5 Keys To Finding Clients In The Future

I recently wrote a post 13 Ways To Make Sure 2013 Doesn’t Suck For Your Photography Business. I’ve been doing a lot internal planning with my own business for 2013, and I used that post as a trigger for all of you to start thinking about what you want the New Year to bring into your own lives. In order to stick with that theme, I’ve decided to run a “13 Days Of Photography” feature throughout December to help provide you with a ton of ideas and tips on things you can do for your own business starting on January 1st. Here is 5…

Doesn’t the marketplace seem a little overwhelming right now? Everywhere you look, there is an ad for something. You get hundreds of emails a day. Your newsfeeds rotate constantly with new content. Retailers are doing anything they can to bring in a buck or two – several stores in our area are open 24 hours a day right through Christmas Eve.

At some point it all becomes a bit too much … and you simply shut down.

But that doesn’t mean customers still aren’t out there. That doesn’t mean there aren’t people that want and need what you do.

They may have shut down as well. They may be so overwhelmed by all that is happening around them, they simply need another way to notice you.

And that’s where we have to be innovators. It’s not business as usual. To market the way you always have will get you nowhere in the coming years. The only way to survive – to thrive – will be to take a new approach.

Key #1: It’s Time To Be The Un-Photographer

At one point in time, cola was all the rage. People loved the bubbly drink, dark in color, sweet in taste. Then something new came along – the un-cola. It brought you a bubbly drink with a twist. The color changed. The taste changed. And it was refreshing in its own right. It took something old and put a new twist to it. You can’t photograph like photographers did twenty years ago. The marketplace wants something new – something different. And yet very few are offering the twist. The one’s that create the twist – the un-photographers – will move ahead in this new industry.

Key #2: Think Of The Internet As A Horizontal Marketplace

How many marketing tools do you need to survive? One? Five? Fifty? There is no right answer. Yet for most of us, it is well beyond one – very few could operate with just a business card. Different people “see” things in different ways. Which is why you need to be in different places, off line and on. A simple website won’t reach out to the new customers of tomorrow. Likewise, just a Facebook page will do little to reach customers that are rarely on Facebook. It requires a variety of tools – a horizontal reach through many different tools. Your blog, a Facebook account, reviews on Yelp, a YouTube channel – all reach out in different ways. And provide you with a wide plane of potential. [Read more…]

How To Keep Your Photography Business Online In The Post PC Era

I was sitting around my local coffee shop the other day waiting for a client and started to look around. Remember the days when everyone had a laptop? Not any more. As I sat there, I did notice a couple of laptops. But most people sat there with their mobile phones and tablets putting in a little work time while they met with clients or enjoyed their coffees. Me included.

Yep, I doubt it will take too much longer before those heavy laptops all but disappear. And sitting down to a desktop … they’ll be gone too before you know it. Why do you need something big, heavy and tethered to one location when you can move freely with mobile devices?

Creating a site that is optimized for mobile doesn’t just mean moving off a Flash platform. It means thinking a whole new way about the experience you wish to portray to your clients who are finding you via their mobile devices.

Yes, it may be a low percentage today. But that’s increasing every day. Stats are showing that mobile could be in the high majority in as little as two years. The last thing you want to be is the last photographer focusing in on why your old, archaic website doesn’t work. Here are some things to start considering now as you make your move.

It’s The Internet, Not Two Separate Tools

When mobile technology first made its appearance, many photographers had a major problem. Flash doesn’t work on iPhones or iPads, which means your Flash site isn’t viewable on those devices. While many photographers said “So what?”, to do so ignored a huge population that may be potential clients. Likewise, many retail store thought of their retail and online stores as two separate units. I remember trying to return something I purchased online to a local retail store in the early days of the Internet, and they simply couldn’t take the item back.

Today, many people think the same way when it comes to a website and a mobile website. They are two separate units – build one for traditional online users, and have another for mobile technology. Again, that’s the wrong way to think. A prospect is a prospect. Some will want limited information – your phone number for instance. Others will want to pour over your site and spend hours doing so. You don’t know who your visitors are and what they desire. So you should always be giving them the optimal experience, no matter where they access it from. One site; one purpose. [Read more…]