Marketing is messaging. It’s that’s simple. Don’t overcomplicate it, which is easy for us to do. Yes, it’s social media, it’s bridal shows, it’s magazines, it’s networking, but all these things can be described in a single word: messaging. You must communicate the benefit of your product or service to potential customers. I am sure you are sitting there right now thinking, well, duh, Sal, the benefit is obvious, it’s our great images.
In this article, I speak to both the entrepreneur looking to build an empire and the photographer looking to make a few extra bucks and pursue his creative passion. Whichever camp you are in, you are still running a business, even if you are the creative who is employed by the entrepreneur. Business moguls often talk about how you have to take risks to get rewards. But as we kick off 2018, I want to talk more about our own community and industry, starting with the Behind the Shutter community.
It’s a new year, which means it’s time to sit down and evaluate your goals for the year ahead. It’s easy to get caught up in the “new year, new you” mindset and get overwhelmed setting unrealistic goals for yourself and your business. When that happens, nothing happens. Nothing productive, at least.
Like many of you, I fell into the world of entrepreneurship by default. I didn’t have an MBA or any business classes under my belt. I started out not really knowing what I was doing at all. Fast-forward almost 20 years, and the most valuable thing I’ve learned after those rough-and-tumble two decades is this: It is easier to work with the same client multiple times than it is to find new clients. Think two words: client retention.
This month marks the slow time of the year for most of us, the first quarter, but it doesn’t have to be. Many of us think that because the revenue stream slows down, so should the work. Being successful in business today is tough enough without the unnecessary challenges so many of you create for yourself. We all do it, me included. So, let’s look at two of the critical areas slowing your growth and come up with a few solutions to set 2018 up for your best year yet.
“Why?” should be a simple question, shouldn’t it? But “Why?” carries so much weight. There is no easy answer. It’s probably one of the most complicated questions we can ask ourselves. We need to slow down for a second and ask ourselves a few simple questions to refocus our energy. What better time than now? Let’s start the year off right, and understand the things that should be motivating us in the year ahead.
As the year comes crashing to a close, I feel like I’m trapped in one of those old movies where the hands of the clock are spinning. And if you’re like me, at some point you look back over the year and think about what you accomplished—the highlights and the low spots—and you start thinking about the year ahead.
It’s no secret that Instagram is now the biggest social media platform out there, having wrestled that top spot from Facebook—which, coincidentally, bought Instagram. Hey, if you can’t beat them, buy them!
As we sit here at the end of the year, I am focused on dominating in 2018. What are you focused on? If you are like many other businesses, you are about to miss the entire first quarter of the year because you have procrastinated yet again. Now is the time to start thinking about the year ahead and putting together a plan of attack so that you are not scrambling the entire year to hit your goals. Let’s take a quick look at some of the things you can do now to set yourself up for success in 2018 and keep your competitors off balance as they try to keep up with you and your explosive business.
You’d rather be out shooting something awesome and getting paid a ridiculous amount of money for it so you can retire by the end of next week than read an article about a boring business plan for photographers. So would I. That’s why I turned a boring business plan into something fun and easy that will ignite sparks under your ass to take control of your business and make your annoying Uncle Arnie finally stop bugging you about going out and getting a “real” job.
