Photo Marketing Mentor

When I was kid there used to be a commercial that would air every night that asked the question “It’s 10 P.M. do you know where your children are?

I was thinking about that commercial recently and it got me thinking about your clients and customers.

Do we know where they are? More specifically do we know where the ideal ones are?

When I say I ideal, I’m talking about the people you absolutely love to work with.

In my opinion these are the characteristics of an ideal client: Read more »

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Let’s speak candidly for a moment. Are you tired of struggling to find new prospects and then struggling to get them to become paying clients?

When you ask a prospective client about their budget for a job you’re bidding on do you often hear the following statements, “We don’t have one” or “We don’t have a lot of money” or the always frustrating, “Oh, I have a brother or a friend whose just graduated from art school, maybe I’ll get them to shoot it for their portfolio”.

Let me ask you another question? How do you respond? Read more »

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Wow what a difference seven days makes. Since we last connected I’ve experience quite a few changes in my business, more specifically around my new book.

For starters I experienced my first interview where I was the ‘interviewee’ instead of the interviewer. In case you missed it, I was a guest on the internet radio program ‘Social Media with Nan Ross’. http://bit.ly/i2GB5o

Nan was a gracious host and considering the seriousness of the topic selected we managed to have quite a bit fun as you’ll hear when you listen the replay.

I shared with the audience why so many new freelance business owners struggle needlessly in the first 12 months of operation. I shared three common reasons why this happens and of course I revealed three remedies to turn the odds in your favor.

Click here to listen to the replay of our discussion, I promise you’ll find some very powerful tips that will help you make immediate shifts in how you work with clients.

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I was reminded several times this week about the power of collaboration.

It has been my contention since I started the Photo-Marketing-Mentor blog that the fastest path to cash flow in your business is through relationship building and sharing resources. If you focus on those two things with care and consistency you can’t help but succeed.

One such recent collaboration happened while I was hanging out on Twitter recently. I noticed a tweet on my followers feeds by photographer, professional blogger and now publisher Cris Mitchell. You can find him on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/crismitchell

Cris and I connected when I first started the Photo Marketing Mentor blog over two years ago, but we lost touch over time. As a matter of fact I hadn’t spoken to him directly in about a year. But recently he continued to pop into my mind so when I saw him on Twitter I thought “Why not reach out and reconnect?”

Figuring the present moment was as good a time as any I sent over a message and within 20 minutes we started chatting.

I share this bit of information with you to illustrate how powerful trusting your intuition and maintaining relationships (especially those on social media) can be to your business. In a moment you’ll see just how powerful so keep reading.

For starters Cris is an awesome guy, he produces Pro Photo Resource an amazing blog for professional photographers. On the blog you’ll find everything from camera buying tips to the latest news and information on software, printers, editing techniques and so much more.

Cris works his tail off to provide timely content that not only affects the way pro photographers manage work flow and execute assignments but how they run their businesses.

Don’t miss his recent blog article on how one photographer is using his talents on the ground in Haiti to help underfunded organizations raise needed funds to assist those most in immediate need.  Please do give it read it a read if for the nothing more than to view the arresting photography.

Recently Cris launched a publishing division of his company called Pro Photo Publishing. As of this week Pro Photo Publishing offers 14 titles including yours truly. Yes, I’m very pleased to announce that Cris recently added my book to his growing roster of titles exposed to an audience of almost 10,000 pro and semi pro photographers world-wide!

As of last evening he informed me that sales are brisk and holding steady. Needless to say I was very please to hear this. If you would to learn more about the entire library of titles click here to visit his site.

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While I’m on the subject of collaboration I have another powerful one in the works with new colleague and fellow Pro Photo Published author Zach Prez.

Zach is the author of a fantastic new book the Photography Web Marketing Guide: 4 Essential Areas To Grow Customers Online. As a matter of fact our books compliment each other perfectly which is why we have decided to collaborate on a couple of upcoming projects the first being a brand new tele-training launching in just a few days.

If you own a blog or website that ranks low or non existent in the search engines.

Or if you experiencing consistent traffic but you’re not converting that traffic to new clients and customers this will be a a tele-training you don’t want to miss.

If this sounds like you you’ll definitely want to clear your calendar and listen to this exciting new interview I’m doing with Search Engine Optimization Expert for Photographers Zach Prez.

Keep a eye open for an email from me tomorrow with the details (date/time/place) for How To Get More Photography Clients Online my new tele-training with Zach Prez

PS: If you’ve been in the fence about picking up my new book you don’t want to miss this new tele-training. I will be announcing a something that will make your decision a no-brainer.

Have a productive week and we’ll be re-connecting soon.

All the best, Rodney

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Sales! It’s the life’s blood of any business, basically it is your business.

If you aren’t making sales then you don’t have a business you have a hobby.

I know that may sound a little harsh but it’s the truth. So in today’s article I want to show three quick ways to increase your sales immediately.

My suggestion: The best way to get the most benefit from this article is to plan to implement these strategies as soon as you’re done reading.

I also want to give you a heads up that this article is a part of a new series coming to the blog in the coming weeks.  I’ve designed this new series to open the conversation about about sales and sales processes, so be on the lookout for those.

As always I welcome your comments so please feel free to share at the end of today’s post.  Also if this article inspired you in any way please share it with your fellow tribe on Facebook or Twitter the buttons are provided in this post.

3 Quick Ways To Increase Your Sales Today

1. Vow to Only Work With People Interested In What You Have To Offer -

I know this sounds simplistic but you’d be surprised how much time, money and frustration we create for ourselves by focusing our energies on the wrong people. I’m often asked in my coaching “How do I know if I’m working with or marketing to the wrong people?” Easy I say, “Look inside your wallet!”

Your sales results reveal everything about the current state of your business. It’s that simple.

If you aren’t making the money you want and need to make then it’s typically a result of one of two things, either the people you’re talking to aren’t interested in what you have to offer or they can’t afford it. Or, you’re not connecting with them in a way that encourages them to work with you.  Vow today to change that.

2. Stop Making A Big Deal Out of Asking For The Money -

I recently heard this via my business mentor who said. “When we go to the checkout line at Walmart with our cart full of items we’re ready to purchase and the cashier rings us up she doesn’t hesitate to tell us how much we owe her, right?” I echo that completly. The single biggest reason why creatives (or anyone for that matter) struggles in sales is because we make too big a deal out of asking for the sale in the first place.

If you and your prospective client are on the same page (meaning) they know what they want and they feel you’re the one to provide it then the conversation will naturally flow to asking for the sale. It’s that simple.  Don’t hesitate or feel like you’re being greedy or taking on your prospective clients money story.  More often your prospect will mistake your hesitation for lack of confidence in your abilities.

Don’t make that mistake, state you rates with confidence and back them up with skill, expertise and excellent customer service.

3. Get Real -

If you’re struggling in sales usually it stems from something deeper. Yes, it could be something logistical but for the purpose of this example let’s say your particular niche market is saturated with wedding photographers. Even in this extreme case, I still believe that theirs plenty of potential clients for everyones unique photographic style or approach.

Logistics aside for a moment, I’d like to ask you to go deeper. For example: how are you feeling about making sales calls? Do you hesitate, procrastinate or avoid? Do you waste time arguing for your limitations by saying things to yourself like, “I can’t take on a particular client because I don’t have the right equipment, or my book isn’t strong enough to go on prospecting calls with agencies or clients”.

I want to encourage you to take this opportunity to get real with yourself. If you’re struggling in sales ask yourself where you’re avoiding doing the things that are keeping you from the sales you desperately desire to create.

Remember this: You have a gift, something that the world needs and is waiting for you to express. My question to you is, “what are you going to do about it?” If after reading this article you find that you’re ready to take the next step I’m ready to help you increase your sales.

Take A Bold Proactive Step:

Did you know that I offer private one-on-one Clarity Into Profits Strategy Sessions?

Here’s what one of my clients said about our work together:

“After our my first meeting with Rodney I could see light at the end of the tunnel. He gave me real insight and solutions I could use immediately. With Rodney’s help I’ve already started to increase my income and have improved communication with my clients. I have not felt this much hope and excitement about my photography career in years.” ~ Inez Lewis, www.inezlewis.com

I welcome an opportunity to help you:
⁃ Improve communication with your clients
⁃ Find hidden profit centers in your business
⁃ Build your database
⁃ Critique your blog or website
⁃ Review your copy for a new program your considering
⁃ Uncover your sales blocks
⁃ Even help you build your team so you can free up your time to do more of what you love.

Email me today to schedule your own complimentary Clarity Into Profits Strategy Session. Or you can go to my FREE Online Booking System to see my current availability and put your session on the books.

The one thing I can guarantee is that you’ll leave our session with at least one nugget that will turn your business around and the best part it won’t cost you a cent!

That’s my promise to you.

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There are some people out there who believe that email marketing is dead. I’ll tell you from personal experience that is far from the case.

I do agree email open rates are on the decline. Let’s look at your inbox for an example, how many emails do you receive in a typically day? Now think about how many of those emails you actually opened. Of those emails you opened who were they from? Typically but not always the first emails you open are from the people you already know, right?

So assuming that you’ve done a decent job of communicating with your list the chances of crafting emails that are continually opened and read dramatically increase. Even if you haven’t achieved this up to this point, with the information in this article you are now armed with resources to turn that around.

In this article I want to share with you 3 tips that will practically guarantee that your emails are opened, read, received and responded too.

1. Craft an attention grabbing subject line. Think about it, the first thing your subscriber reads is the subject heading. It has to say more than “You who? It’s me sending you another email!” When you sit down to write your next email think about what action you want your reader to take via a step-by-step sequence.

Let’s say for example that you are emailing your list because you wish to announce a new gallery show and you want to invite subscribers to RSVP their attendance. That’s your desired outcome.
A headline that would arouse attention could be, “I can’t believe it finally happened!” Or “I was surprised by what they selected”. Now think about these two headlines for a moment. If I was on your list and I received an email from you that used either of these headlines, your chances of my opening that email has drastically increased. Why? Because you’ve peeked my curiosity, either one of these headlines would make me click because I want to know the answer. “What finally happened?” “What did they select?” Can you see how this works?

These headlines are a lot more interesting than New Gallery Show Coming, Please RSVP.

2. Know the next step. Okay now that your email has been opened what you say next will determine how much further your reader will go. Knowing the next step you want the reader to take will make writing your copy much easier. In the case of our artist he/she desires for readers to attend their show and secure a list of RSVP’s.

So the first sentence of your email should complete the statement you started in your subject header. For example for our subject header, “I can’t believe it finally happened! The opening sentence could read – XYZ gallery has just selected images from my new series on ____?” Do you see how I did that?

I wrote my first sentence to complete the statement I posed in subject header of my email. I told the reader the what and the who. Easy right? Now in the copy that follows I could speak more about the series, the images that the gallery picked etc. Finally I want to direct my reader to the final step.

3. Provide a call to action. You always want your email to result in an action taken by the reader. So if your goal were to secure RSVPS’ for your gallery show then you would place a clickable and track able link to a page where (in this case) the reader can submit their rsvp. Notice that I said clickable and track able. In order for email marketing to work to your benefit you need to know the affects your messages have on the reader. Most email management services like Constant Contact or 1ShoppingCart for example will provide you with stats on your click through rate.

The best way to do this is to test your emails by evaluating the results and make adjustments based on the results you receive. What do I mean by test? First, construct the email, send it, and evaluate your results i.e. check your stats. What are you looking for?

• How many times was the email opened?
• How many readers clicked on the link embedded in the email?
• Did you receive the results you sought?

Once you get a formula down for creating responsive emails your golden. A winning formula consists of skill, patience, testing, adjusting and re-launching.

© Rodney Washington, 2010-2011

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I was reading the blog recently of a good friend and colleague who posted a suggestion that I really took to heart and I wanted to share it with you today in this post and that is, take a inspiration day.

You would think as photographers and artists that we have much to be inspired about and by and to larger extent this is true but, as with any line of work you are going to hit road blocks.

For example dealing with client issues, collecting payments, handling paperwork, scheduling appointments, hiring and firing assistants the list goes on and on. Running an artist focused business is enough to test the mental resolve of any entrepreneur let alone one whose enterprise is centered around constantly developing creative solutions for our clients, don’t you agree?

Over time our creative well-spring can become severely depleted especially if we don’t have good self care practices in place. So in this post I want to share with you a few tips that will help to re-fill your creative tank and allow you become re-inspired.

Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments field provided below.

5 Tips for constructing a productive inspiration day.

1. Visit a museum or gallery. I recently did this and it really helped to get my creative juices flowing. After spending a couple of hours viewing the work of masters like Rembrandt, Hockney, Warhol, Koons and countless other I returned to my desk not only inspired by the art itself but by the artists and how they handled problems creatively.

2. Shoot something outside of your business focused speciality. For example if you’re a wedding photographer spend an afternoon photographing people on the street. If you’re a landscape photographer shoot portraits. You never know, you may discover a new speciality and/or develop a new body of work that you’ll want to place in a show, submit to a contest or publication.

3. Take a short class. I recently participated in a one-day photo-transfer course at a local art center and it was so much fun. First of all it reacquainted me with my love of art and painting, but more importantly it got me of the office and out among other creatives who wanted to learn how to do something new.

4. Take a road trip. Nothing gets my creative juices flowing like travel especially a day road trip. Hopping in the car and getting out of town for the afternoon or even the train ride for a couple of hours gets the juices flowing.

5. Give yourself a personal project. I mentioned this in a recent blog post where I shared several ideas and resources that photographers can use to implement fresh prospective and creativity into their photography. To learn more and become inspired click here to read that post titled: How Much Fun Are You Having In Your Photography Business?

Okay, I know I said 5 tips but I’ve one more for you, consider it a bonus.

6. Start a journal. Journaling about your thoughts, your feelings, your struggles and joys is a great way to access your inner being. As visual artists we direct so much of our mental energy towards creating our physical work that we need to be reminded of something greater, something inner. Our inner voice.

Our inner voice constantly gives us ideas, clues and direction all the time, because our inner voice speaks to us throughout the day. The key to hearing it is taking the time to listen and journaling is a great way to accomplish this. So the next time you find yourself feeling restless grab a notebook, pen and a coffee and write down what you’re feeling.

Go get inspired….

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The article you’re reading today was inspired by Michael Gerber, New York Times best selling author and creator of the E Myth.

If you aren’t familiar with Gerber’s work on the subject of business development and entrepreneurship I highly suggest you investigate his material.

I recently read an article on the authors blog titled, “Entrepreneurial Artist to Business Owner” if you’d like to give it a read I’ve provided a link here for quick access. I’d suggest you read it as a basis for the tips I’ve provided below.

After reading Gerber’s article it got me thinking and it inspired me to take it a step further by providing you with some additional tips and steps that you can implement immediately into your business. With that said I took Gerber’s 5 myth’s and decided to turn them into 5 tips + 1 additional and here are my 6 tips to ‘Owning’ Your Own Business

In Gerber’s article he discussed 5 myth’s that are stereotypically associated with artists in business and they are:

1. Artists are childish
2. Artists are absentminded and forgetful
3. Artists are disorganized
4. Artists don’t care about business
5. Artists are all a little crazy
6. (Insert your own here)

In his Gerber’s article number six was listed as (Insert your own here) so I did, and this is the idea I’d like you to consider, “Artists are frightened”. We’ll discuss this more in moment but for now read on.

BUT, before I get into the 6 myth’s I want to reiterate that the author did not say that artists are these things, his point was that artists are mistakenly viewed this way. I just want to be clear.

So let’s examine the 5 Myth’s to ‘Owning’ Your Own Artistic Business

1.  Artists are childish – I say bravo, not I’m suggesting that adults should behave poorly with clients and vendors. No, I’m suggesting that artists maintain a child like since of fascination and curiosity about their business or how else can they create? Keep this in mind, a curious mind finds to solutions to business challenges, a closed mind does not. I believe maintaining a child like curiosity can be an asset to an entrepreneur, not a liability.

In other words I’d like to suggest that artist hold on to that same degree of curiosity and fascination in the marketing and running of their business. How? By closing the gap between the distinction of “this is creative i.e. fun” and “this is business i.e. drudgery”. Successful artists embrace business believing that running one can be very creative especially when you remove your mental blocks and see how your work affects the people you connect with.

2.  Artists are absentminded and forgetful - No more so than any over worked or stressed out individual. How can you overcome this? Write things down, refer to your to-do list first thing in morning before you do anything else. Centralize your daily tasks by placing important meetings, calls and correspondence into your iPhone or online calendar. Utilize timers and alarms to remind you of what needs to get done.

If you’re still having trouble getting tasks completed ask yourself, “can this be passed on to someone else?” Typically when we procrastinate it’s often because we’re trying to force ourselves to do something that’s not a strength. There are some experts out there that will tell you to “strengthen your weaknesses.” I say strengthen your strengths and hire out your weaknesses. If making sales calls is not your thing hire someone else to do it.

3.  Artists are disorganized - I’ll give you a simple tip that will help you get organized and get a handle on clutter immediately and it’s quite simple. When ever something crosses your desk don’t let it settle there. Instead do one of three things with it, 1.) deal with it immediately, 2.) pass on it, or 3.) toss it. That’s it.

Having gone through a major clearing out myself I’ll tell you, when you get into the habit of holding on to stuff (especially papers) believing that you’ll get to it later chances are you won’t. Remember out of sight, is out of mind. Generally all you’ll end up with is a pile of papers that you won’t want to deal with until you have to and even then you’ll just end up throwing out 90% of it.

Don’t go there, get into a habit of handling correspondence as you receive it, eventually disorganization problems will gradually take care of themselves.

4.  Artists don’t care about business – I’ll admit there is some truth to this statement and I addressed some of it in tip number one, but I want to take it further. I do agree that some artists aren’t necessarily in love with business, but they are interested in money. So with that said you can’t want money and not be interested in business, even if it’s a 9 to 5 job.

The way to get over this I suggested earlier by replacing apathy with curiosity and fascination. Did you know that are some artist out there like the infamous Jeff Koons for example that embraces business as much as art creation? How? By applying the same childlike since of wonder to marketing and getting his work out there to the public. In other words he’s just as excited about having his work seen and appreciated by large audiences as he is devoted to creation of the work itself.

I’ll give you a simple exercise to stimulate your thinking, grab a notepad and pen and jot down as many ideas as you can come up with to get your work seen by a large audience, let’s say 100 people. Once you have several ideas jotted down on your pad pick at least three that you can move on immediately.

Don’t attach yourself to the ideas just “test” them to see what results you receive. Did you reach 100 people? If so great, now expand the number 500, 1000 and on and on. Our subconscious mind lives to solve problems and to come up with creative solutions. Give it something to do.

5.  Artists are all a little crazy – No crazier than the frustrated postal worker who goes on a shooting rampage. No crazier than half of Hollywood, (have you watched any reality shows lately?) and certainly no crazier than going to a job you hate year after year after year. My suggestion, be crazy. Remember my suggestion from above all it takes is one crazy idea to turn your whole world around. Take that crazy idea and put it out there, the world will let you know how they feel about it. Just promise not to shoot anybody.

Okay so these are my 5 tips based on Michael Gerber’s article Entrepreneurial Artist to Business Owner. Now as promised here is my (fill-in-the-blank) tip number 6 and one that I feel is a fundamental truth.

6.  Artists are frightened – At the end of the day I believe this is the number issue that stops Entrepreneurial Artists from becoming Business Owner’s. Let’s face it, it’s not easy to put yourself or your work out there into the world to be judged. The truth of the matter is that some people just won’t get it, or they’ll ignore you, leave negative comments on your blog, scoff at your ideas, think that you’re any -or- all of the above five myth’s listed above. “So what?”

I’d like to leave you with this thought. Ask yourself, “Is creating art my life purpose?” If you know down to your bones that the answer is yes then not creating art or worse, failing to get your creations out into the world to as many people as possible is no longer an option. It’s an obligation to create and sell your art work. Yes I said sell your art work!

In other words when you approach your purpose in this way then you understand the role you are here to play in the world and if part of that role is to maintain a child like since of curiosity about your marketing, set up systems to organize and run your business, care about your customers and employees then you’ll eagerly own your crazy ideas.

From this place all the previous ‘myth’s’ listed in Gerber’s article will remain just that, myth’s. It’s okay to be afraid just don’t languish in it, now go forth and create.

Additional Resources:
http://blog.entrepreneurthearts.com/
http://www.artistswhothrive.com/
http://craftside.typepad.com/craftside/

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I know that it’s tough to run a business, especially in this challenging economy.

So if your business has been particularly challenging of late I can understand how you may tempted to throw in the towel. But instead of giving up I’d like to challenge you try something different and no, I’m not going to tell you to set up a Facebook fan page or Tweet about something or write a press release or anything like that. (That comes later:-)

No, I’m going to ask you to consider something totally different. I’m going to ask you to challenge your creativity. You see as creatives we tend to believe that the “thing” that we do is the only opportunity to express our creative impulses. But I want to show you how you can jump start your creativity with a few simple projects that will awaken your senses and open you to some new ideas and perhaps a few new income streams.

For example, I met a photographer at a conference who took on the challenge of photographing each letter of the alphabet while working on a wedding she was hired to shoot in Paris. Once she captured all 26 letters she decided to turn those images into a collage and turn that collage into a poster that she now sells very well.

While looking for ideas I came across a site recently called Photojojo.  Photojojo offers a myriad of products guaranteed jump start your creativity offering everything from the Fuji Instax Mini Camera (considered the Polaroid’s little brother) that will allow you create mini prints instantly. Remember that?

They also offer a lens that will turn your high-end digital SLR into a toy camera that creates dreamy soft focus special effects without the aid of Photoshop or expensive lens attachment.

How about shooting video footage of your most recently field outing, just you and the camera? But you don’t a have a camera man who can shoot the behind scenes video footage. No problem, the company produces a product called “You-Vision Video Glasses”, these are actual eye glasses that you wear that houses a small 1.3 megapixel video camera on the bridge. This allows you to literally be out and about just enjoying the day just you and your camera and while you’re wearing the glasses you can record what you’re seeing as you experience it, neat huh?

In addition the product even offers a small mic that allows you record audio as well. The audio quality is not professional grade mind you so will need to be careful of excessive background noise if you want to make sure you’re heard clearly.

After a day of recording you just plug the glasses into your USB port on your computer and download the days footage, then you can then share your video via your Facebook Fan Page, or twitter about it. You see, I told you you could use your projects to market yourself online.

Photojojo offers a variety of really cool products for photographers at any skill level available through their site, you’ll find just about everything from small pinhole camera kits, to lens attachments that will turn street photography projects into a secret adventure.

In addition there are many really cool and inventive framing ideas like special frames that will display your 4 by 6 digital prints to look like they were taken with a Poloroid. In actuality your photos are mounted into a Polaroid style frame that you can wall mount.

The bottom line for this exercise it to get out of your own way and bring some fun back into your craft. You never know what you may come up with a new body of work for potential exhibition or new way to showcase your images to clients. At the very least you’ll have something to share on your blog and via your various Social Media platforms.  

As for me this weekend I am taking a class on how to transfer my photos onto canvas and add paint and I’m very excited.  I’ll share the results with you soon. Good Luck:-)

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