Sunday, September 7, 2008

More ideas for marketing yourself.

Welcome back, all.

I have been stretching my imagination as to new and exciting ways to get my message out there. The ideas have been coming, but I find myself tossing most out. The ones that seem to pass my test of time are actually in the works. I am dying to share with you both these ideas, and how I plan on executing them.

To begin, I must send you to "Weekly Photo Tips" for a second. Scroll down to the "A couple from the Photoshop Boys..." post, and enjoy the one about unique business cards. The idea shared here is brilliant, and I will take advantage of this free idea.

Next, is an idea that came to mind last year. As a born again Christian, I love to think that I am helping others, and I try hard to do this. At Christmas time, last year, I thought about a photo shoot for local families, that I called "Santa at the studio". The idea calls for a simple North Pole set, with Santa, and you know the rest. The angle, here, is to have it be a "win-win" situation, as to try to help people. Well, if they can have a picture of their children for free, some hot chocolate and donuts, than they might be willing to donate to a local not for profit cause.

So, I will be going to a local store to ask for a donation of free CD's to burn the images onto. I will also "hit up" the local coffee, hot chocolate, and donut shop for some donations of delicious "sugar love" creations, and give then them out to the families. Next, I plan to visit the local Wal Mart for a cost reduction on the actual printing of the "Santa at the studio" images.

Why do I feel that the local shops will help? Because, I know they will. If I allow them to hang their banners and such in the studio, then they will give almost anything. I have worked with some local businesses before, and their heart has no bounds when it comes to charities. Name dropping doesn't hurt either, as we all know. Wal Mart is the only one that I am not sure of. I need to explain to them that these customers will be coming in to get their images at a cost reduction, and also most likely Christmas shop. We will see.

The staff needed to pull this off will be coming from the Heartwood College of Art humanities class. Set design, any painting needed, and photography skills are in abundance here, plus I am a student as well as a volunteer at heart. So, with free labor, free supplies, free everything, all we need is to ask for a donation (of any size) to a local cause.

Now, for the learning part, as we get back to the marketing theme of things. I purchased a used book, a long time ago, and it has taught me much about the press, and how to use them for your own marketing cause. It is most about press releases, how to make them, where to send them, what to expect, and the like. Most importantly, it explains exactly how to use the news and media to get a message out to your target audience, for pennies. Using this book, and a little wordsmithing, I plan on getting our "Santa in the studio" message out there. This will be very exciting, as well as the best practice for my next press release concerning my photography business.

More on this later. Today is spent already. Much editing of portfolio images to perform, as well as some homework. I will return soon with some notes from my campaign, what I find out, and some shortcuts for you all; as I come across them!

The book that I found, by the way, is titled "How to get publicity", by William Parkhurst. The copy that I have was written in 1985, so the web is not a part of its' make up. This will be an adventure that I will need to take on my own.

Thanks for the awesome loyalty folks, and stay tuned! Comments and questions are always welcome!

No comments:

Post a Comment