How important are online reviews? According to online marketing research, 6 out of 10 potential clients look for online reviews of your studio before contacting you, and 8 out of 10 consider those reviews critical to making a purchase.

This means that even if potential clients know your name, 48% won’t consider contacting you without reading positive online reviews.

While that number should scare you, the solution is easier than you realize. Here’s how: (more…)

Dress designers do it. Car companies do it. Cell phone companies do it. Every year, new products with new features are rolled out to consumers.

People like “new”. It generates excitement. It gives them bragging rights.

Why should professional photography be any different?

To say that great photography is timeless may be artistically correct, but it doesn’t mean more sales. (more…)

We’ve been talking about lagniappes for years, so I was surprised to read a new book by Stan Phelps (What’s your Purple Goldfish?) about them. Here’s what Drew McLellan writes in the forward:

True lagniappe can’t be faked or forced. We banter the word authentic around too much these days. But for lagniappe to work, it must be just that — real and offered without expectation of anything in return.

In other words – you do it because you want to, not because it’s in a marketing plan document or because your ROI calculator told you it would generate a 42.36% return. (And no…there’s no such thing as an ROI calculator!)

This is absolutely true.

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Kirk Russell will speak on “Effective Marketing” at the Professional Photographers of Michigan Photo Expo February 11 at the Motor City Casino Hotel in Detroit, Michigan. The session is sponsored by JD Photo Imaging.

According to Kirk, “Studios who aren’t finding ways to attract, motivate, and engage clients quickly find themselves hung out to dry. How are you hanging?” During the session, Kirk will show step-by-step examples of how to reinvent a photography studio. He will share great ideas for new products, marketing, and new processes that move people to action.

Complete information on the PPM Expo and training seminars are here.

I was at a great new year’s party, and watched several of my friends take photographs with their iPhone.

But Tiffany took the idea to a whole new level. She snapped several group photographs, uploaded them to Facebook, then “tagged” every person in the photos. The next morning, we were all notified with links to view ourselves in Facebook pictures.

Since it was Sunday morning, I was lazy. Rather than post about how great the party was, I found myself sharing Tiffany’s photos with my friends and family. I’m sure many other folks did the same thing.

This same process could work at any event.

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The folks over at J. Walter Thompson, an international marketing firm, have compiled a list of trends worth watching in 2012.While they list 10 significant trends, these are the ones we believe will have the most impact on the photographic industry:

1. Navigating the New Normal – Consumers are looking for low-cost ways to purchase high-quality brands. Even high-end photographers should expect to see more brides looking for a DVD of images instead of albums, or seniors looking for a small number of images. This makes it more important than ever that you focus on building your brand so that potential clients know they are buying your work, not pieces of paper.

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Although we constantly talk about social media marketing (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) , it pays to remember that their are many other marketing tools available for your studio. One of the most powerful is the cross-promotion.

Cross-promotions are low-cost techniques for getting your name in front of potential customers by promoting with other businesses. The classic example is putting a stack of gift certificates for bridal photography in a bridal store.

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If you post to Facebook regularly, there will be days when you’ll look at the screen and think, “I don’t have anything to say.”

While you can always comment on, like, or share someone else’s posts, it isn’t the same as making one of your own. Posting is important, and posting daily is important too.

So if you’re ever at a loss to think of a post, here are some examples to help. Each will not only get you started, but are designed to get your posts read (of course, finishing them is up to you):

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Dennis Yu video by Michael Stelzner.

This is one of the best, 10 minute presentations I’ve seen on how to energize your studio’s Facebook marketing strategy. Michael Stelzner interviews Dennis Yu, CEO of BlitzLocal, an agency that does Facebook advertising for businesses with a local presence. It covers:

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Have you every seen a link from a friend in Facebook that says something like:

“I just found this cool way to see who visited your profile –> http://bit.ly/F4SP5″

These are links to Facebook Apps (short for applications). Just because you know the person who sent you the link, doesn’t mean you should click on it.

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