Showing posts with label Postcards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Postcards. Show all posts

Friday, February 03, 2012

How I am marketing our Tibet Workshop

How do you break through all the information bombarding folks today? Maybe a little old school can work.
Front of 4x6 Postcard
Back of 4x6 Postcard
I have used postcards for promotion for years.  When I started I just had 1 photo on the cover and just my return address on the back. 

Today I put photos on the back.  This started because my friend Tony Messano, creative director, pointed out that everyone has at least one good photo. By putting more photos on the back helps communicate you are not just a one shot wonder.

Just the other day I was on Facebook and saw this cartoon being shared over and over.

I think if you were like me you were laughing.

I have found that for a while email blasts were more effective until they became viewed as spam.  Now the difference is that the email is being intercepted more and more by filters.  This is for legitimate correspondence.

I am finding you need to find some resources to help you with your marketing. 


www.PPRPix.com

Meet my friend Pete Casabonne, manager of www.PPRPix.com has been my go to guy for film processing, prints, books and other things that I need to turn my photos into for my clients.

Pete's new startup PPRPix.com is a very nimble operation. He has a printer that takes the days orders and prints most everything from 4x6 prints to 20 x 30 prints.  In the older style labs you had to convert a machine to do each size.  The only thing they do that requires them to stop and make adjustments is to change the type of paper.

PPRPix does much more than prints.  I just tested today having them handle my postcards.  There specialty is helping the person who has small runs.  They set this up with 4x6 postcards for example at $14.16 for 24 printed 4 color on front and back of the post card.

Once you get into large runs of 5,000 or more postcards the prices start to standardize in the industry, but it is the short runs that have been out of the reach of many.

Carlton Williams cuts the postcards to size using a computer automated machine. 
What is important for marketing is not to do just one thing, but to approach potential customers in many different ways. 

This was exciting for me because this was the first time I had ever since a press run on my postcards.
I am working with Pete just like I have always done.  Pete is someone that tells me of new products and price points that make them very appealing.  Then I not only think of how to use these to promote my business, but I also bring my clients to PPRPix.com to help them promote using my work for their business.

We have done large prints for many years for clients to put up in their buildings.  Pete introduced me to self book publishing. Now Pete showed me today an very cool new book design. 

I think I am going to work with Pete on the book in the next month and then blog more about that process later.

What you need to do as far as marketing

You need to have many different ways to present your work.  Here are some I recommend:

  • Large Prints (give your present clients large prints to hang on their walls)
  • Self Published Books. You can have multiple books published for very little because you only need a few to show people.  
  • Postcards
  • email Newsletters
  • Blogging
  • Phone Calls
  • Networking events

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Measuring your efforts of marketing

Do you know your ROI—Return On Investment?  While often we can use this to measure a financial purchase for your work—like a new camera or lens you need to also look at your time.

Let me talk about four things I do to connect with customers and potential customers.

front
Front of my latest postcard
Postcards

First of all this is one of my first things I used to get my images into people’s hands outside of sitting down and showing my portfolio.  My friend Tony Messano helped me with a template to use.  Tony also gave me some great insight into using postcards.
back
back of the postcard
“Everyone has one good photo in them,” Tony would say, “so put some other photos on the backside of the same shoot to show how much variety you deliver—it will help set you apart.”  

I have purchased and created a database of names that at one point was close to 6,500 names.  With the poor economy this has shrunk to 4,700 names.  I need to work on this as well.

I mail the postcards quarterly and sometime have gotten behind.  The advantage of these verses using email is the person has to touch the card before it goes into the wastebasket.  

My hope is that it gets pinned on the wall with other examples the art directors keep. 
newsletter
My latest e.Newsletter
e.Newsletter

I have been sending this out for many years now on a monthly basis.  Sometimes I was excited about a new topic and sent out more than one a month.  This has proven very helpful.  I give away photography advice and tips I am picking up.  I am no longer just a photographer but considered an expert, because of my sharing of my knowledge.

This does pretty good and I can track it to see who looked at the email, whereas the postcard I just put out there.
website
My Website
Website

This to me is my online portfolio and more.  The main reason I have it is for those folks looking for a photographer can maybe find me and see my work and based on what they see hire me. 

This is a very static way to market.  I use my postcards, emails, Facebook, Find a Photographer links on National Press Photographers Association and American Society of Media Photographers to drive people to my website.

Besides the photos it also has all my e.Newsletters, videos, bio and links to make it more of a resource tool for folks that visit. 

I can track the number of visitors to the website using Google Analytics.  Here is a sample of the last month of visitors.
google analytics
Google Analytics
Blog

The largest traffic I get daily is my blog.  I am posting 3 or more times a week similar things that I used to only send as an e.Newsletter.  Blogs are not like spam in the people chooses to revisit and often will subscribe to get emails so they know when I have posted new material.

The number of folks coming to my blog each day and month are 10 to 20 times that of any other thing I do. 

Here you can see the analytics showing the past month.
blog
Blog Analytics

Summary

You cannot pick just one of these to do.  All of them help each other and build my brand.  I ask folks when they call to book me where they found me and believe it or not all of them are getting me jobs.  But the one thing I hear the most often is after they discover me and go to my website they are impressed with the depth of material there that can help them.

Use Google Analytics or something similar to track visitors to your website, blog and e.Newsletters and you will know your ROI score.