We’re all familiar with the old saying that a “picture is worth a thousand words” and, while a photograph undoubtedly has the ability to convey emotions and a story in ways that words sometimes can’t do, it’s nonetheless true that words DO have power.

Consider some of these famous quotes, and the influence they’ve wielded since the time they were first spoken or written:

• “I have a dream.”
• “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
• “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
• “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”
• “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

If you’re unsure who said these, then you can always Google them. However, while those responsible for them were undoubtedly of great importance and influence, I believe the real value lies in the actual words themselves…

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Sales & Marketing photography business, photography marketing, power of words, professional photography

If you’ve been working to grow your photography business for a while now and things aren’t happening as fast as you want, then I’d like to help you create a MAJOR business BREAKTHROUGH…

The photography business can be difficult to navigate through - sometimes we need some external guidance to keep us on track...

Here’s the scoop…

I’ve heard from a lot of photographers who are having an especially difficult time getting their business to grow fast these days. After hearing about so many people’s struggles, I decided to do something about it…

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Photography Business Coaching photography business, professional photographer, professional photography

Our outer game of business (the photography, client relationships, marketing and sales etc.) deals with the tactics and strategies we use to conduct our everyday business. However, before we can develop and strengthen our outer game to produce a healthy photography business, we have to face the facts of our inner game, and the great influence it can have.

Wedding photographer Irene Abdou is focused as much on her mindset as she is on her photography.

The power of a properly-focused mindset is one of the most important, but least talked-about, attributes of the professional photographer. Our inner game deals with our overall attitude, state of mind, philosophy, and level of commitment – all of which have a profound impact on our ability to grow our business.

This is one area that really separates the wannabe’s from the true professionals in the industry.

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Interviews attitude, Irene Abdou, mindset, photography business, professional photography

This has been a hectic week around here to say the least, with a lot of work going on behind the scenes – not just on this blog, but in other areas too – but I’m very grateful to be so busy at something I love doing so much.

Much of this work is the result of a recent survey I did about the blog and what people would most like to see in the membership site.

However, I do want to take a few minutes away from all the construction work to let you know about some of the exciting things that have been happening, and a new surprise coming up next Monday…

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General photography business, photography marketing, professional photography, zenologue insiders

It’s a real shame that the popular conception of the word “salesperson” evokes more negative thoughts than positive ones in people’s minds. We all know who the usual suspects are: The shady used car salesperson, the unscrupulous insurance salesperson, and the pressure salesperson… no one wants to be like them, right?

We speak of “sales tactics” as though we, as prospects, are engaged in a war of nerves with these people. Even the phrase “foot in the door” evolved from the early adoption of forceful techniques by some desperate door-to-door salesperson who couldn’t use gentle persuasion to help a prospect to buy from them.

We even use certain military terms, such as “campaign” or “target market” when referring to our marketing.

Are All Salespeople Bad?

Unfortunately, the minority of unscrupulous salespeople have tarnished the good profession of selling so much that truly ethical and professional salespeople are faced with the daily challenge of having to overcome an enormous amount of natural distrust in their prospects. There are many forthright and honest salespeople working every day with their clients’ needs forefront in their minds, yet they’re forced to dispel the myth that all sales people are dishonest before they can even begin to do their job.

What has this to do with being a photographer?

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Yesterday, we had a great teleseminar and Q&A session with commercial photographer Mark Skalny, discussing and answering questions on the subject of environmental portraiture, especially as it applies to commercial photography.

Over the course of the call (almost 2 hours), we talked about the business, marketing, approach, lighting, equipment and sales of commercial environmental portraiture in great detail, and I know that you’ll get a lot of information out of this to use in your own business.

What Is Environmental Portraiture?

As Mark so eloquently describes it, environmental portraiture can be created outdoors, at the client’s home or place of business, or even in the studio. The term “environmental” doesn’t necessarily mean that the photographs must be taken outdoors, rather that the portraits are created in a setting that describes the normal environment of the subject. For example, a chef working in a kitchen, an executive in an office, a doctor at work in an MRI lab, and so on.

The technical and physical challenges are diverse and unique to every job, therefore an ability to adapt to all manner of situations is required to do this type of work successfully. Experience helps tremendously in this regard.

Mark did a wonderful job of answering the questions on the call, and I believe there are some brilliant nuggets of information in here to help you in your business.

Listen To The Call

I’m sure you’re anxious to listen to the call, so I’ll let it speak for itself.

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Teleseminars environmental portraiture, photography business, professional photography, teleseminar

Little did I know, when I started writing the Photography Business and Marketing blog at the end of 2008, that it would become so popular.

I’m both amazed and humbled by the number of people who read and share the articles on this blog!

Originally, I began writing as a means of self-therapy for my own photography business, to help me sort through the variety of challenges that I, like everyone else, had to solve in order to stay in business.

However, I soon discovered that others also found the blog useful, so I kept it going and it’s now one of the most enjoyable parts of my business life.

But I never fully imagined that the blog would evolve in the way it has, and that there would be such a variety of content on the site – from articles to audio interviews and teleseminars.

For the future, I’m looking at conducting video interviews, workshops, online courses and expanding on the ever-growing library of content. Who knows what else lies in store for us further on down the road?

Introducing Zenologue Insiders

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General business success, membership site, professional photographer, professional photography

Today’s post, as you can see, is a lot shorter than usual, and actually takes the form of a simple question:

“What makes you marketable as a photographer?“

As mentioned in some of my previous posts, one of the areas I feel very strongly about in the photography business is the fact that many photographers are finding it difficult to identify the things that make them different.

This can lead to all kinds of problems in marketing and sales, which translates into lower-than-expected revenue, stress, and potential failure.

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Photography Business Ideas photography business, photography marketing, professional photography

Photographers are very fortunate, in that this is one of the few activities that can be turned into a moneymaking business without having to scale any large barriers to entry. Have a camera? Know how to use it? Cool, then you can be a professional photographer!

Whoa! Stop Right There!

Unfortunately for the photography profession, it really is that easy to become a “professional” photographer. There are no exams to pass, no need to spend years of training in school, you can work from home, and all you need is a camera, computer, and a telephone to get started.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

Actually, everything!

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Photography Business Ideas business success, photography as a hobby, professional photography

For some reason, I’ve noticed a lot of recent talk in the professional photography arena on the subject of re-branding – literally throwing out an existing business and starting over. This is a pretty radical step for anyone to take, and I thought it might be worth examining further.

Business re-branding can be extremely difficult and potentially damaging if done incorrectly or in haste, so it’s worth taking some time to consider some of the implications before going ahead and making sweeping changes, some of which may turn out to be unnecessary or even unwise!

What Is Re-Branding?

In the context of this article, I use the term “re-branding” to mean the act of significantly changing or reinventing one’s personal brand or business identity. We’re all familiar with the idea of reinventing ourselves from time to time, so re-branding applies a similar principle to a business instead of just to an individual.

Motivation For Re-Branding

One of the first questions to pop into my head when I encountered this idea was, simply, “Why?” This is, after all, a major change that, at the very least, can involve most of the following attributes…

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Photography Business Ideas branding, photography business, professional photography, re-branding

Okay, I was up bright and early at 6am this morning, ready to crawl into the shower, throw on some clothes (after getting dry), and haul myself up the stairs to the computer, to start a day of writing on my forthcoming Facebook book.

Then something happened that temporarily derailed all those good intentions, and it wasn’t the fact that I’d run out of coffee (although I would definitely plead that as a mitigating factor).

What happened when I turned on my computer was that I came across a video shared by one of my Facebook friends. I watched the video and immediately caught the virus, so had to pass it on. However, I was so captivated by the idea presented that I felt compelled to also put together something for the blog.

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Sales & Marketing marketing, photography business, professional photography, the fun theory

It started with a simple question on the telephone from me to my prospect during a conversation about wedding photography: “How is your search for a wedding photographer going and how do you feel about what you’ve seen or heard so far?”

The purpose of the question, which I ask every prospect that calls me, is to get them to open up about their expectations and perhaps to tell me, without my having to ask them directly, whether they are a price shopper or serious about their choice of photographer.

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