5 Reasons Why Its Time To Dump Pinterest As A Marketing Tool

I’ve been talking a lot about Pinterest over the past few months. Pinterest continues to be the fastest growing online social network, with current stats showing a growth rate in excess of +4,377 percent over the past year. Compare that to Twitter’s growth of 58 percent, or Facebook’s growth at 4 percent. Yep, that seems like something worth talking about.

But is Pinterest really the best choice for you as a photographer? Can you benefit from pinning your images on pinboards? Read on to find out why it may not be the right fit for you.

1. You aren’t a regular visitor to social sites.

Pinterest has many, many categories and posts that are updated literally by the minute. If you don’t visit on a regular basis, you will quickly fade into oblivion and end up at the bottom of your followers’ feeds – a place that does you know good. The less you post, the less chance you have of finding people that love what you do, share what you do, and convert from followers to paying customers.

2. You focus in on B2B niches.

What niche are you going after as a photographer? If you are photographing widgets for the oil and gas industry, they probably aren’t on Pinterest. If you photograph business portraits for CEOs of major corporations, they might not be on Pinterest. If your focus is on the commercial side, concentrating on annual reports and industrialized photography, Pinterest may not work for you. You have to know whom your target is and how to reach out to them.

3. You’re not the content provider type.

When is the last time you changed your website? When is the last time you wrote up a new marketing piece for your business? If the word “years” appeared in your answer, you probably haven’t grasped the concept of content marketing yet. What makes social work is creating content and giving viewers what they want. Some will convert, most won’t. Yet it’s the content that drives people in and helps boost your traffic in the online world. If you haven’t worked with content marketing yet, there are other areas easier to start with than on Pinterest.

4. You don’t have regular access to the Internet.

Are you a travel photographer always out in the field? Is the “field” for you miles from anywhere, no electricity in sight? Do you prefer spending days in the wilderness with only the stars above and the animals as your companions? If you can’t post on a regular basis, it may be easier to add your images to your own sites when you have access instead of trying to market with Pinterest.

5. You market your photography to men.

While men are coming on board to Pinterest slowly, its still predominately female oriented. That’s because of the visual nature of the application, and the fact that females love to share what they love – fashion, foodie, arts and crafts.

Did you see yourself in any of the above statements? If so, you may do better with other marketing tools.

But if you found yourself disagreeing with the statements again and again, it may be time to jump on board with Pinterest.

I’m such a huge fan of Pinterest, I’ve just released my newest ebook The Photographers Guide To Pinterest, available in both PDF and Kindle.

Its designed to provide you with an easy way to sign up for Pinterest, build your account, and quickly create a ton of traffic to bring in people as fast as possible.

Learn more here >>

How To Get More People To Your Facebook Page

The only way to get more people to your Facebook Page is to tell more people it exists.

It may be easy to send people to it by providing a link in your email, or including a Facebook Badge on your blog, but what do you do if you are out networking face to face?

Why not try a Facebook Business Card?

I’ve always loved Moo – you can find a variety of posts on here talking about how to use Moo products in your marketing materials.

Now they are helping you market your Facebook page as well.

Earlier this year, they launched Facebook Timeline cards – which was great for getting people to your individual profile. Now they are offering the same for Facebook Pages. And the best part is you can try it out … for free.

Each business can now login to Moo and get one pack of 50 cards for free. And even when your first 50 are gone, additional packs run $15 a pack. Very reasonable for a great marketing tool.

Making your Moo Facebook Cards is easy. When you sign in, make sure you click the “yes” when they ask for your data. This allows them to connect up with your Facebook account to pull the data automatically in.

Once your card is set up with your Timeline photo, personalize it. Make sure all your data is correct and its easy for people to connect up with you. You can add a favorite quote or phrase to the back of the card as well.

Tip: I love quotes and used one on the back of my first free pack. But you don’t have to stick with quotes. Think about what you do on Facebook. Do you provide tips? Do you share photos? Are you running a contest? Use that info on the back of your cards. It’s a great way to drive traffic if you’re offering an ongoing promotion.

Then purchase your cards. They are now shipping all over the world, so know matter where you live, you will probably be able to add this to your list of marketing tools.

Once you have your cards in place, use them in addition to your business cards. Yes, its okay to hand out two cards if they are both sending you to different places. When you are talking with someone, what would you like them to see? If you really want to feed them info from your Facebook account, hand over that card. If you want them to see your site for more information, hoping to convert them to a client, hand over your business card. And if you can tell they aren’t quite ready to convert to a client, or they are a great referral source, hand over both. The key is to let them follow you in the manner most convenient to them.

5 Steps To Talking Your Way Into Clients Hearts

Last week I picked up the phone and called a woman I’m working on a project with. The phone rang several times and went to her voice mail.

“Hi, you’ve reached ‘Sally’. I hope you’re having a great day. I can’t get to the phone right now, so leave a message. If its important, I will be checking messages when I get back. Oh, and by the way, I do a variety of things. I’ve been helping people as a virtual assistant lately, so if you have any work you’d like me to help you with, I can do that. And I’m with a great MLM company that sells this juice you’re really going to love. And I’ve been working with a company that lets me do spa parties in your home, so I could set up a party with you and your friends soon…”

On and on it went for well over two minutes, describing all the different things she can do. I was calling her for a completely different reason – a personal project we are working on together – and I was overwhelmed with her message. Imagine if you did want to use one of her services – would you really have her full attention no matter what you decided to do?

Have you listened to your own phone message lately? What are you saying to callers? Do they leave a message because they are excited for the opportunity to possibly work with you? Or are they leaving a message grateful to not have to listen any more?

Even the smallest things like re-recording your voice message can have lasting impact on your business.

Tip 1: Is it about you or them?

Does your message say more about you, or give them the information they need? “I’m not here” is obvious so why state it? “I offer these services” is just confirming what they already know if they have reached the point of calling you. Instead, turn it around and tell them what’s in it for them – “Are you ready for a unique portrait experience?” [Read more…]

How To Put Together A Self Promotional Kit To WOW Your Prospects

What do you do when you’re trying to bring in new clients?

You probably have a few marketing tools you use regularly. Maybe a business card, a postcard, or even a brochure. Those are all nice, and can attract your average client. But what if you want to really kick it up a level, and attract a large customer that can bring in a ton of revenue to your studio?

You may need something that stands out from the crowd.

While we’ve talked here before on ways to develop a strong presentation piece or marketing kit, I found a video today from a commercial photographer that shows you how to put the WOW into it.

Great stuff.

Is something like this expensive? You bet. But the idea behind kits like this isn’t to mail them to thousands of people. Instead, its about finding the right people, limiting it to a few dozen or even a few hundred at most, and doing all you can to WOW them into wanting to use you.

Step one – Find your target market

Before you even begin creating a presentation piece, its important that you know whom you will be marketing to. Define your exact target market down to the detail. The more you know, the easier it is to find them and reach out to them. The key to a great presentation piece is speaking directly to the heart. And if you can define them perfectly, it’s easier to reach out to them. [Read more…]