…but that’s a true statement about any service business.

There’s always going to be that occasional mooch looking for a free ride. You’re going to lovingly shoot them with no session fee, ask no minimum order, you’re going to begrudgingly post their photos to an online album because they desperately <insert weak excuse here>, then they’re gonna straight jack your proofs (watermark and all – maybe they’ll even cut it off in MS Paint!) and never spend a penny with you.

You know what?

Let it go.

One of the most common questions I get from new photographers is:

“How do I protect my photos from being stolen?”

This leads to discussions on proofing, watermarking, tracking, right-click disabling, copyright infringement, intellectual property law, and the real beneficiaries of such debate…lawyers.

The question is certainly valid, but the overwhelming concern – and the resultant long-winded opining from other photographers – is decidedly inverse to the real life problem and what it means to a portrait photographer.

Commercial photogs have something worth worrying about. Their images are carefully crafted, hugely expensive to produce, and they make their money through exclusivity and licensing. God bless’em, Copyright 101 is a required course for them.

But for us portrait photogs? You’ve got to get over yourself if you think you’re going to end up taking Jane Doe and her family to court for right-clicking on the proofs you posted online from y’alls photo shoot.

It’s fun to discuss the topic of copyright, to fantasize out loud to a frothing audience of fellow photogs about cease and desist letters, law suits, and reparations. We get to throw around words like infringement and punitive damages! You will even hear precious, rare stories from other photogs of successful copyright lawsuits. But for your everyday real life portrait photog, for example a part-timer like you or I, it’s just blustery self-important power-tripping horsesh*t.

Marketing guru Chris Garrett goes so far as to describe this mentality as exactly “How to Kill Your Brand in One Easy Step.” Popular Digger rsm33 sums it up nicely in reference to the RIAA’s attitude toward music lovers: “When you treat your customers like thieves, don’t be surprised if they stop buying things from you.”

Here’s what you really need to know:

Educate your client

Education (proactive) trumps persecution (reactive) every time.

Don’t stress out seeking every possible safeguard to put in place for protecting yourself from being taken advantage of.

It’s going to happen either way – you stand to lose more by wasting your time and treating clients like criminals than from any nefarious deed your occasional bad-seed clients come up with.

Most folks steal copyrighted digital works – MP3s, movies, your photos – A) because they can, and B) because they don’t liken it to stealing something In Real Life.

A good friend of mine, an educated, mature professional, asked me a few months ago where she could go online to “download movies.” I said iTunes. She said she wasn’t going to pay to download something from the Internet – the very idea was preposterous to her. I said that’s against the law. She didn’t believe me, so I showed her.

She had no idea.

Mates, if this woman didn’t “know better,” there’s a billion folks out there just like her.

Netizens like you and I are more wise to these truths than Mr. and Mrs. John Doe out there in the real world. Don’t let the curse of knowledge make you think otherwise. And don’t write your market off as slobbering boobs either, barbarians from which to protect your art – there are plenty of clients out there ready and able to drop hundreds to thousands of dollars on portrait photography who know little more about the Internet than where to find their e-mail and that skateboarding dog.

Here are some tips:

• The unequaled best way to prevent portraiture clients from stealing your proofs is to not put them online. You’re more likely to attract bargain hunters and right-click-savers at the entry-level end of the market, so if at all possible, do in-person proofing in your home, studio, or on a laptop at the cafe. You’ll retain complete control of your images at all times.
• If you must or prefer to do online proofing, get a retainer. I like to ask about half of my per-client average sale. This will ward off the worst clients, those who have no intention of spending money with you at all.
• If you proof online, disable the freakin’ right-click protection and warning javascript. It’s annoying, it’s insulting, and it just engages your client’s curiosity to solve the “problem” of subverting your safeguard – which will take about 10 seconds on Google. If someone wants to steal your proofs, it’s going to happen. Don’t treat your entire client base like criminals over a few potential thieves.
• Educate your client. When you’re talking about your digital file offerings, chat them up about how the files come with an “unlimited license for personal use” so they can legally share or print the files anywhere and any way they want. Telling them what they can do should clue them in to what they can’t do.
• If they ask about online proofs, let them know your retainer policy. “I’ve had problems with some folks stealing the online proofs and never buying anything at all. I know you guys wouldn’t do something like that, but instead of not doing online proofs at all for anyone, the retainer lets folks get online proofs if they want them. You get the full amount of the retainer in print and file credits, so it doesn’t actually cost anything.” It takes about 15 seconds to clearly explain this to a client, likely better than I’ve written it here – commit the line to memory and practice it until it flows as casually as regular conversation.
• If they scoff at paying a retainer, remind them they’re welcome to do an in-person proofing session, which of course requires no retainer. This is yet another advantage and tool in-person proofing gives you if you can do it.
• If they press the issue, listen to your gut. If you feel the client would still make a worthwhile buy if you put the photos online without a retainer, hey, you’re the business owner – exercise flexibility where you want. But if you feel the client may be trying to game you, don’t hesitate to say “No.” If they walk away, as I’ve said here before, you probably didn’t want them as a client anyway. Never be afraid to refuse a client or refer them out.

Set expectations

I’ve been doing professional photography here in Bandera County for over a decade. Between this and my position with the newspaper, most folks know me and I enjoy a solid reputation in the community. Also, being in a rural Texas market, most of the clients I deal with are right honest folk.

My market and my position within that market allow me to be casual with my business policies. I charge no session fee, have no minimum order, and if I feel good about a client, I’ll even break down and do online proofs without a retainer – but only if I feel very confident.

A few years ago I discovered that no session fee + no minimum order + automatic, ‘free’ online proofs = dismal sales, even in my normally friendly market.

Even I have to admit you can only be so casual about your policies before you’re not doing business anymore. Unless this part time photography business is just fun and games for you, there should be a gentleman’s understanding between you and your client that money will indeed exchange hands at some point.

You don’t have to be blatant, like forcing a minimum order, but subtle cues can build expectations with your client.

Try this:

• During your very first chat with a client, as you’re discussing their needs, be sure to ask questions that touch on the end product they want to walk away with. “Were you looking to end up with some digital files to print from and share on Facebook?” “What about a wall hanging, something to add a conversational centerpiece for your home?” “Wallets are a great choice for high school seniors because they can share them with all their friends, write little personal notes on the back, that sort of thing – and they come eight to a sheet!” You don’t have to be pushy about this; in fact, they don’t even have to know what they want. Having a casual chat on the topic at least plants the seed in their mind that an end product of some kind is the goal of the shoot.
• While you’re shooting, talk about potential end products for certain images while you’re making them. If I’m doing a full-length shot of a posed family, I’m going to comment that that image would make a nice portrait for the wall. If I’m doing goofy headshots of a high school senior, I’ll say something like “That’s hilarious, your friends are going to love these. They’d be perfect as wallet prints or digital files for posting on your Facebook!” Get the buzz started long before the sales session. As always, you’re not trying to manipulate them into buying something they don’t want; as their professional photographer, you’re guiding their buying experience and helping expose them to good uses for the photos they might not have otherwise considered. You should always be working to maximize the value your clients get from their experience and purchase with you.
• Chimp away during your shoot, and show your clients what you’re getting together. Here and there, mention a good use for a given image. Digital file, wall portrait, Facebook slideshow, collage, 8×10’s for grandparents, whatever would truly be a good end product for what you’re showing them.
• If you can subtly chat clients up about potential end products during the shoot, you’ll have an easier time during the sales session. You’ll have given them some ideas to think about, and when they sit down with you and you’re proofing the images with them, you can refer back to the suggestions you made during the shoot. “Here’s that group shot I said would be great for a wall portrait. Great expressions on this one, everyone looks sharp. You may like a different one out of the set, but that’s my favorite.” You’re not being arrogant or forceful, you’re guiding their experience. Again, you’re the professional – your client will appreciate your opinion and enthusiasm.
• If you’re proofing online, you have to build expectations and offer your sales advice by e-mail. When you send the gallery link to your client, include some comments about what images or sets of images you like for certain products, expose your client to interesting alternative products (like groupings, gallery wraps, collages, digital slideshows, whatever creative offerings you may have), and continue to create the expectation of a sale. I like to remind my client of the prices of my offerings, and let them know exactly how they can go about placing their order and the timeline for delivery of prints or a CD.

It can take some time and practice to become perfectly comfortable interlacing sales talk like this with casual conversation, but I guarantee you it does get easier the more you do it. It’s also very effective. I am blessed with great clients, but it’s no accident that certain expectations are made clear from the very first conversation or e-mail. Any potential mooches know I mean business from the start. And I’ve never had to be an ass about it to create that clarity.

Scaling your safeguards to fit your market

Chris Garrett views the issue this way:

1. Most people are honest, and your customers should not be treated otherwise unless there is a good reason.
2. When mitigating risks you should use appropriate, reasonable measures that do not put extra burden on brand new customers. This is a poor first impression.
3. A potential loss of a missed payment could be a better option than a severely disappointed potential advocate telling anyone who will listen their story.

Especially at the entry level, you may face some real challenges while you try to break into a target market that will both respect your work and have the innate expectation of spending money with you.

Triple these challenges if you’re doing business in a big city. I’m not trying to stereotype, but consistently I hear from photogs in the big cities who get overrun with cheap, pushy, needy bargain hunters at the first mention of having no session fee.

I suggest you start off as flexible and customer-friendly as you can, and introduce more stringent safeguards as absolutely necessary to protect your time investment. A flood of cheap clients early on does give you good practice at both your art and business, but you always deserve fair compensation for your time. As your client base grows, and as you start to earn buzz in better circles of clients, the bargain hunters will find someone else to haggle with.

Let’s play a little ‘if-then’ here:

• If you’re completely unknown as a photographer, have no paying clients, and no exposure in your market…then leave yourself wide open to being taken advantage of. No session fees, no minimum orders, no retainers, no ordering deadlines, and prices that err on the side of budget-friendly. Continue to guide your clients’ expectations, but chalk up the bad clients to portfolio building. The good clients? Shower them with love, get them on your newsletter e-mail list, get them on your Facebook friends list, and earn referrals to their friends. Focus your time this way and you’ll eventually be booked solid with only the best referrals of your best clients (file this under ‘Real Secrets of Success as a Part Time Photographer’.).
• If you’re getting lots of requests for online albums, and sales are dismal or non-existent after the shoot…then introduce a retainer for posting online proofs. Make it about half your per-client average sale. If you have no sales yet, make it something affordable but not Wal-Mart cheap – say, $40 or $50. If you’re keeping your per-client time investment down around four hours (pre-shoot, shoot, post processing, sales and follow-up), you’re at least guaranteeing yourself paperboy money. Don’t worry – keep shooting, improving your art, and growing your customer base, and you’ll step up to a better market and better averages in time.
• If you’re having problems with no-show clients (as in a one-in-two problem, not a one-in-10 problem)…then ask for a credit card number to reserve the booking. Let them know you won’t charge anything to the card – unless they don’t show up, in which case a cancellation fee will be charged. Even 10 or 20 bucks is enough to ward off the truly appointment-averse. You can even tell them they’ll get the cancellation fee back in print credits when they reschedule. I have luckily never needed a policy like this, but if I was getting stood up by half my clients, I wouldn’t hesitate to take steps to protect my time.
• If clients are avoiding a commitment to buy, saying they need to consult with their significant other, asking how long you keep the images on file so they can “buy a few now and get the rest later,” or any similar wavering…then introduce a deadline to purchase. When I set up an in-person viewing, I let the client know that after that viewing, I don’t guarantee to keep the images on file because of having to make room for current shoots. With online proofs, I like to give clients a week – certainly no less time than I asked for to process and post the images after the shoot. A gentler version of this is to introduce an archival fee to pull the images off DVD after a certain period.
• If your per-client sales averages are disappointing…then keep shooting. Only the very blessed fall bass ackwards into their ideal client base as an unknown photographer. If you can create luck like this, don’t let my words stop you. However, just about everything I write about here on PartTimePhoto.com assumes you’re starting from the beginning and working your way up the food chain. Exceptional art and exceptional marketing can catapult you right into a lucrative market, but both are skills learned over time. If you’ve already got either, you’re not waiting for my permission to get rich.
• If you’re in a brutal market that eats generous, customer-friendly photographers for breakfast…then go ahead and start charging a session fee. Have a minimum required order. You’re not running a charity, so if you’re straight up getting screwed by your market, take the necessary measures to ensure you aren’t donating your time to the benefit of unscrupulous clients. This is a worst-case scenario, a last stand against a barbaric enemy; you’re going to have to quickly and greatly step up your art and marketing to attract the kinds of clients who have no fear of session fees or minimum orders. Make no mistake, though: you can do it. It won’t be easy, but thousands of other photographers have done it this way, and so can you. Once you do break into that market and secure a foothold, you can again relax your policies and pack your schedule with good, profitable clients.

Nothing personal…but it could just be you

Don’t take this the wrong way…but if you’re consistently getting crappy clients, the problem may be that you’re marketing to the wrong people…or marketing the wrong things.

I had a horrible run on MySpace around 2006. This was when I was doing online proofing with no retainer, no session fee, no minimum order. Hell, I even threw my wife’s make-up artist services in for free!

Oh, I was busy as hell – I was downright popular, with my proofs adorning dozens of people’s MySpace profiles – but I wasn’t even making milk money.

This is when I learned my lesson about setting expectations with clients. This is when I learned that, when everything you do and say and market screams “I’M CHEAP AND DESPERATE,” you’re actively marketing yourself to the worst possible clients.

When you’re starting out, you really have to take your chances and take whatever clients you can get. Warm bodies in front of your camera at least give you the chance of making a sale and earning good repeat customers.

But if you’re overwhelmed with bad clients, start being more choosy in who you market to and how. This is tricky, but the idea is to gradually shift the focus of your proposition (what you have to offer as a photographer) away from your no-risk policies (no session fee, no minimum order, low prices) and toward the value of your art and experience.

If your web site design and content, for example, screams no session fee/no minimum order/no risk, but whispers about the quality of your art, you’re actively marketing to folks who are the least likely to have the expectation of spending good money with you. Makes sense, right?

As your client base grows and you get a good number of shoots under your belt, as your portfolio grows and your artistic talents develop, you can start tipping the scales of your marketing more in favor of the value of your art rather than the attractiveness of your policies. Less we-finance-anyone used car lot, more Mercedes dealership. Both business models work, but you’ll likely have to start at one end of the scale and work your way across to the other.

Trust your gut; trust your numbers as you compare per-client average sales to per-client time invested; trust your intuition as you judge your busy-ness versus your business… Adjust your marketing – its content, its voice, its target, its unique selling proposition – when you feel the time is right. Make small, gradual changes, and take time to measure the results. Then change again, measure again. Rinse and repeat.

You’ll know you’re top drawer when your marketing says, “If you have to ask, you can’t afford me,” and you’re still booked solid.

Until then, be flexible, show respect and love for your clients, but always maintain your self respect and self worth. If you don’t, you’ll burn out of the photography business before you have the chance to bring your art to the folks who would most appreciate and enjoy it.

Next Steps

• Get yourself a little text file going, or if you’re that kind, an Excel spreadsheet. Start keeping track of your clients and a few simple details: who are they, where did they find out about you, why did they choose you for their photos, how much did you profit from their purchase, how much time did you personally dedicate to that client from first contact to sale/delivery/follow-up. As this database grows, you’ll start to have enough information to see trends: maybe you’re getting your worst clients from MySpace, but your best clients from Facebook; maybe your most profitable per-hour-invested clients are coming from Craigslist of all places. This simple act of measurement will give you all the data you need to make intelligent, effective decisions about who your best clients are, where you’re getting them from, and how. Now go out there and get more just like them.
• Think of your Top 3 best clients this month. They can be your best because you had fun with them, or because they spent good money with you (it doesn’t always have to be about profit, ya know). Open up your e-mail and send them a heartfelt thank-you note right this moment. Just let them know how much you truly appreciate their business. Let them know you’re always happy to serve their photography needs; let them know you welcome the business of their friends and family, also, if any are in the market for good photos. Plant the referral seed and watch it grow.
• Are those Top 3 recent clients on your e-mail newsletter list? Are they fans of your Facebook page? If not, get them there. Ask permission to add them to your list. Invite them to visit your Facebook page and become a fan. Are your photos posted to their Facebook album? If not, send them watermarked proofs of their favorite images to share on Facebook if they like.
• Brainstorm session: Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and try to forgive the wrongs your bad clients may have done to you. Relax. Let go. With this calm clarity, really evaluate: How have you been wronged by clients in the past? Stolen proofs? Pitiful purchases? Wasted time? How many of these bad clients have you had versus how many good clients? What’s the ratio? Are you dealing with so many of these bad clients as to hurt your enjoyment overall of being a part time photographer? Are they notably hurting your per-client average sales? What of the above-discussed safeguards and marketing changes could you gradually implement to ward off these bad clients? File this in your Brainstorms folder (and if you feel ready, make a change today!).
• I’ll be honest with you: I do not have an exceptional knowledge of copyright law, at least beyond the basics as it relates to independent photographers, and even that I don’t make use of unless I’m calling out a client for blatantly stealing from me when I know they know better (or if I’m licensing images to a commercial client, which is just a small part of my business). I’m all about education however, so if you want to know more about copyright law as it applies to photographers part time and otherwise, just Google it. Some great resources can be found from Kodak, Editorial Photographers, and PhotoLaw.net.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• What’s the most egregious act of thievery a client has committed against you? What actions have you taken to keep bad clients from getting in front of your camera in the first place? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Your first photo proofing and sales session – Your First Customer Series, Part 9
• What should I charge for my part time photography? – Your First Customer Series, Part 3
• Top 15 Internet Marketing methods, from least to most effective, from Darketing to Arketing
• How do I get my first photography client? – Your First Customer Series, Part 4
• How to make money as a part time portrait photographer – Startup Series, Part 1

It’s bluebonnet time here in Texas. Wide open fields of beautiful blue flowers can be found all around the state, and photographers are out in force recording the sweet scenery.

The ‘kid sitting in a field of bluebonnets’ photo session is as cliche as they come here in Texas. You can’t drive very far without seeing a parent pulled over to the side of the road trying to get their kid to stop squinting at the sun while traffic whizzes by.

Most photographers around here have entire seasonal promotions built around the “bluebonnet sessions.” It’s predictable, the imagery is always the same, but photogs sell it and parents buy it by the pound.

First question: What seasonal outdoor shoots could you promote in your area?

Just here in the Texas Hill Country we have springtime bluebonnets, summers at the river, autumn leaves at the state natural areas, and since there’s no snow as far south in Texas as my studio is, there’s plenty of craggy, leafless trees in the winter which make a dramatic backdrop for artsy model-style photos.

Look at the work of nature and landscape photographers in your area. Attend one of their guild meetings each quarter and see what they’re preparing to shoot. They can tip you off to some of the most beautiful locations and moments to capture the unique scenery of your area. Figure out how to stick a kid or a family or a high school senior in that scene, and you’ll throw down some very salable images with Mother Nature providing the stage.

Second question: How can you differentiate?

Odds are the obvious natural scenery shots in your area have been done to death. Even if you just rinse and repeat, you’ll probably move plenty of sales.

But as always, you want to look at what “everybody” is doing, and find a way to do it differently or the entire opposite. Let your imagination run and see what ways you can dream up to turn the cliche seasonal shots into something unique and special.

I had done good, solid, dependable, typical Team & Individual shots for a local youth flag football league for years before I saw the work of a very imaginative photographer down in Corpus Christi while I was on vacation at the coast. I had always looked at T&I photos as rinse and repeat – so long as I did the same thing each year, they’d keep hiring me.

But the work I saw posted at a restaurant in Corpus opened my mind to a new way of shooting that type of photo. This photog treated T&I shoots like a corporate or environmental portrait. Location, but with strobes and dramatic lighting, strong wide angles, and exciting complimentary elements like reflections in golf club heads, baseball bats extending deep into the image, and a shower of tennis balls around a stoic high school athlete. Really unique, interesting stuff.

You think this guy’s annual contract was secure with the teams he shot? Think he could charge more (maybe a lot more) for his prints and packages than the other photogs doing rinse and repeat?

No doubt.

Apply the same level of imagination and execution to your seasonal scenery portraits and you’ll differentiate in a way that will bring your clients back year after year, checkbooks in hand.

As with any business endeavor, the more time and layers of depth, complexity, and attention to detail you apply to a project, the harder you make it for your competition to copycat.

How can you take your outdoor portraits over the top? Rent a bucket truck to give you an angle nobody else is getting, bring a bag of strobes and shoot at night, lightpaint your subject and scene, climb trees, hike away from the roadside, go urban instead of natural, get low and shoot up or get up and shoot down, bring in props and juxtaposing elements (how pretty would a nice park bench or a couch look in that field of flowers? How about a classic pickup truck with a candy paint job?), if everyone shoots in white button-ups and jeans then get your clients to wear dress suits or swimsuits, if everyone is shooting beside the river put your client in it…

Options are limitless with some imagination and the courage to do something brave and different, something outside the box or never done before – at least in your market. Your competition will be jealous and your clients will be thrilled.

Break the mold = break the bank.

Widening your network to widen your wallet

The best portrait photographers will tell you that success in our industry is a great deal influenced by relationships – making real connections with your clients, through great service and great art.

For our seasonal scenery portraits, let’s take that idea to the back end work – relationships with proprietors of choice properties can give you access to scenery that no other photographer can touch.

Here in Texas, there are lots of big acreage landowners. Mostly ranchers, some farmers, some folks who just like to own a thousand acres here and there.

Just as I like to have a good relationship with local clergy for my wedding work and business owners for my urban senior work, I like to seek out and make friends with my area ranchers and landowners whose private property is a wonderland of outdoor portrait delights.

Babbling brooks. Waterfalls. Long-stretching white fence lines. Rolling fields of tall grass and wildflowers. Dense, lush, green forests. Big red barns! Hay bales! Cows!

If you see a spot from the road that would make the perfect location for one of your shoots, don’t be shy – seek out that property owner and work on getting their permission to book shoots there. Most are flattered and happy to let you shoot there for free, or for the price of a nice print for their wall, or even a small rental fee.

Whatever the cost, odds are that unique access will give you images that no photographer in your area can get, and each location you add to your list will be one more way you differentiate from your competition.

Landowners here in Texas are as protective of their land as they are proud. I don’t for a moment condone trespassing on private property as a smart way to expand your portfolio. I unintentionally ended up shooting without permission at a private pond one time, and I was met by two men with rifles and stern words shortly after I arrived. I may not have gotten shot, but I did ruin an opportunity to land access to a really beautiful location.

Be mindful, and be respectful. It takes one knock on the door or phone call to get permission and do things the right way.

Next Steps

• Hit up Google and research your area for its resources of natural beauty. What unique scenery pops up in your area in each season? What do the nature and landscape photographers in your area shoot and post on their web sites? Where are your parks, big and small? Where are your water features? Where are your farms and fields of crops?
• Call up a few of those nature photographers and ask for ideas on what to shoot and where. They may even offer to give you a tour of some of their favorite spots.
• Visit your local visitor’s bureau or Chamber of Commerce and ask what seasonal events exist related to the local scenery. Strawberry festivals, watermelons festivals, wildflower tours, birding and nature walks, state natural area fall foliage reports, etc. What kinds of specials could you run in concert with these events?
• Get in the car, or better yet on the cycle, and explore the highways and backroads in your county. Where’s the pretty scenery at? Any public or private locations that would make for incredible photo shoots? Take notes and reach out to whoever you need to in order to gain permission and invaluable access.
• Brainstorm session: Close your eyes and get an image in your head of the most obvious seasonal nature portraits for your area. Now, turn your imagination up to 11, and write down a bunch of creative, fun, unique ways of shooting these scenes with an attention-grabbing twist. Furniture, props, vehicles, dissonant wardrobe, different times of day and night, different angles and lenses. Jot these down and file in your Brainstorms folder.
• What are some of your best landscape and natural discoveries during your explorations? What does nature provide your area during each season that is unique and ripe for profitable portraiture? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
• Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
• Should you buy an Apple iPad for your photography business?
• How do I get my first photography client? – Your First Customer Series, Part 4
• It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident

Outlaw Photographer James Taylor’s list of Internet Marketing methods, from least to most effective:

Darketing - Marketing without information, a target, or a plan – completely in the dark. Least effective, and by far most common, marketing method used by businesses today.

Larketing - See ‘Darketing’ – Marketing by whim without plan or purpose.

Parketing - Hanging the shingle and assuming that, by mere fact of existence, the world will beat a path to your product.

Quarketing - Invisible marketing, most often employed by those lacking any confidence at all in their own product.

Barketing - Making a lot of noise, generally annoying the hell out of everyone. Filed under, ‘Local Car Dealers.’

Starketing - Grabbing attention at any cost to your budget or brand image. See Outpost.com Superbowl Ad, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzbMcsrK-tw.

Sharketing - Always moving, always looking for opportunities for attention, but never stopping to check results. Most lethal form of marketing – big spending, no measurement.

Tarketing - Using research to aim your marketing at a good target market, your ideal customer. Here’s where we make the turn to good marketing methods.

Farketing - Marketing your brand by staying in the news with good PR. See Apple Inc., Ford Motor Company; not Kanye West, Tiger Woods.

RARketing - Sometimes it’s far more profitable and easy to market your way into being Second Best.

Snarketing - Sometimes it’s also more profitable to be divisive instead of mass-market. Being the bad boy underdog can earn fierce loyalty among customers.

Embarketing - Staying fresh and exciting by frequently having something new to share with your market. A sense of adventure keeps folks tuned in.

Harketing - Marketing by listening. Social media has given your customers a voice louder than any ad campaign. Pay attention, and be responsive.

Remarketing - Strive to make your product or service completely remark-able by customers. Then let the world know what you did. Seth Godin-style, Purple Cow marketing.

Arketing - Visionary. Have the only umbrella kiosk in a rainstorm, or the only boat in a flood. Beat the game by staying three steps ahead of the other players. See Facebook, Twitter, PartTimePhoto.com.

Cross-posted with love from a comment I made at Jeff Walker’s Internet Marketing blog.

Next Steps

• Brainstorm session: On the above scale, what best fits the marketing you’re doing now? What can you change to move up the scale of effectiveness? Touch on each point from Tarketing to Arketing to answer the question, “What could I do to act on this marketing method?” File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• Aren’t you proud of me? I managed to write a post less than 3,000 words – less than five hundred, in fact! If you like what you’re reading here, feel free to click on the “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this web site.
• What marketing traps have you fallen into that left you with sub-par results? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• How to earn lifetime photography customers with the perfect follow-up – Your First Customer Series, Part 10
• How can I find time to be a part time photographer? – Your First Customer Series, Part 1
• Want to make money as a part time photographer?
• You’re going to get screwed doing part time photography
• It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident

If you’ve completed the previous nine parts of this series, I commend you – you’ve read a small book’s worth of articles meant to help you get on your feet with your first customers.

As they say, the hardest moment in any journey is taking that first step. If you’ve read and followed along with this series, I hope that you’ve gained equal parts knowledge and confidence.

Here we come upon the final article in the Your First Customer Series. I’ll discuss what you can do beyond the art and experience of your photo shoot to keep clients coming back for more while referring their friends and family with reckless abandon.

A word about touchpoints

Waco, Texas, marketing guru Jay Ehret first turned me on to the concept of touchpoints – all the moments where we have an exposure to or interaction with our clients. All of these little touchpoints, from your advertising to your web site to your e-mails, phone calls, consultations, and follow-up contacts, are rich opportunities to add another layer of awesome sauce to your customers’ experience.

In any touchpoint, you can do what is expected – which often translates to mediocrity. Where the opportunity lies is in breaking expectations and giving clients something remark-able to experience.

Just as you want to answer your phone with a smile and be warm and encouraging during your photo shoot, you want your follow-up activities to reinforce your client’s great experience with your company. Continue to show your client appreciation and respect after they’ve already given you their money; it shows character, which is sorely lacking in most consumers’ buying lives these days.

Quality assurance = repeat business and referrals

Pick up the phone (or voice activate your Bluetooth, to be with the times) and give your client a jingle a few days after they’ve received their order.

Know your delivery times and methods. Know that if you place a print order with your lab on Tuesday at 2:45 p.m., your client will receive their print order sometime Thursday via FedEx Overnight shipping. Know that if you place that order at 3:15 p.m., your client’s order will most likely be delivered Friday. Pay attention and be aware, both so you can share this with your clients and so you know when to make that first follow-up contact.

When you call your client, your goal is the same as it has been all throughout your time with them: understand their needs and meet them to the best of your ability, with your best art and the best experience you can provide.

Here’s your checklist for the follow-up phone call:

“How are you enjoying your photos?” – Ask a few relevant and specific questions based on what your client ordered and what they talked about during your sales session. If a client buys a 20×30 piece of wall art, ask if they’ve had the chance to hang it; if so, ask where they went for framing and if they’re happy with that vendor. If a client buys a CD of digital images, ask if they’ve shared them with family yet, or ordered prints from their lab. Show an interest in how your clients are using your art.

“Did your order arrive on time and in good condition?” – Make sure the shipping times you are quoting clients match what’s being delivered by your lab or through the mail.

“All of the prints came out to your satisfaction?” – Give your client the opportunity to share concerns or problems with you. Don’t market a satisfaction guarantee if you aren’t willing to stand boldly behind it. Don’t beat your clients until they find something to complain about, but if they have a real concern, be sure they understand you are receptive to hearing it.

Those are your quality assurance questions. Be prepared for clients who may express dissatisfaction with some part of their order. Be ready to explain why an image looks different in print than on your laptop (ink vs. LCD), why their prints don’t have the same colors as what they see on their monitors (color calibration), why the print they ordered is “cut off” (cropping, image ratio vs. print size), why one print looks grainy and one looks clear (ISO noise, outdoor/studio lit vs. indoor/low light), etc.

Answer your client’s questions honestly and clearly. Most clients just need a bit of education and they’re satisfied. Be ready to stand by your guarantee, though – if a client is still not happy, offer to fix the problem if you can, or offer to refund that part of the order…

“Sure, I understand what you’re talking about. Because of the lighting, those indoor images do have more noise or grain in them. If I didn’t bump up the sensitivity of the camera once we moved inside, though, the images would have come out really dark.”

“I understand why you’re not happy with that print. If you’re not happy with it, I would be glad to do some Photoshop work on it and get a replacement print sent out from the lab. Would that work for you?”

“I understand why you’re not happy with that print. Because of the poor light, I’m afraid there isn’t anything I could do to fix that in Photoshop. If you’re not happy with it, I would be glad to refund your money for that print and you’re also welcome to keep it. Would that work for you?”

If you’re working with decent folks, and most clients are, they won’t ask for a refund or replacement if you explain why a print or image didn’t turn out the way they expected. If they ask anyway, you have to assume they are truly dissatisfied with that part of their order, and your best long-term choice is to cheerfully fulfill their wishes. Deal with the situation in a way that, if you were on the other end, would make you tell a friend, “I had a problem with one of my prints, but they took care of it, and quickly. No hassle. I’m very happy with them.”

If, for whatever reason within your market, you see too many requests for refunds or replacements (to the point that you’re losing an unacceptable amount of money), you may have to be less accommodating in order to run a profitable and enjoyable business.

“I understand why you’re not happy with that print. I would be happy to refund or replace the print for you, but I would need you to return the bad print. Is that alright?”

Some folks just like to complain. Some folks are happiest when they get something for nothing. By the time they get their order and complain, you probably saw it coming. But when you ask that kind of client to put in some time or effort to get their ‘freebie’ (as little effort as putting a 5×7 print in the mail to you), they’ll often just pass to avoid the bother. While I advocate above-and-beyond customer service, in no way do I suggest you should hurt your business to satisfy unreasonable clients.

A future article will address firing your worst clients, but in short, don’t be afraid to lose the business of a bad customer. And don’t fear losing their potential referrals – birds of a feather flock together; do you really want more clients just out to rob you blind?

That said, be realistic when evaluating how much damage your worst clients do. You don’t want to change a policy which hurts all of your clients, good and bad, when only one in 20 clients causes real trouble. Don’t overreact if one client now and then takes you for a ride. The many, many other good clients more than make up for that one loss.

But if your current market is overrun with foxes, don’t be afraid to guard the henhouse. Within a few months to a year, your client base will probably have upgraded by a level or two, and your ratio of BS to good business will have improved commensurate. Reevaluate your policies then.

Building long-term relationships

After the first half of your follow-up phone call where you ensure satisfaction, next work on the future of your relationship with the client.

“I’d like to stay in touch with you guys if I may. We have a fan page on Facebook and we send out a monthly e-mail newsletter with our latest specials, events, coupons and tips for clients to get the most from their purchase. Would it be okay if I add you to our list?”

If you haven’t already made this request during the sales session, make it now. Give yourself every opportunity to maintain a relationship and presence in your clients’ lives. When they or anyone they know are in need of a photographer, you want to be the first thought in their head – you want to be ‘top of mind.’

If they approve, befriend (befan?) them on Facebook (or MySpace, or Twitter, or whatever you use) and add their e-mail address to your newsletter list.

The referral engine – planting the seed

The referral engine, the processes you use to turn existing clients into your best marketing tool, has many small parts that make up the whole.

The first step is to simply plant the seed of referral in their minds:

“I like to ask all my clients, do you happen to know anyone who might be interested in our photography services?”

Referral incentive programs are worthy of their own set of articles, so I won’t go into them here, but if you have one, mention the benefits at this point.

You just want to expose your client to the idea of sending their friends and family your way. If they had an exceptional experience, they will likely do this anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to pose the question and help the wheels start turning.

Depending upon your sales methods (harder or softer), when a client does have someone in mind, you can either ask for that person’s contact information and permission to namedrop the referring client when you call, or you can simply offer to send your client a special e-mail to forward on to interested friends and family. Again, if you have a referral incentive program, mention the benefits.

Either way, let your client know that you’ll drop them a couple of follow-up e-mails in the next two weeks to make sure they get the most from their purchase.

The survey and the referral

Next up are a pair of e-mails to send to your client: a survey and a referral reminder.

I’m a big fan of the two-question survey:

“How would you rate your experience with our company and products on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being a perfect experience?”

“If less than a 10, what could we have done better to make your experience a 10?”

Shut up and get out of the way. Don’t obsess over controlling the direction of your client’s response with loaded questions meant to elicit specific responses about specific areas of your business. Let clients tell you, in their own words, exactly what comes to their mind that would make your business a better one.

You’ll be surprised how much difference there is between what your clients think about and what you think they think about. Give their thoughts the consideration they deserve. Often, it’s the little things that count.

Send out your survey e-mail one week after you talk with your client by phone. Begin and close it with some copy reminding your client that you’re always available to answer any questions they may have, and that you hope they’re enjoying their purchase.

Your next e-mail will provide your client with all the info they need to easily refer their contacts to you.

Send out this second follow-up one week after your survey goes out.

In this e-mail, provide in brief your marketing message, and ask your client to forward the information on to any of their friends, family, or others who may be interested. This is a nice, soft way to ask clients for a referral. It also educates them to your business’ talking points – the best reasons why clients choose you over the competition. Let them know what to talk about and they’ll be ready to share when the opportunity arises.

Staying top of mind

A good e-mail newsletter is a wildly powerful thing. It is so easy to collect opt-in e-mail addresses from clients, and then for pennies, send them newsletters packed with great marketing – news, offers, coupons, contests, etc.

Facebook and other social media provide you another, more personal and interactive way to stay top of mind with your clients. Here you can keep up with clients’ lives while sharing your own professional life for fans to read about. Once a person or family becomes a paying customer, they become a part of your client community. Treat them as you would a neighbor – chat over the fence with them. Be yourself.

To be exceptional as a one-to-one marketer, which I feel is far more effective and lucrative than mass media for doing business as a part time photographer, you want to cultivate a very thoughtful, individual relationship with each client.

Should you dive into their personal lives? Share your own personal life with them? Unless you are one of those rare people who can pull off that kind of involvement and interest without creeping people out, I’d say again, treat clients warmly, but as a neighbor or professional contact.

Consider the ol’ Clip-and-Share.

Assuming you keep a handy customer database (as simple as a text file with a lot of notes about your clients; ages, birthdays, anniversaries, pets, jobs, hobbies, interests, what photo art and products they like or don’t like…), you can maintain a certain level of awareness about your clients’ needs and interests outside of photography.

When you come across something that would interest one of your clients, because of its relation to their job or interests (or their spouse’s), clip it and send it to them – e-mail a link, share a tweet, snail mail a magazine article, etc.

For example, one of my clients is involved in fundraising here in Bandera for Project Graduation, a non-profit event that gives high school seniors an alcohol-free place to party on graduation night. When I come across an article that highlights a new service or innovative project for fundraising, I forward that information on to her.

I have another client whose son has Asperger syndrome. I’ve sent her items weekly at times – news articles, book finds, blog posts. Another client had to cancel a shoot because her baby went into the ER with a high fever. You bet I called her the next evening to see how that baby was feeling.

Thoughtful gestures like these are far more effective than farming your client base for birthdates, then sending out a generic, mass-produced set of “Happy Birthday!” postcards each month. My gym and insurance agent both do it. I don’t even warrant a hand-initialed note. I’m worth “Thank you for your business,” signed, “The Soandso Staff” in Times New Roman.

Yeesh. Ain’t I special.

Whether in an e-mail, hand-written note, via an e-mail newsletter or on Facebook, be attentive, thoughtful, and ready to share things with your clients that will benefit their lives. Don’t spam, don’t hard-sell and upsell, just maintain a positive presence in their lives. The word-of-mouth referrals will flow.

Be real: care, and the clients will follow

Personal attention is the new black, in photography and just about every other industry. People want to be respected and treated as individuals.

The way you handle your follow-ups with each client helps lay the foundation for a lifelong professional relationship. Become ‘their‘ photographer. Establish loyalty when they’re a high school senior, for example, and you’ll be shooting their engagement, bridal, wedding, maternity, newborn, baby, children’s, and family photos for decades to come.

Carl Sewell in his book Customers For Life talks about how a single car sale is only worth a few thousand dollars to a salesman or dealership. But once you add in service, maintenance, repairs, swag, trade-ins, returning buyers and referrals over the course of a lifetime, any given customer is worth over a million dollars.

Take the time to treat every client like they’re worth a million bucks.

Personal attention in the form of thoughtful gestures sprinkled here and there will set you apart from your competition and give you a special place in the entire spectrum of a client’s consumer experiences.

When’s the last time someone with whom you spent $5 or $5,000 bothered to send you, you personally, a link they found for an interesting article on photography?

There lies the big opportunity, my friends.

Whether you’ve read just this final article or followed along with the entire Your First Customer Series, thank you so much for your readership. If it has proven a benefit to your entry into the world of part time professional photography, I am truly thrilled. I am blessed to have the opportunity to share my experiences with you.

I have pages and pages of notes for articles and projects I’m excited to share here on PartTimePhoto.com – these two initial series just scratch the surface of what’s to come. I hope you’ll visit again. You’re invited to bookmark the site and/or click on the handy-dandy free “Subscribe” button at the top of any page of this web site.

Next Steps

• Whether you’ve already shot one or a hundred clients, if you don’t have a customer database going, get started now. Start with your most recent shoot and go back from there. Write down names, family member names and ages, contact information, and everything you can remember about them that could be useful later on: jobs, schools, interests, hobbies, groups and associations, charities, supported causes, etc. Add as many clients as you can remember details for, and then as you gain new clients, add their names and information to your list. Study this list once a month to keep fresh in your mind the many opportunities to share beneficial discoveries with your client base.
• Brainstorm session: What’s the best follow-up from a business you have experienced as a consumer? How many great follow-ups can you recall? Do you see the opportunity here for your own business? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• We have only just begun, mates. PartTimePhoto.com will continue to grow with new articles, videos, and other great content to help you make the transition from amateur photographer to part time professional. If you like what you’re reading here, feel free to click on the “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this web site.
• What have you discovered is your best way to stay top of mind with clients? What have you experienced as a consumer that made you say, “Wow, that company really goes above and beyond for its customers”? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• You’re going to get screwed doing part time photography
• How do I get my first photography client? – Your First Customer Series, Part 4
• How to prepare for your first photography client’s call – Your First Customer Series, Part 5
• Your first photo proofing and sales session – Your First Customer Series, Part 9
• What should I charge for my part time photography? – Your First Customer Series, Part 3

My business sense and my technology lust often find themselves in severe conflict.

Apple’s official unveiling yesterday of the new iPad tablet computer is yet another case where I find myself trying a little too hard to justify a tool as a worthwhile investment for part time photographers. A sure sign of lust over love.

As with any tool, It’s All In How You Use It (TM!).

Pro Argument – The ultimate portfolio

Scott Bourne at Photofocus hit the nail on the head with his initial assessment of the iPad; for the foreseeable future, the Apple iPad will reign as the ultimate portable portfolio for photographers and other visual artists.

Apple already showed how slick photo viewing could be with the iPhone. Bourne says he has picked up numerous shoots using his iPhone as a portable portfolio, and I can back that up; it’s one thing to hand someone a business card, and another thing entirely to hand them your iPhone with your portfolio presented with music and animation.

Apple knows how to make it easy to look good.

The iPad is going to bring this ease and intuitive design to the presentation of your photography portfolio. If the iPhone’s little screen can land clients, imagine the impression you can make with 9.7 inches of beautiful screen real estate.

If you get a notable amount of your business from ‘F8 & Be There’ marketing (physically being where your clients are), the iPad will only multiply your returns.

Besides the carry-and-show portable portfolio scenario, imagine how this thing will look on a stand showing your images at events.

Is shooting local high school sports a part of your senior marketing mix (article forthcoming)? Set up your iPad to display animated slideshows and videos of your work with a stack of business cards at the concession stand. Or put a good screen protector on it and invite people to flip through photos on their own. Same goes for any kind of event.

If you sell prints from events like this, I can see a good season’s worth of increased print sales helping the iPad pay for itself, not even counting the increase in portraiture inquiries. During halftime or a break in the event you could visit with people at the concession stand and have an immediate ice breaker.

Differentiation is a big part of growing your client base in a competitive market, so if you start getting buzz from walking around and showing off your work on an iPad, you’re making waves that your competition is not with their printed portfolios, if they even have them.

The iPad can definitely help you build your client base one person at a time, which is a method I am a huge advocate of.

Seven ways I can see the iPad paying for itself as a photography business tool:

• Proofing: The iPad costs less than most projectors or laptops and will give you a unique and stylish way to do a proofing and sales session with your clients on location. With a gorgeous landscape+portrait screen, intuitive controls, photo+audio+video capabilities, and slick presentation build in, the iPad is the perfect setup-anywhere sales tool. If you don’t have a home or retail studio sales area with couch, desktop, projector, and mini bar, the iPad is by far the best value you can get in a sales presentation tool. When you’re pinching, pulling, and sliding images around, clients will be impressed.
• Portfolio: As mentioned above, the iPad will let you show off your images to anyone whose eyeballs you can wrangle, and it will leave a big impression on them. As great culinary artists will attest, presentation is as important as the product.
• Access: In relation to having a portable portfolio with style, the iPad for years is going to be a popular item that draws interest. Carry one around or be seen using it and you’ll have an instant common point of discussion with most people. Ever notice, if you carry around a dSLR, that people are very comfortable in approaching you and asking about the camera or photography in general?
• Booking: With this one tool in one place at one time, you can show off your portfolio, look at your calendar and book a shoot on the spot, collect a potential client’s information, do a pre-shoot consultation and show them examples of wardrobe and accessory choices, and e-mail them a copy of your pre-shoot checklist for clients and latest newsletter. Can you do all this with a laptop? Yes, but you’ll look like an egghead. Can you do it with a smartphone? Yes, but you’ll look like a dweeb. The iPad lets you do all this with style. Again, presentation.
• Display: Set this thing up to play a slideshow of your images and promotional videos at any event with a stack of business cards. Let the iPad sell your work for you. An iPad on a display stand is vastly more approachable than an open laptop.
• Ease-of-use: When a tool is easy to use, you’re much more likely to use it. I was completely prejudiced against the iPhone…until I used it. Then I bought it (for $100 less than the iPad starts out at). Then I loved it. Owning an iPhone has been revolutionary for me, in the access I have to communicate with people and in how I use little bits of free time. Keeping up with e-mail, MySpace, blog reading, the news… Having connectivity anywhere, and absolute ease in making use of it, has brought far more value to my business than what I shelled out for the tech to enable it. If the ease and fun of using an iPad helps you to keep your photography business’ blog updated, to tweet daily, to get out that monthly e-mail newsletter, to be seen by and around your target market, to market on MySpace or Facebook – and enjoy it – then you’ll reap great rewards from owning an iPad.
• Impression: I’ve touched on this several times already, but it bears repeating: the iPad will let you make an impression on potential clients unlike anything else in its price range – and you can make that big impression anywhere. You don’t have to buy a billboard, you don’t have to haul around a 30” monitor or projection screen, you don’t have to boot up a laptop, you don’t have to set up a kiosk, you don’t have to court around a one-trick-pony printed portfolio, you don’t have to limit yourself to still images, you don’t have to buy presentation software and learn to use it, you can change the contents and presentation on the fly…and look like a modern, savvy professional while doing it.

Con Argument – Keeping the purse strings drawn

As much as I advocate investing in tools that make your life as a part time photographer easier, more fun, and more profitable, I also believe wholeheartedly that one of the ways to guarantee success is to vigorously control expenses.

Looking at the forums of eloquent discussion between photographers online, one would think that professionals spend more time arguing and debating than actually taking photos. “What should I buy next?” is always a hot topic that draws mountains of sage advice; it’s easy to spend other people’s money.

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket, according to the great Will Rogers.

Before your fall in lust with any piece of potential camera kit or marketing mix, you have to compare what you’ll gain to what you’ve already got.

If you are specifically not the type to go around with your portfolio, showing off your photos and landing clients because of it, the iPad is going to be more of a luxury purchase than a smart business one.

Showing off a portable portfolio to people is certainly an effective method of marketing, but if you’re not that outgoing, it’s going to be real hard to argue your returns on a $499 tablet computer. You probably can’t edit photos nearly as well as on a desktop, the hard drive isn’t much larger than your camera’s memory card, and it’s easier to type venomous posts in the forums with the honest keyboard of a laptop.

The iPad is a beautiful piece of tech, a revolution, doubtless a real pleasure to use… But as a valuable and necessary part of your part time photography business, if not for visceral punch with potential clients, there isn’t anything it can do for you as a photographer that comparably-priced alternatives don’t trump.

Here’s a list of 10 other worthwhile ways you could invest five benjies into your business (based on Jan. 28, 2010 prices):

• Save it: Put those $499 back in the bank. Stick it in savings. Hold onto it for a rainy day. Guaranteed, at some point in your professional career, you will need it. [You weren’t thinking of buying your iPad on a credit card, were you? O_o]
• Lens: Freshly-minted professional photographers often lose sight of the value of good lenses behind the sparkling glare of features found on new camera bodies. I’ve seen many photogs walking around with $1,500 camera bodies and $50 kit lenses on the front. Lenses hold their value better than any other gear you can buy, and even a cheap dSLR will benefit from having good glass attached. My favorite under $500 is the Tamron 17-50/2.8.
• Camera: A lens is only a good purchase if you have something to put it on. If you’re still sporting a point-and-shoot camera, assuming you’ve about mastered its use, stepping up to a good dSLR will open up a new realm of artistic opportunities for you. Going from P&S to dSLR is a challenging step (learning how to control depth of field alone will set you back a month), but it will by far raise the ceiling on your artistic growth and image quality. My pick at $499 is the Canon Rebel XS with kit lens.
• Computer: As professional photographers, we spend as much or more time sitting at a computer as we do taking photos. Upgrading here will let you work more efficiently and quickly so you’re spending less time waiting for pics to load and more time shooting or marketing. $499 goes a long ways these days with both laptops and desktops; if you want to do presentations, in-person location proofing and sales, or just prefer to stay out of the house, go for a laptop. Otherwise, you’ll get more power for your buck with a desktop. I like Gateway, myself.
• Monitor: On the same token, with as much time as you spend in front of your computer, a good monitor upgrade will give you more screen real estate to work with, less eyestrain, and better color reproduction. Pick one up with a decent color calibration tool to have confidence when processing that what you see is as true as possible. You can pick up a gorgeous LG 27-inch or Samsung 25.5-inch with cash left over for a calibration tool such as the Spyder3Express.
• Software: $499 won’t quite get you to a full copy of Adobe Photoshop, but you can easily pick up Lightroom 2 + Elements 8 and get 95% of the benefit for a third of the price. Grab Scott Kelby’s Lightroom 2 for Digital Photographers and Elements 8 for Digital Photographers and become a master of your software domain. $250 will get you a year’s worth of unlimited Animoto videos for commercial use, which if you make use of it, will impress the heck out of your target market and even give you a new line of products to sell.
• Marketing: Much as I push free marketing through social media and being in front of potential clients, $499 can have long legs with paid marketing if you use it right. Consider a monthly direct mail campaign to the homes of 50 potential high school senior photo clients, weekly classified ads in the services section of your local newspaper, small weekly display ads in the sports pages of your newspaper, a banner ad on your Chamber of Commerce or newspaper web site, or a co-op marketing campaign / contest / program with several businesses that serve the same area and market as you (families, seniors, new parents, etc.). For $499, if you target tightly, you should be able to get a year’s worth of exposure in front of potential clients.
• Education: Five benjies will take you a long way with books, e-books, magazine subscriptions, instructional DVDs, professional association memberships, and workshops (if you spend your dollars wisely). Invest in resources that will broaden your business, marketing, and artistic horizons. There are hundreds of good options here, but to name just a few: the Duct Tape Marketing book, W Magazine (massive fashion magazine full of inspiration), any PartTimePhoto e-book (all I need to do is write one!), Lynda.com for Photoshop tutorials, your local PPA guild, PPA Super Monday workshops…this list could go on and on and on.
• Business: Drop that $499 on getting your business in order. Score some time with a good accountant to make sure you’re handling your finances, budget, and taxes right; invest in a nice portfolio web site or WordPress theme; get your logo designed; get your business cards designed and printed; then set up your e-mail marketing and integrate it into your web site and every part of your business. Get all your ducks in a row so that you can concentrate on showing love to your art, to your market, and to your clients. With a solid foundation and the confidence it provides, you can quit worrying and start working.
• Health: Call me too holistic if you want, but I will never shy away from saying that taking care of your health is as important to your business as taking care of your art and your marketing. I know from experience that when you’re overweight and out of shape, it affects every facet of your life, including your ability to do your best work in your business. $499 invested with a personal trainer to talk about exercise and diet will give you a lifetime’s worth of beneficial knowledge. With the leftover cash, schedule a visit with a dietitian and sign up for a local yoga class. These can be personally challenging steps to take, but just like with knowing your business is well taken care of, the confidence you have from knowing your body is taken care of will pay dividends artistic and financial.

So am I going to buy one?

Hell yes I’m going to buy one.

Even though at this point, having like most people yet to even touch the thing, my impression of the iPad is that it’s a really big iPod Touch / iPhone.

But after my conversion from a non-believer to a devout iPhone user, I have faith in Apple that once the creature is in my hands, I will find the return on investment to be far higher than I could have imagined.

I’m a very social and outgoing kind of guy, so the iPad is a perfect match for my personality. If it does nothing but replace my Dell netbook, with its cataclysmically-placed apostrophe key, it will earn its keep.

Stylish mobile blogging, portable portfolio, wow factor with clients, proofing and sales sessions at Dairy Queen over Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards…

…oh yes. I think so.

Next Steps

• Hurry up and wait. If you want to buy an iPad or read real-world reviews of how well it works in the hands of professional photographers, only time will tell.
• Brainstorm: What are all the ways you could make use of the iPad’s unique features (style and impression being valued features) to improve your photography business? Where could you possibly better invest your $499? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• PartTimePhoto.com is your source for real-world advice for part time professional photographers from a part time professional photographer. If you like what you read here, please don’t hesitate to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• Are you excited or deflated by the possibilities the iPad brings to the photography industry? Did I miss any good $499-and-under investment recommendations? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• How to prepare for your first photography client’s call – Your First Customer Series, Part 5
• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
• Your first photo proofing and sales session – Your First Customer Series, Part 9
• What does a successful part time photographer look like? – Startup Series, Part 4
• What should I charge for my part time photography? – Your First Customer Series, Part 3

Ahh, welcome to marketing.

We’ve talked about the benefits of part time photography, how to price your work, what images are solid options for making you money, and now we’ll come to the threshold: Your First Customer.

Let’s be clear from the start: marketing is about getting your name and product in front of people who need, or know someone who needs, what you have to offer at the price you ask in trade. Or, as John Jantsch puts it, you want to get folks with a need, to know, like and trust you.

Odds are, your very first customers will be family and friends, and that’s perfectly fine – that’s how you build your portfolio and get the ball rolling. They’ll give you a nice set of images, invaluable experience, feedback, and kind testimonials to get you started.

No doubt, other than for fun and practice, you should offer friends and family the same pricing system as everyone else. If you’re using my suggested prices and policies, it’s a no-risk investment for them and the prices are such that anyone can afford them safely.

Getting your first customer

While the word “marketing” draws a blank stare from many photographers, there are a number of ways to get your name and product (your art and abilities) out in front of a buying market. And thanks to the Digital Age (the same Digital Age many grognards say has upended their industry), we’re going to get your work out there at little to no cost.

I have a laundry list of free and very low-cost ways to market your business (read my brief list at the end of this article), all ripe for their own articles, but let’s get you started with the cheapest, easiest way to land your first customer.

Social Media Marketing

Social media, MySpace specifically, by far sends me the most business of any marketing I do. It’s also absolutely free and easy as writing e-mail, if you’re even somewhat of a people person.

Running a good photography business is about building relationships – photos are just the common subject over which to bond.

Social media gives you so many opportunities to find potential clients, introduce yourself and your art, establish a rapport and grow a profitable long-term relationship. You can read what people are talking about, get a feel for their lifestyle and family, easily see who is getting engaged or having a baby, and the “social” part of social media gives you the situational go-ahead to interact with people about their lives.

For most people, it’s hard to walk up to a pregnant woman at the grocery store and say…

“Congratulations! When are you due? Have you picked out a name? I am a photographer and would love to do maternity photos with you. Here’s my portfolio – do you like it? Would you like to get together for a photo shoot?”

And God help you if the woman only looks pregnant!

It’s a lot easier to be surfing MySpace and happen upon someone in your zip code with a profile photo showing their pregnant belly. Then you can read their profile, get some details, and send over an introductory message:

“Hey there Jane, I saw your profile photo and wanted to congratulate you on your baby! My son was born two years ago and has been nothing but fun since day one. I run a photography business here in town and I’m working on my maternity portfolio right now; you can see some of my work on my profile. I would love to set up a shoot with you if you would be interested!”

Season to taste (and to match your personality), of course.

One in a hundred people will give you that “uuuuhm okaaaay” look or response, whether you make the offer in person or online. Most photographers don’t approach potential clients directly for fear of rejection. If you’re pleasant and are able to just chat casually with them, trust me when I say that most people will be thrilled.

And that’s assuming you go for the direct approach. You’ll have as much if not more success if you just go about casually chatting with people and adding them to your friends list. When you send someone a message or leave a comment on their page (regardless of the topic), the first thing they will do is visit your profile – where they will see you are a photographer and see the quality of your work. Mission accomplished.

(Brief aside: Never be ashamed of the quality of your work. Photographers are notoriously hard on themselves and rabid perfectionists – you have to start from somewhere! If you’re reading this, I’d bet good money you are notably better at photography than your client base. And if you’re following along with my suggested pricing and policies, potential clients will always know exactly what they’re getting, and they’ll know they are getting a good value. Better art will come with time and practice – and with it, bigger sales and more profits for you.)

In the course of discussion, you’ll always either be asked about or have the opportunity to talk about your photography. Never be afraid to offer people photo shoots. Most people are flattered by the offer, and even if they aren’t in the market at that time, you’ve established top-of-mind awareness: when they think local photographer, for themselves or others, they’ll think of you, and know where to find you.

Setting up and using your MySpace profile

(These concepts apply the same to Facebook, I just don’t have a profile on there – yet!)

When you set up your MySpace profile, try using a display name of something like John @ John Doe Photography. I use James @ Outlaw Photography, for example. Enter your real name and allow it to be shown, so you look more like a real person than a possible spammer.

Fill out as much personal information as you like. Be sure that your photography and business are mentioned, but not hyped.

“I love photographing people and am blessed to do it professionally. You can view my work in my photo album or at OutlawPhotography.net. Drop me a message or e-mail me at James@outlawphotography.net if you would like to set up a photo shoot.”

…is far less abrasive than:

“FREE PHOTO SHOOTS!!!! MSG ME!!! i specialize in maternity landscape newborn automotive commercial industrial pets antiques seniors children families and weddings in the Texas Hill Country Bandera Fredericksburg Boerne Kerrville Hondo San Antonio area… CHECK ME OUT AT www.geocities.com/soho/113131/kitty.html”

(No, no…really.)

Next up, post some of your best photos to your profile’s photo album. If you don’t have a feel for how many, go for 10-20 to start. I have hundreds on mine, usually four images per photo shoot, sorted by year into albums.

Visit the Browse Users page under the Friends menu. Search for folks local to your zip code. If you’re in a city, tighten the search – if you’re in a rural area like me (Bandera, TX, pop: 957), widen it out to include surrounding towns.

As one marketer so perfectly put it: Own Your Zip Code. Start by visiting the profiles of people within five miles of your zip code. Check out their profiles, see what they’re talking about, look at their photos, and send them a message to say hello. Be as basic as you want:

“Hey there! I’m new to MySpace and I’m adding people from around Bandera to my profile. I saw you love U2 – did you go to their concert last year? I was there and it was truly awesome. I have some photos from the show in my photo album.”

One by one, you’ll gain access to and build rapport with people from your community. As they visit your profile, see your photos and see that you are a professional photographer, you’ll begin getting inquiries about your prices and booking. As you book these people and shoot with them, you’ll start seeing your photos appear on their profiles – which then appears on all of their friends’ profiles – and the cycle begins.

This is just a small sampling of what you can do with MySpace and social media to reach out and collect your first customers – and to build an ever-larger set of customers over time whose own profiles will serve as the best referral you can’t buy.

10 (other) ways to market your photography

Not feeling the Social Media vibe? Some folks are just that way and you know what? That’s perfectly fine – being a part time professional photographer should be fun and rewarding, and you should never have to do any kind of marketing you aren’t comfortable with.

Here are 10 other ways, in brief, you can land your first customer (all of which I have done and can vouch for as working quite well):

• Classifieds – Craigslist or your local newspaper. Advertise online for free or in small local papers for a few dollars a week. It’s the least expensive newspaper advertising you can buy, and some of the best read. I have gotten many, many lucrative clients (especially for baby photos) through this venue.
• Offer to pick up competitors’ excess work – This one might seem a long-shot, but every photographer at some time is unable to meet someone’s needs because of time or price. They are happy to refer work to a fellow photographer who can take on that client – it makes them look good, and it nets you business.
• Free press – Talk with your local newspaper and get in a press release about your new business, get their business writer to do a feature on you, hold a grand opening event (like a half-day photo shoot at the park) to be featured in the paper’s event calendar, submit photos of local sports and events in exchange for bylines (including your name and web site). Try advertising in their classified section for a month first – often this will grease the wheels when you ask for some PR. Local radio and TV stations are also worth contacting for possible PR.
• Co-op marketing – This is one that the big-boy boutique studios use. Find a business with the same customer base as you and do a contest, drawing, or event together. As an example, if you’re a baby photographer, visit your local children’s resale store and offer them three photo shoots with files on CD to give away to their best customers. You’ll do the shoots using wardrobe provided by the store, then give the store framed 20×30 prints to hang on their walls – alongside your business cards, of course.
• Bulletin boards – Be sure your business card is tacked onto every bulletin board in your community. Ever see those “For Sale” sheets of paper with the phone numbers at the bottom, cut individually so people can tear a number right off? Make up your own for your photography services! Many businesses, including your local Visitor’s Bureau, are also happy to display your brochures and business cards.
• Volunteer – Non-profits can always use more volunteers, and as a photographer, you have a unique gift to give. Work with local charities to photograph their events, membership, and marketing images. You will help a good cause and build an immediate fan base among members.
• Shoot local sports and events – From Little League to Friday Night varsity football, pet parades to Fourth of July fireworks, communities love to see photos of their friends, neighbors, children, and themselves. Work with organizers to be able to display images from these events on your web site, and to promote your web site at the event. Offer to sell prints from the photos as a fundraiser for the event or organization (such as sports photos for the Athletic Booster Club) as a way to grease the wheels and gain access and permission. Your web site traffic will go up by leaps and bounds.
• Networking – Being present and involved in the community is one of the best ways to build loyalty and recognition. Attend Chamber of Commerce mixers and business association meetings, high school Project Graduation meetings, Little League board meetings, Kiwanis Club car washes, Education Foundation gatherings, any kind of event where people will get together, share ideas, and work for a common cause. Participate as a member of the community and offer your own ideas. Bring your camera.
• Models – Beginning photographers get along just fine with beginning models. Use sites like OneModelPlace to set up a photography profile and meet models in your area. Do TFCD (Trade For CD) shoots with them to build your portfolio. They may not be paying customers (at first!), but they can help you practice and grow your art while building your portfolio. And as always, the better your portfolio, the more people will take notice.
• The Modern Marketing Triumvirate: Your business cards, web site, and e-mail newsletter – These are three of the least expensive weapons in your marketing arsenal, and three of the most effective. Your business cards lead folks to your web site (the best brochure ever), your web site leads people to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter, and your e-mail newsletter gives you a free list of people who are actively interested in your services, along with the permission to market to them.

I’ll expound on each of these marketing opportunities in future articles. They are all wildly powerful, free or inexpensive, and can serve to keep you booked solid.

Own Your Zip Code

So you’ve got your name out there and people are beginning to buzz about your work! What do you do when that first potential client calls and asks about prices and booking? What do you need for your shoot? For your proof viewing session? What about model releases, referrals, testimonials? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Again – Own Your Zip Code. Whether you start with MySpace or visiting with people in your own neighborhood, your end goal is to ensure that anyone who needs photography services – on your block, on your street, in your subdivision, in your town – knows who you are and what you can do for them.

Remember: Be social, don’t fear being direct in asking for people’s business, and let your art and your profile do your selling for you.

Next Steps

• Head over to MySpace or Facebook and set up your profile as a professional photographer. Use the steps outlined above to maximize your profile’s selling power, then start visiting with the locals. You will make so many great contacts and friends this way, and the more you participate, the more your business will grow.
• Play around with some of the other marketing ideas mentioned above. Pick any one as a supplement to your social media marketing and try it out. As with all marketing, ask every person who contacts you, “How did you hear about us?” Make note of which marketing efforts are getting you the most attention. Then, track who books with you, and make note of which marketing efforts are getting you the most bookings. Then, track who buys from you, and make note of which marketing efforts are getting you the most profitable clients.
• For more great marketing ideas, I can wholeheartedly recommend anything (books or blogs) by Seth Godin, John Jantsch, or Michael Port. For a good Marketing 101 education, start with Michael Port’s “Book Yourself Solid,” follow up with Jantsch’s “Duct Tape Marketing,” then graduate to Godin’s numerous excellent books. His book, “The Dip,” will show you how the challenges you face now as a newly-minted part time professional photographer are necessary and welcome along the road to success. Don’t fear The Dip – embrace it.
• Brainstorm session: What opportunities do you see in your neighborhood or your town to show your target market (parents of newborns, high school seniors, brides to be, all of the above) who you are and what you can do for them? What’s stopping you? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• This article is just the first of many on marketing to be featured here at PartTimePhoto.com. If you like what you’ve learned here, please don’t hesitate to click the “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• What’s the best marketing advice you’ve ever been given? What marketing effort has produced your best clients? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

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