Recession Busting Strategies

How to Survive The Economic Storm

By Robert Provencher

"Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good
learner would not miss."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

There are some disturbing trends going on. I am not talking about the way people are buying portraits.

I will admit that the way people perceive photography, and therefore photographers, has changed dramatically in the last few years, but that doesn't mean we get to sit on our high horses, like a whiney bunch of spoiled babies, deserving that work come our way, and the market better work in our favour, because dammit, we're good, and look at all my awards and equipment, and we been in business X amount of years, and I got a great looking logo, and my art rocks, and things just ain't working out and here's MY list of why that is so and how bad things are in our area......

Phew...I'm out of breath. Yet, it makes no sense to me. Photographers who are suffering and get into blame, excuses, rant and finger pointing mode. Cover this with a think layer of entitlement mentality.

C'mon folks. We're entrepreneurs. Photography IS business, and even though it's ok, no scratch that, it's imperative to have fun while working it, it doesn't mean we get to play by a different set of rules. Business is business.

The best way to survive a 'recession', if you want to call it that, is to firstly get serious about your photography business.

We're going to hell in hand basket, many would have you believe. In
a referral marketing webinar I co-hosted last week, I mentioned in
my intro that I am having my busiest year ever in my photography studio.

We are so busy my wife and our full time workflow employee can hardly keep up. I even had to step up to bat and take on some of the workflow myself. Something I can't stand to do, and would outright refuse
under normal circumstances.

Why, then, you ask, are we so busy? When some are struggling, on the verge of losing everything and selling the farm, so to speak.

A few days ago I interviewed Brian Little for the No Bs Photo Success Inner Circle members forum. Brian tells me he is swamped, in a small town in the middle of Ohio. He shot 25 weddings, 100 seniors plus a handful of families and babies. He's only been at it for four years, having just quit his fulltime job about two years ago.

Why is it working for him? A few nights ago I was having Xmas dinner with a bunch of local photographers who belong to our professional photographers association, and one of them, Jenevive runs a mall type, higher volume digital studio, and she tells me they are booking every half hour, steady, with a long waiting list of folks who want to be called as soon their is an opening or cancellation.

I thought there was a 'recession'. AAAaaahh, but you say in your area things ARE different, because- 'insert list of crappy things going on in your area here'-.

Okay, let's just stay focused on that, stuck in the mud, wheels spinning going nowhere, glued to one spot because we allow it.

I personally believe it's the history of long term marketing and the building of a solid foundation that is responsible for success. You cannot expect to turn on a dime and get instant marketing results. It
takes time and dedication. Plus a willingness to do what most are either too lazy to do, or find 'beneath' them.

Granted, I will admit it can be tough, in some areas tougher, but the whole responsibility is still our burden. It's way too easy to point and blame.

Ok, that's all fine and dandy you say, but what about now. The bleeding has started and something needs to happen. As Dan Kennedy would say, "shoulda drained the swamp before I got up to my neck in alligators."

If you are hemorrhaging so bad there may not be a lot we can do. Especially if you are burdened with debt load. All you can do is try to stay alive and stop the bleeding.

But there's plenty you can do if you want long term success and growth. Let's look at some real world examples and also get back to the fundamentals of marketing.

Do you have a series of dynamic offers and proposals that you can bring to this highly targeted group. Your most valuable group!

I know a guy, Dale, who had 700 names he recently collected from his booth at a local art show. He offered a prize/draw. That's how he collected the names. I helped him create a letter to send out to everyone,
offering them second prize status of a session and 8"x10". This is not new, and I have done it many times in my studio and it works.

After I created the letter for Dale, and sent him the rough draft, and told him to get a bio pic in it, (even though he told me he didn't have one and was willingly to leave it at that, I insisted he get one), I hadn't
heard back from him for several days.

I thought he was a goner. Lost. My advice fell on deaf ears. But alas, 5 days later Dales replies with:

"Hi Rob, I sent an email of the letter you done with my photo toabout 200 people. Only 200 of the 700 gave me an email address. I booked 7 sessions from that. After a few days I started calling the others that only gave me a phone number and followed up on the ones I emailed. I got through about 250 names and now I have booked 61 sessions before Christmas. I am only taking 7 more sessions. Last year I had 15 sessions. Thats a huge difference. I hope they order a big package. If all works out I am going to do this again in April. I am printing referral cars with their photos on them to give out to their friends. Thanks so much for
your help. I will let you know how it works out....Dale."

Whoa! Way to go Dale. Did you read that??!! Here it is again, the KEY: "I started calling the others that only gave me a phone number and followed up on the ones I emailed."

Dale, in case this is not clear to you, was willing to do the obvious and what most folks would be clearly unwilling to do. In fact, most would curl up into the corner sucking their thumbs waiting for their mommies.

Listen, times are tough. No doubt. But here's a valuable bit of knowledge to consider: People do and will always value their families. Always.

As a matter of fact, my guess is in tough times they will value them even more. They may not buy that new TV, or car, or fridge, but I bet given the right circumstances, they would consider valuable memories of their most cherished people in their lives.

It's up to YOU to make that time out and be in their face with the right offers.

*Have a great product. If your product sucks, and you have great marketing, you are only speeding up the time with which everyones finds out you have a product that sucks. A great product is the starting point of which all marketing is built on and includes YOU as part of the marketing message. SO become a better person as well as a better creator of images

*If you're product is somewhat stale and boring, well, you can still make it exciting by making special offers and bundling creative content. The babies first year, kreative kids klub, 5 year family plan
are good examples. (but you should still try to make your product not so stale)

*Track and maintain a database of all past clients. seek out other targeted groups to make offers to

*Deliver offers to that list and other targeted lists (such as the one Dale created). Use only low cost media. IE email, phone, sales letters....etc

*Create deep reach in your market. What do I mean by this? In your area, your market, become The Go-To studio and the place that everyone thinks about when it comes to photography studios. Become the wedding studio, the baby studio, the familiy studio, the 'whatever your niche is' studio. People won't come to you and annoint you as the holy high one, YOU must do this. How? Many ways. First off, decide. Then use marketing strategies that effectively get into people's minds and hearts. Send newsletters. Send greeting cards. Have displays all over your town at places where your target market hangs out.

Some other thoughts: have goals. avoid debt, especially credit card debt. Learn, feed your mind. Maintain a blog. Join NoBsPhotoSuccess.com Read books. Never, ever complain.

Complaining is very destructive and negative. In reality, it is a form of manipulation. Instead, take all circumstances as something of value.