Exactly what IS a marketing campaign?
We hear this from photographers all the time: “You must market your work.”
And we know that is true.
“Send out a postcard.”
“Use email lists.”
“Magazines are hot right now.”
Yeah, all of that is true, but without context and planning it is as meaningless as telling someone to “try harder”.
Let me simply say that one postcard will do nothing.
NOTHING.
An email with a few random shots will be as memorable as last week’s fast-food lunch.
Look, there is no question that a marketing campaign is absolutely the only way to keep your work – and you – top of mind for those who are giving out assignments.
Because they don’t give out assignments every day.
A big agency may only have 2-3 dozen assignments a year.
And smaller, local agencies even fewer.
And with 100 photographers trying to be the ones chosen, and a solid list of people they already trust, being ‘top-of-mind’ for the client is too important to ignore.
So we all know that marketing is important. And we know about postcards, flyers, emails, balloons, sandwich boards… just seein’ if you are still with me.
Direct clients are also in need of a consistent touch, but not with the immediacy of agencies, PR firms, graphic designers, and magazines. More about direct clients at the end of this piece.
But the other half of a marketing campaign is the word ‘campaign’.
And that is what I want to focus on today.
What does a campaign entail?
How do we create one?
How long should it run?
Why does it matter?
First, let’s discuss random vs campaign.
Random means nothing to anyone and gets nothing in return.
A random selection of images from your portfolio simply doesn’t cut it these days. Way past the time 3 or 4 cool pictures said anything to anyone.
A connection is the point. You want to draw the viewer in with a connected set of visuals that make them see possibilities and be excited about the creativity.
This means you must be shooting with connections in mind. And for sure, most of us will be creating fresh, self-assigned images for our marketing pieces.
Connecting the images through various means… color, composition, subject matter, story… and all with a consistent style that lets the viewer KNOW you are the master of your work will go farther than a couple of unrelated, although possibly wonderful, shots from your book.
PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN
Make sure you know that you are going to be in it for the long haul. I recommend planning for a full year, and I recommend starting the next year’s planning about halfway through the current one.
What should it look like?
It should be deliberate, structured, and consistent. An inconsistent campaign will do very little for you and is really a waste of time and resources.
For someone who is starting out, or in the first couple of years and who has not done a consistent campaign before, this may be a good starting point.
1 Email per month.
Use an email company like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or whatever one you really like so you can create graphically pleasant, designed emails with some flair. It is also important to track who opened, how many click-throughs you got and be able to go to your analytics to see the time spent at your site from the email.
BTW, the ability to do A/B testing of headlines is very important as well.
Yes, you can send them from your own email, but without the ability to make it graphical* or do all of the other marketing things that must be done, it may not be the best choice.
One postcard every two months.
Or something similar. Just a touchpoint really. Keeping top of mind with a nice 5×7 card with a couple of images on it to remind them that you are still around. Know that they will receive about 5 of these before they start to really make the connection. So one just aintagonnadoit, Jack.
One larger piece per year.
Something like the magazine offerings from Blurb and Overnight Prints. There are also various printers all over the world that do short-run newspaper type pieces that are quite popular. See the materials at Minimal Viable Brand for Photographers for a listing – and if you have any to add, send them to me.
To be sure, you must curate your list as carefully as possible. Everyone on the list gets the emails, hot prospects get the postcards, and very hot (I gotta work with this client!!!) get the magazine or large piece once per year.
For those in a small market, 300 – 500 names including regional is a good place to focus your overall strategy. In bigger markets, or towns with lots of agencies and designers, a list of 250 – 300 would be a good place to be.
And, no – you do not wait until you have 300 names to start marketing, you do that with 10.
And build from there.
THIS IS A ONE YEAR PLAN
So you do all of your work with this long term plan in place. Most of us will continue with this same plan the following year as well, but if you are noticing specific approaches bringing in more calls and bids, you can focus on adding something to the basic campaign.
You should be shooting every week, for sure… but you can now see the importance of keeping your work fresh and exciting as these things can be very demanding if you are trying to do them last minute.
Printing costs can be controlled by printing only 2 cards at a time allowing for the list to grow and not have wasted cards sitting around.
However, printing a set that can be used for marketing AND as leave-behinds also makes sense.
DOING THIS WILL PUT YOU IN A DIFFERENT
CLASS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS
It just does, folks.
There are so many photographers out there with no marketing, or random marketing, or disconnected approaches and fitful half-assed attempts that it makes my head swim.
A consistent, targeted, deliberate campaign with a well thought out set of images and marketing message WILL get you noticed.
Just as a well-produced big, heavy, glorious printed portfolio moves you a notch up from the iPadders and “all you need is a website’ crowd, being consistently in front of the clients will move your credibility up a couple of notches.
Trust me. It simply does.
JUST DO IT
This doesn’t cost a lot of money, but it will take you some time to gather the names for your list.
However, I have a great and simple method to find the names that you can do with no effort at all. Simple enough a baby could do it while napping in the backseat.
I am glad to send it to you for a mere $3.5 Million.
Because if one existed it would be worth at least that much – maybe more.
Sorry – it is brutal, it is boring, it is time-consuming, and it forces you out of your comfort zone in ways you cannot imagine.
Tough.
It has to be done. Whether by phone, or email, or meet and greets or whatever, you MUST find your list.
>> “Hey, Don, what about those great list providers online…?” <<
Well, there are those.
And you can purchase them if you like. Just know that every other photographer looking for an instant, killer, no-effort way to build their list just bought the same one. And quite frankly, maybe being involved for a few months may help you… but I guarantee it will not save you.
I would imagine that perhaps 1 out 100 gigs assigned every day came from someone on that list. OK, maybe two.
Maybe.
WHY DIRECT CLIENTS RULE AND ARE TREATED DIFFERENTLY THAN AGENCIES
Direct clients are not being persued daily by hordes of hungry shooters. In many cases you may be the only photographer to even contact them. (Most photographers are still seeking that magic unicorn of ‘how easy can I do this’ and will NEVER approach direct clients. Too hard, and with all the great shows on Netflix… c’mon. Bingewatching, baby!)
But you can do this.
Direct clients, small businesses, brands are out there in every industrial park, manufacturing zone, and town across the world. There are far more of them than ad agencies and graphic designers.
And if they make something they need photographs. Tech sheets, websites, product sheets, trade shows, annual meetings, presentations… and, no, they are not going to find three shots of their lead designers with their new pocket radiation blaster on Unsplash.
Service businesses need photographs as well. Good ones, not from their dad’s iPhone. In the competitive markets, we see in every sector, their brand image is of vital importance.
For these clients, it is perhaps good to have something like a multi-card portfolio to leave with them. An 8.5 x 11 card with three images, a letter of introduction, and a list of specialties that they will understand may be a great way to work with direct clients.
Perhaps once per quarter, they get something from you… email or postcard. The campaign may be a bit truncated because being top-of-mind may not be as difficult as with clients who are being slammed with proposals and cool shots of HDR mountain scapes… )
THINKING HOLISTICALLY AND WITH DELIBERATE PLANNING, IT CAN ALL COME TOGETHER BEAUTIFULLY
A campaign is just that. Forward-thinking, deliberate, methodical, and consistent.
It forces you to see beyond today, and plan what next month – and the one after that – will look like as you forge ahead with your battle to be noticed.
And believe me, it is a battle.
We have to dominate the competition. Yeah, in a friendly, non-homicidal way.
While battling with ourselves to stop procrastinating, looking for reasons to NOT do it, and give up the unicorn of ‘it’s that easy…”.
The first battle is easily won.
The second, I am afraid, is not.