Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Because it is its purpose to create a customer, any business enterprise has two—and only these two—basic functions: marketing and innovation.” — Peter Drucker
But First: Did you remember to change your clocks…
Some photographers, including myself, are not naturally adept at marketing and, at the same time, not solvent enough to afford to hire a dedicated marketing or sales person. This means that the bulk of marketing falls upon us but the process doesn’t have to be traumatic. Here’s a few easy tips that, over the years, I’ve found can work for you.
Business cards are your single most important marketing and promotional tool. While tiny, this card has billboard-like implications. You should avoid using generic cards from a business-card-in-minutes machines or the temptation to print cards on your ink-jet printer.
Potential clients are also less likely to toss out something that has a quality look and feel especially if it has a photograph of a person on it. To them it’s a real photograph. I have found that people hang onto photo cards for years and one day there’s a call about an assignment, all because they hung onto the card.
Take a look at cards that are available from Moo. Make sure the card has your website, e-mail and social media addresses. I have different cards for the different things that I do; you can read about my approach here. I recently some new ones that have a portrait featuring my current look.
Wear your company name. An entrepreneur that I know always wears a golf shirt that’s emblazoned with his company’s logo. These are nice-looking shirts too, some are silk but all of them get attention because you never know where your next sale might come from. Several of his clients liked the shirts so much they’ve asked him to give them one, turning themselves into walking advertisements for his company.
Pre-pandemic I was photographing cars at a show in Los Angeles. On day one I dressed in a blazer and slacks and tried to photograph a racecar but it was surrounded by stanchions and ropes and I was never able get a good shot. On Day two I wore one of my long-sleeved shirts with the Tortuga Racing logo on the front and joefaraceshootscars.com on the back. When I went back to that same display, someone from the race team walks up to me and says “let me move these out of the way so you can get a better shot.” And while I;m shooting he returns and asks “Would you like some of our models to pose with the car?” Needless to say, I got much better shots on day two. Was it a coincidence that I was wearing the above shirt? Maybe. Maybe not.
Common courtesy. All of your marketing efforts don’t have to be expensive or even cost anything! Try smiling a bit more and never underestimate the importance of just being nice to your customers or potential customers. I think over-the-top customer service always pays off in the long run. And even if it it doesn’t, it just feels better to be nice.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, thank so very much.