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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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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I was at a party recently, and ended up talking to a lady much younger than I am. We didn’t have anything in common, so I kept the conversation going by asking her two questions: “What did she do?” and “Where did she go to school?” She did most of the talking, but it was enjoyable, and after a few minutes we both drifted off into other conversations.

A week later, I ran into the same young lady at another event. Only this time, she acted like we were long-lost friends. As she chatted away, it occurred to me that the conversation we’d had a week before had somehow got her to trust me.

It works the same in marketing. Sales start with trust. Trust is built by communication, and communication starts with questions.

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You can now order 2 flat cards, 2 designer cards, or 2 folded greeting cards with envelopes and your custom images for only $2 in ROES. No shipping or minimum order fees. Pearl, linen, standard paper and standard paper with coating are all available at the same $2 price.

These new studio samples will make it even easier to get holiday card orders from your clients.

Instead of showing clients generic card designs, you can show them a card you’ve customized with their image. Keep one card as a studio sample, and share the other one with your client.

To place your 2-card order in ROES, create a card as you would normally, then select one of the “2 Card Sample” options. The cards will be printed at the lab, and sent to you via first-class mail. No shipping or minimum order fees apply.

Note that you can combine several 2-card sets for different customers into a single order, or you can print different samples for the same client.

If you’re looking to connect with potential clients under 40, your marketing channels are more limited than ever before.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, asked people where they get their local information. They then divided the participants based on both age and medium (newspaper, Internet, TV, etc).

The results indicate that for local businesses like photographic studios, consumers 18-39 depend on the Internet and word of mouth to choose where to spend their money.

While these results are not surprising, it is further proof that TV, radio, yellow page and newspaper advertising has become less useful for reaching your potential clients.

MyDigitalProductsOnline.com is an “unbranded” website hosted by JD that displays all the press-printed graphic layouts available in ROES.

Since JD is never mentioned anywhere on the site, you can show the My Digital Products Online website to clients at your studio, or you can call a client and have them pick a card style while you’re on the phone

Use it to quickly view all our card styles at a single place:

• Graduations, Weddings, Holidays, Announcements
• Dozens of horizontal and vertical card styles
• Folding cards include optional sentiments
• Always adding more

If you use ROES, bookmark MyDigitalProductsOnline.com and check back often. New card designs are constantly being added.

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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