Photo Marketing Mentor

Realize That You Have Cash Sitting On Your Hard Drive    - If you’ve been shooting for anything length of time it’s probably safe to assume that you have an extensive library of images on your hard drive just sitting there collecting virtual dust. Now is the time to go through work, print samples and breathe new life into your library.

Offer them on your website for sale -or- contact a small local gallery or perhaps even a coffee shop. Anyway you can get your work in front of eyes can be great way to raise your visibility. The benefits can range from direct print sales all the way to private commissions.

Expand Your Reach By Marketing Online As Well As Off - If you’re stuck on print marketing i.e. taking ads in physical publications or direct mail perhaps it’s time to start marketing your services online. Today we have so many options for getting the word out about our services from personal blogs to social media networking websites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter just to name a few. I urge you not to dismiss these tools as the domain of high school kids, trust me when I say that major business is being conducted via these sites.

I’m personally constructing educational programs for photographers and making deals with prospects that I’ve never physically met. Get online and expand your reach, it’s practically free and the benefits can be business transformational.

Adopt An Attitude of Bold-Thinking - When times are tight financially our natural inclination is tighten our purse strings, understandably. And while you don’t want to be fool hardly with your spending you don’t want to be stingy in your thinking. (What I mean is that now is time to adopt an out-of-the-box attitude, don’t automatically assume that you have “spend” more money.

Think how can I make better investments? Sometimes your investment will require a financial commitment, but in my experience I’ve found that some of the most powerful investments you can make are in “Relationships”. (So now is the time to think bolder, resist retreat and encourage reaching out. Contact individuals that you can create joint ventures with. These relationships can be other businesses that can use your images, or photographic expertise to promote their services and vice versa.

For example, a small hotel or resort may be interested in promoting a weekend photo workshop, especially if you can bring in new customers for them. Going back to the first point I made in this article about cash on your hard drive, see if you have images that you could print and offer for sale in local boutique or shop. I recently brokered a deal like this for a client and it was great opportunity for both the photographer and the shop owner.

Finally, don’t allow today’s challenging economic climate to knock the wind out of your business. Use this opportunity to think bigger. Money likes speed, don’t wait; get started today. Create a list of potential joint venture partners and see how you create an offer that combines what you love to shoot as a photographer with businesses that need to bring in new customers.

And now I’d like to invite you to get instant access to my free Client Attraction Starter Package that includes my 5-part training audio course and special report: 5 Secrets To Attracting More Clients & Grow Your Photography Business.  You can pick this course and several other valuable bonuses when you visit:

http://www.photo-marketing-mentor.com

You’ll receive tips, tools, techniques and strategies to help you either get your photography business off the ground -or- increase your existing business by opening new markets today!

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Welcome to my new video training series for professional photographers who want to attract more clients and grow their photography business. I will be offering new video lessons (about 20 in all) on a weekly basis, but if you would like to receive them more frequently you can do so when you sign-up to receive my new Client Attraction Starter Package program.

The Client Attraction Starter Package includes:
- My 5-Part audio training on client attraction and online marketing
- Also includes a “never been released” training seminar on Building Your Photography Business w/Referrals
- Finally you’ll receive a subscription to my ezine “Eye On Marketing” that will provide you with even more tips and training to help you Attract More Clients & Grow Your Photography Business.

To enroll in this package visit my website at http://www.photo-marketing-mentor.com - or you enter your first name and email address in the fields provided on the upper right hand corner of this blog.  Once you confirm the first lesson will be rushed right out to you.

If you’re ready for even more laser focused 1-on-1 training, I highly recommend my Photo Marketing Biz Blueprint Strategy Program, where you and I will spend some very valuable concentrated one-on-one time discuss your specific marketing needs. Then we will laser focus on the areas where you may be feeling stuck or confused and need some additional support to help move you forward.

At the conclusion of our session you will walk away with a personalized marketing blueprint that you can hand off to an assistant and implement immediately.

To learn more about my program visit my website @ http://www.photo-marketing-mentor.com/blog/strategysession

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A well crafted press release can be one of the quickest ways to attract attention for your business. The reasons why most people don’t use press releases generally falls into two camps, either, they don’t know how to write one (we’ll address that here in this article) Second, they’ve tried press releases in the past and received less than positive results so they gave up.

Press releases, especially online releases can get your business in front of millions of eyes in a matter of minutes. But before I get into specifics of crafting the release I want to assure you that if you follow the steps I’m going to outline below you’ll have the foundation of a winning press release that gets you noticed every time.

Here are my 3 keys to crafting an attention grabbing press release.

Key #1. An attention grabbing press release starts with an attention grabbing headline. Your headline is the most important part of your release. Why? Because it’s the first piece of text your reader sees and… most importantly if chosen properly it will insure that the reader will continue reading.

Open your release with a powerful question that stops the reader dead in his tracks.

Think about the results you want your reader to receive, what problem will you solve? For example, what questions have your customers been asking that your press release could address? I’ll give you a couple of examples.

For purpose of this article I’m going use a fictional portrait photographer and we’ll name her Jennifer. Jennifer specializes in portrait photography for business professionals, more specifically, people who hate to have their photos taken.

Jennifer has a personality that relaxes her clients and puts them at ease, so as a result her clients walk away from their session feeling better about themselves and they receive great photos as well. Jennifer understands that a lot of people hate to have their portraits taken but they must for business purposes.

What’s your goal? What do you want the reader to DO after reading your release? In the case of Jennifer she wants to attract more prospects to take advantage of her free 15 telephone consultation where she can discuss their needs, put their mind at ease and then ask for the booking. To make this happen Jennifer needs a headline that addresses the issues of her prospect. Here is a headline Jennifer could use:

“Is The Lack of a Professional Portrait Hurting Your Business Opportunities? -or- Do You Dread Having Your Portrait Taken?”

These are questions that stops the reader in his tracks, it poises them to ask themselves is this something that I am doing? If the answer is yes, they will continue to read. If not, they will stop, if they do no worries, they probably aren’t your ideal prospect anyway and they’ll move on.

The second reason why question based headlines are so powerful is that they remind the reader of their hot button issues or pain points. Let’s face it, if we don’t experience some level of discomfort chances typically we don’t act as quickly. In the case of Jennifer’s ideal prospect she wants to remind them that they are potentially missing opportunities because they’ve been avoiding having a professional portrait taken.

Okay so now that we have opened the release with a hot button issue it’s now time to aggravate it. How? By pointing specifically to what/and or how they are missing opportunities and then bullet pointing these hot button issues. So on to key number 2.

Key #2. Have the body copy of your press release flow naturally from your headline. So, if Jennifer’s headline is: “Is The Lack of a Professional Portrait Hurting Your Business Opportunities?” The next logical text will flow from that headline. Jennifer would continue highlight the problems her reader will experience if they continue to avoid having their business portrait taken.

For example:
• Not being able to book high end speaking engagements for radio or television interviews with meeting planners & producers because they don’t have a professional photo.
• Not being able to build trust with their online prospects because no one knows what they look like.
• Reminding them that a quality photo speaks louder than words.
• If the reader is a book author they must have a photo for the publisher.
• Publicists won’t work with them if don’t have a professional photo. Slows done success, Impedes opportunities.
• Some companies require a professional photo of their upper management team for their annual reports, websites and brochures.

A key way to make sure your body copy flows from your headline is to use bullet points like I did above. Try to hit on at least 5 to 7 hot button points that your reader can relate to or identify with. Also make sure that your services address these issues.

Remember, you are a problem solver for your client. So once you’ve reminded them of their pain by asking a powerful question, aggravate it further by pointing out what they are missing out on via bullet points. Now it’s time to introduce them to the solution, your solution. This moves us on to key number 3.

Key #3. Know in advance what you want the reader to do before you write the press release. In the case of Jennifer our photographer specializing in business portraits she wants to schedule more pre-booking consultations. So after her body copy she must close the press release with a compelling offer that make readers pick up the phone and call her to book their free consultation.

Jennifer’s sample closing: “If you dread having your portrait taken and your fear is now affecting your business opportunities I’d love to help. Contact me for a complimentary 15 minute: My Best Face Forward Makeover phone consultation”.

Visit my website today at: www.mylastheadshotsucked.com (play on words) to schedule your FREE consultation and as a gift you’ll receive a copy of my special report: 5 Simple Wardrobe Adjustments That Will Make Anybody Look 10 Pounds Thinner.

This brings us to the final and most vital component of crafting a client attractive press release. Close your release with an action that the reader will be required to take. Jennifer makes an offer that her reader must follow through on to receive. In this case, her free special report. The one thing I want you take away from this article is no where in Jennifer’s press release does she talk about herself or her credentials.

She doesn’t need to (not at this stage) the point is to focus on the issues and problems of the reader and compel them to act. Once they visit her website and register to receive the special report and book the free consult Jennifer can then introduce her credentials, but the press release is designed to do two things and two things only, grab the readers attention and cause an action.

And now if you would like help with constructing your first attention grabbing press release or help navigating on any type of online marketing tools available for professional and prosumer photographers visit my website at www.photo-marketing-mentor.com. When you go there you can download a copy of my Audio program and free special report: 5 Secrets to Attracting More Clients and Growing Your Photography Business.

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