Photo Marketing Mentor

I had a conversation recently with a very talented photographer who contacted me to discuss designing a marketing strategy program for her business.

As with all of these conversations I generally start by asking the following questions: “What do you struggle with most?” “What do you want to achieve?” and finally, “What’s currently stopping you?”

I ask these three questions to help paint a clearer picture about what’s going on for the person I’m speaking with, first for me and then for the caller. You know the saying, ‘can’t see the forest for the trees?’ Well never is that statement truer than when you’re trying to run a business. Especially a photography business.

Think about it, it’s very challenging to run a business that not only requires that you do the marketing to find clients, but then you have to execute and the deliver the work that you’re hired for.

Essentially it’s the equivalent of operating 4 businesses at once; first as a marketing consultant, second as a creative director, and finally as a digitization technician and customer service representative. To say running a photography business is challenging is putting it mildly.

So anyway after our conversation it got me thinking, why do so many photographers and creative entrepreneurs in general struggle so much when comes to marketing? The following article is the result of that conversation and the three conclusions I drew from it.

“Struggle is generally about more than the thing we’re fighting for or against”

In terms of marketing the struggle is generally never about the “marketing tactic” it’s almost always about something deeper, much deeper. Listen you don’t need me to tell you that there is tons of information out there about marketing tactics and strategies, I know, I write a great deal of myself.

What I find in working with photographers is that lack of information is not the problem; if all it took to be a successful working photographer was a website and a Facebook fan page we’d all be wealthy and spending summers on the French Riviera right?

Common marketing advice tries to sell you on tactics as the ‘key’ to success, but the truth is no marketing technique is going to perform to your desired expectations if you don’t put ‘you’ into it. Let me explain:

Point Number #1 – Know Your Value:

You are the value your client receives and therefore you’re valuable, in other words what you think and most importantly how you ‘feel’ about yourself is how your client connects with you. Too many photographers mistakenly believe that their book, or their body of work is supposed to do the marketing for them. That’s wrong, your book doesn’t do the marketing, YOU do.

So what does this mean for the photographer struggling with marketing? It means that you have to know your true worth and then stand in that truth with complete conviction backed up with ACTION!

Sorry there are no shortcuts here. Action means picking up the phone and cold calling that gallery, that rep, that art director, that prospect that’s been sitting on the fence. Does it matter if they don’t respond in the way you hoped? Not as much as YOU taking the action in the first place.

So with that said this moves us on to what do you what to achieve?

Point Number #2 – Clarity Is Key:

You can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where ‘there’ is. So if your goal is to have a successful turnout for your next gallery exhibition, to be signed with a top advertising agency, to have a full calendar of private clients then that’s your goal.  Whatever it is decide now!

Now, you work backward to achieve this goal. How? By asking yourself “what actions do I need to take now (today), to achieve the result I desire tomorrow?” Tony Robbins was quoted as saying if you want better results you need ask better questions. Often we ask ourselves questions that don’t empower us, questions like, “Why is it such a struggle to find new clients? Why do I constantly attract prospects that challenge me on my fees? Etc. Etc.

These types of questions don’t empower you; instead they reinforce what you don’t want. Questions that empower you would be: Who needs what I have to offer? Who do I need to attract or how can I connect with the type of prospect truly needs what I offer and be willing and able to pay my rates? Do you see the difference?

Once you’re clear on what you want, and what you need to do, the final piece of the puzzle becomes “what’s stopping you?” This question goes all the back to point number one on knowing your value.

Point Number #3 – Know What’s Stopping You:

In my conversation with the young photographer we discussed at great length the internal stuff that was standing in her way. Not just the external marketing stuff. For example once we determined her target goal, we discussed what needed to happen both internally as well as externally to accomplish her goal .

Next we discussed what was going on internally that consistently presented road blocks, the road block in this case was, not standing in her truth, not acknowledging her value. When you know your value and what you bring to the table, the internal stuff doesn’t carry as much weight.

In other words, if marketing turns you off, it’s typically because you’ve been taught, (in my opinion) somewhere in your childhood to “remain silent”, to not speak up or out. In other words, don’t toot your own horn!  Ask yourself; did you shy away from activities where you excelled growing up? Were you encouraged, supported as a child to follow your creative impulses?

If not, this could be the key as to why “marketing” (which is nothing more than communication) feels alien to you.

Let me give a piece of homework, take a note pad and pen, grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea, or glass of wine if need necessary and sit down and really look into your past and ask yourself the following questions:

• Were my creative inclinations encouraged as a child?
• Was there anything that I excelled at that really made me feel good about myself?
• What was the mentality in the household around achievement, goals, creativity and encouragement?
• Did I feel validated?
• Do I currently have a support system?

You see these types of questions empower, they force you to think about the environment that you had growing up and with a little work you can begin to reconcile it.

Next, this exercise forces you to take a hard look at what you have in your life currently. Ever notice how we often recreate the same people in our adult life that mirror what we had growing up?

Even if it wasn’t supportive back then, you are in complete control of what’s going on now.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, marketing is nothing more than communication, yes, marketing strategy allows us to communicate with our target audience, but more importantly true marketing is how you communicate to yourself.

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