Feb
26
5 Steps Your Photography Business Needs To Make
Filed Under Photography Business, Photography Marketing | Leave a Comment
What’s the difference between an average photography business and a highly successful one? It’s the way the photography business owner approaches their daily business tasks. An average business owner will approach the day, and let things happen. She’ll react to email and phone messages, and let the day unfold before her.
A highly successful photography business owner will take charge of her day, and spend her time doing the right things for her business. Here’s five ways you can begin making a change in your business life, and create more success.
1. Create a plan. Every photography business needs to know the direction its heading. Create several types of plans to keep you on track: a lifetime plan to understand where your photography business is ultimately heading; a yearly plan to determine your action steps for the year; and a monthly plan to make sure you are reaching your goals.
2. Evaluate. Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean you can’t change. Evaluate continually what you’re doing, and how it will ultimately impact your long term goals. If you need to make changes, do it.
3. Create a plan. A yearly plan will keep you on track, but daily goals will ensure your success. Always ask yourself if you are doing the best possible thing to help you reach your goals.
4. Take action. Planning is important. But planning isn’t enough. You have to take action on your plans, and put them into place.
5. Follow through. Make sure your business is always in motion. Do you have the proper goals? Are you reaching them? Are you getting in new clients? Are you profitable? Find your weaknesses, and put more action into place. You’ll soon discover that you’ve your goals quickly, and are ready to take on new challenges!
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
Feb
19
Putting The “Service” Back In “Customer Service”
Filed Under Photography Marketing | Leave a Comment
By Sean Cohen The future of customer service is here. Technology has made seeking out support faster and easier than ever. But, has your digital age company sacrificed true service in the name of automation? Today, finding customer support is as simple as writing an e-mail or picking up the phone. But, even though you’re not face-to-face with your customers, you still leave a lasting impression. Do you come across as caring and competent, or menacing and mechanical?
Offering stand-out service on the Internet isn’t as hard as it is rare. Take these simple steps towards old-style service in the digital age:
- Give Each Customer a Personal Response Be Clear, But Sincere Offer Live Customer Support
- Make Sure Your Support Reps Have All the Answers
- Give Each Customer a Personal Response
When a customer sits down to e-mail your company, it’s because he needs help. He chooses e-mail because it’s quick, but his request still warrants a satisfying and personal response! Companies eager to save time and money often take automation too far in their customer support. Each customer has a unique question, and deserves a unique answer. Even if you save time by copying and pasting stock replies, change the opening and closing to make the message sound less robotic. Be Clear, But Sincere
When responding to customers’ e-mail, be sincere and to the point. Before sending a message, try turning the tables. Ask yourself, “Would this answer satisfy me if I were the customer?” Take that extra moment to give your customer the help he deserves. It might mean the difference between a satisfied customer and a credit card chargeback!
Offer Live Customer Support E-mail has become an acceptable form of communication. But, live customer support is still necessary. The plethora of information available online can be overwhelming to customers, especially those new to the Internet! Single your company out from the crowd by providing customers with a real person to talk to.
Live phone support is an invaluable way to foster trust. When your customer has reached the end of his Internet rope, and just needs help, your toll free number is the answer he’s looking for. Make Sure Your Support Reps Have All The Answers The presence of phone support will do no good if your staff doesn’t know your product! Customer support reps should be warm and friendly, and willing to help with any aspect of your product. What a good feeling it is to talk to someone who feels confident in his product.
It’s even better if he’s knowledgeable enough to solve your problem without transferring you all around the company! Provide Stand-Out Service; Gain Lifelong Customers Too many e-businesses skimp on customer service, hiding behind web sites and message boards. Customer support is an integral part of every company, even those operating solely online. Be one of the few to offer stellar service, and gain customers for life!
Feb
16
Increase photography studio sales with a quality website presence
Filed Under Photography Website | Leave a Comment
Websites allow a photography studio an effortless solution to display sections of their work and present information to potential customers 24/7.
One item that we all face in our photography business is the need for an online presence. Having a website is very important for your clients to locate information pertaining to your services and viewing a portfolio of quality images. Too often, we find websites that are constructed by novice designers using a boxed website solution with very unpleasant results. Imagine if you viewed a website of poor quality, would you want your wedding photographed by the same studio? I know that I would not. Budgets are tight on most businesses just starting up and locating a great product and an affordable price can become unpleasantly difficult. For websites, a template solution could avail your situation and allow your studio to create a professional online presence without elimination of your entire bank account balance. Quality photography website templates are created as great starting solution and can help relay the proper message to entice larger events and increase your sales.
Don’t fall victim to accepting sub par website displays in relation to your photography studio, make it look pleasing and professional. Take a quick look at the many hundreds of photography business website template solutions.
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
Feb
12
How much time do you spend on getting new clients?
How much time do you spend keeping your existing clients happy?
Most small businesses spend a great deal of their marketing efforts getting new clients. But that is the one area that takes the most effort. To get someone brand new to accept your company, and decide to purchase from you takes a huge amount of effort, both financially and physically.
But creating a referral source out of someone whom already has a relationship with you is a far easier way of using your marketing dollars.
They love you. They’re happy with your service. They know how you work and what type of service you provide. And they have friends.
Spend you marketing dollars wisely, and have your existing customers work for you.
Send newsletters.
Send customer appreciation promotions.
Ask for a referral.
Provide thank you gifts.
Network with them.
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
Feb
11
I used the past weekend to catch up on some of my reading. Yikes, was it out of control! I probably have 50 magazines sitting by my bedside (unfortunately, I’m not exaggerating!)Anyway, I found an interesting article that describe the queen of Thank You’s! She sends out a minimum of 3 thank you’s every day to:
- people she meets in networking events
people she knows and sees quoted in the newspaper
former clients
current customers
friends and acquaintences
She sends thank you notes for everything. And she is definitely known
around the circles she networks with. People love hearing from her because they know she appreciates them - and she shows it.
Start your own Thank You campaign. If you send 3 thank you cards a day, 5 days a week, that’s still under $10 a week, and you’ll be making contact with 15 people a week!
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
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Feb
9
Have you ever wanted to find an easy way to create collage pages in Adobe Photoshop. We put together an easy to follow movie tutorial to assist you in constructing your first masterpiece. Create a Collage Page Using Adobe Photoshop
 
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
Feb
6
Knowing that many of you read our blog for photography information and we thank you for it, we find some fun items to post in it as well. One of the items that has always intrigued me is the great minds and creative thought in which Super Bowl ads are produced. If you missed any of the Superbowl advertisements, we have located them. Here is the link: SuperBowl Ads
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
Feb
1
Photographers Adobe Photoshop Keyboard shortcuts list
Filed Under Photography Business | Leave a Comment
Every photographer wants to become faster and more efficient at handling digital files in Adobe Photoshop. From a seasoned wedding photographer to someone just opening his or her photography business, we all want to get it done quickly. Here is a list of Adobe Photoshop Keyboard shortcuts list:
 Tools  Shortcut
 Rectangular Marquee Tool  M
 Elliptical Marquee Tool  M
 Single Row Marquee Tool   Â
 Single Column Marquee Tool   Â
 Move Tool  V
 Lasso Tool  L
 Polygonal Lasso Tool  L
 Magnetic Lasso Tool  L
 Magic Wand Tool  W
 Crop Tool  C
 Slice Tool  K
 Slice Select Tool  K
 Healing Brush Tool  J
 Patch Tool  J
 Color Replacement Tool  J
 Brush Tool  B
 Pencil Tool  B
 Clone Stamp Tool  S
 Pattern Stamp Tool  S
 History Brush Tool  Y
 Art History Brush  Y
 Eraser Tool  E
 Background Eraser Tool  E
 Magic Eraser Tool  E
 Gradient Tool  G
 Paint Bucket Tool  G
 Blur Tool  R
 Sharpen Tool  R
 Smudge Tool  R
 Dodge Tool  O
 Burn Tool  O
 Sponge Tool  O
 Path Selection Tool  A
 Direct Selection Tool  A
 Horizontal Type Tool  T
 Vertical Type Tool  T
 Horizontal Type Mask Tool  T
 Vertical Type Mask Tool  T
 Pen Tool  P
 Freeform Pen Tool  P
 Add Anchor Point Tool   Â
 Delete Anchor Point Tool   Â
 Convert Point Tool   Â
 Rectangle Tool  U
 Rounded Rectangle Tool  U
 Ellipse Tool  U
 Polygon Tool  U
 Line Tool  U
 Custom Shape Tool  U
 Notes Tool  N
 Audio Annotation Tool  N
 Eyedropper Tool  I
 Color Sampler Tool  I
 Measure Tool  I
 Hand Tool  H
 Zoom Tool  Z
 Default Foreground/Background Colors  D
 Switch Foreground/Background Colors  X
 Toggle Standard/Quick Mask Modes  Q
 Toggle Screen Modes  F
 Toggle Preserve Transparency  /
 Decrease Brush Size  [
 Increase Brush Size  ]
 Decrease Brush Hardness  {
 Increase Brush Hardness  }
 Previous Brush  ,
 Next Brush  .
 First Brush  <
 Last Brush  >
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter and receive your very own copy of our keyboard shortcuts layed out for easy reference
Feb
1
Cool countdown Ticker
Filed Under Photography Website | Leave a Comment
Just found a pretty cool device that counts down time on a ticker system. This resides on your webpage and will work backwards until your time is up. Planning a special trip and want to know that there are a certain number of day til your cruise ship departs. What about a bride waiting for her wedding day? The number of days until your next photography expo…the ideas are endless. Check them out at the tickerfactory.com
Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.
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