This chapter talks about giving information to your clients and allowing them to be more informed about your services and products.

I have spoken on this before…but I believe that more information you can give your clients the better your chance of them hiring you. Giving information I believe leads to trust of you to your clients. Of course the information needs to be accurate and truthful,  but when people understand things, they tend to be more comfortable and when people are more comfortable they tend to be willing to part with their money more easily. When I say give them information, I mean everything you can think of, that lets them know exactly who you are and what your business is all about.

Lets look at buying car…what happens if you went to two car lots looking for the exact same car…

1st  car lot - Tells you nothing you…they tell you nothing about the car…they just say its top of the line and you should buy it. They also tell you nothing about them, they have no pictures of happy customers right after they bought a car, they have no testimonials, etc. (but this is a car dealer that does honest business and people will have good things to say about them)

2nd car lot - Tells you everything! They tell you why the car is top of the line, why its better then its competitors, where its competitors might have a slight advantage, let you put it through the paces, they let you take the car on your own for a test drive (yup you heard me, no salesman goes with you…I’m not making it up), the salesman knows everything there is to know about the car and things that many people do not know, they have all kinds of fact sheets from different sources to show you. They have lots and lots of pictures of happy customers right after buying the car, they have all kinds of testimonials, they have bios displayed on the wall of all the employees, they have all their excellence awards very nicely hung, etc.

So which car dealer would you buy from? My guess is most would buy from the second one, because they were informed about not only the car, but the experience they will have after purchasing the car…They became comfortable with the salesman and the dealer, thus more willing to part with their money there.

Do you give your clients lots of wonderful info. to allow them to understand you and your business and make them extremely comfortable with giving you money?

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness (Paperback)

by Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Paperback: 384 pagesPublisher: Mariner Books; 4 Upd Exp edition (May 22, 2007)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618785914
ISBN-13: 978-0618785919

(again please read my disclaimer on this, that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and the reason for me doing this…if you have not already)

Portland Wedding Photographer | Wedding photography Tips | brandon@brandonperron.com

Thinking out Loud - Wedding & Portrait Photography  Tips for business :: Guerilla-Style Maximedia Marketing
(if you find anything of value in what I write, please let me know and tell a fried, or two or lots)

First of all, keep in mind that unless you know marketing, you’re going to probably thrive and flourish online. The Internet is only one of one hundred marketing weapons. True, its the fastest growing. True, its the most comprehensive. True, its the most rewarding if your do it right. But unless you know how to marketing works, you wont have much of a chance to do it right.  Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Online marketing is extremely prevalent in our industry and all the big hitters talk about that everyone should be doing it…but they never really tell you how. Even if they did, it would more then likely not work very well for you. In order for any marketing to work, you must be able to understand how to actually market, this goes for internet marketing as well. The reason the big hitters are successful at it, is because they understand how to market it and thus they can translate that into their internet marketing, thus why they are extremely successful.

If you have an online presence, do you understand marketing well enough to make it effective in your online marketing campaign?

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness (Paperback)

by Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Paperback: 384 pagesPublisher: Mariner Books; 4 Upd Exp edition (May 22, 2007)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618785914
ISBN-13: 978-0618785919

(again please read my disclaimer on this, that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and the reason for me doing this…if you have not already)

Seattle Wedding Photographer | Wedding photography Tips | brandon@brandonperron.com

Try me, before you hire me:

I believe that connecting with a photographer & the images created of YOU is super important. I think it’s very hard for couples to envision what their photos will look like.  Sure they can see images of other people, but that is not YOU and who knows if those photos are honest and a true representation of the photogs work. With this option, you get to see the results first hand, with no commitment at all.

So I’d love to shoot your engagement session for free, to see if I’m a fit for you.

Its that simple…no strings attached…You get my exact engagement session that comes with all my packages (with the exception of my bottom package).

Heres how it works…We go shoot an engagement session and when done, there are 3 options:

1.You fall in love with me and my style and decide to book to me…and we take the cost of the engagement session off the top of any package (but my bottom package)

2. You can be happy with the engagement photos, pay for the engagement session, only, and be on your way, with out booking me.

3. If me or my style does not fit what you are looking for, you can walk away and never talk to me again.

I just think this is a win-win for couples…they get see results before committing to anything with a photographer.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or want to set up a time to do a shoot: brandon@brandonperron.com

Thinking out Loud - Wedding & Portrait Photography Business Tips :: Guerilla-Style Maximedia Marketing
(if you find anything of value in what I write, please let me know and tell a fried, or two or lots)

Expensive marketing is marketing that does not work. If you spend $10 on one local radio station to run one radio commercial but nobody hears it or acts on it, you have engaged in expensive marketing. But if you shell out $10k to run one week’s worth of advertising on a large metropolitan area radio station and you realize a profit of $20k in that week, you’ve engaged in inexpensive marketing. Cost has nothing to do with it. Effectiveness does. Jay Conrad Levinson (Author)

So many people, simply think of initial numbers spent and not what the return on those numbers as the important part. Take the marketing out of it completely…just look at the numbers…

If I gave you two options to get more money for you:

#1: You can pay $2,000 and get back $2,015

or

#2: You can pay $20k and get back $45k

Although, there is more to advertising then this, it simply breaks down the point of advertising…you pay money up front in hopes of a return of more money, then was initially spent…and no matter the initial number, the money that is received on top of what you spent, is exponentially less expensive with the more money you make.

Which would you take? I would think most would say the second option…its more expensive up front, but that does not matter, because the return is so much more…this goes for advertising as well…although the initial cost of buying the ad is expensive, the return is what matters and if its a big return, then it negates the initial cost. While advertising is more complicated then this…you need to think about the potential of money needing to be initially spent to the potential of the outcome in money returned. This goes beyond money as well…it can relate to your time as well…

For example…maybe you spend about an hour with a vendor when you meet but nothing past that…and do not see positive results. What happens if you spent more time after the initial meeting, following up and maybe doing a couple of lunches more with that vendor it yields results in the way of referred business.

Which is more expensive in your time, the hour for lunch with no results or the 5 hours with good results?

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness (Paperback)

by Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Paperback: 384 pagesPublisher: Mariner Books; 4 Upd Exp edition (May 22, 2007)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618785914
ISBN-13: 978-0618785919

(again please read my disclaimer on this, that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and the reason for me doing this…if you have not already)

Seattle Wedding Photographer | Wedding photography Tips | brandon@brandonperron.com

Thinking out Loud - Wedding & Portrait Photography Business Tips :: Truths about minimedia marketing
(if you find anything of value in what I write, please let me know and tell a fried, or two or lots)

Your small size enables you to offer advantages in the area of customer service….You can provide extremely individualized service, tailored to the realities of your customers’ budgets. Few big companies can match you. By necessity, they’re forced to run customer service by company policy, that deprives them of that flexibilty.

As he mentions big business is tied down by policy, and things can not be changed or tailored to specific people, unless massive hoops, and usually people are spoken to, even then, its not extremely tailored. However, you as a small business you can do so many amazing things that are flexible and tailored to each customer. One way I achieve tailored service, is that I will create custom packages for clients, who want certain things included and other things omitted. This makes it all about them and I do not need to ask anyone or look at company policy to see if its ok, I can just do it with no questions and clients love that.

Are you taking advantage of being a small business and how you can use the flexibility to make it a tailored service for your clients?

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness (Paperback)

by Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Paperback: 384 pagesPublisher: Mariner Books; 4 Upd Exp edition (May 22, 2007)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618785914
ISBN-13: 978-0618785919

(again please read my disclaimer on this, that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and the reason for me doing this…if you have not already)

Portland Wedding Photographer brandon@brandonperron.com

Queen Anne Victorian Mansion Vintage Wedding model #4…This is the last with the models on the bed…so you will get a little more variety…as I know it gets a bit lame seeing the same background, but in my defense I was limited. Another great model and it was a blast, its weird you would think models are similar in nature, but they really are not….so it was great to mix with all the different personalities when doing shoots like this. The feather accent in her hair was amazing, and I love this wedding dress, because of its tattered nature. So I hope you enjoy and comments are always loved!

Portland Wedding Photographer | Queen Anne Victorian Mansion | brandon@brandonperron.com

Thinking out Loud - Wedding & Portrait Photography Business Tips :: Research not a sub for inspiration
(if you find anything of value in what I write, please let me know and tell a fried, or two or lots)

Be clear on this: Research — although it can be the spark for breakthrough thinking — it is not intended to be a substitute for inspiration. The truth is that research is suppose to provide a connection with your customers or your prospects that can get you where you want to go faster and more profitable.

I am a firm believer in research…thus these blog posts. I read as part of my research, I also scour the internet for pertinent information. The reason for this is to understand how someone has been successful and how I might be able to take bits and pieces from that and make it work for me. This is a short cut in a sense, instead of me using up a bunch of time and effort trying different things out for a similar result, as someone who has had success at it. I am able to learn from someone’s trial and error, and be able to reach that similar result in a much shorter time and through less trial and error. I must keep in mind, that just because a certain approach worked for someone, will not work for me and I can not copy it exactly and hope it works for me, I must draw ideas from it, but not allow it to become my inspiration. I must create my own inspiration from those ideas to make sure that it works specifically for me.

Lets look at Mike Colon…he spent around 100k on ads in all the top magazines. His intention was not to get in front of brides it was to get in front of high-end vendors…and it worked extremely well. If you tried this, it would more then likely not work well for you, but you could take the idea of getting in front of vendors to gain recommendations from them. So now you have the info from research to create your own inspiration to get in front of vendors, because it worked well for someone else. You must now think about a great way to do so…not how Mike did it, but how you can do it for your business and your market…that will take your inspiration…not Mike’s.

Are you researching for general ideas that you can make specific to your needs, thus creating your own inspiration?

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness (Paperback)

by Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Paperback: 384 pagesPublisher: Mariner Books; 4 Upd Exp edition (May 22, 2007)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618785914
ISBN-13: 978-0618785919

(again please read my disclaimer on this, that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and the reason for me doing this…if you have not already)

Portland Wedding Photographer brandon@brandonperron.com

Thinking out Loud - Wedding & Portrait Photography Business Tips :: Selecting the Most Lethal Marketing Methods

Begin the process of selecting marketing methods by identifying your target audience. Just as its better to know about your spouse then everything about marriage, the better your understand your prospects, the easier it will be to attain accuracy with your marketing plans. Jay Conrad Levinson

So many photographers try to understand, how to advertise and figure out the science behind it. This however does not make sense, because in order to properly advertise you must understand your target market. As an example you could copy McDonalds marketing to a “T” but it would not do you to much good attracting clients for your photography business. While that is super extreme, it still shows my point, that you need to look at who you want to market to, before you figure out your strategy. When I say figure out your target market, I am saying being super descriptive! When I ask most people what they say their target market is, 90% say a high-end client, who drives a nice a car and owns a nice home. On rare occasions I get a better description…they say a client who shops at Nordstrom’s, drives a BMW, shops at New Seasons, and who lives in a 5k sq. ft. home. While the second example sounds very specific it is not…let me break it down for you, I will take it one piece at a time.

Shops at Nordstrom’s: The Rack or the regular store and if in the regular store, which department? Which designer label do they buy. Why does this matter? Well at the regular store, there are two main sections, one for the older generation and one for the younger generation…and the one for the older generation tends to be more expensive. So do you want to target the older generation or the younger and for what reason, money or their generation.

Drives a BMW: Which style of BMW? a 1 or 3 series or a 6 or 7 series? there is about 40-50k difference between them, so which part of the BMW demographic do you want to target the first or the second? Lets take this a bit further…do you also want a person, that gets the bare bones car or will ad an extra 10k onto the car in added options? If someone adds options, they tend to like the little things in life that make it just a bit better and will pay for it.

Shops at New Season’s: While everything in this store tends to be higher end, there are different levels…do you want the customer that buys the cheaper items on the shelves or do you want the customer that buys the expensive imported items, including expensive wine. Depending on which one your choose, do you feel you can cater to their sensibility? Is that you or is it not you…if its not  you its going to be a harder sell.

Who lives in 5k sq. ft. house: Is this house custom built with lots of amazing added features or is a house that is a cookie cutter box house that has nothing special. Also where is this house located, in a very bad part of town or the premier part of town? Big time difference in the amount of money they may potentially have to spend and if the amounts that they spend on things that have many options at different price levels and what makes them decide to buy at those price points, especially if its a higher more refined price point.

This is what I mean by being specific…you must be very specific! You must look at a general idea and go deeper and see where the target market is for you and then you can begin to focus on how to market to that target market. Have you figured out if you target market is driving the 1 series or the 7 series BMW?

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness (Paperback)

by Jay Conrad Levinson(Author)

Paperback: 384 pagesPublisher: Mariner Books; 4 Upd Exp edition (May 22, 2007)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618785914
ISBN-13: 978-0618785919

(again please read my disclaimer on this, that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and the reason for me doing this…if you have not already)

Portland Wedding Photographer brandon@brandonperron.com

Engagement photos…How I love them especially on a beautiful fall day in Portland. Everyone meet Erica and Luca…They will be wed next year. After I spoke with Erica and Luca, it was decided that they wanted their engagement photos in the fall with the leaves turning all the multiple colors that they do this time of year. We decided it needed to happen today (yup, I blogged engagement photos the night of ) or else all the leaves would be off the trees. We could have not asked for a better day…it was a touch cold, but hell…you take these kinds of days in Oregon at this time of year, which we did and ran with it! It was a bit of the opposite for the couple, as Luca has modeled before and Erica has really never had professional pictures taken. So of course Luca was a diva, cause hes a model, LOL (he kept telling me his right side was his good side)…totally kidding, he however was a complete ham for the camera…which makes it way easier on me. No idea why Erica never modeled, she is beautiful (Luca your a lucky man!)…and after about 30 mins. warmed up to having the camera aimed at her and totally worked it out, as you will see from the images.

These two are seriously one of the most fun couples ever!!!! We had such a good time cracking jokes (bad jokes as Erica says Luca tells…but I laughed) and going all over downtown Portland for the photography. They were all about going to tons of different locations…which is probably the number two most important thing in getting amazing images (the #1 is being relaxed and as natural as possible in front of the camera)…going to many places just allows for tons more back drops and that in turn makes for much more amazing images. We went all over downtown for their engagement photos, the pearl, chinatown, Broadway bridge, a super cool park.

I am extremely excited to be shooting their wedding in 2010 and I am sure its going to be blast as well, because today was so much fun. Thank you Erica and Luca for making my job easy and going to multiple places.

So with out further adieu… (Please Everyone, who feels inspired, please leave a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts…you do not have to sign up for anything)

Engagement Photography Portland | Oregon Wedding Photography | brandon@brandonperron.com