An Intro to Branding & Marketing – Liveblog
I’m at Flash Forward Festival in Boston and trying out this new liveblogging widget I put on my blog. Thought I’d take some notes on the talk that’s about to start, with thoughts from Maria Luci and Sean Stone of Wonderful Machine.
11:04 PST
Branding
Photographic identity: pictures you choose to show, not just what you shoot
Graphic identity: consistent use of logo, type, color, design
11:05 PST
How do you choose a photographic identity?
1. What do you like to shoot?
2. What you’re good at doing
3. What the market wants from you
Where they overlap = marketable photography
11:13 PST
Your Website
1. It’s NOT for you (ie it’s not a “best of”)
2. Large images
3. Small galleries (30 is absolute max)
4. Static and intuitive navigation (arrows should stay in same place, for example)
5. Clear branding (doesn’t mean you have to have a logo, just consistent use of type, color, style), and have it on EVERY page
6. Keep all galleries as coherent as possible, logical, industry-recognized names (fyi, no pet pictures under “portraits”). Anything that looks like wedding/lifestyle DO NOT put it anywhere on your commercial/editorial website.
7. Clear and concise URL
8. Email should be first name @ your website.com (no “info@” or “contact@” – less personal and makes you harder to find in their inbox)
9. Easily updateable (update every 3-6 months)
10. Check all spelling and grammar
11. Link to your blog and social media (and that the links work!)
12. If image can be dragged off your site, label metadata with name, copyright, contact info
13. Get outside opinions, ask them to navigate site and give feedback
14. NO MUSIC, no flashy intro (feels dated/unnecessary), no splash page
15. Full-window images are good, but don’t have the site take over the whole screen
16. Make sure your copyright notice is current
11:18 PST
Print Portfolios
1. Update once a year
2. Should be visually consistent with site, but not a printed out version of web portfolio (if they call in your book, they’ve already seen your website)
3. Book getting called in means a conversation with you, so if you can make it impressive, do it
4. Pick production materials that suit your style and brand
5. Research wide variety of options: Blurb, Asuka, bound prints
11:22 PST
Leave Behinds
1. Most get thrown away, nothing you can do about it. So do anything you can to stand out.
A. Large, striking image (goal is to get put up on a cubicle wall)
B. A small book, maybe a mini portfolio (too precious to throw away)
C. Accordions are also cool
11:26 PST
Case Study: Terry Vine
Clients: Luxury travel, resorts, cruise
Logo: Fleur de Lis (timeless, slightly conservative, says “luxury”)
Portfolios: Three leather-bound books in single case: travel, resort, food (allows them to see exactly images they’re looking for)
Leave Behinds/Mailers: 7 small books in small wooden box, individually numbered
Letterhead: Same logo, very clean, simple
*It’s all about CONSISTENCY
11:27 PST
Ways to market yourself
*There’s no one silver bullet
11:28 PST
Mailing (print)
1. Send out every 3-4 months
2. Target really really carefully
3. Hire a designer
4. Never send out same mailer twice
5. Make sure they maintain your brand identity
11:29 PST
Mass Mailing (email)
1. Send every 1-2 months
2. Use email service, so you can track opens, clicks, unsubscribes
3. Hire a designer
4. Make updateable and consistent with branding
5. Keep it fresh, never send out same one twice
11:31 PST
Individual Emails
1. Send out whenever you have the time (especially if they just won an award or got mentioned somewhere)
2. Don’t send to same person more than once a months
3. Personalize each email in some way
4. Try to CREATE RELATIONSHIPS, not just get jobs
5. Use catchy and relevant subject lines
11:33 PST
Photography Directories
1. Helps with search results
2. Art directors DO use these
3. Up to 80% of Wonderful Machine photographers’ traffic comes from the Wonderful Machine listing (also, AltPick, PDN, AtEdge, Le Book, Found Folios)
4. Join ASMP, APA, etc. (great educational resource as well as listings)
11:36 PST
Reps
1. Not typically interested in photographers who don’t ALREADY HAVE a very significant cash flow
2. Focus first on your own branding, etc.
Picture Agencies
1. Have thousands of photographers (instead of 10 like reps)
2. More interested in editorial and breaking news
3. Less production side stuff as a rep
Contests
1. Great way to get name out there, exposure
2. Great excuse for sending out an emailer
3. Adds to your credibility
4. Only broadcast it if it’s RECENT
5. Good contests (just a few): Communication Arts, PDN Photo Annual, Graphis
11:39 PST
List Services
*Can’t stress enough how important it is for commercial photographers to invest in a list service
1. AdBase, AgencyAccess, Fresh Lists, Bikini Lists
2. These are: everything you need to find a person, find out about them, and contacting them
3. Can create really targeted lists with them, drill down as far as who is working on a specific campaign
Email Broadcasting Services
1. AdBase and AgencyAccess include this
2. Also: Wise Elephant, Constant Contact, MailChimp
3. Helps you understand who is opening, clicking, what they’re interested in, which emails work better, etc.
11:41 PST
Contact Database
1. Make sure you keep track of who you’ve sent to, when, if they opened, what their interest is, etc.
2. Research dedicated applications
3. Use it to take notes on personal things, way to create connections/relationships
11:47 PST
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
*Means: Can search engines find you?
1. Art buyers and directors still go straight to Google (ex. “art photographer in boston”)
2. You NEED to come up on first page
3. Need to be able to be found by KEYWORDS not your name
4. Minimize use of Flash (search engines can’t read them, unless they have mirror HTML site, can’t be read on mobile devices)
5. Make sure context-appropriate and keyword-rich content is WRITTEN on your website (needs to be highlightable – not an image – copied by humans and read by web crawlers)
6. Email should be a clickable link (don’t mess with contact forms)
7. Make sure ALL photos have ALT tags: keyword, location, name of photography
8. Linking (into your blog, especially), gives credibility and weight to your site
9. Blog your heart out, but not about random things. Only appropriate and interesting content. Great place for work you love that just doesn’t fit in your portfolio or site. Blog about things interesting to the community in general. Art buyers say they love looking at photographers’ blogs.
11:48 PST
WORD OF MOUTH
*By far most important part of your marketing. Majority of jobs still come this way, photographers say.
11:49 PST
Don’t forget to judge the effectiveness of your branding marketing
1. What’s working, what isn’t?
2. Where is web traffic coming from?
3. Where are assignments coming from? (Maybe, why are you getting assignments you DON’T want?)
11:51 PST
Get Out There!
1. Don’t let unfinished branding/book be an excuse to not just SHOW YOUR WORK
2. If book is 90% done, start showing it
3. Send the emails, make the follow up calls, even though much of the time you won’t hear from them, etc.
4. Your dedication to marketing directly relates to your success as a photographer
11:52 PST
Questions
11:56 PST
Q. Do you have to do blog and website and social media?
A. Most people are not going to be all of those places, so it is important to go to where the people are. However, be sure to keep it relevant to your brand. Blogs are useful mostly as a supplement right now. Some art buyers love blogs, some never look at them.
11:58 PST
Q. Do list services really work? I’ve heard some of them get immediately deleted, or annoy editors/buyers.
A. We’ve talked to people who say, I get hundreds of emails a day, but that’s my job. The few people who are complaining about list service mass emails don’t seem to be the majority. However, be careful not to over-email them.
12:04 PST
Q. How effective are portfolio reviews?
A. Last year a photographer asked me to take his work to NYCFotoWorks. I was really impressed with it. It was expensive, but he was from Birmingham, Alabama, but for him to schedule 12 meetings in 2 days in NYC would have been nearly impossible. And the caliber of people who were there was really impressive. I thought it was definitely worth participating and I’m going to be reviewing books there this year. Also ASMP and APA put on these reviews, which are usually free for members. The caliber of reviewers might not be as high but you’ll get lots of great feedback. And they’re a great way to network.
12:09 PST
Q. I’m a fine art photographer, but I’m starting to think about doing commercial work. Can it negatively effect the value of my fine art work if I become known for doing commercial work?
A. People tend to be more concerned about that than it is actually a problem. We encourage people to brand people toward what they want to be doing. If you are shooting work that is drastically different from your proven portfolio, create a totally different brand with separate website, business cards, etc.
12:10 PST
And we’re done! Signing off~
