As a photographer you are both a product provider (the prints) and a service provider (the photography).  It’s a mixed bag that most people don’t quite understand.  Why does an 8×10 cost $85?  It isn’t the price of the paper or the printing, it’s the knowledge that you have as a skilled artisan.  This is the same whether you’re shooting weddings or doing micro-stock photography.

Every photographer is the same.  Every photographer is trying to be different.

Better.

Stand out.

Service your clients and your customers in any way that you can and they’ll begin to see the value that hiring you or buying your work sets you apart.  This is ultimately what creates a mutually beneficial relationship between art buyer and photographer.

These are just things to think about really.  You have to get creative.  You have to figure out how you could stand out to your clients and become someone they would recommend to anyone.

When I was shooting weddings and portraits one of the ways I stood out was to offer help to my clients.  Any help.

How?  I’d ask them.  It was simple.

See…I was involved with a networking group in my town that met every week.  We’d have very structured meetings where we would pass business to each other.  Not leads.  Real business.  We did this by really getting to know what each business had to offer the community.  No competing businesses were allowed and there was an application process because every single person’s reputation was on the line.  Basically, these were some of the best businesses and business people in our town.  Life Insurance, Dentist, Law Firm, Aflac Rep, Mechanic, Car Salesman, etc.  We had a very active group and I’d see thousands of dollars in business get passed back and forth every week.  Oh yeah…I was the photographer.

I would get a wedding booked from someone who worked at a bank where our Aflac Rep had, during normal conversation, learned that this person was newly engaged.  Oh yeah, that Aflac Rep got that bank job from the Lawyer who happens to do his banking there and knows someone up top (then the banker comes to a meeting and becomes a member thus increasing our overall reach).  This is how it worked every week.  Real business getting passed.  Not leads.  Before Twitter.  Before Facebook.

What about my clients?  How did I help them?

I’m a conversationalist.  I like to talk and learned to listen.  So during normal conversation I would pay attention to any pain points that my clients were having.  I’d inquire about their lives.  If they brought up taxes, I knew a great CPA I could introduce them to.  If they were having car problems I had the right mechanic “I’ll call him after this shoot and see what we can do.”

All of my recommendations were top notch.  They had to be.  That was my reputation on the line every single time I referred one of my clients to a member of our network group.

I became more than just a photographer to those people.  I became a problem solver.

You’re clients have pain points.  We all do.  And we all want to talk about them.  We all want answers to our questions.

Results?

When you provide a service that goes above and beyond the scope of your “title” you stand out.  Those clients that I was able to help with their pain points became my walking billboards.  They sent me more referrals than any traditional advertising I was able to afford at the time.

This is one way how networking works at it’s core.  This works off-line as well as on-line.  It’s something to think about.

You can do this.

Join a local networking group if your focus is local and find people outside your industry that you can refer to your customers.

Pay attention to your twitter followers and facebook friends when they have questions.  Try to answer them.  Become a resource.

Be a problem solver.

Promo Opportunity

This week’s promo opportunity comes via one of the sponsors on my photo tips blog.

Lensbaby is running a call for submissions to a new book they’ll be putting out.  Details here.  So if you have a lensbaby lens you should look into this.  It’s always good to be able to put on your website resume that you’ve had work published.

December 31, 6pm PST: Submission window closes

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Special thanks goes to everyone that participated in the twitter photographers promotion 50+ Photographers on Twitter You Should Follow Now! It went great.  Everyone who had suggestions and recommendations has their Twitter profile somewhere in that article and has their profile in the sidebar here on this blog.

In keeping with the theme of this post I’m opening up my email to questions you may have about promoting your photography online or off-line.  I answer every email I get so email me your questions at damien[at]yourphototips[dot]com and we’ll see what we can do to get you to the next step.

Until next week keep shooting and keep promoting!

Is it funny that so many people trying to wrap their heads around social media don’t get it?  Not really.  It’s ironic because they do it on their own…mostly.   Most people (including many photographers) peg away and work at building links and creating a network of “me-toos” and they work long hours and work at it alone.  That sucks.  No really.  You’re climbing an uphill battle if you try that approach.  We’re not doing that here.

Social Media.  Social.  Media. Social. Networking.

You can’t go at this alone.  Even though you are jumping into online networking to increase the reach of your photography light years ahead of most, you’re still way too late in the game to go it alone.  I’ve been doing this for 3 years now and I’m still trying to play catch up to the guys that started just a year before me.  Sure, I’ve leaped ahead of a few, but I’ve also been leaped by others.

No big deal.  This is a marathon.  You’ve got big lungs.  You can hang.

You need a little help though.  Especially  in the beginning.  You need links.  You need partners.

I’m about to share with you a very broad tactic I use to help build online word of mouth marketing one tiny link at a time, one valued reader at a time, and one valued art buyer at a time.

If at any time I use terminology that you don’t understand.  Contact me.  I’m here to help.

Partners

This is what I do.  You don’t have to do this.  It just makes sense to me.  It’s more of that “paying it forward” stuff.  It’s one of the ways I’ve built up readership and traffic to YourPhotoTips.com.

The easiest links you can get when you’re just starting out are blogroll links.  Many people will argue that there isn’t much SEO benefit from this as most blog platforms have the blogrolls as a no-follow link so there is no page rank that is passed.  So why bother?

Forget SEO right now.  We’re talking readers!

Blogrolls are a great way to exchange links with other bloggers in your niche.  We’re all photographers here so you’ll want to contact other photographers and try to exchange blogroll links.  It’s easy.  Just find the contact info on their site, introduce yourself, and ask politely.  Most will not respond but you’ll get a few.  It’s a good way to introduce yourself to the photography blogging community and a great way to get an easy link.  This may provide an extra 10-20 potentially new readers each month.  If you have your blog on 30 different blogrolls that’s could turn into an extra 300 – 600 readers a month.  Those numbers keep expanding and expanding as those readers become fans and share you work with others and they share your work with even more people.  There is long tail SEO that can happen organically from efforts like this.  It’s ripple effect marketing on the Internet and it works.  So find some other photographers to exchange links with.  Go ahead.  It’s worth the time.

Done?…almost…there’s more.

Here’s the deal.  SEO and traffic comes from all over the web.  It comes via search engine traffic or referrals from sites that link to you.  You’ve got a few partners now so why not promote their work?  Why not promote their websites?

Here’s what I do for my partners.  I have many.  It’s a good thing.

All of my partners RSS feeds go in a special folder in my Google Reader.  I hit this folder every morning after my email.  I promote the heck out of this content all over the web.   I submit their stuff to StumbleUpon.  I share it on twitter.  I “like” and “share” it on my reader (that sends it FriendFeed).  I’m getting better at taking a few minutes and commenting on their posts and adding content to their communities.  That folder is where I get most of the info that goes in my weekly photography links posts at my photography tips site (EXAMPLE: 6 of the 12 links in this one are to partner websites)  I don’t do this with every single post that comes from my partners, I don’t have that kind of time.  But I do it as often as I can.

Why do I do this?

Simple.  To help increase their overall exposure on the Web. To increase the traffic on their websites or blogs.  To increase the authority that those partners carries in the online community.   Mostly, it’s because I like these people and I believe in what they do.

Beneficial?

Of course there are benefits.  If I can help to create some added exposure for my partners and their websites flourish because of this I’m also helping myself.  If their websites and blogs start to generate more traffic thereby gaining more links their authority in Google will increase and that will trickle over to my site as well.

I do this because we’re partners.  Because a rising tide raises all boats.  Again, because I like them and what they’re doing.  And I believe that every time you help someone it’s like building Karma points.  Besides, I’m sharing great work, thoughts, photographs, and insight to my readers, thereby helping my followers discover some of the other great content that can be found around the Internet.  I’m increasing my authority in the photography community when I share great content.

Most of my partners notice.  They may not know why I constantly push their stuff in front of my readers, but they notice and they thank me.   I’ll admit it’s nice to get a thanks.  Thanks for tweeting my last article.   Thanks for commenting on my post, I read yours too.  That’s stuff is good and it feels good to give back to the community that has given me so much.

WARNING

Here’s the deal.  If you’re going to take this approach you have to be fairly strict with who you choose to partner with.  If you start plugging every Joe Blow off the street that’s willing to exchange links with you then you won’t be adding that much value to your readers or your followers.  You’ll start to lose readers and followers.  Only push the good stuff.

Homework

Find some photographers to exchange links with.   Then promote their stuff.  You’ll benefit and feel good about yourself.

And…

You have a little time left to get your Twitter photographers recommendations in to me.  I don’t have as many as I thought and that’s a shame because I’m really wanting to get feedback from the photographer community.  I’m really wanting to share your thoughts and share your Twitter profile with the readers of my photography tutorials blog.

Photographer Promotion Opportunity

Here’s an opportunity for the really daring!  Here in America we lovingly refer to the day after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday”.  A rush of people to buy cheap products from almost every retail outlet has led to disaster at times.  People get crushed.  Things get broken.  Well intentioned dads get trampled by lioness mothers intent on not being left with the latest and greatest hyped up offerings for their children.  It’s insane.  No really.

So some really awesomely awesome photographers and artists have an open call for submissions on their project “Picture Black Friday“!

“The project is an open call to photographers nationwide to photograph the event that unofficially rings in the holiday shopping frenzy here in the U.S.

To see a list of jurors click here.” – Mary Virginia Swanson

I’m actually thinking about getting up early and documenting some of the events.  I’ll be in Lubbock, TX visiting the in-laws and I can certainly remember living in that town during these crazy days (I used to live a couple blocks from the Mall!)  Crazy.

Let me know if you’re going to do it and in what town or retail outlet you’ll be documenting.  I’d love to see how many people participate in this experiment.  It’s like human wildlife photography.  Wondering if I should wear camo or body armor?

Until next time, Keep shooting and keep promoting!

Today we do a short and quick intro to Twitter.  Plus, there’s a promotional opportunity for those of you Twitter Veterans at the end.

But First: A little update!

We now have a blog associated with this newsletter.  We talked about it last week because an issue of archiving was going to become an issue.  It’s fairly simple and bare-bones and will evolve as needed.  This does give you a few more options as for staying up to date with the promotional opportunities and marketing advice for your photography business.

You can now sign up via RSS, or through our Twitter account.  Please feel free to visit the site and tell me what you think.  It’s at YourPhotoPromo.com

Twitter

The main idea behind your online marketing begins with networking.  This is simple insofar as branding, selling, and marketing are concerned.  Not everyone is on Twitter, but the most influential and vocal people are.  They are the ones that can help you increase your reach and brand if you’ve got the goods.

Twitter is one of the most misunderstood platforms for many people who just don’t “get it”.  The various terminology that comes with becoming a Twitter user doesn’t help.  People would lock us all up if we talked like that in real life.  Or would they?

How can Twitter benefit a photographer?

We go back to networking.  Having a network of photographers that you follow and that follow you back is going to be key to increasing your reach online.  It comes in many forms.  In click throughs to the links you share amongst those that directly follow you.  It comes in ReTweets when your social circle shares with their followers the links you initially shared with them. 

Your reach can be massive. 

It can increase your Authority as a photographer in the online space. 

Why it’s important to follow photographers

Other photographers on Twitter are sharing interesting content from around the net.  They are having conversations.  They are asking and answering questions.  They are building their networks.

If you have an issue with your equipment you might be able to tweet your problem and get an answer from someone who has had that same problem and has the solution for you.  You can get introductions to people that could greatly increase your chances of making your next sale or landing your next client.

Who you should follow depends on your marketing concerns. 

If you’re a wedding or portrait photographer I would suggest following photographers of course as well as people in your local area.  Most likely they’ll notice you followed them and they’ll follow you back.  Even if they don’t, it helps keep you in the loop for things that are going on in your market area.

If you’re a fine art photographer you might consider following art buyers and marketers.  This of course can be local and global. 

If you’re a stock photographer your probably wanting to follow other stock photographers and stock agencies to keep an eye on the pulse.

Follow people like you!

It doesn’t have to be all business.  Some will argue that it should, but I’m an advocate in letting your personal side show through.  I’ve always felt that people like to buy from people.  Not businesses.  That’s what I learned when I was working in sales.  Make yourself personal and interesting.

If you’re curious about finding photographers to follow I’d suggest starting at WeFollow and use search tags like photographer and photography to find some of the most influential Tweeple out there. 

What to tweet about.

Tweet what your working on.  Just finished an awesome shoot for a big name client?  As long as there isn’t an NDA tweet about it.  It shows your busy and in demand.  Tweet about a cool blog post you just read and include the link. 

Next week I’ll be sharing on my photo tips site a list of some of the best photographers on Twitter to follow and I’d like your help.  As always, there’s exposure to be had.

If you’re a Twitter Photographer expert you probably have a few favorite Twitter Photographers that you follow.  Suggest them to me.  Send me an email with three suggestions on photographers to follow on Twitter and I’ll link to your Twitter profile in the post.  Good for gaining followers.

Here’s what I need:

1. One to three photographers you think every photographer should follow.  You can send me the link directly to their twitter profile or simply their @name.  Doesn’t matter.
2. Tell me (or rather my readers) why they should follow them.  In keeping with the Twitter theme it should be kept to 140 characters or less. 
3. Don’t forget your twitter profile so that you can get credit.
4. Send it to damien[at]yourphototips[dot]com

Deadline: Wednesday 11/25/2009 Midnight CST

Bonus:

Anyone who chooses to participate in this promotional piece also gets a spot on our Suggested Twitter Photographers roll call we’ll be adding to the sidebar of our new blog YourPhotoPromo.com.

Don’t forget that if you have any questions I’m always available and happy to respond.  Suggestions are welcome as well.