Theatrical Photography

As a theatrical photographer, I'm shocked just how little is written on the Internet about the subject. If there is an article or two it covers head shots or promotional/ production photography.  It's usually some big shot from Broadway talking about how wonderful they are.

Bottom line, there just aren't many people who do what I do.  I work with schools and community theatre, it's an untapped market ignored by all the school photography companies because they aren't very good dealing with low light photography and there's not enough money in it for them.  Or so they think. There actually is good money to be made in it for those that know how to shoot it and have a business system that works.  Like me. I'll outline all the details in my upcoming book. But if you do school and sports photography now, you'll love being able to open up a new market niche.

What to do when things go wrong on a photo shoot.

Image by Claudio Cicali via FlickrIf you are just getting started in photography or are are long time pro, sometimes stuff happens. If you are a portrait photographer, for whatever the reason, you might have an off day and you don't do as well as you would like. What should you do?  Portrait photography customers can be fickle. For example, when I was managing a studio, there were days when I took some fantastic creative shots and the customers didn't seem to like them much. There were other days were I felt my work was so-so but the customers loved every photo I took. What this probably meant was that I didn't do a good enough job of communicating with my customer before the shoot to give them what they wanted.

But in either case, before you go off and give people their money back because the photos were not up to your standards.  Let the customer be the final judge, after all, it's their photos. They may love every one and say great things about you and your photography skills.  You just never know. Now if they hate the photos, you can re-shoot or give them their money back at that time. Bottom line: don't prejudge your customers and learn from the experience. Find out what the customer is expecting before you step into the camera room.

Merry Christmas

Image via WikipediaChristmas is a great time of year and one of the busiest times of the year for all portrait photographers.  I know by now you are beat and dead tired. But you are probably happy and have pockets full of money to help carry you through the rest of the year. Good job, you did well, keep up the good work. Now is the time to relax and recharge for the coming year.  After your well deserved break, sit down and plan out your goals for 2012. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Top 7 Bare Bones Marketing Tips

Image by osde8info via FlickrSo, outside of a camera, what are the top 7 items you need to start marketing your photography business? That question comes up fairly frequently so I'll address it here. So here are my 7 Bare Bone Marketing tips.
1. Don't spend any money on marketing until you have your first client. As a visual business you need to be able to show off your work. You can't do it if you don't have a paying client. Your first customer will usually come from your personal network.
2. Come up with a name that fits your business but one that is already being searched on by Google. Type "Google AdWords Keyword Tool" into your search browser. The keyword tool will let you know what keywords are being searched on.
3. Sign up for a free blog with blogger or Word Press. Show off your photos with lots of copy. If you want a cheap domain name, go to my favorite site: Go-danny.com  The best part of buying a domain here is they have 24/7 world class customer service. You can get help with whatever questions you may have. Keep in mind, you don't have to buy a domain name for you blog, but it helps by keeping the name short with only your branding on it. You are talking around $5 to $10 for a domain name for a year.
4. Get 250 business cards for free at VistaPrint or you can print you own on you home computer. You will need a business card for networking.
5. A Facebook business page is Free. It helps to have a personal Facebook page first so you can let they know you have a business page. The cool thing about a Facebook business page is once someone "likes" you, you can then advertise to them for free as long as they stay connected to you. If you don't annoy them with a lot of posts, that shouldn't happen. Also Twitter is free too.
6. Networking and Referrals are your best source for leads. Make sure you get leads from your clients by offering them an incentive to help you. Also attend as many face to face networking events as you can in your market area. Get to know people and make sure you help other business owners out too. People helping people is where it's at.
7. Linkedin is a free professional business networking site. It is the professional version of Facebook. It is a great tool, I highly recommend it.
If you can focus your efforts on these items for your first year in the business, you'll do well, I promise, but you can't give up. As I like to say, be persistent and consistent and above all, never give up.

Photography Idea of the Week.

As a former newspaper photographer, it's been sad to see what is happening to the nation's print photojournalists. With the downsizing of news staffs, the photo department has been especially hard hit. More and more newspapers are relying on the submission of photos and videos from Joe Citizen. So where did all the photojournalists go? Many who were good enough to develop a big name in the industry are doing assignment work for news magazines and business interests. They can live off of their reputation. Those photographers who had not developed their reputation are going the freelance route. One of the most popular things to do is become a photojournalist with Zuma Press. You go out and capture the news photos, send them in ASAP and if someone buys them you get a 50-50 split with Zuma Press. It's not big money but as with most stock agencies, you make your money with volume. The more photos you post, the bigger the opportunity can be.

Coming Soon...Theatrical Photography

I've won photography awards for sports, photojournalism and portraits. However, my personal specialized photo market is Theatrical Photography. To that end, I am publishing two books. One will be a guide book as to how I do what I do. The other will be a photo book showing examples. I'm excited about this project and I will keep you informed as to when it will be available.

Photography Idea of the Week

Vintage or Antique photography. You've seen them mostly in tourist traps, the old tyme photographer. But it isn't super expensive to set up a vintage photo theme for your studio. Sure you can go out and buy the expensive props at a prop store but over time you can find all the items you need from garage sales and second hand clothing stores. It's a great way to give folks another opportunity to use your services by providing something different. Here's an example of what I mean.

Pricing you photos for fun and profit

Image by Patrick Hoesly via FlickrWhen it comes to that all important moment when people start to make a buying decision about your photos, it's important not to sell yourself too short and yet not ignore the financial climate you are in. Once you've figured out the products you want to sell, figure out the price point you want to be at. At this point you figure out what you need to do to give customers an incentive to buy at your price point. Everyone likes a great deal. Make your price point the best deal.  For example, if a customer only buys one photo, that one photo should be top dollar. Then for each package level the per photo price should continue downward while the actual amount spent goes up. When I package my photos, my customers can save 60 percent off of the regular pricing if they purchase my top of the line package. I know this is kind of obvious and simple but you'd be surprised how often I see people selling their photos for a flat rate. With a flat rate, the only place you can move to is a lower rate. By using what I call, "incentive pricing" you can still be flexible if you need too but you give yourself more options.

Now, regarding our present economic crisis, there are two rules that will keep you in business. Number 1, don't turn down any job that comes your way. Number 2, only hold a "Fire Sale" when there's a fire. What I'm trying to say is discounting is okay on a limited basis but use it when you really need it to boost sales. If you discount all the time, your customers will come to expect it. But what is great about my "incentive pricing" is you have a system in place where you really don't need to discount because it's built right into the system.

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Customer Service

Image by gordon2208 via FlickrWhen you get right down to it, very few companies really know what customer service is all about. We have companies that think every bit of customer service can be done online and online only. We have some companies who will make a human available to answer you questions, but only as a last resort. 90 percent of the companies out there today rely on either one or both of these concepts. Companies that offer world class customer service are usually open 24/7; they will answer your question but then go the next step and offer to walk you through it;  you always get a real human to talk to right away; and they know that even if the customer isn't always right, they will do the right thing to keep the customer happy.  Above all, they will conduct themselves beyond reproach from a moral and ethical perspective.

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