Photo Marketing Mentor

If you’ve followed me for any length of time you know that I talk a great deal about marketing.

Obviously I love marketing, well… good marketing anyway.

But, today I want to talk about something that I truly believe is not only the cornerstone of success, but the foundation of any successful marketing campaign. Want to know what it is? It’s very simple. It’s the ability to dream big and take action.

I was listening to a podcast recently with “Chicken Soup of the Soul” author Jack Canfield and in his interview he talked about the power of dreaming big.

As a matter of fact his direct quote was, “It doesn’t take any more time to dream BIG than it does to dream small” – end quote.

Jack’s words truly resonated with me ~ so much so that it inspired me to write the article you are now reading.

I pondered his words continually as I wrote and I want to share those thoughts (inspired by Jack) and how you can directly apply them to your marketing efforts.

1. Take 5 to 10 minutes everyday to visualize yourself experiencing success. This is self explanatory, but even if you think visualizing is woo-woo there is tremendous power in actually seeing yourself accomplishing something you truly want to experience.

If you have trouble visualizing, think about this way: visualizing is not hard when you realize that you already have hundreds (if not thousands) of random thoughts running through your mind all day, everyday anyway.

So if you’re going to think thousands of thoughts daily, why not carve out a small amount of time everyday to think the kind of thoughts that actually support you? Try it. Not only try it, but commit to it. It does work.

2. Be a joiner. I believe that the biggest problem facing most self employed people (especially Creatives) is isolation. No one knows better than me about the power of the computer and the internet.

“Get out of the house, put down the Blackberry, leave the laptop at home and take the time to actually connect with people face to face.”

Using myself as an example I love to sit at my laptop either at home or at a coffee shop writing, sometimes for hours.  Second to writing my next favorite thing to do is image editing either for myself or for my clients.  Sitting at your computer for hours tweeting is only one way to get the word out about your services and connecting with others. At the end of the day nothing beats face to face contact.

Personally, I believe that as we continue embrace the digital mobile lifestyle our internal need to connect with real live people will continue to grow stronger. So, in nut shell: Get out of the house, put down the Blackberry, leave the laptop at home and take the time to actually connect with people face to face.

Don’t assume that the only places where you make business connections is via stuffy networking groups. On the contrary, the venues where you can connect with others needn’t be stuffy nor pretentious.

For example, you can meet people while waiting in line at a gourmet food truck (don’t laugh, they’ve become all the rage here in Los Angeles) or over drinks (just be mindful of your alcohol consumption) or at a class, seminar, workshop or gallery opening.

Freely share who you are and what you offer (just don’t turn your introduction into a long sales pitch) more important that you demonstrate genuine interest in the people you connect with.

Support others in accomplishing their goals and be sure to exchange contact info and finally (this is key) . . . follow up!

3. Pour your purse into your head. In other words, invest in yourself. Don’t resist buying that book, taking that course, calling that mentor or key contact that you met at a networking event.

Keep this in mind: an opportunity is only as powerful as your ability to take action on it when it presents itself.

Commit to investing a percentage of your income back into growing yourself personally and professionally. With that said, I want to point out something: when you invest in yourself personally you’re actually investing in yourself professionally and vice versa.

If you haven’t yet figured this out: You are your business.

So to recap keep these three tips in mind as you move forward:

1. See it – Take just 5 minutes everyday to see yourself achieving (as well as experiencing) your dream.

2. Join it – Make a commitment to get out of the house at least once a week to connect with real live people.

3. Invest it – No one can invest in your dream if you don’t.

Starting this month, ear mark a certain percentage of your current income back to growing yourself personally/professionally.

It could be a new book or a class, it could be a new shirt to wear to social gatherings or it could be a massage or new journal. The amount doesn’t matter as much as your commitment.

And speaking of investing and connecting you can get started today by adding my new book Eye On Marketing: 41 Days From Struggle and Confusion to Clarity & Profits to your business building toolkit.

This book continues to garner attention that surprises me beyond words.

Eye On Marketing is a step by step daily action guide and resource designed to help you grow your photography or any creative passion that you want to turn into a profitable business.  Visit my page to read all the endorsements from industry insiders as well review all of the benefits and bonuses I included:

Over $97 dollars worth to be exact and my latest bonus includes a private readers only monthly Q&A call.  As a matter of fact our next call happens on Wednesday April 27th at 4 P.M. PST/7 P.M. EST.

Our monthly calls are the perfect opportunity for you to receive on-the-spot support.

I designed these calls to provide you with direct answers to your most pressing marketing and business building questions all for an unheard of investment.  Less than $25 dollars!

So please stop going it alone. Get the support and resources you need to turn your passion into a profitable business. Take the next step join us here.

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There are some school of thoughts in the online marketing world who believe or least predict that email marketing either doesn’t work or will soon die.

I still believe that no matter what you do to market your business online having a list of pre-qualified subscribers who have raised their hands and said yes, yes I want to hear from you, I want you to teach me something, show me something and yes eventually offer me something that I can purchase from you is like having an ATM machine on your desktop.

In this brief tips article I want to share with you 5 tips that will put you on the road to turning your inbox into a ATM.  Now I don’t know about you but there is no better feeling than finding receipts in your inbox full of purchases made while you slept.

It’s not necessarily free money, (there is definitely work involved) but I can tell you from personal experience, when it works, it will certainly feel like it.

Today’s article is a brief introduction to the process of email marketing, enjoy it and after you’re done reading take my FREE poll and tell me what’s on your mind.

1.  Focus on building a ‘real’ relationship with your audience. People to love to work with people that they feel like they know like and trust. Any attempt to market your photography services, prints or stock images will fall on deaf ears or in this case ‘eyes’ if you fail to do this.

In the beginning stages of building your list focus your efforts on establishing that know, like and trust factor with your readers.  How?  Easy, by finding out what’s on their mind and developing and delivering compelling content that answers questions and engages them on a consistent basis.

2.  Don’t assume anything. This ties directly to relationship building in tip #1. Part of getting people to like and trust you include listening to them.  Your readers want to feel heard and that’s why you want all of your email marketing efforts to be engaging.  What’s the quickest way to accomplish this? Ask questions.

You may have an idea around a particular package or program you want to design that excites you but may be less than exciting to your readers.  Don’t assume because you can, you should.

3.  Use surveys and polls to engage with readers. Short surveys or polls are an easy way to ask your readers questions about new products, packages or programs you’re considering.  A service I use regularly is called Survey Monkey.  Survey Monkey will allow you craft surveys up to 10 questions for free.  More than ten requires a minimum monthly charge of $19.99 per month.

If you own a blog you may want to consider a service called Polldaddy.  Polldaddy isn’t as sophisticated as Survey Monkey in my opinion but it’s an easy way to get quick answers to specific questions.  Either strategy will let you take the temperature of your readers before investing in a creating a service that could be a snooze.

4.  Launch your products and programs as an event. Think about it, we all love the idea of a good party.  With that said don’t just casually mention a product, program or service in your newsletter. No, if you want results make an announcement of it.

Think of it this way, when Macy’s wants to increase the foot traffic in their stores they don’t just say “We’re having a sale on Saturday if you’re in the neighborhood please come in”, or worse, they say nothing at all.  Macy’s announces a 1-Day Sale Extravaganza complete with blockbuster deals, limited quantities, balloons etc.

5.  Seeding your audience breed’s excitement. When you know you have something big coming up again don’t casually mention it.  No, seed it. Seeding is like dropping hints that something is coming.  Something big.  If you know that you want run a special or promotion or something big, start dropping hints to your subscribers several weeks before you actually announce your offer.

For example, a executive portrait photographer could seed his/her audience that their will be an opportunity coming soon where by they can have their portrait taken while being exposed to several key contacts in the local community and receive several business building strategies.

Do you see how someone on your list would see the value in this?

Now I would like to peek your curiosity with an opportunity that I’m working on and will be announcing very soon, but until I do this I want to ask you for something.

Below this article I have a short poll featured about a new program I’m working on that will teach you everything I know about email marketing strategies that work.

If you could be so kind to participate in this poll it would mean a lot and help me create something that will help you get results.

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It’s been said that it’s easier to keep a current client happy than to find a new one. Well, in todays business building tip article I will provide you with 6 ways to keep your current clients engaged and raving about you to their network colleagues and contacts.

1. Create a pre-session client questionnaire. This is your golden opportunity to learn your clients likes and dislikes.  For example: ask questions regarding their favorite things to eat and drink.  You can inquire about favorite music styles, type of flowers, room temperature etc.

The more you can learn about your clients personal preferences and then provide them during (or send as gifts) after the shoot the more impressed they will be with your attention to detail.

2. Schedule a brainstorming session with a business mentor or colleague to develop new and unique ways to provide a premium experience for your client

3. Setup an account with Sendoutcards.com to handle the delivery of custom note cards and small gift item fulfillment.

4. Publish an ‘experience’ magazine using a service called Magcloud.com – The magazine of course will feature your images plus articles and/or stories, suggestions, tips etc. Mail these exclusively to your ‘premium’ clients.

5. Think in terms of a ‘total’ experience. What I mean: from the moment the client says “yes” all the way to delivery of the images, leave no stone unturned. Examine and improve everything from your print materials to the packaging.

Offer a private members viewing area on your website, add a custom blog and registration area, send birthday note cards, cater a private lunch etc.

6. Try partnering with other businesses that can provide complimentary service. For example, restaurants or private chefs that can offer catered meals. Spas that provide facials, massages, makeup artists, hair stylists, etc.  Basically anything that can enhance your client’s experience and keep them talking about you in a positive way is golden.

Bonus Tip: Pick up the book “The Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. It is an excellent resource of ideas and inspiration to help you create a dynamic experience for your clients.

Did you like today’s tip article?

Would you like more tips, checklists, training resources and support to turn your passion for photography into a profit generating business?

If you answered yes consider adding my book Eye On Marketing: 41 Days From Struggle and Confusion to Clarity & Profits to your business building toolkit. This book is your “daily action guide” and marketing blueprint to a photography successful business.

But I will tell you that the suggestions and resources I provide in this book and complimentary online Jump Start Program can be by used any small business owner or creative professional.

Click the book cover featured above or right here to secure your copy today.  The book is available in both print ($24.95 +s/h) and $20.00 immediate digital download.

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Never has there been a more perfect medium for photographers to get the word out about their products and services than through video.

As visual artists you already have a built in treasure trove of content that easily translates to video.

In today’s article, I am going to illustrate how you can take images from your existing portfolio and use them to create high impact marketing videos that will attract new clients all with the push of a button.

1. Target the images you select for your video to a specific client. If your current body of work represents several distinct genres, you’ll want to tailor the images you select for your video with the same care and consideration as you would for your physical portfolio.

In other words, if your goal is to attract clients to hire you for food photography jobs then you only want to select images of food for your video.

Obviously the same rules as your print portfolios apply here.  You only want to use the best of the best.

2.  Resist the urge to make the video too long. Your goal is to entice the viewer to take the next step.  Remember you’re not creating a feature length film here.  In this instance you’re using your video to market your services to prospective clients.  Therefore, you want to show a targeted sampling of what you have to offer and to get to the point quickly.

If you have many images you want to show in your video, consider combining them in groups of two on a single frame using an image-editing program like PhotoShop.  To see an illustration of this see the image sample I created below using images from my own portfolio. These are two separate images joined together,

The goal is keep your video presentation to about two minutes or less in my opinion.

Quick Get Into Action Tip:

There’s no need to purchase an expensive camera or professional video editing software. To get your feet wet with video consider signing up for a free account with Animoto.com.  Animoto is an online video development and distribution service that will turn your photos into a professional high quality slideshow style presentation complete with music in a matter of minutes.

Again, check out the stunning video I created in less than 30 minutes using Animoto’s free service.

The video is less than 40 seconds in length but that’s enough to get my work out there in front of thousands of potential clients and customers.  Of course Animoto offers a variety of payment plans when you’re ready to upgrade your account.

The advantage of the advanced plans is that they are very affordable; as a matter fact you can get started for as little as $5 dollars a month.

Why would you want to upgrade?

Simple, if you want to create longer videos, longer than 30 seconds, then you’ll want to upgrade your account at least to the Plus Level priced at $5 a month or $30 annually.  Or if you want even more control over the videos you develop, including removing Animoto’s corporate branding, you may want to consider opting for either a Plus or a Pro account.

Advanced users have the most options including more audio tracks, more unique video styles and finally, what I believe is the most powerful feature, “end of video” buttons that appear at the end of your video.

These data collection forms are fantastic for capturing your viewers contact info without directly having to go to your website.

But again, if you just want to try out the service you can do that for free.

3.  Leverage the reach of your video to attract greatest number of prospects. Once you create your video your goal then becomes getting eyes to view it and you have several ways to accomplish this.

First, you’ll want to post the video to your existing blog and/or website.

Second, you’ll want to distribute the video on all of your existing social media outlets like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook if you have accounts (and you should and if you don’t, now is the perfect opportunity to set them up.

Third, e-mail a link to your video to your existing online mailing list.  Again, if you don’t have one, now is a great time to start building one.  As a matter of fact, you can use your video to actually build your list.  I’ll show you how in Step #4.

Finally, brand your video using your logo or business card into the actual video.

4.  Use your video(s) to build and grow your online mailing list. Video is engaging which is why it’s so popular.  And yet we are bombarded with thousands of messages on a daily basis.  So if you don’t want your marketing messages to fall through the cracks, you must focus on capturing the attention of your target audience quickly or you may lose the opportunity to ever engage them in a meaningful way.

It’s predicted that YouTube alone will garner more searches than Google in the coming years.  That’s why now is the perfect time to get started integrating video into your marketing plan.

Click here to see a sample of how I used a simple video to grow my mailing list.  Remind you that it’s a 30-second video (the limit posed by Animoto for trial subscribers), but obviously you can make your video longer.  The point I want to make here is not about the length of your video, but the impact you can create with it.

For starters, 30 seconds may be all you need to get your visitor to take the next step with you and that’s the point.  So I’m going to show you step by step how I create a 30 second video with my existing images and existing website and that video to ask people to sign up for my mailing list.

For a recipe that includes step-by-step instructions on how to create a branded video in Animoto, download my free guide here.

For the purpose of this training I decided to embed the file into this blog article allowing you to view it here.  But you shouldn’t limit your video to a blog post like this one.  This leads to the final step of your client attractive video.

5. Distribute your video wildly.  This is the final and most important step.  Every place online where you post your video, continually invite viewers to come to your website or blog.  Once they arrive invite them to sign up for your mailing list.  If your video is targeted and you’re connecting with the right people who want what you have to offer, you should have no problem accomplishing this.

Please visit my website to see example of how I did this.

Notice how I encouraged a call to action. I didn’t just ask visitors to sign up for my e-newsletter. I offered a complimentary telephone 15-minute consultation to discuss their next project -AND- I gave it an attention grabbing name.  This is key!

You should always speak of what you do using “benefit’s oriented language”. During that call I could offer a PDF tip sheet (see some examples of what I’m talking about below).

In my newsletter for example:

• I could write about using proper lighting techniques for food photography that evokes a mood or feeling
• I could show my readers ways they could use their images to drive more foot traffic into their store, or brand their products.
• Or I could create a tip sheet illustrating 10 ways my clients could use their images for their ongoing online promotions.  Then I could offer another one for offline promotions.
• If I’m interviewed for a food blog or magazine or podcast I could feature that in my newsletter and send my readers a link to read it or listen to the replay.

“The key here is to always engage my subscribers by encouraging them to take the next step!”

Of course I can always create more videos and send them by e-mail to my subscriber list.

I don’t know if you picked up on this?  But having the ability to create high-impact video for your photography clients could become a great additional profit center for your business as well.

Your action plan for this week:

Start investigating on how you can use video to attract more clients into your photography business.

As you can see with this lesson it costs you nothing more that a little bit of time to put one together.  Once you have it, you can distribute your video across all of your social media platforms to drive more traffic to your website.

Of course once they arrive you must have a data capture system in place to continue the conversation.

And finally, once you have their information you must actively engage them with relevant and timely content that will help them achieve their goals.

If you want more training on how to use video including How To Use Video Contests To Attract Clients, as well as how to set up your own e-mail management marketing system, consider getting a copy of my book:  Eye On Marketing:  41 Days From Struggle and Confusion to Clarity & Profits into your business building toolkit.

My book is like a marketing blueprint for creative professionals in a book!

In addition, book owners will receive my exclusive Eye On Marketing Jump Start Kit that includes 41 more ways to attract clients with referral marketing and e-mail marketing strategies.

You’ll also learn how to create a customer profile, plus you’ll get access to my checklists featured from the book to download, and much more, for a ridiculously low price of only $20 for the e-book or $24.95 for the print version.

To learn more and secure your copy visit my website at: http://www.eyeonmarketingsuccess.com/thebook.

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