Photographers get tough or die
by
Randall Tomaras © 2009
And I don’t mean with other photographers or your customers. Get tough with yourself, if you want to survive this new economy.
Photographers still ask me how I did it. For every 1 customer my competitors got to walk in their doors, I obtained 16. No matter what aspect or style of photography you are in, you can do it too if you apply the 8 free rules designed to improve your marketing skills. But be careful, to maintain that number you have to be an excellent photographer. The steps require application and if you are looking for a magic wand, pass on this.
The average photographer photographed under 100 high school seniors a year, in the geographic area I was in. I walked in with NO studio portrait photography experience at all and within 18 months I photographed over 1600 high school seniors. Six of those months I made the mistake of using the traditional photographer’s marketing methods. It does not matter what type of photography you do, or even if you are in photography, it could work for politicians, restaurant owners, or anyone. The concepts we teach at Best USA Photographers work for most occupations. Find how other people in your industry are marketing and DON’T do it that way. Develop a better mouse trap.
I know you hear all the time – “Find out what successful people do and copy them.” Think about it. If it were true, we’d all be the same by now. Photography is a creative art. People buy because your images are different or unique. Marketing is a creative art too. No one wants to wear the same dress as everyone else.
You want to be the “top dog” not a “me-too.” If you are copying you are not in first place. When people start to copy you, you create something new and leave them in the dust. You do the same thing with your marketing that you do with your photography. Yes, you may have to change, but if what you are doing now is NOT working or losing ground, you won’t survive doing the same thing. This report will teach you to develop your own style of marketing just like you have your own style of photography. It is my hope that every photographer that reads this will walk away with at least one idea that will help them be more successful. Remember ideas are not Gerber’s Baby Food, you have to do some work to make them reality. No spoon feeding here.
Did you know that 80% of the people are applying for 20% of the jobs, and 20% of the people are applying for 80% of the jobs? TRUE - It is the exact same in marketing (photography or anything). Which group of people would you market for? If what you are doing is not working, you must change to get different results. Don’t market one way because everyone else is doing it that way. When it comes to marketing I’ve always said; “If everyone fished from the bow of the boat, the boat would tip over.”
Let’s give another example outside of photography, because sometimes we can see it better. Google bought up YouTube for a record 1.6 billion dollars only 21 months after YouTube was created. Why because Steve, Jawed, and Chad created something new that people wanted. The same reason new TV shows are created every year. (Starting to get the picture?) Did Google pay YouTube cash? No, they got creative and gave the owners stock options and allowed them to continue running the business and not pay huge taxes. But Google only did that after they secured deals to distribute music videos from Warner Music, Universal, Sony, and CBS, easing the way for a risk-free buyout from Google's perspective. On top of that, Google is making billions a year selling pay-for-click video ads. What’s this got to do with photography? EVERYTHING my friend. There is more than one way to photograph a cat. If that cat doesn’t work there’s a thousand more. Together, we are going to explore creative ways to make money. We are going to think outside of the frame or camera.
99% of photographers fail because . . .
I can’t begin to tell you how many people I’ve photographed that say, “I
was a photographer once.” Photographers are creative people with a passion
for taking images. They may have the top of the line equipment, an outstanding
studio, a ton of photographic knowledge, but they
fail because they listen to each other on how to market photography. The real question is how
do you reach that 80% cost effectively? Do you pay the phone company,
Google, post office, hire an army or what? That’s what the 80% do. There’s
always a way to do it cheaper. Follow the rules below and you will
soon become a master at making chicken salad when you weren’t given all
the correct ingredients in the first place.
There are 8 simple rules
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