What To Put In Your Ad by James Hodgins

I have learned most of what I know about marketing from my business associate Rob Provencher. We are all guilty of doing what I am about to type, myself included, especially when I first got into photography. We design our own business card, flier, postcard or mailer not knowing exactly what info should be put in it. What I see nowadays, especially in the photography industry is a pretty picture, the business name, phone number and website and sometimes a useless catch phrase like "Memories for a lifetime." What kind of first impression is this? What are you really telling your clients? If you are going to pay to create an ad, pay for the "size" that you want (the bigger the more expensive), then why not fill it with as much info as you can? Answer some questions, tell your prospective clients a little about you? I think the phrase "A picture means a thousand words" does not apply here. Try this the next time you are creating an advertising piece. It may not look aesthetically pleasing as some high falootin marketing/designer/promotional pieces that you pay a second mortgage for, but I do guarantee you will get results.

George here wanted a flier he could hand out around town. He told me what he wanted and I asked him if he would mind if I created one for him. I did this because I am a member, and because I wanted to help, plus I already had the image of George because I just finished photographing him. I kept it B&W to keep the cost down and not to have any distracting colors. You get a lot of information from this ad and I especially like adding a "top 5 or 10 reasons." TELL your clients WHY they should come to you! Testimonials go a long way. Whenever I can, I add a testimonial to any of my advertising pieces. These are powerful. People like to know what other people think of your services. Put all the necessary information to contact you and make sure it is visible and not cluttered.

Utilize the entire space of your canvas as empty space is useless space. For you photogs, look back at your older advertising pieces and see if any of the above will enhance your business appearance.

To see the George's ad, click below.

thread here

Wedding Guests & Cameras

Imagine this scenario. You're doing group shots of the wedding party and hovering just to your left is Uncle Bob. To your right is the bride's third cousin removed. Both of them have their fancy little point and shoot cameras taking pictures right alongside you. How do you handle this distraction? It's a fine line between love and hate. Maybe you make a joke about it and kindly ask them to wait their turn or maybe you ask them to wait outside until you're done. This is a hot button for many of us and there are numerous ways to handle it as you'll discover.

To see how NoBS members have addressed this problem, check out the next two links.

Thread here

More here

The Value of Working For Free

If you are like most people just starting a business, you don't have a lot of disposable income to throw into advertising. Instead, you have to come up with more creative and less expensive ways to promote yourself. One way to get the word out about your business is to offer your services for free to other organizations. Not only are you building a good rapport in the community, but you are also exposing your business to people who otherwise would have never heard of you. Are you intrigued yet? Below is the link to learn more.

Read more.

Are Photographers Artists?

Corel Painter and Marilyn Sholin have opened up a whole new way for photographers to boost their bottom line. While converting a photograph into a painting may not immediately appeal to the purist photographer at heart, it's worth looking into as NoBS member Derek Ralston recently shared. While playing around with an image from a recent image, Derek managed to create a painting which his client ended up purchasing for a hefty sum. To read Derek's story and how he did it, click below:

Read More.