freelancing

Story Marketing

A lot of folks are either having a good laugh or scratching their head over the $500 bridal selfie stick that was shown at a New York fashion show.

The boutique clothing designer said the selfie stick wasn’t just a fashion runway prop but that it’s a real product. She even claimed the product was already out of stock. (Out of stock even before it was in stores?!)

A bride could easily buy a cheaper selfie stick and decorate it themselves but they won’t have a “designer” selfie stick. Of course, no one should have a selfie stick or even a pair of selfie shoes ;-) but that’s another post.

Who would buy a $500 selfie stick? Someone who thinks it’s worth $500.
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You can trust me on this

Photographers are often told to sell value rather than just pictures. But when it comes to value, there can be a disconnect between photographer and customer.

A photographer generally tries to sell future value: how the photos might be used and enjoyed in the future.

But a customer often sees only the immediate value: the cost of the photography today.

If cost is greater than perceived worth then the customer won’t buy.

It’s difficult for any business to sell the future because we only see the present and we only know how we feel today.

A solution is that you have to realize that it’s not about cost, high or low. It’s really about worth or the lack thereof. If a customer sees little perceived worth today then your only option may be to lower your price and even that may not be enough.

Having to discount your prices is proof that your current marketing has failed.

Once you understand that worth is related to trust, then perhaps you’ll change your marketing to build trust rather than to promote low prices.

Customers can, and want to, feel trust today.

 

Photo Saturation

There are nine take-out pizza stores within a one-kilometre radius of my home. How did they know I like pizza so much? More importantly, how much pizza do I and my neighbours have to eat to keep all those stores in business?

If you were the only photographer in town, you’d probably be quite busy with work. If a second photographer arrived in town, would the total number of photography customers double or would the existing number of customers be somehow split between you and the other photographer?

What if the number of photographers in your town went up by a factor of ten, fifty, a hundred or more? How would that affect your business?

It’s said that competition is good for business (and good for customers). More competition can increase customer awareness of your products and services which then might increase demand for your business.
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Experience or Just Service?

With many photographers in your area using similar equipment, offering similar services, and having similar websites, how do you set yourself apart? After visiting a few websites, potential customers may assume all photographers are the same.

What can you do to stand out? Create a flashier website? Offer deeper discounts? Invest in trendy backdrops or lighting accessories?

None of these are long term solutions.

Instead, focus on understanding your customer more deeply. What are they really looking for when they search for a photographer? What concerns or constraints do they have when hiring one? What do they expect when working with a photographer? And how do they want to use the photos you deliver? These considerations have nothing to do with shutter speeds, pixel counts, or focal lengths.

This isn’t about customer service but rather it’s about customer experience (link to PDF). The two are not the same.

In short, customer experience is the overall impression a customer takes away from their interaction with your business. For a photographer, this experience often begins the moment a potential client visits your website. Customer service, while an important part of the experience, refers specifically to what a business does for the customer.

By improving your customer experience and gaining a deeper understanding of your clients’ needs, you can become their photographer of choice, more so than any new gear or price discount could ever achieve.

 

The Job of Photographer

France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication released a survey titled, “Le métier de photographe” (The job of photographer). The study (il est en français) is based on a December 2014 questionnaire completed by 3,000 photographers in France.

The results may not be surprising to photographers but it can help to look at some numbers. Here are a few examples from this French survey:

— The number of people who call themselves a “professional photographer”:
1995 – 15,400
2000 – 14,100
2005 – 18,000
2014 – 25,000 (estimated)
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Two Quick Thoughts

An event organizer was looking over my shoulder while I was photographing a keynote speaker at a business conference last week. When I stopped for a moment, he said, “That should be a good picture. Can you upload it to our Twitter account right now?”

I replied that it wasn’t possible with my camera but I could transfer a photo to my nearby laptop and e-mail it to him. He said not to bother. His cell phone was raised, a picture was snapped, and then uploaded to his company’s Twitter account. He seemed quite pleased with himself.

I was shooting at ISO 6400 with a 500mm f4 lens. He was using an iPhone 5. You can probably guess how his picture looked.

 

I received an e-mail from a magazine editor looking for a Toronto photographer. He wrote that his magazine pays based on what camera the photographer uses. A “big dslr” is $400. A small camera is $200. A “pocket camera” is $100. The editor explained that this was fair because big cameras cost more.

He added that he checks a photo’s EXIF data to see what camera was used so a photographer couldn’t claim they used a bigger camera when they didn’t.

I asked why they didn’t pay based on the actual photography. That was too complicated, the editor replied.

 

Anybody For Nothing

The 1969 American cult film Putney Swope, a satire about the advertising world, corporate corruption, politics and more, has horrible acting and lots of great quotes. It also has this scene which has been posted on many photography sites:

I can get anybody for nothing.

The running gag in the film is that the commercial photographer appears at inopportune times always showing his portfolio but not getting any work.

A satire is something that pokes fun at a vice, foolishness or human folly. Feel free to interpret what the photographer represents.

 

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