by successfulbob | marketing, Marketing Monday, photography, photography marketing
Marketing Monday with Skip Cohen
Keep Climbing
A new feature here on Successful-Photographer will bring marketing thoughts and ideas from Skip Cohen every Monday. I hope you get as much from listening to Skip as I do!
Staying Focused on Your Education and Growth as an Artist
“When you reach the top, keep climbing!”
Climbing Lizard Photo – Bob Coates Photography
It’s an old proverb, but it’s the way I’ve seen great photographers in our industry stay focused. They never slow down and never stop trying to learn something new. One of the keys to their success and yours is to continuing education.
The first book I wrote was with Don Blair, Don Blair’s Guide to Posing and Lighting Body Parts. It was a guide on traditional portraiture, mostly about what to do with Mother Nature’s challenges, including bad complexions, eyeglasses, braces, posing of women who weren’t size 5, etc. Nobody could create a more flattering portrait than the legendary Big Daddy Blair himself. He was one of the very best.
Don was once asked, “What’s the best portrait you’ve ever done?” His answer said it all, “I don’t know, I haven’t done it yet!”
There’s no question that Don was one of the finest portrait photographers in the world, but at 75 he still hadn’t stopped learning. He still hadn’t created what in his heart he felt was his most beautiful work. He always knew he could do better and kept attending every class he had time for.
Set your goals high, but never believe you’ve hit the top!
We’re part of an industry that’s continually changing. Paradigms shift every morning, sometimes as consistently as the sun coming up. Changes in communication and technology are always challenging us. Our creativity is never wholly tapped, continuously being expanded by other photographers and leaders in the industry.
Have some fun with this little exercise: Take a look at the first images you captured, then look at your work today. Odds are you’ll have a front row seat to your evolution. Photography is an ongoing process. As long as you keep learning, your ability to evolve as an artist will never stop.
PS – And, this is the perfect time to share why I’m so happy my good buddy Bob Coates asked if wanted to share a post now and then on Successful-Photographer. The friendship Bob and I have started many years ago and is built on a foundation of respect for education and a love for this industry. We’re cut from the same cloth when it comes to believing in education and helping photographers raise the bar on the quality of their images, relationships, business, and marketing!
Skip is a guy to follow! You can see more of Skip’s stuff here http://www.skipcohenuniversity.com/scu-blog
Skip Cohen has been involved in the photographic industry his entire career and previously served as President of Rangefinder/WPPI and earlier, Hasselblad USA. He founded SkipCohenUniversity.com in 2013. Skip is co-host for “Mind Your Own Business” and “Beyond Technique,” webcasts through Photofocus.com, writes for several publications including Shutter Magazine and is actively involved in several advisory boards for non-profit organizations.
by successfulbob | commercial photography, marketing, photography education, photography marketing
Bob Coates Photography Commercial Web Site
Like the cobbler that left his family without repaired shoes because he could always get to it eventually my commercial photography web site was in need of a serious overhaul…
So I finally got off my butt and went to work on getting a new, more current look. My wife was never happy with my old site even though it did pretty well for me. When she overheard me chatting with a potential client & I said, “Glad you liked what you saw on my web site, but it does need a bit of an update.” She jumped on my case and motivated me to fix it up. Here’s the result you can see it here.
Screen capture of my newly refurbished Bob Coates Photography web site
Don’t be like me and wait to long to stay on top of your marketing! Put your best foot forward. You only have one chance to make a first impression. Make it a good one!
Your in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – My wife is happy about my new look. How about you? Any suggestions for improvement? It’s still a work in progress. I’ve still got a few more pages to add…
by successfulbob | marketing, photography marketing
Here’s a reminder of a way to keep your name in front of your clients. I write a column for the local newspaper sharing with people how to make better photos. The idea is when it comes time for the choice to hire a photographer I’ll be front of mind…
Article on photographing portraits… Note the credit line with links to web sites.
When you share solid information about photography people will realize there is much more to capturing a good image when they try… And when it comes time to hire a pro your name should be at the top of the list.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | marketing, photography education, photography marketing
…And then I noticed there was a button hole sewed into one corner of my napkin!
This is a definite shirt saver especially during a bumpy flight…
Now this might not seem like such a big deal to you, but to my wife who lovingly takes care of keeping me presentable to the public, my being able to easily secure a napkin across the front of my shirt while eating on a sometimes bumpy airplane can save a lot of time for her.
It’s the little things I’ve started to notice now that I’m traveling quite a bit and it brought me around to thinking about small flourishes of customer service ideas for our photography business.
Here are a few things I’ve noticed on the last couple trips.
On this US Airways flight (now the new American Airlines) I was bumped up to First Class for my travel to Houston to speak and judge for the Texas PPA Summerfest. In addition to the cloth napkin with the buttonhole sewn in are the little hot towels that are served up to refresh you before the meal is served is a great touch.
On a trip to PPA headquarters in Atlanta, GA, the Hyatt Regency had my name on the television that stayed in place for the length of my stay.
We all like to see our name in lights!
At the Phoenix Airport Hilton in Arizona as I was checking in I was presented a dark chocolate caramel candy bar complete with ribbon and a personalized note letting me know they were ‘Glad I was staying here with them’.
So how can we use some of these simple ideas to keep us ‘front of mind’ with our customers? A monitor could be playing images from the client’s last session in a little slide show for them to see as they walk in the door. Or more simply, at a studio portrait session a chalk board could be utilized to welcome clients by name in writing. Clients could be gifted with some small item when they leave the studio. A very small but elegant looking frame could be gifted as your clients leave the studio with a small image from that day’s session.
How will you (or do you already) make customers feel special? Let me know here. We all become better when we share ideas…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix FZ 1000, Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography education, photography marketing
Sedona has had a very wet (for us) spring and the result has been lots of flowers flourishing, in the wild and in the gardens. As you may remember I write a column for the local monthly paper, The Villager, to help keep my name out there. It’s called Photographer’s Corner and I offer tips on making better images. Usually the tips are pretty simple from a pro’s point of view but they are appreciated by the general public.
It was nice while on my Meals on Wheels route to have the Lumix FZ 1000 on hand to grab some flower photos as I saw them. Being able to zoom to 400mm made it possible to shoot from the car through an open window during the rain. (make sure you turn the car off to cut down the vibration) Here’s one of an Iris standing tall on an overcast day which gave good detail.
Straight capture for the article illustrating the concept of ‘Filling the Frame’. Camera settings 1/320 sec F4.0 ISO 160
Once I had the image in the computer I had to play just to see what I could see…
Here’s another version. Always try something new when I have time.
The images were created blending a photo of a wall of small leaves and a photo of some dead leaves raked into a pile. Textures can come from a myriad of places and subjects. Thought I’d keep these textures organic in keeping with the flower.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, marketing, photography education
If you are a photographer trying to sell your artwork and use Fine Art America to sell or want to sell your artwork I’ve got some information that will be extremely helpful for you if you aren’t already aware…
Fine Art America has a wonderful system that allows you to display your images in galleries, as individual pieces and even more important show what your images would look like in various treatments like framed, framed and matted, on canvas, as gallery wrap, acrylics, cards etc. You can keyword your entries and of course they have the shopping cart and fulfillment of your orders. If you were to try and build this kind of web site for yourself as a stand alone I would think it would be around $10,000 if not more. A bit out of reach for the average artist photographer. The problem is you are lumped in with over 100,000 artists selling their work. If you drive traffic to this site you are also competing with all these other artists whose pricing may be quite a bit less than yours…
My personal page on Fine Art America. Note the branding is for Bob Coates Photography not FAA.
You can have all the features available at Fine Art America in your own PERSONAL web space. Why is this important? If you drive traffic to your personal FAA web page ONLY YOUR IMAGES are available. For example, when you do a search for black and white images or use the navigation search bars on the side on my FAA site see the different results below.
Search window for Black and White images http://1-bob-coates.artistwebsites.com Note branding & all images are from Bob Coates Photography
Result from search on main FAA web site page. Note branding and results are from everyone on FAA.
As you can see Fine Art American now has the ability to allow you to have your own personal web space so when you drive traffic to the site it is to see your, and only your images. This takes away a problem I had with Fine Art America in the past. Here is the Admin page and the place to set up your own web site within FAA. You will still be seen on the main side with searches but people who come to this particular address where you have driven traffic will be your alone.
Look for the ‘Your Own Website’ option in your FAA Admin page.
Here is the text from Your Own Website.
1-bob-coates.artistwebsites.com
This is your very own website. Take a look! It’s an extremely powerful promotional tool for your artwork. You’ve got all of the features of Fine Art America packed into your very own, fully-customizable website. You can login to your website here using your Fine Art America username and password.
Happy promoting and selling!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
