How to get new customers and how to keep your existing customers
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 16. January 2012 - 6:42
Yan of http://yanphoto.com wrote a blog post: sick of it, in which she states how hard the life of a photographer is: no business, dead… Her photos are good, so why can't she get any work?
Because like most photographers, she doesn't understand the business of photography. First the facts, then the solutions.
- Photography is booming
- Photography is exploding.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 12. January 2012 - 6:20
Nikon announced their Nikon D4 in January 2012. The next day, Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in customs wrote the following blog post DSLRs are a dying breed – 3rd Gen Cameras are the Future in which he slams Nikon/Canon and the big/standard dSLRs.
Please note that:
- Stuck in customs has 1+ million visitors per month
- Trey Ratcliff sales were in the 7 figures in 2011
- Trey Ratcliff employs 11 part and full-time people (that's what he mentioned in Feb-2011 in an interview)
Trey announced that:
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 4. January 2012 - 6:00
It's the new year, 2012. New year equals new resolutions but there are so many resolutions to forget from 2011. Here's a quick one that you can do right now and make us feel good as photographers, because we are asserting our rights.
Did you update your copyrights? It takes only from 5 to 15 minutes.
In your camera: almost all “pro-summer” cameras and all “pro” cameras have a copyright menu item to set it up. Many “amateur” cameras also have it.
On the Canon 7D, it's in the Menu → Wrench 3 → Copyright Information
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 12. December 2011 - 6:31
Trey Ratcliff of Stuck In Customs wrote an blog post: Stop Advertising in Photo Magazines – Head West to the Web. He spent $28,000 to advertise in 3 magazines and found that 2 of them were a complete waste.
He advertised in Popular Photography, Shutterbug and Photoshop User. Sales were dismal with Popular Photography and Shutterbug. Sales were very good with Photoshop User.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 6. December 2011 - 7:42
Last Saturday, I went to Reifel Bird Sanctuary, things didn't go well.
Sandhill Cranes Cleaning Themselves click on image for gallery
- It was “supposed” to be nice weather.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 23. October 2011 - 19:10
The problem with a race to the bottom is that you might win
— Famous saying that too many people attributed to themselves
Wedding Photos: $149 click on image for gallery
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 1. September 2011 - 21:19
The Olan Mills studios started in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1932 by Olan and Mary Stephenson Mills. They are still today the largest photo “empire” in North America. Their studio sales have been plummeting in the last five years with the advent of digital, but it's still a $250 million per year business. It's based on three free 8 by 10 photos! The three sessions are spread out 2-3 months apart and the “customer” receives a complimentary 8 by 10 print from each session. Bring the kids; bring the family…
Sales are not as good as it used to be.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 18. July 2011 - 6:51
I was talking with Wanda, she has a booth at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has a booth of mostly wildlife photos from her husband and as the conversation went, we ended talking about print sizes.
She said that the 8 by 10s were her best sellers. She makes most of her own prints, Epson paper, mostly Premium Luster and an Epson 3880. She farms out the 20 by 30s prints.
- She said that the vast majority of her sales were the 8 by 10 photos.
- She said that she occasionally sells the 16 by 20.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 11. July 2011 - 8:32
In its post of the 8-Jul-2011, PetaPixel reported that CNBC has declared the end of the point and shoot cameras. This has been reported many times by many business analysts.
Point and shoot camera sales are down, significantly. The top 2 point and shoot camera manufacturers are:
- Canon
- Sony
And they represent 65% of the worldwide market. This year, Canon has introduced only 1 new camera, and Sony only 2 new cameras.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 25. May 2011 - 23:00
I was at a small business seminar. You know the kind that tells us: here's step one, then step two… Follow the steps and you are guaranteed to succeed.
Step One: Start in the area that has a high concentration of potential clients and visit each business in the field you are targeting.
Present your business card, and introduce yourself to the receptionist. Don’t be put off by the “NO SOLICITING” signs or similar warnings to scare off the faint of heart.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 18. May 2011 - 9:50
Alain Briot did an interview with Gordon Lewis of Shutter Finger. Alain Briot is a successful fine art photographers with a few books under the belt.
My matted and framed prints sell for as much as $3900. But again, understand that I am selling much more than a print in a frame. I am selling my unique vision and style. I am selling prints of exceptional quality and beauty. I am selling luxury-level customer service combined with a one-year 100% money back guarantee, a lifetime fade-free warranty, and a lifetime framing warranty.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 10. May 2011 - 21:38
Most people think that they are not being paid what they are worth. In the early 1990s, Robert Half, the employment agency, did a study in the workplace asking people how they rated their own work performance, then asked the employer the same question. The result was (from memory):
- 80%+ of the employees rated themselves as good and above
- 60% of the employees were rated as average by their employers
We have a disconnect here. There are 2 reasons why you are not getting paid what you’re worth:
- You don't know what you are worth, or
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 8. May 2011 - 17:00
In February 2011, Google got shamed by JC Penny who cheated to be ranked in the top 5 websites for common words like dress, jeans…. I wrote about in SEO: How To Cheat JC Penney Style
Fast forward May 2011, and last week, I was talking with a Google engineer.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 2. May 2011 - 10:14
As much as 10% of the people in North America as signed up with Groupon! 10%, that's 45 millions! So the question is should you sign up as a photographer with GroupOn and get thousands upon of thousands of customers. Groupon will work with you to design the Groupon offer for you to get between a thousand clients to two thousand clients. Wow! In addition, usually it’s over the space of 2 or 3 days.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 1. May 2011 - 15:05
The competition is so fierce that art directors and editors receive daily emails, postcards, business cards by the hundreds. Art directors, editors… need to discover new photographers but they still have work to do. So the hundreds and hundreds of emails, cards… mostly end up in the spam folder, in the physical garbage, in the…
Some photographers manage to cut through the wall of indifference, the garbage… Casey Templeton did. He sent 300 promo pieces and at least 30 have replied! A 10+% is huge! It's a fantastic success.
