This past weekend I attended a Mastermind marketing class on selling my work as a fine art Lens Based Artist. People often ask why I attend marketing classes as I am well known as a solid marketing person. I don't know everything by a long stretch. We need to stay on top of new photography ideas and constantly be on the lookout for new skills. The same holds true for marketing. We need to keep eyes and ears open for new ideas from other industries. In this case I feel specialized marketing in the art world would be a great help to me. Working … [Read more...] about Using Guerrilla Marketing to attract clientele
social media
Photography Marketing: A world without likes
At Facebook's F8 developer conference last week, the company confirmed what had been rumored the past few weeks. Instagram "Likes" may very well be going by the wayside. That's right — like counts on Instagram photos, as well as views on videos, will start to be hidden for users as a part of a test in Canada. In other words, some of the self-satisfying gratification that we have all become accustomed to on the world's most popular image sharing network, might be in jeopardy. While you might not be able to show off the number of likes you get … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: A world without likes
Photography Marketing: The number one thing you need to check on your website
In my line of work, I visit a lot of photographers' websites. Whether it be for inspiration, to find wedding referrals (no, I still don't photograph weddings) or just browsing the 'net, I undoubtedly visit photographers' websites on a pretty regular basis. If I like their work, I usually want to check out their social media feeds, specifically with Facebook and Instagram. But nearly half the time, I encounter the same problem. You haven't updated the placeholder links on your website Yep, it sounds silly, right?!? But I come across a ton of … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: The number one thing you need to check on your website
Google+ kicks the bucket
I recently received an email from Google+, the social media site that is was all the rage with photographers. Back when it started, I posted often and grew a following. Then something changed on the site and I didn't quite understand it, and I quit interacting. My blog posts continued auto-posting, but I haven't even visited the site in at least six years. On the other hand, I know several photographers who continued through the changes and kept a strong following and interaction with their audience. I liked Google+ because the interactions … [Read more...] about Google+ kicks the bucket
Guide to Facebook Ads, part eight: Instagram ads
For this last installment of my series about Facebook Ads, I had to talk about Instagram! The social media of choice when it comes to photography, Instagram should definitely be part of your marketing strategy. There are two ways to create ads on Instagram. You can either use the Ads Manager, where you can choose to create an ad for Instagram only or for both Facebook and Instagram, or you can do it in the Instagram mobile app directly, which is similar to boosting a post on Facebook. Prerequisites First, let's talk about what you need to … [Read more...] about Guide to Facebook Ads, part eight: Instagram ads
Guide to Facebook Ads, part seven: Additional tools
In the last article about Facebook Ads, I went through how to optimize your Facebook Ads to get the best results. By now, you should have a solid strategy for your Ad Campaign and following its performance. Today, I want to talk about a few more tools that Facebook gives you to really customize your customer's experience. Offers If you're advertising a discount, a special offer or something similar, you may want to use the Offer feature. It's a great tool to market special offers and it's easy to use. There are two ways to create an offer. … [Read more...] about Guide to Facebook Ads, part seven: Additional tools
Photography Marketing: Capture what you love, share what you take
In today's world of photography businesses, we can often find ourselves with the "need" to expand our services. If our bread and butter are corporate portraits, we might wander into the family session arena. Or if we enjoy photographing corporate events, we might even start to photograph (gulp) weddings. While this might mean more income, it won't mean that you'll be doing more of what you enjoy. Think about when you got into this business. Did you start photographing because you enjoyed it? Or just so you would make a paycheck? The risk of … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: Capture what you love, share what you take
Guide to Facebook Ads, part six: Advanced optimization
It's time for another installment of my Guide to Facebook Ads! So far, you've learned about the basics of ads, discovered the Ads Manager interface, learned how to create a campaign from scratch, how to use the Facebook Pixel and explored the analytics side of ads. It's now time to improve the results of your ads! As you will see rather soon, testing different strategies, ads, audiences and more, is key to succeeding with Facebook Ads. You will constantly be looking at your Analytics and tweak your ad parameters to optimize your results with … [Read more...] about Guide to Facebook Ads, part six: Advanced optimization
Photography Marketing: Share the love
Throughout my years as a photographer, and even in this marketing column, I've shown ways how to promote yourself as a creative. Through platforms like Facebook and Instagram, e-mail newsletters and even business cards, it's important to market your skillset. In today's day and age, this is important. Doing so helps us get jobs and freelance gigs. But what if I told you that it wasn't all about you? Silent networking One of the core principles at Photofocus is that while our team certainly shares their own work, we try to share the rest of … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: Share the love
Guide to Facebook Ads, part three: Creating a campaign
It's time for part three of my guide to Facebook Ads! After covering the basics of boosting a post and the Ads Manager, let's dive into creating your first campaign. The process is a little more involved than with boosting a simple post, but once you create a few campaigns, it'll get easier! You'll also have the option to duplicate ads, sets and whole campaigns instead of starting from scratch every time. Getting started To start, get to your Ads Manager and at the top left, click on the Create button. It opens a pop-up screen where you … [Read more...] about Guide to Facebook Ads, part three: Creating a campaign
Photography Marketing: How Flickr is staging an epic come back
Two years ago, I wrote about why Flickr will ultimately fail. I'm here today, to tell you that I was wrong. At the time, Flickr was in the middle of a stagnant period. No changes had been made, and then-parent company Yahoo! had been recently sold to Verizon. There were no rumors of improvements to the service — instead, rumors started to swirl about it being shut down or bought out. Lucky for Flickr users, the latter happened, and SmugMug bought Flickr. I was hesitant about this at first, with Flickr announcing major changes to its … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: How Flickr is staging an epic come back
The absolute best time to post on Facebook
Let’s be honest, you’re slightly misled by the title of this. Kinda, sorta. OK, here is the truth. I am about to tell you the absolute best time to post on Facebook. But really, that time depends on you. There, I said it. There is no golden hour for Facebook posts. There is no shining star that works for everyone. There is no miracle worker. Facebook is a pay to play system now. Back in “the day” you could go on Facebook, post something, and all of your page followers would see it. But now you’re lucky if you can get a handful of people … [Read more...] about The absolute best time to post on Facebook
Reminder: Starting today, Flickr starts removing old photos on free accounts
Starting today, Flickr will begin imposing its 1,000 file limit for all free accounts. Originally announced in November 2018, all free accounts that hold more than 1,000 photos or videos will start seeing older files deleted from their account. Oldest photos will be removed from the service first. Before this change, Flickr allowed up to 1 TB of storage on its service. Now users can get unlimited storage — but they have to become a Flickr Pro subscriber, which costs $50 a year if paid annually (or $5.99 monthly). Flickr Pro users will also … [Read more...] about Reminder: Starting today, Flickr starts removing old photos on free accounts
Guide to Facebook Ads, part one: The basics
There's no question Facebook is still a major player online in 2019 and its ad platform is an important tool for many marketers. As a photographer, there are a lot of reasons to use Facebook ads: Wedding photography, portrait sessions, workshops, tutorials and more. It's a great tool to target specific groups of people and it's well integrated with many other services. Facebook's ad interface can be intimidating and ad campaigns can be counterintuitive, so this is the first post in a series of articles about Facebook Ads. Over the next few … [Read more...] about Guide to Facebook Ads, part one: The basics
First look: Lume Cube Air VC for Smartphones & Tablets
These days, regular people find themselves spending a lot more time in front of a camera. Whether it’s video conferencing apps to stay in touch, live streaming on social media, or participating in webinars, cameras are critical. It’s all about the light Of course, any good photographer will tell you, the key to a great looking image is light. And let’s face it, the web camera on your computer or mobile device is just not that good. In most situations, I look downright scary, and practically nobody looks as good as they do in real … [Read more...] about First look: Lume Cube Air VC for Smartphones & Tablets
Reflections on beauty standards and photo editing, part two
The golden ratio or golden mean — have you already heard about it? It's a very popular composition rule in the photographic world. But did you know there is a golden ratio for a face's beauty as well? What are those ratios based on, and how do people look like with those perfect features? Here' what I found. I wrote part one of this series in a very serious vein. Now it's is time to have some fun. A revised and scientific procedure I must confess. I felt quite inaccurate once part one had been posted. I did my Photoshop transformation based … [Read more...] about Reflections on beauty standards and photo editing, part two
JPEG editing: from “oh …” to “OMG!” with Aurora HDR 2019
Have you snapped some lower resolution images with your smartphone and you'd like to give them a little (make that BIG) kick to catch all the attention on social media? Here's a 2-minute trick to go from flat to fabulous. Whether you are an amateur or a pro photographer, we all end up taking pictures with our iPhone or Android at some point. It's always with us, always ready, even when we are not! Understand that I do personally prefer taking pictures with my camera when I plan to take some. Sometimes, however, wonderful and unexpected things … [Read more...] about JPEG editing: from “oh …” to “OMG!” with Aurora HDR 2019
Reflections on beauty standards and photo editing, part one
In the past, retouching a model's face or body for magazines covers or ads has often been a source of ethical debate. Now in 2019, it seems like reshaping one's features have become globally adopted in photographs as in real life. What led to such a shift? Beauty enhancing vs. quest for youth Nowadays, botox, implants and injections are not only coveted by aging men and women. I became even more aware of this trend when I watched this widely viewed video called "I Got Surgery to Look Like My Snapchat and Facetune Selfies." It had been online … [Read more...] about Reflections on beauty standards and photo editing, part one
Photography Marketing: Using Instagram stories and highlights for a mini-portfolio
Instagram is a powerful tool, and one that I use on a daily basis. While posting and seeing everyone's photos as you scroll down your feed might be great (and fun), there are actually some other tools within the app that can help enhance your profile. Take one that I just updated — Instagram Story Highlights. These are those little circles you see on people's profiles. You can use this to save past Instagram stories, whether they be video or stills. This is a great way to show off your work, in a sort of mini-portfolio of sorts. For me … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: Using Instagram stories and highlights for a mini-portfolio
Photography Marketing: Know your platform
As photographers, we spend a lot of time sharing our images and trying to market ourselves on social media. It's no secret that we spend about 20% of our time actually photographing, while the other 80% is spent on our business. In order to be effective on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, however, you have to know the platform. And you have to know your audience for those platforms. Facebook When Facebook was initially launched in February 2004, its audience was clear. It catered specifically to college students. But two years … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: Know your platform
Photography Marketing: What Flickr’s changes mean for photo sharing
When I first got started in photography, I was constantly on Flickr. I uploaded all my photos there, browsed tons of groups and crossed my fingers that some of my work would make it to the coveted Explore gallery. While I'm no longer active on the service, I know several photographers — amateurs and professionals — who use Flickr on a daily basis. It's a great method of sharing your photos and getting feedback from the photography community at-large. It can even help in terms of showing off your work to clients. By Flickr changing its … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: What Flickr’s changes mean for photo sharing
Quick Tip: Start using Instagram Stories to promote your brand
To help build your brand on Instagram, start using Instagram Stories to showcase projects you’re working on, future events or share something you just learned. This will attract new followers plus it may give your current clients ideas for future shoots. Want to learn more? Check out this podcast, "The InFocus Interview Show with Jonathan Tilly | Photofocus Podcast June 29, 2018" … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: Start using Instagram Stories to promote your brand
How to post to Instagram from your computer — Easy as A, B, C
I hope this technique is as helpful for you as it has been for me. It's well known that you can only post to Instagram from your phone app. Which means you've probably done all kinds of digital gymnastics in order to get your best photos onto your phone to share. Many people upload them to Dropbox or another file-sharing site, then download to their phones. I thought I had a good system, which was to use Lightroom mobile to sync photos between my desktop and phone. But this is better. Soooooo much better. The Lr Mobile and Dropbox … [Read more...] about How to post to Instagram from your computer — Easy as A, B, C
Photography Marketing: How to completely ruin your Facebook marketing
As business owners, it's important that we're active on social media. It gets our name out there and lets prospective clients more easily find us. But there are a few guidelines that every business should follow — especially when it comes to photographers and videographers and their business presence on the world's largest social network. Post political opinions Before the 2016 election, one of my local pizza joints posted heavily on its Facebook page about how it was "all for" a certain political candidate. The business trashed the opposing … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: How to completely ruin your Facebook marketing
Quick Tip: Use a Facebook Page NOT your personal profile
Best-selling author Armando J. Pérez-Carreño suggests using a Facebook Page, not your personal profile. He says this is perhaps the biggest mistake he sees with small business owners and their Facebook marketing. When you use your personal profile, you lose a lot of the cool features a Business Page gives you and you drastically limit your potential reach. Facebook can decide to close your account citing a breach of terms. Want to learn more? Check out this article, "5 Things Every Photographer Should Know About Facebook" … [Read more...] about Quick Tip: Use a Facebook Page NOT your personal profile
What has social media done for you lately?
In the wake of the Google+ ‘sunsetting’ announcement, it has me thinking of social media in general as I’m sure many of you are. If you haven't heard about this, here is a link to the post on Google's Keyword Blog. Basically, they are shutting down the consumer side of Google+ and will only be offering the G-Suite version for internal business use. G+ users will have 10 months to figure out where else to go. I think it’s time to reevaluate our use of social media as photographers (and in general). Is it merely social? Do you use it to … [Read more...] about What has social media done for you lately?
Heartening statistics about photography use
I found this infographic heartening because I'm always hearing about the devaluation of photography. But, according to this, it sounds like photos and images are still the most important tool for reaching people with lasting impact. Think about that next time you trip the shutter. The infographic is provided by MDG Advertising. … [Read more...] about Heartening statistics about photography use
Photography Marketing: Stay true to your brand
When it comes to your photographs, we can often be sucked in into new looks, driven by social media and creative filters and looks on social media platforms like Instagram and Flickr. But while it might be enticing to try some new looks for your images, it's ultimately more effective for your marketing if you stay consistent to your brand's image. Why those filters are so "cool" If you spend any time on Instagram, you'll see a plethora of different looks. You see the everyday public put them on their images and you see all the likes that … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: Stay true to your brand
Photography Marketing: Keeping your promotion going during the busy season
I'm about to enter my busy season — an entire month of shooting non-stop, sometimes with multiple events a day. Sometimes even multiple full days in a row! I wouldn't have it any other way. While having photoshoots lined up is great, and that ultimately means cash in your pocket, there can be a few unintended consequences. Things not related to your current photoshoots can fall by the wayside rather easily. If you have a plan in place in advance of your busy season starting, you can avoid this from happening, and keep your promotion going … [Read more...] about Photography Marketing: Keeping your promotion going during the busy season
I like you; I just don’t ‘Like’ your page
A Facebook business page seems like business 101 for a photographer these days. You start making pictures for people, then immediately start a business page and load it with pictures and promotions. But there's one thing you must do in order for your page to be successful. Invite friends to Like 'Like' has become such a funny word in the era of Facebook. But you need people to like your business page so that they can see your promotions and know that you're the ideal photographer for their family or business. And just like everything in the … [Read more...] about I like you; I just don’t ‘Like’ your page
