and running. It also has the side benefit of being a really good place when it comes to getting your site/articles/pictures into Google (never a bad thing) Ecademy photography business and services

I take the view that if you have an idea for something, then give it a go. It might work. Not trying things is my own best way of missing opportunities ;-)

[Hank]

I take the view that if you have an idea for something, then give it a go. It might work. Not trying things is my own best way of missing opportunities ;-)
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=203096\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Amen!!!!!!

[keith_cooper]

Since I'm not sure if that Ecademy link I posted works for non members (it's free at the standard level), there's this link to my personal profile on Ecademy.

It's quite a useful way of bumping up the exposure of your web site, as well as the networking aspects.

[dwdallam]

Sad, but all too true. I'd also venture to say that the best photographer competing for a job with the best business person will lose the job, even though they are vastly superior photographers. Can you say Beta vs VHS, Mac vs Microsoft (in 1982), USB vs Firewire.

[keith_cooper]

Sad, but all too true. I'd also venture to say that the best photographer competing for a job with the best business person will lose the job, even though they are vastly superior photographers. Can you say Beta vs VHS, Mac vs Microsoft (in 1982), USB vs Firewire.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=203284\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The whole point is that it's a business transaction - not a photography contest.
The better -business- stands the best chance. That only includes an element of photographic 'ability'

I don't see anything sad about it from a business point of view (said with my business hat on ;-) )

Since becoming a professional photographer I've made a couple of observations that unfortunately apply to much of my 'competition' (or fortunately - since they are competition :-) )

1 Many don't understanding the technology of photography - what it's capable of, where it is going, how to use it to the benefit of the business, and how it will change the business in the future.

2 Many pro photographers, from a purely business point of view, couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. (not sure how widely used this phase is in the world, but you get the idea)

The technology aspect is one that I definitely use to gain competitive advantage - I take the view that knowing various aspects of the technology extremely well allows me to ignore most of it when I'm taking photos.

Of course I'd not place most 'pro' readers of this list in that 1st category - think about your own competition and their weaknesses. Of course being really good on the business side allows you to 'ignore' the technology for a while, but my suspicion is that it will bite in the longer term.

Anyway now to get back to some printer profiling...

[dwdallam]

What I meant by "sad" was that the job should go to the most apt photographer, or the photographer that can best do the job, not one who is better at marketing.

I think a good analogy is this: Would you want the best doctor to operate on you, or one who got your business by marketing skills?

I used that analogy because I have friends who are doctors, and they all say they spend so much time on business whereas that time could be spent on reading pharmaceutical manuals, for instance,  in order to make sure you don't get that latest "FDA approved" drug that later on kills or maims you. They do admit that their insurance knowledge is vast, though. That's the sad part.

[keith_cooper]

I think a good analogy is this: Would you want the best doctor to operate on you, or one who got your business by marketing skills?

I do see what you mean, but I'm in the UK so the concept of 'paying' for a doctor is not a familiar one ;-)

[Hank]

For us there's also the aspect of making a living, rather than just selling your services and photos.  Making a living means staying in business for the long haul and ending up with paid-up mortgages on home and commercial property, retirement programs, insurance, days off, and in the end an intact business that you can sell rather than merely a box of worn cameras and little else.  

That all takes serious business management, long term decisions, budgeting, and frankly, making sound business decisions about when and what technology to buy.  If your gear is adequate to the market demands, no buying replacements in spite of what the Jones's are flashing.  If yours still works and meets market demands, keep it and divert your income into retirement accounts, extra payments on mortgages, life insurance, health insurance, and lots more.

During our professional tenure (months shy of 20 years now) other photographers have come and gone.  Most sell their services cheaper than we do, and frankly several were technically better photographers.  But ALL went broke and got out of the business.  They drove nice cars and used the latest gear, but they never built their businesses.  Meanwhile, in that same environment we have paid off a commercial property, paid off the mortgage on our house, maintained investments outside the business, built up satisfactory retirement accounts and life insurance policies, and lived a normal lifestyle outside of our business including vacations and regular days off.  Meanwhile our "new" car is a 1997 and we haven't bought any new camera or computer gear in 3 years.  We've had some windfall income this year and we certanily need replacement gear.  But it's in savings right now as a contingency fund and the decision to buy replacement gear won't be made till the last minute in 2008, and will be weighed against other expenditures.

I'll go back to our mantra:  A photography business is 95% business and 5% photography.  If you don't eventually make a living at it and survive for a long career, how professional is that?

[dwdallam]

I do see what you mean, but I'm in the UK so the concept of 'paying' for a doctor is not a familiar one ;-)
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Yeah we in the US haven't gotten out of the Dark Ages yet.

[dwdallam]

I'll go back to our mantra:  A photography business is 95% business and 5% photography.  If you don't eventually make a living at it and survive for a long career, how professional is that?
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I agree. I just think it is sad that 95% of our living time here on earth is spent thinking about money, and not photography. It should be the other way around, especially in such advanced societies. Think about a world where creating, thinking, and becoming whatever it is you can become are taken to be the most important aspect of life, whereas worrying about necessities, like food, clothing, and shelter, are only an afterthought.