I sit on the board of Advertising Photographers of America for the NW region. We recently had a fantastic team of marketing gurus talk to established and aspiring photographers on how to reach art buyers and art directors. I thought I’d summarize some points that came up and add some of my own thoughts
Get A Website
Buyers are using online tools more than in the past. The old school method of sourcebooks aren’t as popular. Mostly because of time. Follow these guidelines for your site.
• Have A Clear Point of View
• Makt It Easy To Navigate
• Be Creative
• Post Clear Contact Information
• Post A List of Clients and Projects
Keep Your Book Around
Having a website doesn’t mean you should go all digital. There’s still value to having a print book available. Clients want to see how your work shows up when it’s printed. Keep these tips in mind when shaping your portfolio. Strong Portfolios Should:
• Be Creative
• Be Organized
• Show a Clear Point of View
• Not Be In a Case That’s Better Than What’s Inside
• Be A Display of a Variety of Work To Highlight Your Skillset (20-30 images)
• Be Edited and Current
Make sure to pay for shipping costs both ways if you offered the book to your potential customer. If they ask for it however, they pay for the return.
Online Portfolio Sites
These can be expensive but with printed sourcebooks moving aside for the digital age. Art buyers and art directors can perform advanced searches for the right photographer to save time. Here are some of the more popular online sourcebooks.
Workbook
Photoserve
Altpick
Blackbook
Self Promotional Pieces – Email and Print
• Make sure your pieces are relevant to the person who is receiving it.
• Make it easily accessible and easy to view – A clear envelope is a good idea for example.
• Send these regularly to list of buyers that you have also sent an email to.
Networking
Make personal visits with your target market without over doing it but don’t call incessantly.
Make sure you research each person before you go in. Know their work and recent success and how you can help them capitalize on your talents.
On a side note, right now is a very good time to meet in person with reps and buyers because of the slow economic conditions. With a slow economy comes slow ad spending. Your customers, buyers and directors, are going to have more time with a slow down in work. Get in there!
You also need to keep in touch with past clients. This is highly important. Most of the work in your career will come from word of mouth. “Hey, do you know a photographer who can XXX?” “Yeah, this girl is great, we used her for XXX and she keeps in touch to see what we’ve been up to.”
Personal work
NSS – Never Stop Shooting. I got a tip this week that adidas was looking for a particular type of shot but didn’t have any idea who to use or how to do it. I met with some friends to brainstorm a concept and shoot it over the weekend. We presented it to the company to see if they could use it. Not only did we enhance our creative problem solving but re-introduced our team to a client.
You should never stop shooting. Evolve and grow.
Consider Working With A Rep
When Looking For a Rep:
• Market to a rep within your specialty. A rep wants to brand you to see where a good fit is.
• Make sure they don’t already have someone who does what you do. Give them work in which they can expand the pie.
• Don’t make fancy books…it’s what’s inside that counts.
• Don’t undersell yourself. If you lower your price, you can get stuck there.
Win Contests - Everybody Loves A Winner
Contests lend credibility to your work and provide name recognition for you business.
Practice Good Business Acumen
Before you take on your marketing plan. Take some time to understand who is your target audience, what brands you want to work with, how can you make your promotions and assignment work different. Answering these questions is how you get noticed.
In Summary
Word of Mouth is huge. Network. Never Stop Shooting. Never Stop Marketing. Never Stop Talking to (Existing) Customers.
