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Don't you just love fall? Here in the Rocky Mountains, its a beautiful time of year.
We headed up for our annual trek to Estes Park to take in the bugling elk and the beautiful color of the aspens. Though its been warm down here in Denver, the trees are finally starting to turn here as well. The colors are beautiful this year.
How's your business doing this year? I've been speaking to a ton of groups this past month, and I've realized the one key factor everyone is missing in their marketing this year is fundamentals. I've focused today's article (you can only get it in my ezine) on understanding the fundamentals with your marketing. Get this down, and you'll make the rest of 2009 a success.
Lori
Will You Survive 2009?
I recently was a part of a survey that took place on Twitter that asked photographers why they hate marketing. The answers were pretty much what I expected.
"It always feels like I'm trying to sell what people really don't need."
"I never have enough money put aside to do it right."
"I don't have a good understanding of what marketing really is, so it never works and it crashes and burns."
Ever get those same feelings?
Marketing isn't hard. It isn't difficult. And it shouldn't leave you perplexed and in the dark.
Marketing is basically all about ways you can get your business in front of people that will buy. That's it.
- You have to have confidence in your product/service.
- You have to have the desire to be in business AND make a profit.
- You have to love sharing your gifts with people AND have them pay for your gifts.
You don't have to have a ton of m0ney put away to make it work. With things like Twitter and Facebook, if you use them correctly, you can easily find a ton of business.
You don't have to truly understand how marketing works. You just have to have enough confidence in your products/services and in what you do to share it with others, and be willing to charge for what you do.
It's all about the fundamentals.
[I just posted a new blog post and video about social marketing fundamentals you may find interesting.
Take a look.]
Social Links
How Much Does Social Impact Your Photography Business?
If you follow me on Twitter, you received this tweet from me today:
I found a must-read post today entitled: How To: Plan A DIY Wedding Using Social Media. Whether you photograph weddings or not, this will open your eyes to the way people are now using the Internet to do things within their daily lives.
The writer of the post, Josh, is planning his wedding for next July. As a part of the process, he shared all the different tools he and his future bride are using for the planning process.
- Sites to plan out the color scheme
- Sites to plan invitations to wedding collateral
- Blogs to document the entire process
- Mobile technology to work with iPhones and BlackBerry's to keep everyone up to date
- Registry programs
- Honeymoon planners
The list goes on.
When you take a look through his planning process - and yes he still has 9 months to go - its amazing the resources that are at his finger tips. And how well he can use them.
Think any other newly engaged couples are doing the same thing?
Keep Reading>>
Selling Your Travel Photos - Turning Vacations Into A Business
One of the things I've always loved about photography is the freedom it brings to your life. That and lets face it - it's fun telling people we've traveled all over photographing really cool parties. I love the look on their faces and the spark in their eyes.
Which is why travel photography is also captured a huge part of my attention span. Not too many people can go anywhere in the world, experience the best things in life, and get paid for it too.
7 ways to sell your travel photos:
1. Every photograph you take can be sold on a stock photography site. While online micro stock agencies pay a small amount per image sold, the more images you have, the quicker it adds up. If you make it a goal to add to your microstock portfolio every month, it can add up to a great passive income source.
2. Sell directly to magazines. There are dozens of magazines specifically related to travel. Add in dozens more that look for quality photography related directly to a location, and you have a lot of potential. Check out the book Writer's Market, published and updated every year (I just received the 2010 version a couple of weeks ago), or use their online service to get access to magazines and their editors.
Keep Reading>>
DIY: Ready To Improve The Lighting Of Your Portraits?
What's the difference between a good photograph and a great one? It's the lighting. A great photograph has a special look that shows the person in the best light possible, no matter what time of day it was taken.
Yet if you are new to photography, or are still trying to build up your supply of camera body and lenses, can you really invest more in the extras like softboxes and reflectors?
Now you can. We discovered early on how to create our own reflectors that are easy to build, easy to store and take along in your bags, and most importantly affordable.
About Andrew and Lori
Andrew and Lori Osterberg are co-founders of
VirtualPhotographyStudio.com, a site dedicated to providing tips, resouces and advice for using your camera to build a successful photography business.
Through their coaching, workshops, training and products, Andrew and Lori show you how to break through the desire of wanting photography to be more than a hobby, and provide you with the how-to to actually accomplish it.
To begin experiencing Andrew and Lori's coaching, consider their highly successful
Photography For Success, Freedom and 1ncome.
If you liked today's issue, you'll love following Andrew and Lori through all of their
high-content training products, newsletter, and online posts. Their goal is to provide you with all you need to help you live the life others only dream of.
