New Studio Part 7: Advertising - DPChallenge Forums

04/20/2005 09:27:47 AM · #1

I promised I'd try to write about what I'm learning as I go from DPC flunkie to studio owner. This is part 7 in the series.

New Studio Part 1: Starting Out
New Studio Part 2: Organization
New Studio Part 3: Plotting a Course
New Studio Part 4: Financing
New Studio Part 5: Setting Up the Shop, Part 1
New Studio Part 5: Setting Up the Shop, Part 2
New Studio Part 6: Vendors
----
"We love to fly and it shows..."
"Your way, right away..."
"Just do it."

Overview
Advertising is an unusual creature. It can be scary or beautiful, powerful or impotent. It can be as tiny as a matchbook or it can be huuuuuuuuuuuge. How many of the above companies do you recognize by just a few words?

Unlike other parts of owning a studio, there is no perfect routine to follow in advertising that guarantees results all the time. If something works one year, it may not work the next. If you copy your competitors, you weaken the effect of both their ad and yours. We are in a creative business and we should always seek to use our creativity to make ads that stand out.

This isn't to say that you should absolve your studio of the need to use a traditional ad. What you need to do is expand on the traditional and create your own style - in advertising as well as your photography.

Audience
When you decide on an ad, you should consider who you are writing or designing this particular campaign for. If you are writing a wedding ad, "sexy" may not work as well as "trendy." And "classic look" is a great buzzword for bridal portraits, but high school seniors will flinch and think of their parents' pictures.

Within your audience are people with one similar characteristic - they are seniors, brides, parents ... but keep in mind that there are also subsets of your audience. Your advertising will be less effective if you market athletic, college-bound seniors the same as you market the heavy metal-liking all in black seniors.

How will your audience hear your message? What will they see through their own eyes? All brides are not alike, but you may not have two chances at an audience. If you only get one chance, aim for the clients you want and forget the rest. Don't waste time or money trying to please everyone - it cannot be done.

Methods
Anytime your name is in front of a potential customer, that is advertising. A bumper sticker works just as well as a blimp if nobody can see or read either one. Your ads need to be clear, short and readable.

Where can you advertise? There is no exhaustive list, but here are some basics that work for studios:

Paid media
Newspaper ads
Bridal shows/tradeshows
Local magazines
Display boards
Business directories
Yellow pages
Outdoor displays/billboards
Internet paid sites

Indirect media
Cross promotions
Direct mail

Unpaid media
Presentations
Civic associations
Professional associations
Word of mouth
Internet free sites

That is a very basic list. Your competitors have already used that list because it's available in every marketing and advertising book at Barnes & Noble. They offer discounts at the same time each year. Don't try to outspend or overpower your competition early on. They will steamroll your advertising. What you should do is hit everywhere they aren't. If there is a huge fair near you and Joe's Studio sets up a booth, don't setup a booth across from him that looks exactly like his. Do something special - offer cupts of juice or cold water, or maybe tootsie rolls at your table. Bring strobes and fire them every so often to get people's attention. If he usually brings a laptop with a looping slideshow,. bring a 40" tv and put on the news, soaps or your-studio-TV. Make people laugh, entertain them - that's why they go to these shows.

Marketing Outrageously
You don't want to hurt you brand name by pulling dumb stunts or looking desperate. However, sometimes you need to think outside of the box. By example - Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, lures free agents by providing visiting players with better amenities than other owners - softer towels, dvd players in lockers ... players remember this and want to be a part of it. Cuban knows that nobody else picks their players up in limos, so he does it for every game, home and away, all year long.

Think of ways you can make your client's experience better. At a bridal show, do not talk standing up. Have a few comfortable chairs off to a side to rest, sit and chat. At a 4 hour show or an 8 hour show, you can bet that a chair is very welcome. What ways will set you apart?

Conclusion
The most important thing for us, the new studio, is name recognition. Our way to get this has been simple - Google Adwords. We set a low max cost-per-click rate and as many photo related keywrds as possible. In just over two months, our ad has been shown 90,000 times. Ninety thousand times. We have not gotten 90,000 contacts, but that's ok. When a potential client sees our ad, chances are they have seen our name before. When we send out a postcard, then a follow up letter to brides-to-be, they've seen our name between four and twenty times. This is our goal.

Whatever your goal, set methods to reach it. Design an advertising plan and follow it as much as possible. Advertising is a creative art and we should use our skills to excel at it. If you have an idea, feel free to post it here. If you have a truly crazy, OUTRAGEOUS idea, email it to me so I can exploit it first! ;) We are always, always trying to figure out the next-best-thing so we can outwit the competition.

Thanks for reading, comments very welcome.

Until next time,
Matt

Message edited by author 2005-04-20 15:50:01.

Prof_Fate

04/20/2005 11:33:23 AM · #2

direct mail as indirect media? Hmmm...

I read another photographers take on advertising. he refers to advertising as two types - pull and push. Must have read that in some book I suspect. Anyway, he referred to phone book, magazine and newspaper ads as pull - and direct mail, bridal shows as push. The first being a shot gun approach that will reach many non-interested persons, but the ad lives a week to a month (until the next issue conmes out at least) while the others are directed at already interested consumers, but once the direct mail piece is looked at it is tossed - so you know quickly if the ad compaign worked, but a week after the mailing the results are done.

I've heard good things about bridal shows but would like to know more about them.

04/20/2005 02:00:55 PM · #3

I guess I wasn't thinking person-to-person mail but like flyers just put in everyone's mailbox - it's indirect like cross promotions in that someone will see it, but you a) didn't really "pay" for an "ad" but you got advertising benefit out of it.

Bridal shows seem alright. Many photogs say their results are great - some say not so good. I think it's how you act, how you market yourself. A really serious guy next to me (a funnier, relaxed guy) is going to look REALLY SERIOUS next to me. And I'm going to look goofy next to him in his tux and stuff. I'm going to try a couple this year and see how they go for 2006 clients. :)

M

Sonifo

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

04/20/2005 02:04:34 PM · #4

Wow, you really have some great stuff here to get started on a business. Thanks I am learning so much.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

04/20/2005 02:10:00 PM · #5

Thanks Sonia! I was going to PM you the link like I normally do, but I forgot! lol

I can't wait to get through this - and review it with what new things we learn in year 2. :) My goal is to get through the 14th/15th ones by June 1 because that's the end of my first year.

aronya1

Nikon D70

04/20/2005 03:15:37 PM · #6

mavrik,
Thanks a million for doing this series. Those of us just dipping our toes into the water of "photography as a business" need all the help we can get, and you've provided some really good reference material.

Tim

04/20/2005 04:20:44 PM · #7

Thanks Tim!

I got your PM and replied.

I know one of the hardest things in opening the studio was having the guts - and the more info we got, the more we said "geez, we gotta do this NOW!"

M

loz1

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

04/21/2005 08:12:40 AM · #8

Awsome M. Whats next?

I would like to seem more on advertising and marketing. I find it actually pretty interesting.

04/21/2005 08:43:55 PM · #9

Next? Customer service - gotta learn that before we get into anything like taking purty pictures! :)

M

loz1

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

04/22/2005 10:02:37 PM · #10

Oh I know all that already :p I did a customer service course a year ago lol

04/22/2005 10:38:25 PM · #11

maybe you'll teach the next lesson then!

loz1

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi