NOBODY CARES!

Well maybe their girlfriends, boyfriends, wives, mothers, fathers, husbands and grandparents – but not the client. I spent a long time in the retail photography business. I know most of the successful people in the retail photography business. NONE of them believes being an “award-winning” photographer has increased their sales.

Since EVERYONE is an “award-winning” photographer, it’s merely a marketing phrase without a distinction. If you’re relying on a long list of awards to sell your work, don’t quit your day job. People don’t buy WHAT you do or HOW you do it – they buy WHY you do it.

Your clients haven’t ever heard of PPA or WPPI or ASMP, etc. They don’t care about that. They just want to know that they like your work, that you have the same beliefs, feelings and desires that they do, that you are likable and that you have passion for protecting their memories.

Whether you’re “PPA-CERTIFIED” or whatever means nothing. How do I know? Well first I used a focus group with a company called Simmon Marketing Research back in the mid 90s. We asked people why they buy professional photography. Not one time did they indicate the fact that it was because they had the chance to buy from an “award-winning” photographer.

And I sat for and passed one of the early PPA Certification exams. I proudly displayed my “PPA Certified Professional Photographer” sticker on the door to my studio and included that phrase in my marketing materials and my business wasn’t one percent better the next year.

People don’t buy what you do – they buy why you do it. Your list of awards (were they awards on Flickr or Facebook or even those from WPPI? Nobody knows or cares) means nothing to the potential client.

Spend time convincing people you care about them and you won’t need any awards.

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Your About section is the one location you have on your site to just talk about why you’re a photographer. It’s a waste of space to talk about what you’ve done. People aren’t interested in what awards you’ve won in print completion, what degrees you have or what conventions or events you’ve attended.

This is your opportunity to open your heart about why you love photography, working with clients, documenting the human spirit and capturing memories. This is about who you are as a person.

Stay away from an endless stream of testimonials. They’re nice, but ineffective. Seriously, when you see a series of testimonials on any product or service you’re buying for yourself do you honestly believe they’re legitimate? If you have a quote from a celebrity, a well-known magazine in which your work was featured that’s fine, but the repetitive stream of clients who are thanking you for your past work is a waste of valuable real-estate on your site.

Your About section should relate your passion for the craft. It’s an opportunity for you to reach out to your potential client and really show them who you are.

Show your sense of humor. Play off of words like “trust” and “integrity”. Share your belief in the importance of being unique.

Don’t let your ego drive your About section and NEVER talk about your competitors. Negative selling doesn’t do anything except create a curiosity for clients to go look at what you’re complaining about!

Today, thanks to video, you’ve got a chance to take your About section one step further. Justin and Mary Marantz, photographers in Connecticut did it on their site and created one of the finest About pieces I’ve ever seen. Here’s the link and as you watch it, pretend you’re looking through the eyes of a future bride!

You’re About Section of your website together with your galleries are the two most important components of your website. In the next post we’ll wander intp your galleries with some great suggestions on how to make your website an effective marketing tool, not just a place to list your phone number and show a few pictures!

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This post sponsored by Album Epoca

Today as a result of the Internet and Social Media, every photographer has the potential for the greatest “reach” in the history of photography and communication.  Reach is an old advertising term that started out as simply meaning how many people you could touch with an ad or publication.  Twitter, Facebook, blogs and your website give a photographer today more reach than most of your local newspapers had just a few years ago.

At the core of everything you do is your website. It’s home-base and the equivalent of a bricks and mortar store before the Internet.  What amazes me is how little attention is given to most websites. Here’s my point…

If you were building a new house or better yet a new studio, you’d pay attention to every detail. You’d spend hours deciding on flooring, tile or wood…do you want carpet in your office…then, you’d decide on the size of your shooting area. How big a dressing room do you want? Do you want a full kitchen and the ability to entertain clients. You’d spend an incredible time considering window and skylight placement and the exposure of the building to maximize natural light. The list goes on and on.

Well, if that’s the case then why do so many of you spend so little time on your websites? Your website is your front door – it’s your store – your bricks and mortar equivalent for reaching hundreds of potential clients. Yet, so many websites look like bombed out buildings in Beirut!

“In today’s information age of Marketing and Web2.0 a company’s website is the key to their entire business.” Marketing Speaker, Marcus Sheridan.

So, knowing your site is the key to your entire business, isn’t it time you really took a look at your site and went to work on turning it into an incredible shopping destination for every potential client?

Over the next few posts we’ll look at each aspect of your site, but for today, you only need one thing. Take a good look at your website and start your “to-do” list of things you could be doing better!

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Welcome to the GoingPro podcast.

You can direct-download the MP3 here.

Or get the entire GoingPro stream here - http://goingpro2010.podomatic.com/

Skip and Scott answer audience questions about the business of photography.

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This post sponsored by Adorama – More than a camera store

“It doesn’t matter what your business model is as a photographer. It matters what the customer’s buying model is.”

WoW! That just won’t leave me alone. I hate to admit it because nothing is harder than change, but change we must. Gone are the days when we can just send some negatives to the lab, order some cheap 8×10 prints, put them in a black folder, mark them up 400 percent and call it a day.

Digital delivery is here – the cloud is part of our lives. What are we going to do about it? Nobody has fought harder to protect the intellectual property rights of photographers than I have but lately, I see that as a mistake. Conversations with Trey Ratcliff have been particularly impactful for me in this regard. He’s embraced Creative Commons and seen his business soar.

I see other signs. Brides are increasingly more interested in having their weddings in digital format. Everyone wants a DVD or CD. For years I’ve said don’t do that! But now – I’m leaning the other way. Why?

The customer’s BUYING model trumps my BUSINESS model.

If the customer wants digital files and I don’t provide them the customer won’t buy from me. That’s a problem.

In the past, those of us in the industry with some authority fought against the “shoot and burn” business model. I am still against THAT model in the sense that shooting a wedding for $500 and giving the couple all the un-retouched files is a bad idea.

But if you charge enough, and get paid well enough, then I have no problem giving up the digital files. In the end it simply doesn’t matter what you or I think about this. All that matters is what the customer thinks. The customer is going that way – and the customer is going that way with or without us.

This requires much more thought and more discussion but I know one thing – I don’t want the customer going down the road that I am not on.
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This post sponsored by Album Epoca