Wednesday Wisdoms

The quickest way to lose a potential client is to spell their name incorrectly. 

You can’t afford to NOT test.

Best advice I ever received was from photographer Neil Jacobson, who told me to never bring my emotions to my job.

As a photographer’s career progresses they must continue to reinvent themselves. A photographer must explore and grow to show what they can bring to the job. This is a young-person’s career unless photographers of every age commit to staying hungry for fresh inspiration and new ways to communicate their vision.

“You can have an ‘it’ moment, but you have to know how to continue to move this movement into something that’s bigger than yourself.”

(Speaking of Trends)

– Ashley Graham, supermodel and role model, CBS Sunday Morning

Sales tool number uno: sometimes keeping my mouth shut and listening

“Whenever you’re a creative person, you always have a certain amount of insecurity and uncertainty,” she said. “You want to be in a place of uncertainty, a place where something surprising can happen. That’s where the gold is.”

– Actress Annette Bening via LA Times

Always assume your client has less than one second for your email. Include any links they may already know. Write in full sentences that retrace the emails so they don’t need to scroll down and read old ones to understand. Speak in each email as if it’s the first one, gathering all the info. Unless of course, you are responding immediately, then it can be quick “yes” or “no”, etc.

5 REASONS WHY 

I’M NOT REPPING YOU

1. You aren’t the kind of photographer I represent. 

2. You have a bad reputation. 

3. Your work isn’t strong enough yet. 

4. Your work doesn’t have a strong vision or sense of direction.

5. You don’t conduct yourself in a professional manner.

Whether your medium is photography, illustration or video… if you want to be successful in today’s marketplace, you need to build a business. Today’s challenges have never been greater. Nor only do you need to win the account from your neighboring photographer, but you’re also competing with stock collections, free content, in-house production departments, pro-consumer digital cameras giving clients the opportunity to take their own images… and an authentic trend of embracing “real photography” taken from smartphones. Ah, but there is a silver lining to our future, our industry has never needed visual content more than they do today… Though you might feel weighed down by the realities of this industry, if you can rise above the clutter and visual noise out there, you can have a very successful career. 

Guest Post: Agency Access

The Photographer’s Survival Guide to Marketing