As a small business owner, you are regularly forced to make a quick decision about your studio’s marketing. “Should I put an ad in this program?” or “Which postcard is better?” While big companies can afford marketing research to answer these questions, chances are you cannot.

That’s why the 10-Second Market Research can help. Simply ask yourself – and honestly answer – these two questions:

1. Would I recommend this to my mother?
2. Would anyone tell their friends about this?

If the answer to either question is “NO”, then move on. Your gut feeling is probably right.

If you think video isn’t important to photographers, consider this: YouTube is owned by Google, so YouTube videos surrounded by your keywords will rank well in Google search results. This means that not only are potential clients more likely to find you online, but that the more clients who watch your YouTube videos, the more your website will rise in Google.

But there are other reasons for you to make a YouTube video. If you’re a senior photographer, a short video showing a senior shoot will put the student’s mind to rest – they will know what to expect at your studio. The same goes for child photography. If you’re an event photographer, show your potential clients how the process will work if you are hired. If you’re a wedding photographer, show how you work before, during and after the ceremony. Or make a video that shows a couple at your studio selecting images for their wedding album.

The fact is, the average customer would rather watch a video than read your website. And once they are watching the video, they will remember you, stick around your website longer, and be more likely to call.

How to Create a YouTube Video:

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In a recent article about differentiating yourself as a photographer, I mentioned panorama prints, and how JD can print panoramas up to 30×72″ on regular or metallic paper.  What I didn’t mention was the process for creating panorama prints. Actually, the process is pretty easy, and you can create them for free.

So why should you create a panorama if you aren’t going to print it?

Although panorama-sized portraits can be an incredibly profitable sale, printing and framing a large studio sample is an investment. Instead of printing one to start, use the instructions below to create a panorama, then layer it on a wall image (like on the right) and feature it on your website and in your marketing materials. If you can show potential clients what you’re capable of producing, you’re more likely to make the sale.

How to Create a Panorama:

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You’ve probably seen the new changes in Facebook’s Wall feed over the last two weeks. Basically, Facebook has changed the wall so that the most recent, most clicked or most commented-on posts are on top, then the rest of the posts are underneath it.

These same changes are being seen by your customers too. After two weeks, research is coming out that shows individual post impressions are down by 25% In other words 1 out of 4 folks are reading the top posts and ignoring the lower ones.

If you want your FB posts to be seen, focus on these 3 strategies:

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With holiday season fast approaching, here are 5 things you can do today to get ready.

1. Turn Products into Gifts. What promotions will you offer? Christmas cards are easy. But how about mini albums as gifts for newlyweds to give their parents? Think of ways you can repackage your existing products as gifts, then decide today how you’ll promote them.

2. Plan your Holiday Promotions. Planning works backwards. Want to have a Christmas card promotion? Customers need their cards by the end of November, which means they will need to order by mid-November, so your promotion needs to be running by November 1st. You need to plan the promotion today, order advertising space, or get marketing materials to the printer today.

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Click for larger version.

If you’ve ever paid a bill like this one, chances are you’re a victim of an Internet scam designed to take advantage of small business owners who have websites.

I know, because it happened to us. Fortunately, we didn’t pay the bill.

Here’s how it works.

Unscrupulous companies will look up your website’s domain name expiration date, and just before it expires, send you an official-looking “bill” via first-class US mail. They hope you will pay it without reading it first.

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Print Competitions are being held across the midwest in the next month. On the calendar I see:

• Oct. 17th PPWM Album Design Competition
• Oct. 25th PPNO Print Competition
• Nov. 8th MTPPA Print Competition
• Nov. 14th MMPPA and PPO Print Competitions
• Nov. 15th DPPA Print Competition

I encourage you to enter one or more of these competitions. Here’s why:

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Just in time for the holidays! Our new Designer Cards are perfect for holiday, seniors, new birth or wedding announcements. You can leave the back side plain, use a pattern, or create your own text image in Photoshop to provide a holiday greeting or directions to an event.

Why offer Designer cards? Simply because they get noticed! These 5×7″ cards are sure to be stuck to a refrigerator as an event reminder, or they will stand out when placed along side other holiday cards.

Designer cards are available in sets of 24 cards with envelopes. Each set is $28.50 for standard paper. Coating, pearl or linen paper is $3.50 extra per set.

Designer cards are available in ROES under Press Printed > Cards > Double Sided.

"View from the Window at Le Gras" by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. First photograph ever taken, 1826.

This 6-part BBC series called The Genius of photography follows the history of photography from the camera obscura to modern digital imaging by highlighting the most famous photographers of each generation.

If you’re an amateur, you will appreciate learning the rich history of photography and its transformation from a novelty – to documenting history – to an art form. If you’re a professional, the series will help remind you why you got into photography in the first place. The passion and art exhibited by each of the photographers is truly inspirational.

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How do we ever truly stand out from our competition?

In his program “Photozagging“, Kirk Russell makes the statement, ““When everyone else is zigging, zag.” What he’s really talking about is standing out – differentiating yourself – from your competition. While Kirk offers concrete examples to help photographers differentiate themselves, it also helps to have a way to think about differentiation as a process. This gives you the tools you need to stand out – not just next month or next year – but in five or ten years.

Youngme Moon, a professor at Harvard Business School, thinks about this problem a lot, and has even written a book about it. After looking at dozens of businesses, she has come up with 3 kinds of differentiation that makes any business stand out from their competition.

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