If you’re using Facebook, you’ve seen the “Like” button with the thumb-up icon on the right side of your pages. While the “like” feature used to be for wall comments only, it has become the hottest new marketing trend of the summer.

Facebook can now show your business ads to users who are both in your target market AND are already friends of your business. Or, you can put the FB “Like” icon right on your studio website. When someone clicks it, a new comment appears on their News Feed with a link back to your website or FB page.

Think of it as word-of-mouth combined with social networking. Given the size and growth of Facebook, this one new feature alone could boost your entire marketing effort.

Learn how to implement the “like” button for Facebook. If you’re not using Facebook, this may be a good reason to get started.

Learn how to get the attention of more people and motivate them to contact you NOW!

JDPI will sponsor a series of five free Webinars each Monday at 1pm EST beginning August 9th and running through September 6th. These Webinars will be taught by Kirk Russell from 3Lenses.com, a professional photographer and expert in studio marketing.

If you’re looking for answers and specifics you’ll want to attend one or more of these Webinars:

• Seniors - August 9th
• Sports - August 16th
• Dance and Pre-School - August 23rd
• Families - August 30th
• Weddings - September 6th

Click on any of the dates above to reserve your seat today.

Each 60-minute webinar will teach you the nuts and bolts techniques that work, like how to segment the market with pricing, products, and session types to appeal to a broader group of clients. You’ll learn what you can do right now to get attention and motivate people to have a portrait made. Kirk will also examine some success stories, and even efforts that were not as successful, and WHY.

The goal here is to have you leave with solid information for getting your studio on track into the future and learn powerful rules of marketing that will apply to every studio.

What you will learn

• How to use New Marketing to attract the right clients
• What products and services people want TODAY
• How to price and sell products with higher profits.

As Kirk says, “Misery has enough company. Dare to be successful.” If you are ready to turbocharge your marketing efforts, this series of Webinars will work for you.

JD now offers red and camel photo book cover material in addition to black on all its standard photo books and accordion mini - books. There is no additional charge to select these new colors.

Both these rich colors were selected to show off your photography. They can be selected in ROES while designing your photo books or mini - books.

In addition, all standard photo book covers - black, red and camel - now use a new material that is much richer than the previous black material only. If you’ve ordered a standard photo book before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the difference.

You can install JD ROES to order these or any of our products.

Guardian Life insurance recently produced a report on small businesses (2-99 employees) and their results showed that the most important personal trait of a successful small business owner was the ability to collaborate.

Business owners who build strong relationships with their employees, vendors and others are more likely to click with customers.

If you think about it, this makes sense. From the moment you sold your first photograph, you discovered that the relationship between you and the customer - and your lab - was as important as the image itself.

As I read this report I realized something else: this is true for both your business and ours.

That’s why at JD we are proud of our customer service department. Heidi, Dana and Julie have a combined total of decades of experience working with professional photographers. We know many of you by first name. We’ve talked on the phone (no robots answer our phones), been to your studios, met you over the counter, in training classes and at trade shows. Building relationships with you and other professional photographers has been just as important as providing high-quality products in the growth of our lab.

When you talk, we listen. Float wraps, accordion mini books, and high-end trader cards are just a few of the many new products we constantly introduce because you told us you wanted them.

Bottom line: if you ever need anything from JD, give us a call at 888-858-8084. Our success depends on yours.

YouTube has partnered with director Ridley Scott (Bladerunner, Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down) to produce a feature motion picture based on images captured by photographers worldwide.

The project asks participants to “capture a snapshot of your life on camera” on July 24, and upload the clips by the 31st.

It will be featured at the Sundance Film Festival, and 20 participants will be invited to attend the premiere.

If you’re feeling creative on that Saturday, this would be a fun project.

I read an interesting article on thinkvitamin.com where a business was able to double their online customer response rate by changing the words in their website’s call to action.

You have a call to action on your website today, even though you may not realize it. It probably says something like “call now for your free consultation” or “call us today”. It is the thing you want your visitor to do after reading about your studio.

The problem with a phone number call to action is that it is really a ploy to get a potential client in the studio and sell them a package before they know what the price will be. Folks who shop online are smart enough to know this. They don’t want a high pressure sales pitch (remember free vacations in Florida if you watch a condo presentation?), so they go to the next website.

So instead of their original call to action Free Trial they tried See plans and pricing. Their response rate doubled.

If you wanted to duplicate this test, put the words “See plans and pricing” on every page on your website with a link to a new page or a one-page downloadable PDF file with your package prices. Then put your phone number on that page. If you have a second line, use that number to keep track of calls, or you can name your packages something special like prix réduit, service complet, and extraordinaire (budget, full-service, and deluxe in French). Always offer 3, most folks choose the middle one.

Try it for a month, and see if putting your prices online generates more calls.

I honestly cannot remember how I got along before Google. Back in the day a phone book, a telephone and a map were all the tools I needed to make a purchase or find an address. Now that I have Google, I can’t imagine going back to the old way of doing business.

The problem with Google is that it has too much information. Type “photographer” in Google and you’ll see everything from Ansel Adams to Zoom Lenses. Not very helpful if your customer is looking for your studio online.

Here are the steps I use when I’m selecting keywords to help visitors find my website.

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from July 12-31 we’re running a special on 16×20 prints: Buy one, get one 50% off. The prints do not have to be the same image.

This is your perfect opportunity to:

• Update your studio sample artwork
• Offer as an up-sell to a new client
• Offer as a special in your next customer e-mail

To take advantage of these prices, you must enter either of the following promo codes in your order:

1. Deluxe Prints: EMAILBOGODEL
2. Econo Prints: EMAILBOGOECO

Don’t miss out on this great pricing before it ends July 31st. Order your 16×20 prints today!

JD’s Padded Float Wraps are mounted on a hardboard with a foam padding between the print and the mount board. A lustre or matte lamination is applied to your image. A mounting block is added on the back for a floating effect when hung on your wall.

To order Float Wraps, in ROES selct Options to choose your paper type, your finish or thin float wrap mount.

JD Photo Imaging has partnered with Kirk Russell, President of 3 Lenses Marketing & Design, to provide a new level of business and marketing support for our customers.

Over the next weeks and months, JD customers will be able to take advantage of several exclusive services from 3 Lenses including:

• Free and low-cost webinars focused on marketing and selling weddings, seniors, portraits and events.
• Professional evaluation of your studios products and prices, as well as specific recommendations to reach new sales goals.
• Private discussion threads where photographers can get answers to questions on business and marketing topics,
• Tips, tricks and techniques like phone scripts proven to increase sales up to 50%!
• Articles designed to inspire pro photographers to take their business to the next sales level.

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