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Newsie bits
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Writing these dang newsletters
Everytime I write these newsletters I rely on the same strategies that I use for writing newletters for the studio. Here's how. I start months or weeks ahead. Studio newsletters would get sent out every three months so more lead time was available. I would gather ideas well before the mail date and put any and all ideas into my idea folder marked, you guessed it, "newsletter ideas".

I would eventually have a back log of great ideas and resources. When time came, usually a few days, maybe a week before printing, I would sit down and start writing. I'd pull any ideas from my folder and would write whatever came to mind. You do not have to be a writer or an english lit major to get great newlsetters done, and done in time. As a matter of fact having those credentials could potentially slow you down, cause you to procrastinate and maybe even suffer from analasys paralasys. The best strategy is to write straight form the heart, where the fire lives. Write like your life depends on it and write as if you are totally excited and talking with a good friend at the kitchen table.

People will resonate and understand your content when you do this. How many newsletters have you received from realtors or insurance offices? Most of it is boring, dull, dead, boring, "as if", boring, sterile and lifeless. Get it? It sounds corporate and dead. Your newsletters and all communication with your clients should never sound that way. Newsletters are one of the greatest tools for keeping in touch with clients and making offers on a continuing basis. They do take work however, and this is where most fail, in the "it takes work department". Make your writting real and straight forom the heart. If you're like me you love readding maketing stuff. One of my favorites is the Prince of Print, Gary Halbert, one of the geatest living copy writers of all time, and he has generously added tons of great content (that he used to sell) on hos website. Check it out: www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/

Monte Zucker in Phoenix
A few weeks ago my good friend Kerry Allan from Phoenix hosted a 5 day intensive workshop with Monte Zucker. My other good friend and partner in crime, over at the greatest No Bs digital photography forum James Hodgins attended. He had to go. I told him so. Why? Monte not so many years ago, was one of James' first inspirations. Why not go and meet the man himself and learn from one of the greats. Even though the costs were great, having to fly thousands of miles and pay the expenses related, not to mention the attendance fees, learning from one of the greatest teachers of our day cannot ever be replaced. These events change us for life. Can you put a price on learning? Especially when the learning is of the very highest nature and quality. I personally place a very high value on learning and seek out the very best for my brain. And I am willing to pay top dollar, and I do, typically investing upwards to $10,000.00 a year on my own self-education.

Here's a few comments (underlined section by me for emphasis) that Kerry posted at the end of that Monte Zucker week on the No Bs digital photography forum:

"Monte Zucker is such an awesome master of light and posing, that I come away from this a bit intimidated, awed, and overwhelmed. I can only hope, that with practice I can apply the lessons we got this week.

Monte taught us to see the light. If we come away from this with only that, then we have learned a lot. We now find ourselves "looking" for detail we never noticed before. Classmates have already told me they catch themselves seeing light on peoples faces everywhere they look. In Airports, restaurants and their daily lives. One classmate went up to a total stranger last night in a restaurant and told her he loved the way the light was falling on her face and was it OK if he took her picture

Some feel that the type of portraiture Monte teaches is dated. I can tell you without hesitation they are WRONG!. Excellence is never dated. Hair and clothing styles may change, tastes may change, technology may change, but what he teaches will endure forever. I feel honored to have seen it, and hope I can someday, live up to his expectations." Kerry

School photos
How convenient that our school pictures came in the week before Mother's Day...and this is the second time this year they "dinged" us. Smart. Last fall was school photo day and now they have "spring photos". Yes, we get school pictures and we buy them. Why not? I guess I feel attached and sentimental about these portraits for several reasons. One, I used to be a school photographer. Did it for four years and I can say with confidence that this is one of the absolute hardest jobs out there. Almost as hard as being a full time waiter, a job equally or more demanding. These are the kinds of jobs that everyone out to do at least once in their lives. It's good training and a great way to keep one modest. Shool photographer type jobs also teaches you the basic poses and burns them into your brain like the fundamentals of karate get etched through years of repetition and practise. The other reason I like them is because I want the group photo of my daughter with all her friends and classmates. I know these kids. I am at her school a lot, do many presentations and help out on field trips, always capturing many photos whilst volunteering on these long and noisy outings. Besides school photos remind me of my own when I was young. I look at them now and as dorky as I looked, they bring back memories.

"Everyone I Know Has a Big But" is the Pee Wee Herman title inspired name of booklet I have just finished writing. This booklet is all about getting motivated and in the infamous words of Larry the Cable Guy "get 'er done". It's a small carry around book that you read while waiting for the doc or your next session that is filled with stories, lessons, tips and success strategies on getting 'er done..namely..success. The book is done and off to the printers. The first 20 poeple to email me will get a free copy in the mail, my free gift to you. Just send me your name and complete address to my email (sorry, offer over).

Over half filled already:

Image Explorations- Five Day Intensive James Hodgins (the othe NO Bs digital photography guy) and I are part of the week long courses being taught next August 21-25, 2005 at Brock University, St Catherines Ontario. We anticipate a sell out as class room size is limited and demand is big. If you are serious about learning and taking your digital photography for portraits and weddings up a notch or two you should really consider this program. It is your best bang for your buck..... Tuition $615.00 Cdn. plus 7%GST ($CDN 43.05) (US residents are entitled to claim the GST back at the border).

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where
you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your
command, and better tools will be found as you go along."
--Napoleon Hill

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Photography Marketing Strategies
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My brain is so full it hurts. I think marketing all the freakin' time. I can't help it. Am I normal?? For example last January I was in Costa Rica with my family for two weeks. Even there I couldn't stop myself. Walking around the small town of Tamarindo we would occasionaly pass a few taxi drivers and they would ask if we needed a ride to which we replied the usual "Gracias, pero prefiero caminar ahora" meaning, I think: "thanks, but I prefer walking at this time". But being who I am I would think about their business and wonder what they could do, even as a taxi driver, even in Costa Rica, even in Tamarindo, to stand out in their marketplace and even dominate it. The ideas are instructive and apply to all business, even your photography studios.

First thing I would do is try to locate certain business's such as hotels and restaurants or whever likely prospects might be found for my business. This is called targeting and affiliation. Targeting is done through geographic, demographic, past clients or affiliation. What then? Determine the best approach. In this case, affiliation comes to mind because no many others wouldn't think it. They are all stuck in geographic strategies. Meaning, they picked a corner and waited. About as exciting as a bowl of sawdust.

The key here is to be proactive. Think about where your most likely prospects are and find a way to put yourself there, preferably through the efforts of others (affiliation). Even as a taxi driver. I'd find ways to stand out and offer excellent service. I'd learn English (many taxi drivers did not know english very well). Could I convince the resorts to call me? Could I create a service so compelling that they'd be compelled to call me? What could I do to create this scenario? Is dependability a factor? Reliability? Besides learning the language and communicating with my fares, making them feel good about me, and increasing my odds of higher tips, could I do more?

Is there valuable information that tourists, especially first timers, would like to know and benefit from? How about offering ice cold drinks? Free? Maps? Photo albums of the hottest tourist destination? Maybe even a section where other tourists could add comments about their visit and what places, restaurants and sites they liked the most. The idea here is to stand out, way out, and impress not only the riders, but more importantly the places where they stay or frequent. That way the resorts become the main lead generation mechanism. Know what I mean?? It's not about waiting on the corner and hoping someone will at that time need a ride. Get off your duff and go looking for business and find reliable strategies to you can build on. YCDBSOYA....meaning, "you can't do business sitting on your ass".

Let me further this with another example from my studio. Years ago I had a draw in a children clothing store where many of my clients, and soon to be clients shopped for their kids (targeting!!). This was an upscale shop, and those who shopped there had kids, or grandkids. Perfect!. I gave away a Kreative Kids Klub every week for two months. The box with all the name filled up quickly...aaaaaa, gold, solid gold. I took those names and mailed to them on a regular basis. Many of them became my clients over the years. How did I know it was okay to send them stuff (offers) in the mail without offending anyone?? Simple. I asked. D'uh. On the ballot form I had a section that said 'Would you like to receive future updates and specials from us?' Most checked the "yes" box. Amazing, ain't it. Simple enough? You bet. Does it work? Like gangbusters. Why isn't everyone doing it?

Marketing lessons from Queen Street. Recently my wife, my daughter and I spent a few days in Toronto,....do some shopping, eating, walking and checking out the medieval times dinner thing. One of our favorites funky streets is Queen Street. Although it is slowly being over run by corporate stores such as Body Shoppe, GAP etc, it still has a very healthy selection of cool shops and sidewalk vendors.

Walking along Queen we stopped to check out this sidewalk artist. Check out the video first and come back to read more about some rarely used but powerful marketing strategies.
Queen Street Sidewalk Artist Video

What's at work here and why is he making so much? At least I think he's well on his way to earning the $50,000.00 he needs for a house in Halifax for him, his son and his wife. People were constantly throwing money into those buckets you see around him. The buckets closest to the crowd were piled with cash.

What's the BIG LESSON HERE!??? I think I got it figured out. As soon as I happened upon this scene I knew what was working and I was amazed. You could learn from this guy. Listen up. This is one of the biggest marketing tools you could and should use, and the vast majority of business owners totally ignore. Can you spot it?? Send me an email with your best guess and I will send a prize valued at over $200.00. Either the Big Kahuna Digital Success System or the Wedding Photography Marketing System or the Baby and Child Photography Marketing System. Your choice of one. But you gotta enter to win. Email me here.

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Who luvs ya baby?

When I was in Las Vegas in March I bought some licensed music for my slide shows from Kevin at www.graniteaudiopro.com. They had a booth at the WPPI trade show and are creating and selling some awesome licensed music at great prices.

Here's the deal. He's offered me a limited time special offer. You shouldn't pass this up. Use this promotional code RPPC-0509-5999 and buy the wedding CD at a great price. A mere $59.00!!. You can also get the pre-order special of the childrens' and seniors music until June for only $45.00. But after that it's going to be full pop.

This music is good. Much better than some of the other licensed music that sounds like it was made on a $200.00 Walmart Keyboard.

I believe he has samples his msuic on his site so listen first in case you don't agree with me that it's beautiful music and very well designed for slide shows.

Here's a slide show I created recently for online viewing. I used some of the wedding music from Granite Audio for it, even though this show promotes the Baby's First Year. Actually this is the exact show our client received.Check it out This is new idea and I am just starting with it. The slide show idea will be to used to promote my Baby Portraits, the Babys First Year plan, Child Portraits, Family Portraits, Wedding Portraits and Destination Weddings. I have shows for all these categories.

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Success Corner
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ROLE MODELS. Here's a very powerful strategy. I use this in my own life and have photographs all over my office wall. Photos of people I admire including Walt Disney, Muhammed Ali, Jane Goodall, Gerry Spence and more. These are some of my role models.

When James was in Phoenix Monte Zucker came up to him towards the end of the week and told him with serious intent that "James,..............you have talent galore. Don't waste it". This had an impact on James and he created a little poster that he's placed beside his computer so he sees it everyday. Why not do the same?? Get some pics of people, dead or alive, historical or recent, who you would like to emulate or adopt some of their charactarsitics, and put 'em up on the wall where you get to see them everyday.

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Testimonials
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Here's blatant heart felt plug from Mark Hamilton who was at the Henry's Photographis Imaging conference last weekend. He's also the photography lighting forum moderator for the No Bs Photography Forum

"I spent Saturday afternoon this past weekend with both Rob and James, while they were presenting at the Henry's seminar in Toronto. The turn-out was terrific and their seminar was spectacular!

I would strongly recommend attending one of their NoBs workshops to photographers! Regardless of the skill level you are currently at, there is plenty of great information waiting just for YOU!

If you cannot get yourself to a seminar or workshop, I would further recommend to pick up ALL of the NoBs educational materials. They are chocked full of all the information and techniques you need to be successful in today's fast-paced digital environment. They will save you years of learning by trial and error. Everything is timely, and presented in a relaxed, easy going, NO BS manner! You cannot afford to be without these materials!"

Mark Hamilton

What educational materials does he speak of? It's the photography, digital photography and photoshop tutorials all located here