Check out the profile on my work in the April 15th Huffington Post. You can find it at  http://tinyurl.com/fobes-huffingtonpost

Steven Crandell did a wonderful job and had many insights into my work/life.

©2011 Natalie Fobes

The first part of this quarter is all about marketing, promoting and selling your services and photography.

Marketing and promotion is one of the tasks photographers must do to stay in business. It is also one of the tasks that always seems to be the last item on the todo list to get done. Your biggest challenge will be not to create a marketing plan but rather to implement your plan on a regular schedule.

Successful marketing employs the three r’s. “Repetition, recognition, response. Your promo pieces should incorporate all of the three r’s.

The number one rule of marketing is repetition. Studies show it takes about 7-10 “contacts” to make an impact. These contacts may be direct mail pieces or articles about you or meeting you.

Number two is recognition. Each promo piece you send should have the same look and feel. The recipient should know it is from you when they open it. Don’t change your format or your font or your logo. Consider the series of promo pieces to be chapters in a book with the same theme.

Number three is response. Ask your recipient for a response. It may be to tear off a card and send it back to you for more info. Or as easy for them as wait for my phone call.

Marketing and promotion is like a three-legged stool.  You need all three legs for it to work properly. These are:

Advertising: source books, websites, direct mail and email blasts

Publicity: newspaper and magazine articles, capabilities packets, television interviews

Personal marketing and selling: networking, professional organizations, meetings

The first two are non-personal meaning that they are working 24/7 without you. The third is face time and one of the most effective ways of getting a job.

Membership in professional organizations is a great way to meet other photographers who may give you referrals. When I first went freelance I joined ASMP and volunteered to be on the Events Committee. I took the money at the door and could introduce myself to everyone as they came in.  One of my largest commercial projects was the book on the construction of Safeco Field that I did for the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners hired me after an architectural photographer who met me at ASMP recommended me. It was a two year project that resulted in a book.

The photography groups are obvious and a no brainer. But who is it you are targeting to hire you?  Not photographers.

Join the professional organizations of the people you want to work for.  Go to the events. Volunteer to help out whether it is photographing or cleaning up after the meetings. Always have your business card ready. When you get to know someone on a casual basis it is much easier to get an appointment to show your work than cold calling them.

Work on your 30 second “elevator” speech. This is the answer to the question “And what do you do?” Make sure every word means something. Practice it until you can say it quickly and effortlessly.

When you get that face to face you must show work that is extraordinary and in line with their photography needs. You don’t show your landscape photos to someone who needs product shots. You need to sell your prospect on the benefits of hiring you instead of all the other thousands of photographers out there who want the job. You need to ask for the job. You need to close the deal.

Publicity: Two years ago a couple of the students pooh poohed the idea of sending out news releases as something they didn’t want to do. They said that people should hire them on the strength of their photos.

Ideally yes. But what is the problem with this attitude?

Most people don’t have a critical eye. One nicely lit wine bottle is the same as another in their eyes. What makes a difference for many people is if you can give them proof that you are better than your competition.

And that is the essence of publicity. It is a seemingly subjective third party endorsement of your work. When a newspaper, magazine, podcast, blog or online magazine writes about you, you have instant credibility. You can post the article or link to it on your website and in your email signature. You can include it in a capabilities packet. You can use it as part of a direct mail piece telling the recipient to check out the article about you. Or include it in an email blast.

Even if your prospective clients never see the article you’ve already gotten their attention. They know you are unique enough to have a third party write an article about your exceptional work.

Julee Geier’s info

One of the best promotions people I know is Julee Geier. She is the business partner and wife of Phil Borges. She handles his promotion, marketing and general business allowing him to do what he loves to do: photograph.

She finds that having articles written about Phil is one of the most effective ways of getting his message out. She has had a lot of success in doing so. What she has found that works:

1. Before you send anything out she suggests writing down what is unique about your images, your subject matter, your story, and what did it take to create your story.

2. Match your story angle to the media that would be most appropriate.

Create a hook specific to the location of a television or radio station, magazine, newspaper or website. As I mentioned before, all stories are local. But consider the content of the media too. Don’t try to sell a story on politics to Home and Garden magazine.

3. Know who to send the  material to.

Research by going to Media Inc Lists, Photographers Market or search online.

Go to a newsstand and see what magazines are appropriate for your story angle. Look on the masthead for editors’ names.

Go to the library and look through the Gale Directory for information about media in most US cities.

4. Confirm that the  contact is still there by calling.  You can tell the receptionist you are just updating your database and ask for the person by name.

5. Find out the lead time of the publications.

How far in advance do they need the information?

Books reviews: done before the book is available to the public

Magazines: 3-4 months

Papers, tv, radio: they want today’s stories.

6. Contact them

Email: Make sure you write an interesting subject line

Have a short intro

Embed the photos into the email

Snail mail

If you are doing a postcard campaign why not send them a file folder with your name and contact info? Then they can put the promo pieces right into the folder.

Her folders are inexpensive to produce. They include a folder from The Paper Zone with a photo on front. She doesn’t put words on the front so people will have to open it. Inside is a sheet of images on the left. On the right is a bio of Phil, information about his exhibit or book, articles that have already been written about him and a hand-written note saying she will call. If you are lucky, someone will look at the work. If they don’t, keep trying.

7. Follow-up

Mail promotion materials on Tuesday. Call them on Friday or the following Tuesday. She likes to send the material first and then call them. That way they know her name.  Monday pm, Tuesday and Thursdays are good days to call.

Script your conversation: know what you are going to say and then be concise and clear.

Next week we’ll talk more about press releases and email campaigns.

Advertising:

What are some of the ways that you have advertised in the past? (website, direct mail, email blasts, source books) What has worked for you? Why?

Now think of an advertisement that was effective, meaning it made you buy or wanted you to buy.

What were some of the parts to it?

Leafguard commercial is a classic. They start with a man falling off a ladder. Then talk about the benefits of having a Leafguard system installed. (you don’t fall off a ladder, get your fingers dirty etc.) then they tell you for a limited time you can save money. Then they tell you to call a number on the screen. Then they summarize the benefits, how quickly they must act and what they need to do to get it.

This breaks down into a formula that will help you come up with effective ads.

1. Headline: Tell them they can get what they want. They are looking or listening for only one thing: “what do you have for me?”

2. Sub-Head: Tell them they have to act quickly to get it

3. Body copy: Tell them the details of what they will get.

4. Call to Action: Tell them what they must do to get it.

5. Postscript: Tell them again what they can get, how quickly they must act and what they must do to get it.   People will read a PS first.

Effective advertising starts with knowing your target audience. The Leafguard ad was aimed at older home-owners, afraid of falling off ladders, getting their manicures dirty, worms and bugs, and evidently guys with tattoos.

You as photographers will be targeting different industries. You must tailor your marketing to what they want.

Had a fantastic five days with a video team from Lynda.com.  They followed me around for a series called “Creative Inspirations.” They filmed while I taught my class at Seattle Central Community College, while I shot portraits of my friend and CEO of Science Faction Roger Ressmeyer and while I photographed the amazing old-growth forest of the Olympic National Park.

The documentary will be out in June or early July and available for viewing at www.lynda.com

Thanks David, Scott, Ben and Jacob for making it such a fun experience!

And yes, there is a Lynda of www.lynda.com. A charming, thoughtful and insightful woman who put together a fantastic online learning community.

Save $200 on the Bhutan trip by booking in May. Check it out at www.tinyurl.com/bhutan2010. Then email me to find out more. This’ll be fun!

I’m leading a tour to Bhutan this Fall and am so excited. We will be there for almost two weeks. The trip is timed so that we will be able to photograph the harvest and the celebrations.

For more info check out Bhutan 2010.

Just got back from the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International conference where I made a presentation, judged the print contest and attended a number of fantastic workshops. I was one of 12,000 photographers attending the 6 day conference. Once again, I was blown away with the quality of the programs.

I really enjoyed judging the contest. It was extremely difficult to narrow down the quality prints to award a first, second and third.

©Natalie Fobes ~ The sun reflects on the water on top of a fence railing 15 feet from my front door.

What a run of weather we have had this winter! This photo proves that you don’t have to go far to find great shots…like about 15 feet in this case.

Found this great article about me done by Vocational Biographies a few years ago. It deals with my wildlife photography and general business attitude. Hope you enjoy it!

©2010 Natalie Fobes

I learned how to use small-system flash during the years I spent working on magazine assignments in Siberia, Guatemala and Alaska. This knowledge sets me apart from others in my wedding photography.

For example: this wedding photo of Amy and Scott looks like it was taken as the sun was setting. Nope. It was taken forty-five minutes after the sun set.

To create the look of the sun I had my associate, Marcellina, hold a flash with an orange gel off to the side. I calculated the exposure for the available light, adjusted the output on her flash and adjusted my flash on camera to kick in just a little fill. I hand-held the camera and used a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second.

The result was a wonderful wedding couple shot for their album and their wall. I succeeded in making dark into light with flash.

BTW, I’m entering this in the WPPI competition where I will be a speaker and a judge.

Scott and Amy pose for a wedding couple shot during their reception

A fifteen minute fireworks display ended this amazing Seattle wedding.

One question that came up over and over at the Seattle Wedding Show was how I did the photograph with a bride and groom in the foreground and fireworks in the background.  The shot was from an amazing Seattle wedding I photographed last summer that included a wonderful couple, a black bear, a cougar, an owl, and stickleback fish. A fifteen minute fireworks display closed the festivities.

I knew that flashing the couple during the fireworks display would interfere with their enjoyment. Instead, I set up my lights and took a shot of them  before the fireworks began. During the show I mounted my camera on a tripod, used a shutter release and kept the shutter open to capture the bursts of  fireworks. My aperture was set at f11 and my ISO was 400.

The final photograph was made up of the portrait image and seven fireworks shots that I layered in Photoshop.