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If you have marketing piece you would like me to highlight, analyze or otherwise dismember, let me know.
I will consider all who ask, but know that I will not hold back and your piece will likely make this newsletter.
So fire away. OFFER EXPIRED

SPECIAL REPORT
"HOW GET A MILLION DOLLARS OF FREE PUBLICITY FOR YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS"
I have been working on a special report on using publicity for your photography business. Do you have any real stories and examples where you received free publicity that I might add in the report. Either television, radio, or print. I will give anyone who submits and has their story used a free gift, or two. Email me with your ideas. I have over the years received thousands of dollars worth of free publicity and feel this area is a virtual untapped goldmine for most photography business's.

I've been at it again. Just finished another DVD based product. That makes four areas that I've got stuff in...Digital Success System (with James), Marketing, Wedding Success System, and now, "How to shoot, market and create a million dollar business with child and baby portraits". And that's it for me, there ain't no more. I only know those areas, and if I were to branch out into something else I'd be lying to 'ya.

So far I've been at this all of 26+ years shooting weddings, schools, babies, children, marketing, marketing and marketing etc etc and I've poured every ounce of knowledge, experience, hard knocks and strategy into everything I've put together to help other photographers succeed. I've been there, so I can speak through experience. What am I sayin'!! I'm still in the game. Still learning and slugging it out day to day with real honest living breathing clients, toe-to-toe, belly-to-belly, eyeball-to-eyeball......it's why I can spot the BS'r a mile away. You know, the guy on the stage who trying to tell how to make it happen, but truth is, he ain't living it, so it's make believe and theory at best. I've been there and got the battle scars to prove it. And the cash flow. which counts for something, don't 'cha think!??

Anyhoo, here it is. 2 DVDs.... First DVD is 2 Hours of studio shoots from actual sessions with detailed accounts of the strategies behind this often ignored, yet potentially lucrative (last year I made enough on baby and child portraits to live off that income alone...) areas.

From newborns, all the way through 3,6,9 and 12 months, including older kids, groups, and those awesome enchanted portraits that parents go gaagaa over. I get into photography lighting, and posing, and set up's through to the psychology behind the scenes. Don't think I missed

Second DVD is 2 hours of digital workflow strategies dedicated just to this style of portraiture including great techinques for creating baby panels, composites that parents love, and artistic effects for the enchanted portraits...and much much more. All from real in studio digital workflow solutions that I guarantee you will love.

There is so much information here you could start your own photography business in this area alone. Or, supplement your current photography business with new products and services.

I ordered my first batch from the duplication service and through my own stupidity I never spelled checked, nor did I give good clear instructions, so the first batch has spelling errors, and misplaced menus, which drives me nuts. But the content is what matters.

So, to clear out these I'm having a 'scratch&dent' sale. But here's the deal. You can only order by phone. I ain't going through all the hassles of setting up the sale through the internet, because I only have about 7 of these left:

First DVD with real live sessions...2 hours
Second DVD with digital strategies...2 hours
Marketing DVD..same one I send out with my photography marketing system. This is not the prettiest production value but it's the content, the message that matters. I feel it is vital, so it's part of this system.
Ultimate posing guide....which has many family, maternity etc samples, but has so much on babies it will compliment this system.
Photoshop actions to help you with your digital workflow

SALE PRICE $139.00 US Regular price when it goes live online will be $199.00 US
If you already own the marketing system (not the wedding system), you can steal the DVDs only for $79.00
We have all names of those who bought the photography marketing system on file.

*****SOLD OUT*****

Call me or my wife Tina at the studio 705-566-0111. This is a first come first served sale. So don't put it off.

ARE WE DOOMED?
WILL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS SURVIVE?

I would like to have a serious talk right now, it has to do with the future of photography and I believe our livelyhoods are at stake. A few weeks ago it struck me. People don't look up to photographers as much as they used to.

The glitz and glamour, the mysterious aura,.... gone, all gone. If you have been draggin around a huge ego I think you are the highest risk of total and complete annihilation. I see it all around me, everywhere I go.

But I also see other photographers, like Julie and Guy in Orleans, Ontario, who have so much business they can barely keep up. Guys like Lorne Rotstosky in S-John's, Newfoundland, shooting upwards to 800+ sessions in the previous year. Guys like Kerry Allan in Scottsdale, Arizona, who's booking so many weddings he can't shoot 'em all. He likely turns down more than he books.

And these aren't nickel and dime shooters either. And there are many just like them who are experiencing success at great levels. But, there are many who are failing. So back to my first thought. Are we doomed?

Well, I think we are at higher risk of failure more so now than ever before. Why? I think the whole wave of digital techology has made it so easily understood, available and de-glamourized, that if we pin our strategy, or any part of our presence in the market place from the "old school" mind set, and if we think we're fooling anyone, well, not anymore. Just fooling ourselves. And likely we're going to pay a high price if we keep it up.

The solution to insulating yourself from this wave of, and I hate to use this word, "paradigm " shift, is to do something about it. Become better and take total and complete responsability for your destiny. Bring new and better products to the market. Improve your photography. Be likeable.

Everyone's a photographer now. There ain't nothing to it. Point and shoot. Instant and amazing resuts. Don't fight it, don't get stressed about it. There's nothing you can do to stop it.

But, how you react will help.

You have do several things, and then some. First off, don't complain. Be pro-active. Just because the bride and groom has seen all her wedding pics the DAY AFTER THE WEDDING, from all her friends and relatives who own those "really, really good and really, really expensive digital cameras" (hey, $900.00 gets you a pretty damn good digital camera nowadays...ooh, ooh, and uncle Joe owns Photoshop, that makes him an "expert"...just for owning it, right????)., doesn't mean they won't think to themselves ""hhhmmm, why'd I spend all that money on a professional photographer when I got all these other great shots???"..or does it??

If they do, you're doomed.

Part of the solution is to bring something to your photography business and your photography marketing something that they can't even compare to. Simply hanging a sign, getting cards made, running a yellow page ad, buying gear etc will not do it. Personally, I think we've had it too good all along. Now there is a great shake down going on. The market is going to go through some serious changes. We have to be prepared and disciplined. Become a better person. Become a better photographer. Learn and implement photography marketing that works.

Not boring, outdated, sit with your hands under your butt do-nothing because the world owes me a living I'm special I'm a photographer marketing. Being "good enough", ain't good enough any more.......seriously.

If you want to succeed at photography marketing, I mean really take it serious,
invest in the right information and direction for your future.

And, if you want to take your wedding photography marketing up a notch or two, do the same.

That's it for now folks! hope you enjoyed my monthly rant.
Thank You
Robert Provencher

Hold on to your hats and take names! I will tell all! Muchos gracias!