Greeting's all,
welcome to the Profitable Studio newsletter. I've changed the format
to a weekly newsletter, and promise to deliver even more
great marketing and success strategies for your photography
business, and every week, from here on in.....

What does it take to succeed in your photography business? Listen
to this audio and in it you will get the answer:
http://www.photographymarketingbootcamp.com/tutorials/ayers.mp3

In this interview with Michael Ayers he mentioned it takes ten
years to build a studio to the point where he currently is. I
came back with 5, which he agreed and clarified that in five you
will start to reap the benefits and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

There is no secret to success in this game. It takes a simple formula:
good product + time + showing up over and over= success.

It's that simple. BUT, and as Michael mentioned, he LOVES his job.
So do I. There ain't nothing like it.

'til we meet again,

yours in photography,
Robert Provencher
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Are you bold enough with your studio marketing? Or are you boring,
stale, dull, lifeless and sterile like most business's out there?

The biggest mistake you can make in marketing your studio is to be
boring. This happens when we are afraid to offend, hurt or upset some
group, peer or afraid to look cheap, brash or to the point.

We then suffer from the copycat syndrome and we start to be clones of
big business corporations and every other photographer out there.

We become victims of the media reps who try and sell us 'image' ads.

D-uh....

This is called marketing incest- it gets dumberer and stupider as
time goes on.

Do you want to know the biggest, meanest most successful marketing
strategy I ever used? And it built me a huge business photographing
babies still does to this day, 11 years later....

It was a one page, two sided, black & white photocopied sales letter.

And I used the biggest, ugliest stamps I could get, and often
plastered stickers all over it.

Ugly. But it worked. It communicated with people (targeted of course)
and jumped right out and grabbed them by the ears and asked
them to buy.

And buy they did.
Listen, you can't be shy when it comes to getting the word out there
about your studio. Michael Ayers gets razzed by his fellow Rotarians
for being the most blatant self promoter. Hey, can you argue with his
success, can you?

Being boring IS the biggest mistake in marketing. Copying others and,
God forbid, trying to look like a big corporation. (why would anyone
in the right mind want to look like a huge, lifeless, soulless, cold
and dull corporation is beyond me.

Make some noise. Don't be shy. Get loud and be heard. Talk to people
like they are people. That's how I spoke in all my studio newsletters
that I'd send out. People resonate with people. Not politically
corrected, sublime and boring marketing.

Just getting warmed up...
yours in photography,
Robert Provencher
****************************

The Profitable Studio weekly newsletter. Loaded with marketing tips,
success secrets, spelling mistakes, 'cuss words, odd-ball ideas and
the occasional insult. For the professional portrait and wedding
photographer.

Many photographers suffer the same affliction with their marketing:
Let's get moody, sublime, mysterious and 'artsy'. Yea, that will
sell.

Well, if you truly understood people, they don't respond to what
looks good on you, and what may be nothing more than a reflection of
your ego. They want to know what's in it for them, and they want
answers to their queries.

This applies to your website. The web is only a media. It's cheap,
and easy. And often abused or your worst enemy if we don't use it properly.

All the usability experts know this, and preach it, but like so many
business owners, we let our egos rule.

Want proof? Go to where your demographics hang out. The other day I
checked out oprah.com

Clean, bright, simple, fast, newsie and all that stuff that people
'get'.

Including some of the best tools and strategies you could be using
in your studio website:
*lead capture, 'subcribe now'
*news. What's Oprah up to now
*headlines everywhere
*loads and loads of links to information
and sooooo much more

Why would you put one of those godforsaken entry pages on your site?
You know, 'click here' to enter. Dumb.

Why would you make your prospects wait? You know, 'loading, loading,
loading...' As is the wait will make it all worthwhile once they get
to see your most awesome talent.

Listen, people want it now and want it fast. Sure, they want to see
your images. But it's so much more. Just look at Oprah and learn.

Some key things for websites are blogs, newsletters, news,
online price lists and specials via email, videos, slide show (that
they 'choose' to wactch, not forced)

These will certainly come up in future talks on this subject.

yours in photography,
Robert Provencher
Author of 'Exposed: The naked uncencored truth to running a
successful photography business'
available at: www.digitalphotographybook.com

P.S. NEWS item:
If you want to attend the best 5 day workshop check out The Niagara
School of Imaging. The best bang for your success buck anyhere.
James Hodgins amd myself are also on the roster:
http://niagaraschool.com/rprovencher.htm

www.ProfitableStudio.com

**************************************
Do you really need talent to succeed in photography? What is talent
really?

Here's my two cents: Talent isn't some God-given skill
that comes easily and naturally. At least not for the vast majority
of us'em mere mortals.

Sure, some folks are 'gifted' rare exceptions, but most of us, and
even the very gifted for that matter, still need the essential
ingredients.

What are they? I've listed some here:
*passion: love of the game
*desire and ambition
*good selling skills

Combine these, and create a vision that you truly desire, and work
your buns off, and you will bring forth a bounty. Even if you ain't
that great a photographer.

Add a dynamic product to the mix, and you really don't need the
'gift', or a 'god given talent', to create some outstanding images.

Here's a quote from The Pizzazz Factor website:
"But what does the word talent actually mean? If you have listened to
the interview on my website http://pizzazzfactor.com you will also
remember what Marty had to say about talent. I want to repeat that
because I think it is such a wonderful explanation - He put it so
eloquently: 'Talent is the intelligent application of energy towards
an understood goal.' In other words... you set a goal for yourself
that you totally understand, and then apply all your energy
intelligently towards reaching your goal."

I've said it a million times before: "Having a talent is worthless
unless you know what to do with it." That's a quote from Charlie Chaplin.
Search out his quotes (google him) and you will find some nuggets.

Here's another quote from Charlie Chaplin:
"I went into the business for the money, and the art grew out of it.
If people are disillusioned by that remark, I can't help it. It's the
truth."

Interesting isn't it? So, the conclusion might me that talent
isn't what DRIVES the goals and ambitions. Sometimes it's the
desire for financial success, sometimes it's the love of the game,
or fame, or whatever. As long as we are moving towards OUR goal, OUR
vision, without excuses, then we will get there, and the ART will
GROW......I know. It happened to me.

yours in photography, Robert Provencher
Author of 'Exposed: The naked uncencored truth to running a
successful photography business'

*********************************


I get EMAILS. This week I have a two-part email, or at least I broke the answer up into two parts. Part one is answer to a very simple and straightforward question: Where do I get lists to mail to? And part B, unbeknownst to the sender, but obvious to me, a success strategy. Read on and you'll see what I mean...

"Hey, Rob! I have been listening to your marketing tapes and going through the manuals, and you had mentioned that you sent out mailings each week to the moms of newborns...I hope you don't mind, but I was just wondering how you get these lists?

As always, thank you guys so very much for everything and I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Marti-
P.S. Your tapes made me realize I'm a computer-potato...hehe...I spend a ton of time reading, researching, practicing...basically anything I can do to avoid actually getting out there and marketing (oh so scary!)...so, anyway, I'm off today to take the big leap and probably make a fool of myself, but, hopefully, make a few connections in the process...wish me luck!!!"

Marti, I wish you luck. You sound ambitious and eager. I say that because you are willing to read and study, plus contact me for more info, and you are becoming aware of certain aspects about yourself, namely being a 'computer potato'. (I think you've coined a new twist on a older phrase, couch potatoe, but the condition still applies and the sympton is common: inaction. Due to being glued to the 'tube', in this case the monitor.)

Keeping yourself glued to a computer is a reaction to an underlying emotion: fear. We get stuck in 'research' mode, or whatever, and really what we're doing is putting off the action part. Because we're scared.

There is only one antidote: action. Get out there. Move, and keep moving. Better yet, start a list, quick and dirty if you wish (don't get caught up on studying lists or what spreadsheet program you'll use..), write out the list on a napkin or note pad or back of the calendar in your kitchen. Just start it.

What are you going to put on this list? Everything you could possibly DO to start putting your project into action. List EVERYTHING. And then take every single action you can take THAT DAY.

This is not new. It's called the "Massive Action" principle has taught by Dan Kennedy. Best part is, it works. If you use it.

Listen, when you get out there, guaranteed you will make a fool of yourself. Whenever that happens, here's your new mindset, your new internal response: "I don't care."

Easy, ain't it. That's what I do and say. Works for me.

It is freeing to be able to finally not give a hoot of whatever other people think, and it's not a coincidence that successful people operate at that level. In a nutshell, the higher your success, the greater your immunity to criticism (self imposed or from outside).

Cool?

Okay, now, where do you find lists to mail to? I realized years ago that our local daily newspaper published the newborns every Monday. What a goldmine! Right under my nose.

So, since about 1997 we've been clipping out the "New Arrivals" section of our daily newspaper and mailing 'em a sales letter. Religiously. Every week, month after month. Year after year.

Did I build my baby business up overnight? Of course not. I built it one prospect at a time, year after year. You build a castle one brick at a time.

You could call a list broker in your area and test some of their lists. You could also go to baby stores (offer a weekly prize in return for filling out ballots), hospitals, midwifery clinics and any place where babies hang out. I do many of things as well as mail out the sales letters. You need to start looking and take steps. Have goals that have meaning and let those be the fuel that drives you.

There is no simple, one size fits all answer or strategy. You need to face your fears and start, as you move through your challenges and shoot towards.

Think. Act. Move and ask yourself deep compelling questions. Never get lazy or let your fears decide what actions you will take that day.

Here's a bit of advice from one of the best, Walt Disney:
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

Walt was a dooer, and being a door is part of growing a successful photography studio. If you're struggling with marketing, management, posing, lighting, or whatever is in the way, the only way through it or around it is to get moving.

yours in photography, Robert Provencher