Comments on: Selling Yourself: 10 Traits of the Master Marketers

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:46:10 +0000

As for the master marketers list – please add Gary Fong, Kevin Kubota, Scott Kelby, Sandy Puc and Sarah Petty to that list. :)

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:06:02 +0000

Once again, Photoshelter has provided me with insight into how I can market myself better. I’m just starting my blog because you can incorporate so many keywords into it to garner more traffic to your website.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:59:43 +0000

I’d add Peter Lik to this list. The guy makes a lot of money selling prints of well-known landmarks from his galleries and now has his own show on the Weather Channel.

By: radiantsquares

radiantsquares — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:04:09 +0000

I'd like to suggest an alternative site to www.constantcontact.com It is called MailChimp The reasons I'm a fan of mailchimp over constant contact are as follows: 1) you get to store 2000 contacts, and email up to 12000 free emails a month. So You can already get much more done than you can do with constant contact. 2) Mail Chimp syncs with Google Analytics. And that is HUGE. You can see all the information tht you would normally see from viewing your google analytics account (you DO have one, don't you?) from your email newsletters. 3) They track and compare your performance based on your industry and report how you are doing. 4) you can write you own template in HTML if you are so inclined and are not limited to a template that someone designed for you. You could, if you were so inclined, hire a graphic designer to make you a email template that matches your website, and then use that for all of your email blasts. 5) with one click of a button, the newsletter you send out gets linked to both Facebook and Twitter automatically. So that is LESS WORK for you! There are other reasons I prefer MailChimp over CC (I have used both) but those are the most significant in my opinion. If you refer people and they sign up for paid accounts, you get $$ credit with Mailchimp. Which is always nice. That being said, my referral link is below :-) http://eepurl.com/c2N9w Also, if you don't have an analytics account, sign up for one here: http://www.google.com/analytics You can see how to use it here: http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=indexSplash&rd=1 I hope you all will find this useful! Ray Detwiler Dallas freelance commercial photographer http://www.radiantsquares.com

By: LaKaye Mbah

LaKaye Mbah — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:07:20 +0000

This article reinforces my need for marketing. I began the year with an outstanding plan to send unique wedding photography pricing and information guides to a few area coordinators, but I was too chicken to send it out to the big names. I guess I suffer from not wanting to toot my own horn. But now that I’ve read this, I’m going to go for it. Great tips!

By: Valerie Tamburri

Valerie Tamburri — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:51:42 +0000

Thanks for the article! I am also not so great at the marketing aspect or tooting my own horn. I was initially drawn to your article because it mentioned that you sell photos to hotels and restaurants, which is something that I have been wondering HOW TO DO. Who does the photographer need to approach in order to try and sell prints to, for lobbies in hotels, restaurants and high-rise condos or businesses? If anybody knows, please pass on the info. Thanks! Valerie Tamburri

By: Jean Ramey Photography

Jean Ramey Photography — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:23:01 +0000

Thanks for the advice. As a marketer-turned-photographer, I was surprised at how much harder it is to “toot your own horn”, for all of the reasons listed above. As I’m also starting my photography career, I looked for affordable marketing tools. Over the last month since I launched my website, I’ve found the following tools to support my efforts: VistaPrints – intro offer (google to find discounts) for 500 postcards. 1) I did an initial mailing featuring an iconic photograph from my collection + logo on front, and short copy with my URL and summary of my photography on back of card. 2) I mailed the postcards to friends, family, coworkers, and give out cards when I’m at parties or events. Cost: $50 + postage for 2-sided printing, cost to upload photo & logo, 7-day shipping. Constant Contact – I created a launch email to announce my website. – First 60 days is free of charge if you have less than 100 contacts, and $15/month thereafter – Their email templates aren’t particularly appealing, so I did spend a few days customizing a template to make it more professional. – I included the same photo as in the postcard for branding/consistency, as well as a section with my URL, About Me section, description of my work (travel photography, ideal for home/business, etc.), and instructions for using the site. – I also created hyperlinks in the left column, which take viewers to each of my international travel galleries In December, I sent a “holiday newsletter” that offered a 1-time discount coupon to friends & family, as well as 7 holiday gift ideas that tie-in to my travel images (Ooh-La-La package – photograph of the Eiffel Tower, bottle of champagne, and box of chocolates). You can post your newsletter to Facebook or Twitter, which increases your audience through social media. Hope that gives you some ideas, I’ll continue to expand my audience through new marketing going forward…

By: Russ

Russ — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:55:08 +0000

Really great post. Marketing is something I’ve been trying to work on. Like you said in your post sometimes it is easy to read what everyone else is doing and do the same, assuming it’s also working for you. It’s important to try new things and see if they work, if they don’t try something else until you’ve found a strategy that works.

By: Landscape Photographer

Landscape Photographer — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:21:14 +0000

Thanks for the article, guys. Marketing is something I have been ignoring as a landscape photographer as I feel I don’t know enough about it, but this article and a couple of your other posts have opened my eyes.

By: orientexpressguy

orientexpressguy — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:21:33 +0000

The very basics of marketing is being able to answer just 3 questions: 1. who are my customers? 2. where are they? 3. what do they want? 1. It requires considerable effort to identify your customers, but a simple data-base could be the answer. Cards in a shoe box are enough, you don’t need to have a relational database, that’s for airlines & travel agents! Keep a record of your customers names & contact details. 2. Decide where you are going to sell your photos, they are not likely to sell here in China because images come very, very cheap. 3. Don’t just take images of what pleases you, find out what the customer wants, this will enable you to carve out a niche. When I had a successful camera shop on the internet I just sold Leicas and Leica accessories, I didn’t waste my time with the mainstream Canon & Nikon.