December is such a busy time for photographers. Holiday prints, album orders and getting caught up on end of the season production. December is also the end of a long and busy season for us wedding photographers who have been in go mode all summer. Now is the time to caught up with production, and to slow down a bit.
December is also a time for reflection. (Read my blog post about the annual photo business retreat) I think about changes and improvements I want to put in place for the coming year.
During the summer, we are so focused on exactly what's in front of us that day, that hour, we don’t get the time to do much for our business growth; we are too busy working in the thick of it. That's why it's so important to take the time to reflect on areas for improvement with your business during the downtime. This is how your business will grow and blossom.
Once the holidays are over, it's time to put our plans into action. Slow season is upon us, weddings don’t heat up till April/May, so we finally have time for our business. The summer is for our clients, but the winter is for our business!
And what is the lifeblood of our business? Sales. Without sales, we do not have a business. What drives sales? Marketing. So in January, we officially kick off our marketing program.
I know you might be overwhelmed with the idea of marketing. You have probably tried a couple of different things, and nothing much has worked. I know I've certainly tried everything. Bridal shows, magazine ads, online ads, newspaper ads even. What works? What doesn’t work? Where to start?
As a small business, you have access to very few resources. There's no marketing team, no PR dept. no six figure marketing budget. Probably not even a five figure budget actually. So you have to be very careful. Make the wrong move, go with the wrong ad and you get hit with a lot of empty Saturdays on your calendar. Not good for the pocketbook.
One of the biggest questions you have is what type of marketing you should do? What will give you the best results for your photography business? Realizing how critical this information is to the success of your business, I set about to write the manual on marketing for wedding photographers.
In January, I'll be launching a brand new guide that details the heart of our marketing strategies. It's detailed. Very detailed. As you might have figured out, I'm not one for fluffy feel good stuff. I like meat and potatoes information, real numbers, actionable items. So if you are looking for a solid, proven marketing method to build your photo business with, stay posted. We're gonna kick some marketing a** together in 2012.
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