marketing 9 - Behind the Shutter

Managing Middle Management: Booking Commercial Clients

Post author:Gary Hughes
Post category:Commercial Photography Shutter Magazine
Reading time:8 mins read

A year ago, we decided to do something drastic. We stopped marketing for portraits and weddings. The bookings started to slow down and then eventually dried up enough that we took them off our website completely. Scary? Yes. Crazy? Maybe. We have more than replaced that lost income, but we had to overcome some major hurdles. The first was to find the work. Getting that signed contract after an initial inquiry is the biggest hurdle. After a lot of trial and error, we have developed some solid concepts to help portrait photographers bid on and book commercial jobs. If you approach commercial inquiries with the same mindset as weddings, boudoir and babies, you will find yourself getting passed over a lot. If you want that sweet corporate payday, you have to think differently.

Open More Doors Through Better Sales Messaging

Post author:Paul & Melissa Pruitt
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:9 mins read

Sales can be scary. Sales means different things to different people. For some, sales can feel pushy or slimy. What comes to mind when you think car salesman? This is not the most positive way to look at sales. It can create internal challenges when it is time to sell your own services or products. We reframe selling as sharing, which is a much more positive approach to sales. If you have a good product or service and believe it can help others, why wouldn’t you want to share it? If you hold back on sharing, you might prevent someone from having a good experience. When you look at selling as sharing, it shifts your mindset that selling is a good thing that you need to do in your business, and it doesn’t have to be so daunting. Selling begins with your message and how you share what you have to offer. When the messaging is done correctly, your potential clients will be seeking you out for more information.

Making Money in Your Pajamas: Using Marketing to Influence Sales

Post author:Audrey Woulard
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:6 mins read

Sales and marketing are two things that professional photographers struggle with at some point in their career. If the two were easy to master, the percentage of failing small businesses would be a lot lower. When you market your business efficiently, the sales part becomes a lot easier. What is marketing? It’s basically the action or business of promoting and selling products or services. You can’t sell anything until you promote it. Promotion is marketing. How you promote ties directly into sales.

Creating the Perfect Sales Machine in 2018

Post author:Michael Anthony
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:11 mins read

It is not an easy journey from part-time photographer to full-time photographer with a successful studio. It is incredibly difficult to establish yourself in a new market, and it is even harder to maintain your status. 2017 marked a year where more businesses in the United States closed their doors than ever before. Facing a sea of competition, businesses have to fight for every customer they get, and that will never change. So with all of these challenges facing you, what is the recipe for success? The answer comes in three flavors, and today we are going to tackle them.

4 Ways to Make More Money

Post author:Vanessa Joy
Post category:Marketing Shutter Magazine
Reading time:7 mins read

I’ve always said the best way to make more money is to work more with the clients you already have—the ones who love your work, trust your judgment and have already given you their business. It’s much less work than finding new clients. Sometimes just by offering more to existing clients, not even doing full-blown sales sessions, you can earn tons. It made me about $20,000 the first year I gave it a try. Here are four ways you can make more money without spending any money at all.

The Top 5 Marketing Mistakes You Need to Stop Making Now

Post author:Jonathan Tilley
Post category:Marketing Shutter Magazine
Reading time:12 mins read

You’re a photographer, not a salesperson. Cut yourself a break. Pour out the chai/coffee/wine/absinth (no judgment) and listen up. You don’t need a master’s in business to become a successful photographer. But if you don’t immediately cut out a few things, you will turn into the cliché of the starving artist that your right-wing Uncle Barnie loves to mock, asking you at family gatherings, “So when are you going to get a real job?” To that I say, “Sit your fat ass down, Uncle Barnie. I’ve got this.” Stop pulling your hair out trying to employ these five marketing strategies everyone tells you to do but that bring in zero ROI.

Are You a Photographer or a Marketer? You Have to Be Both!

Post author:Sal Cincotta
Post category:Marketing Shutter Magazine
Reading time:9 mins read

Marketing is messaging. It’s that’s simple. Don’t overcomplicate it, which is easy for us to do. Yes, it’s social media, it’s bridal shows, it’s magazines, it’s networking, but all these things can be described in a single word: messaging. You must communicate the benefit of your product or service to potential customers. I am sure you are sitting there right now thinking, well, duh, Sal, the benefit is obvious, it’s our great images.

Chasing Perfection: 6 Ways to Improve Your Business in 2018

Post author:Michael Anthony
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:12 mins read

In this article, I speak to both the entrepreneur looking to build an empire and the photographer looking to make a few extra bucks and pursue his creative passion. Whichever camp you are in, you are still running a business, even if you are the creative who is employed by the entrepreneur. Business moguls often talk about how you have to take risks to get rewards. But as we kick off 2018, I want to talk more about our own community and industry, starting with the Behind the Shutter community.

The Best Client You Already Have: The Basics of Client Retention

Post author:Laurin Thienes
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:7 mins read

Like many of you, I fell into the world of entrepreneurship by default. I didn’t have an MBA or any business classes under my belt. I started out not really knowing what I was doing at all. Fast-forward almost 20 years, and the most valuable thing I’ve learned after those rough-and-tumble two decades is this: It is easier to work with the same client multiple times than it is to find new clients. Think two words: client retention.

Set Up Your Business for Success in 2018

Post author:Skip Cohen
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:13 mins read

This month marks the slow time of the year for most of us, the first quarter, but it doesn’t have to be. Many of us think that because the revenue stream slows down, so should the work. Being successful in business today is tough enough without the unnecessary challenges so many of you create for yourself. We all do it, me included. So, let’s look at two of the critical areas slowing your growth and come up with a few solutions to set 2018 up for your best year yet.