Photo Marketing Mentor

Before I go into the topic of this week’s article I want to share with you what inspired it.

It was my sister’s birthday last week and I called to give her my well wishes. During our conversation she informed me that our father was reading my new book, her exact words were that he was reading it cover to cover.

Without going into too much detail about my family’s history this was huge deal for me. Often times the ones we receive the least amount of support -or- the most criticism is from family and “close” friends.

This is not to say that those who love and care for us go out of their way to put us down. It’s just their way of attempting to protect us from disappointment or discomfort.

So when my sister shared this with me it had a greater impact than perhaps I realized in the moment. Immediately after our conversation I began thinking about all the things I was grateful for in my life and I decided to make a quick post on Facebook to share the news about my dad.

But before I do that I’ll tell you how this story ties into today’s article.

After I made my post to Facebook I immediately began receiving comments and “likes”. A couple dozen to be exact, definitely more than I’ve ever received for any of my previous posts.

Apparently parental support is a huge issue for a lot of us. So this got to me thinking about the power of sharing bits and pieces of our personal story with our followers.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always feel comfortable sharing intimate details of my personal life on the web, especially in regards to my family.

But I’ll tell you that I learned something very valuable when I shared that tidbit about my dad on Facebook, the first being that our followers deeply desire to connect with us on a deeper level.

In general I believe we deeply desire real connection, we all want to know what connects us, what makes us relatable?

I have no doubt that some of you reading this have gotten flak from someone close to you who doesn’t understand your decision to turn your passion for photography into a livelihood.

Maybe it’s a close friend, a spouse, your parents or a sibling who’s suggested (perhaps numerous times:-) that you should forget about this “picture-taking thing” and go get a “proper job”.

If you’ve experienced this in your life then you can understand how having the support of the people closest to you can make a significant impact on your life. Just having someone tell you that they’re proud of you can totally shift your energy and make your journey less lonely.

I believe that one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to remember what you’re grateful for in your life.

It could be the clients you do have, having access to camera gear that works, definitely a supportive family member or friend.

Or it could be that at this stage you truly know what you want out of your life regardless if you’re living the outcome you initially envisioned at the moment.

Whatever it is, I suggest you write it down.

• Start your day and end your day in a state of gratitude.

• Share what you’re grateful on your Blog or Facebook like I did.

• Call someone, send an email or a hand written note to tell someone that you’re grateful for them being in your life.
• Stop going it alone and get support.  I offer a monthly support call for this very purpose.

The Benefits for Expressing Gratitude:

• Regular expression of gratitude is the key to having more opportunities show up in your life to be grateful for.
• Studies show that people who regularly express gratitude are less stressed and have better relationships.
• People love to connect with people who are real and transparent. Freely sharing what you’re grateful is the bridge towards genuine connection.

Your homework:

• Try expressing gratitude for what you have in your life presently. It could be anything or anyone. Try it for a week and notice how you feel.
• Tell someone one close to you that you’re grateful for them being there. Do this with no expectation.
• If you’re active on social media share one thing your grateful for this week. Alternatively you could post it to your blog.
• Check out a website called GratitudeLog.com.
• If you’d like to learn more about my monthly support community visit my website to learn more about my book. It includes FREE access to my monthly support calls.

I’m a member of the site and it’s a great forum to connect with others who have made a commitment to live a life dedicated to gratitude.

I’ll leave you with this quote:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
~Melody Beattie

There are many, many things in my life for which I am grateful. If I named everything I would be here all day, but for starters I tell you that:

I’m grateful that you inspire me to continue to do the work I do.

All of the articles and books I continue to write, the tele-classes I conduct, your comments and feedback, to my affiliations, partnerships and colleagues I am grateful for it all.

I’m grateful to all the people who continue to inspire me with their courage and tenacity for that I am most grateful.

And finally if you’re reading this I can easily tell you one thing I’m truly grateful for… YOU!

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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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Learn what makes a photographer valuable from a buyer’s perspective. Vision vs. Budget. Still vs. Motion. Marketing tools that actually get noticed. Hear about the best ways to present and get face time.

Learn how an account moves through an agency and how to build your relationship with key players. Understand why your book always gets called in but you never get the nod.

Get into the heads of your customer via the head of Ms. Morton, one of Canada’s top art buyers and one of photographers favorite bloggers.

To learn more about Heather visit her blog.

Here are 10 key points from her discussion:

1. Tightly focus your vision as well as your portfolio. Clients prefer to work with specialist over generalists.

2. Focus on creating trust and relationship building (not just the sale) but setting the stage for long term sales opportunities.

3. To create effective promotions try to tie them to current and seasonal events. For example: if your photographic style is ‘Romantic’ in nature then create a promotional program promoting that fact (say Valentines Day for example).

In other words: Start looking at your work objectively and then create parallels between your subject with what’s happening in the world.

4. Be Nimble: in essence be a problem solver for your client, focus on coming up with solutions and efficiency including financial as well as job execution.

5. Art buyers look for story and how you execute a story demonstrates your ultimate value to them. Your portfolio must display consistency, not just ‘one stand out image’

6. Word of mouth plays a much larger role in how jobs are assigned than photographers may realize. Image, atmosphere and commitment is KEY!

7. Get in your expectations in check before you show your book. And be careful to always show new work when re-presenting your book to art buyers you’ve previously contacted.

8. Consistency in your branding is key. Use the same logo, color scheme, type font or whatever you use to stand apart and do so with consistency.

9. Your book (professional portfolio) should be a ‘work of art’. Put a lot of care and attention into creating a book that creates a visual opportunity for a potential art buyer. Your book should encourage an art buyer to spend time with it and create a lasting impression.

10. Make sure there is a match between what you create and what the agency needs. Invest time in doing your homework: check out the website to see what types of accounts they handle. If there is a match follow through, if not, continue to do your research to find agencies who would be a match.

Ready to go further?
This is just an overview, of course Heather went into much more detail during her session with Selina.  To learn the complete process on how to attract the attention of art buyers, how to build and maintain relationships and of course how to set the stage for long term sales add Clarion Call 2011 to your marketing resource library.

What is Clarion Call?
Clarion Call consists of 14 MP3′s that covers every possible topic for commercial photographers from art buying, to working with video and motion to rebranding your photography business and much, much more.

Right now until February 24th (that’s next Thursday) you can pick up this ground breaking program at either the Silver and Gold levels for a very generous price.

Visit the website to see the complete program and the topics offered. Be sure to scroll to the end of the page to see all three program options and what each entails.

Additional Bonuses:
If you would like more hand holding and personal attention, Selina Maitreya offers a Platinum Package that includes an expert coaching package and several incredible bonuses. See the page and be sure to scroll to the bottom to see the various packages.

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Today’s video was created by author and Portfolio and Marketing Consultant for commercial photographers Selina Maitreya!

In it she talks about the power of asking questions prior to presenting your portfolio during a sales call.

And speaking of sales calls, Selina has tirelessly developed an exciting new program based on calls, 14 of them of to be exact.  This new program is called Clarion Call 2011!

Clarion Call features some of the most respected names in the world of professional photography all of whom will be sharing their tips, tools and insider information on how to find clients, increase sales, leverage and grow your photography business.

To see the incredible lineup of speakers and to secure your seat click on the following link to secure your space!

Remember it totally free to attend but your must ACT SOON!

Clarion Call – February 11 and 12th 2011!

All the best, Rodney

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Attention The View From Here Fans! – My friend and colleague Selina Maitreya creator of The View From Here (Best Selling) MP3 Training Program just sent me a notice announcing the launch of her new community fan page hosted on Facebook.

Current owners of  TVFH reported that they wanted more community and more involvement with Selina so in response she created a community fan page. You can join the community if you’re a current Facebook member, if not (and why aren’t you?) you need to get with the program because you are missing tons.

Anyway, here is the link to join TVFH community – http://tinyurl.com/3x3etvx

If you haven’t picked up one of the most revolutionary programs for professional photographers on the market to date you really should consider adding it to your library. The View From Here is a 9-part audio program in MP3 format, meaning you can download it instantly, load onto your iPod and you’re good to go. In addition Selina has provided a handy table of contents in PDF format and a FREE 30-minute tutorial.

Many photographers have reported that they are listening to Selina on their iPods as they work, play or hang out at Starbucks.  In addition Selina has offered my subscribers a generous 50% discount! To learn more, listen to a fantastic interview I did with her and view a complete outline of the program click here – http://tinyurl.com/2ecssza

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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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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 was introduced to these neat little cards recently at a seminar I attended. It was given to me by a novice photographer who taken shots of his young daughter and family dog. I was so impressed with the quality and the cleverness of design that I immediately decided to order a set of my own (featured below). For about $30 dollars you’ll get 100 cards custom printed “mini cards” plus a stylish card holder/presenter.

The features that stand out most for me is the fact that you can display a variety of images from your portfolio; (This allows you to easy update your cards as your portfolio changes). For example, every 18 cards or so in the pack will feature a different image, (while the text on the opposite side remains the same).

Also I love the “mini” size (that in of itself makes the cards a great conversation piece) I guarantee you’ll receive a intrigued reaction at your next networking event.

When you visit the website make sure you order the card holder, there are several colors and styles to pick from.

Another benefit I appreciate about MooCards is that they don’t require a huge investment of time or money to print new cards. I received mine in less than a week after placing my order. To learn more about Moo and order a set of your own visit their website.

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If you’re familiar with social networking then you’ve most likely heard of Facebook. Facebook is arguably one of the most popular social networking tools available for photographers and creative service providers on the Internet.

As a creative marketing consultant I spend quite a bit of time exploring various fan pages that I am invited too by creative professionals. Unfortunately on many I find the a very vital key of client attraction missing from their pages and that’s the topic of today’s article, how to create a client attractive Facebook Fan page.

1. Target carefully and with intention - For example, the bulk of my clients are pro and aspiring pro photographers, and in my work one of the first things we examine is their social networking outlets. Typically the first thing I notice is photographers “following and friending” solely other photographers. In a typical conversation I’ll ask the question, “If you are a photographer who specialize in the portraiture of women –  and so for the sake of this illustration let’s say you photograph expectant mothers. Why then are majority of your followers other photographers? The point being in order for this photographer to find more clients he or she must start inviting people that fit their target profile.

As you build your base of fans and followers you need to ask yourself: “Does this person fit my client profile?” If not, you can make the decision whether or not to include them on your fan page, but for best results you should focus your efforts on inviting people that fit your ideal client profile.

2. Be informative - As your list of “targeted” fans grows make sure you provide useful content by sharing your knowledge and demonstrating your expertise. One way to do this is to post content that will educate and inspire your target audience. There are many opportunities to demonstrate your expertise via short articles, tip sheets, MP3 audio recordings, and video slide show presentations, behind the scenes videos or still shots with “diary” style entries.

If you do this properly much of the pre-selling will be done for you to the point that when your prospect decides to contact you they are 80 -90% ready to work with you.

Often content creation is where many photographers become stumped because they “think” that the only content they can offer is their photography. The bottom line, make sure that your content is engaging, solves a problem or answers a question for your client. This takes us to the next step.

3. Close with a strong call to action – Again clients hire you to solve problems and in order to do that you have to know what it is. All that’s left is to communicate that you are “the photographer” who can solve it. One of the easiest ways to do this is craft what I call a “call to action statement” or mission statement, emphasis on “call to action”. For example, I’ll share mine with you,

Call to Action Statement

“Are you photographer or creative professional who suffers with “marketing reluctance, but who understands that marketing is vital to client attraction?” If this sounds like you then you are in luck because I specialize in Client Attraction for Creative Professionals. As a matter of fact I have helped photographers and other creative professions develop systems that makes client attraction a snap!

If you would like to learn how you can attract more clients and grow your photography business I’d like to invite you to check out my program designed especially for solo entrepreneurs who specialize in the arts and it’s called the “Client Attraction Starter Kit” and it’s available for FREE on my website at photo-marketing-mentor (dot) com. Visit my website today to CLAIM your copy! -end-

Can you see how the above statement would be enticing to anyone who fits my ideal client profile rather than just a listing my name and contact information?

So to take this a step further, once you craft your “call to action mission statement” you can now use it on all of the content that you produce. For example, you can verbalize it at the end your audios, display it at the end of your videos and articles. Post it throughout your fan pages, website and blog.

This is how you make your Facebook fan page more client attractive. Let’s recap.

1) First, define your target audience and invite them into your space
2) Second, once you connect inform with content that inspires, educates and entertains them, and…
3) Finally, lead your fans into taking action by crafting a “take action” mission statement that will ensure they do just that, take action.

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It is said that is easier to get business from someone who’s already given some, than to find a new client.

Think about how much it costs you in terms of time as well as money to acquire a new client. As it becomes more challenging to acquire new clients (especially in this current economic climate) it is far easier to go back to former clients and ask for new business.

Unfortunately many photographers tend to be on the side of the fence where they are constantly prospecting and searching for new clients. Nothing wrong with it, but it can be an awful time consuming process. If find yourself in this situation one way to break free of it is to ask yourself, “how can I serve my existing clients or former clients in new ways?”

In this article I am going to give you three suggestions you can use to keep your calendar full with additional work from existing clients while resurrecting relationships from former clients for new work. The key is to position yourself as your clients “in house” photographer.

1. Ask - I know it sound simple, but you’d be surprised how many photographers fail to ask for additional work while they are working with existing accounts. There several ways to do this with finesse for example; you can have your new clients fill out a questionnaire at the start of the job. The questions should relate to the job you’ve been hired to do.

Let’s say for example you are an architecture photographer then you could ask if they need printing work done like annual reports and other collateral materials. You could inquire about photographing other buildings or residential properties they have in their portfolio (including interiors).

Once you get to this level other possibilities could include photographing the principal owners in the companies family portraits and events. The key is to allow additional opportunities to flow naturally, but not let them slip through your fingers because you failed to ask.

2. Court former clients you can do this by dropping notes about your interest in working with them again via hand written note cards, handwritten works better because it shows that you took the time to contact them and not just send a form letter. Handwritten letters are often referred to as a warm letters. Think of it like the holiday letter that your aunt writes to update everyone of the families previous years accomplishments and activities.

In addition if you’ve won any awards, received any significant press coverage or been acknowledged in any way there is nothing wrong with dropping a note about your achievements or perhaps even a tear sheet.

3. Offer to schedule a lunch or coffee date nothing gets your prospects attention faster than a face-to-face meeting. As a matter of fact when you send your warm letters you can place a pre-addressed stamped card to inquire if the recipient would be in interested in scheduling such a date. This is great way to follow up with your notes and/or warm letter.

Again nothing demonstrates your intention to be of service than sitting down one-on-one with someone. Remember to keep the conversation focused on their needs, not yours. You don’t want to come across like you’re desperate for work. And finally ask, ask for referrals, ask for recommendations and finally be sure to offer a referral fee or a discount on the next job you do for the person who referred you.

I realize in this article that I have touched on some issues that could raise concerns for some photographers reading this regarding spreading yourself too thin. For example, “If I offer to shoot anything and everything for my clients won’t that dilute my marketing message?” I say, not necessarily. Let’s look at it from two perspectives.

Let’s first address the issue concerning your skills; I mean it may easier for an architectural photographer to shoot portraits than for a wedding photographer to shoot architecture. I don’t know you know your capabilities more than I, the bottom line, if you don’t feel comfortable working in an area outside of your marketed specialty then don’t offer the service.

On the other hand if you are confidant you can execute the assignment I say, go for it.

The second point addresses positioning yourself from a marketing prospective. Let’s say you are an architectural photographer obviously you’ll want your portfolio, website and conversation with prospective clients to be centered on architecture. This applies to any photographer in any specialty.

The key to becoming your clients “in house photographer” is to present yourself as well as you possibly can in your chosen specialty, then once you’re “in” with the client, continue to probe and uncover how you can be of further service. Finally, do, deliver, rinse and repeat.

Bonus Info: Are you an entrepreneurial minded photographer? Would you like to learn how to Attract More Clients & GROW your business in the next 12 months? Guaranteed!

To find out how I’d like to offer you my Client Attraction Starter Kit that includes: a 5-part mini audio course, “5 Secrets To Attract More Clients & Grow Your Photography Business!” Plus a complimentary subscription to my bi-weekly ezine “Eye On Marketing”. You can claim your FREE Client Attraction Starter Kit by visiting: www.Photo-Marketing-Mentor.com

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