Strategy Avenue

booth fair idea

it seems like lately most of my energy has been directed in Laura Novak photography, which seems to happen based on the season. when the conventions and speaking commitments are happening in the wintertime, I'm thinking more about Strategy Avenue and during the spring and fall I'm thinking more about the photography business. which explains the recent absence on this blog but know that it means I'm just busy creating more cool ideas to eventually share with you :)

for example, last week our entire staff packed up the office and set up a booth at a local mother's day market in a very nice neighborhood in our area. normally I'm not a proponent of these things but based on the demographic attending the show and our target market I felt as though it would be excellent visibility. fortunately I was right and the attendance booked us several very qualified customers each day.

because a percentage of the fair's proceeds go to charity, we ordered several lower-priced retail items such as frames and albums as well as having photography packages available as gift certificates. postcards were placed inside of the frames and albums so that when the items were given as gifts the recipient saw our marketing materials.

in addition to small tables of retail items, i strung fishing wire between the tent poles and hung 16x20 prints back to back to show off our photography. finally, volunteer clients staffed our booth along with our employees in order to have walking testimonials in the event an inquiry came about.

overall, it was a great turnout over the three days despite one day of rainy weather. We went well above expectations with both retail product sales as well as bookings!

simple simply sells better

One of my resolutions in turning 30 this year is to spend more time living a fun life, enjoying my friends and family and meeting new people. This past weekend John and I traveled to NYC to do just that, spending time with old friends while meeting new ones as well.

While walking through Greenich Village, we came across Pinkberry - which I have heard of from many different people on buzz blogs, magazine articles and TV shows. I really didn't know what it was but decided that with all the press on it I needed to find out.

Come to find out - Pinkberry is a much simpler concept than I thought it was going to be. It's basically plain frozen yogurt with toppings. That's it. They are really yummy, fresh toppings and the yogurt is quite good. But its plain frozen yogurt. With toppings.

While I ate my frozen plain yogurt with coconut and fresh pineapple I began to think 'does simple really sell better?' One might be tempted to think that the store would only do well with 20 different flavors, but with one simple concept Pinkberry was able to really brand itself by being unique.

It seems to me that the simpler you can make your product or service, the easier it is for people to understand what you are selling and purchase it. This applies to:

- overly complicated price lists
- elaborate logos
- wordy marketing pieces
- cluttered looking advertisements
- websites that don't communicate the photographer's strengths right away

What are you doing in your photography business that could be simpler, cleaner, and as a result - easier for customers to buy?

Marketing The Story

The other day I received an email message from a former ad agency (Paragraph) that I used to do some work with....I thought it was worth sharing....

"Marketing isn't about the media. Marketing is about the message. If marketing were just about media, all brands would thrive equally.

The key to thriving in this day and age comes from knowing who you are, doing what you do best, and crafting a compelling story that defines your difference. Your story is your foundation. It's what makes you authentic, and what allows others to believe in and identify with your brand. And when the story is good enough, unique enough, and the experience lives up to it, the story gets passed on. You see; good stories are what resonate. They spread themselves sustainably, with little facilitation or force. And when channeled appropriately, they move within their target audiences, motivating action, and taking your brand further, faster.

With all the tactics to choose from, it's easy to be tempted. Resist. Be deliberate in your every action and interaction. Say no when it doesn't make sense for your brand. It's the most important thing you have.

So, as we say time and time again, focus on your brand, its story, its offering, and its audiences. Then, develop an effective communications strategy that supports your foundation, and select only the tactics and channels that build your brand and strengthen its bond, favorably, not fashionably. And when you do that, you'll find that your story spreads, your momentum builds, and your brand succeeds.

Are you working on developing your story?

ShootQ wants to give you $10,000

I'm very excited to be part of the judging panel for the ShootQ Grant. This year the awesome people at ShootQ be awarding a $10,000 grant to a photographer to fund a project that raises public awareness about an important social, environmental or economic issue.

Click here to learn more information on how to apply!

reality marketing

So yes, I will admit publicly that every now and then when I need to kill some brain cells I pay a little visit to Perez Hilton. There, I said it.

So now that we have that out of the way - I was reading Perez Hilton's website the other day when I saw, for the tenth time, a banner ad that says "I hate Sarah Marshall." So I take the bait, click on the ad and at first it seems to lead me to a spiteful blog written by a very bitter, heartbroken man wealthy enough to buy banner ads on Perez Hilton. As I'm reading this very convincing, blogger designed blog complete with ameture youtube videos and bad photography, I'm thinking things like:

- well no wonder she dumped him, he seems like a total jerk
- I hope he learns to manage his finances better in the future than buying expensive ads out of bitterness
- how humiliating for Sarah Marshall
- this guy needs some serious mental help
- and probably some grammar and spelling help as well

Fast forward a few weeks and this morning I was watching TV with an advertisement for a movie called "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

So. Brilliant.

As we enter into a time where Reality TV ratings soar higher than most other television options, I wonder if this movie advertisement will begin an idea of reality marketing. Some characteristics of 'reality marketing' would be:

- it's cheap: no reason for a copyrighter or expensive website
- it's engaging: there is a reason why people love reality TV - it's very interesting!
- word of mouth: doing something different gives people something to talk about
- it's targeted to a group of people who already love reality TV

So a big kudos to the advertising agency behind "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" for creativity and thinking outside the box into reality marketing.

Image X Workshop

Attention all photographers! This fall I am going to be teaching at a very cool workshop called Image X: a one of a kind photo workshop experience with a group of the world’s leading wedding and portrait photographers set in the historic city of New Orleans. The workshop is a great new concept where a group of photographers get together over a period of two days to offer one-day classes.

So you can choose from myself and anyone from the following list:

Boutwell Studio
Jessica Claire
John Michael Cooper
Gene Higa
Joe Photo
Victor Sizemore
Cherie Steinberg
Jeff & Julia Woods
Lena Hyde
Tamara Lackey
Audrey Woulard

to learn from over a period of two days. There will be very cool events going on in between the classes so you can meet different people and instructors.

The dates are Oct 6th – 8th 2008 and for more details and to sign up, visit the Image X workshop site!

 

Museums studying the customer experience

A big part of business is studying the customer experience. From navigating a website to how a phone prompt sounds, businesses spend countless hours trying to make their shopping experience "wow-ful". By focusing on the experience, many businesses are able to raise their conversion or response rates by several percentage points-the bottom line is by ensuring a great experience, business will be strong and the cash register full.

I visit a blog and receive a newsletter each week from an organization called Good Experience. Their mission is to study the customer experience, user experience, and the human experience.

They have an interesting post this week about the NY Times article on (not Governor Spitzer) Museum.

Some interesting parts of the article were:
"While museum market research has been around for two decades, gathering data about visitors has never been as important, or as sophisticated, as it is now. As museums expand, they need more paying customers to cover ever-increasing costs. And they’re competing for those customers with local shopping malls, movie theaters, even grocery stores."

"Now, besides the reliable techniques — focus groups, exit surveys and mail-in questionnaires — museums are exploring new ways to learn what visitors want. In Detroit, which is spending $158 million on a renovation and gallery reinstallation project to be finished this fall, researchers visited local mothers in their homes to determine how to attract more families to the museum."

Think creatively about how you can research and get feedback on your own customer experience in your business. When you ask for the feedback (i.e. surveys), just make sure you listen.

thank you minneapolis

It's no lie that the midwest has some of the friendliest people in the country. I had such a great time yesterday speaking to a great group at the Twin Cities PPA. Sunday night after I landed, I went to the Mall of America with Amy Zellmer and Michele Nelson from my fantastic, awesome lab WHCC. So fun!

We had a great group on Monday, very enthusiastic and eager to think carefully about their own marketing and business plans.

Thank you to everyone who came out, it was great to meet you and a fantastic first visit to the Twin Cities.

getting by with a little help...

from my friends!

Over the years I have found that of the most challenging aspects to having your own business is that you need to continuously figure out how to be better. In the beginning that is easy, because there is so much to learn and new ideas to implement. But over time as things become more consistent and areas of improvement become less obvious, it's so important to continuously grow as an artist, as a person and as a business. When you don't do this, it's easy for the industry to pass you by leaving you wondering where all your clients went.

One way in which I have done this is by scheduling time to get together with other photographer friends for what I call FSO (figure stuff out) meetings brainstorm new ideas, observe trends and come up with new and exciting ways to make our clients even more thrilled with what we do for them.

Last week I spent a few days with Lena Hyde and Tamara Lackey to do just this and am so excited about all the new ideas we came up with for our customers. Tamara, Lena, Audrey Woulard and I are also in the process of planning something very exciting just for portrait photographers later on this year, so be sure to check back soon for news on that.

We were also smart enough to plan our meetings around a much-needed shopping break at Anthropologie, shot provided by Tamara's arm-extended-point-and-shoot:

If you don't already have an FSO group, I highly recommend getting one!

Make Richard Dawson Proud

Would you like to know what you clients are thinking about your business? Have you ever considering asking them their opinions in a follow up survey? Have you ever dared to survey? Have you ever thought of repeating Family Feud host Richard Dawson's famous words "Survey says" when thinking about your client base? Surveys are an important method when attempting to learn more about your clients or even for the clients that got away.

In developing a survey there are couple steps that you should consider before picking up the phone or sending out an email blast. If you going to survey, take a step back and plan. Think about if you would like to send out a survey to a target population all at once or perhaps make it a regular practice. For example, 10 days after every sale send out an email survey to your clients to measure their satisfaction.

Surveys can be overly complicated. Marketers can be obsessed with sample sizes and wanting to make their survey statistically valid. There are plenty of tools to help you with the statistics and the how to come up with the appropriate sample size so no worries there-the one thing to take away from this post is that conducting a survey can be key in learning what's on people's minds.

Things to consider:

1).-Start with the end in mind-what do you hope to accomplish by a survey and what do you want to know

2). Who will get the questions-who is on your "marketing list" for the survey?

3). What questions will you ask?

4). How will you ask them? Multiple choice, true/false or open ended questions?

5). Ask the questions- Will you interview a client over the phone, email, or send a postcard? Will method will get the most responses?

6). Study the responses and take action

Some useful tools to help you in developing your survey are Constant Contact, Survey Monkey, and Zoomerang.

So, to get you in the mood to go out and survey...he's a little Richard Dawson...

design aglow - the business issue

one of my favorite sources for creative inspiration, design aglow, just announced their latest issue. Version four is the business issue which is perfect for strategy avenue readers. I just got a sneak preview and it's filled with beautiful images and fascinating business articles about successful photography studios.

check it out here!

Minneapolis in March

Being that the only place possibly colder than Philadelphia in March is Minneapolis, you know it's a pretty special group of people is inspiring me to hop on a plane and visit next week. I am very much looking forward to seeing all of the great Minnesota photographers at Twin Cities Professional Photographers of America (TCPPA) on March 10th. If you are in the Twin Cities area, please come see me speak for five hours on managing competition at Hennepin Technical College.

For more information please click here and let me know if you are attending in the comment section below!

Payment for Professionalism

In many different pricing discussions I have with various photographers - people often ask "how is it that you are able to be in such a high price bracket, Laura?" Well, first of all I work really hard, there have been no shortcuts for me. I also have a great staff with outstanding customer service I create strong photos my clients connect to. But what is it that makes us stand out from the crowd allowing us to be in the highest price point in our area?

I would suggest that customers, above all else, pay for professionalism. To me this means:

1. Never be negative in front of your client or any other people on the day of a wedding. Never interfere with a wedding coordinator's schedule, criticize your client's choices to other vendors, or demand your client to do something that they have said they would rather not do. In the midst of stress, it is hard to always remain positive and neutral, but it is so important.

2. Be polite, even when you are right and the other person is wrong. Self-explanatory but it's amazing to me how many people underestimate the effectiveness of being polite in a situation where you are trying to get your way. Beating someone over the head with your opinion is a great way to make enemies, even if at the end of the day you end up being 'right.'

3. Act enthusiastic to meet someone and be helpful to them, even if you think you will never see them again or you don't believe they could ever help you in the future. You just never know when someone may reappear in your life.

4. Be empathetic to your client's needs and concerns, even if you have heard them a million times before, even if you feel like they are unreasonable - try to remember that although we have experienced dozens, even hundreds of weddings, our clients have not.

5. Focus on your clients' experiences with you. It's important that your clients leave your studio feeling like they have had a wonderful experience - which may not happen even if they feel as though they received great photography. Work on creating an environment where they feel valued by providing surprise gifts, positive correspondence and immediate customer service for your clientele.

As you increase practicing professionalism, I would encourage you to do so in all areas of your career - not just with people who hire you but other professional photographers and vendors in your field. You never know when someone can help you in the future, and while acting unprofessionally may achieve some short term solutions for you, it will never get you as far long-term as polite, respectful correspondence.

changing your business with strategy avenue

Within the next week, posts will be arriving here on the strategy avenue blog discussing topics ranging from the value of professionalism to our clients to surveying customers and the right types of questions to ask.

Last week I surveyed all customers who have purchased Strategy Avenue disks or disk sets (about 100 people) to learn more about how I can assist our customers in receiving the most out of their investments. I learned so much from the feedback and highly recommend surveying your customers to learn about their needs. More about that later this week!

After seeing the response to this question:

I have decided to create a forum specifically for Strategy Avenue customers who have listened to the disks (kind of like a book club) to help people think through some of the topics in the workbook. The forum will be set up exactly like the table of contents in the Strategy Avenue workbook so I can help photographers create an applicable business plan.

For all those who have purchased a Strategy Avenue disk set, please keep an eye out for an email this week registering you for the chat forum. I am looking forward to helping you do something you love while making something you can live on.

Publicist or No Publicist?

Recently I have been hearing many different conversations taking place about whether or not it's worthwhile for a photographer to have a publicist on retainer. After having several different experiences, I thought it might be helpful to share what I have learned when it comes to outsourcing publicity.

In favor of PR, great publicity can yield a direct result of business growth. It can also build credibility with your clientele as an editorial feature has much more clout than a purchased advertisement. I have found smaller, specific, targeted publicity particularly beneficial. While my work has been featured in a few major magazines, other than bragging rights they have never turned into actual dollars. Meanwhile, I was placed on the front page of our state newspaper about a year ago through a contact I established at a local networking event and I can attribute tens of thousands of dollars of phone calls from that one placement. How wonderful!

On the negative side, I have come to believe that it's very difficult to get a return on investment from investing in a large public relations effort as a small, service oriented business. By nature, selling time changes the nature of what we do and therefore we cannot compare ourselves to other types of organizations which can afford a large PR retainer. If we sold purses, for example, and the purses got into Oprah's O-List, then the PR would pay off within 24 hours of that big placement with lots of online orders. But if a photographer receives one big placement from several months of an expensive retainer, it would be extremely difficult for the investment to be worthwhile when selling just your time. The reason being that you might get some inquiries trickling in as a result of the press you get, but it's not like someone can go on your site and purchase large quantities of something within that second which would make a large PR investment worthwhile.

I have found that many PR professionals promote an expensive, long term agreement with a lot of promises and not a lot of results or follow up saying that you have to 'be patient' because "good PR takes a while." I would discourage someone from entering into a contract with this type of premise. Another PR professional I once interviewed wanted to charge me to do "research" of my industry, which I promptly walked away from. If someone is not educated on your business, I believe they should learn it on their time.

I believe in hiring various people on an hourly, project, or workshop basis to run events, brainstorm ideas and look over a plan - but I don't believe a small boutique photography operation can receive a positive return on investment from a large monthly retainer situation. I also believe that if you do hire any type of PR person, they have to be someone you can see and talk to often, and micro-managed to that extent with VERY specific, measurable, time-specific goals of what you want to get out of them with very regular, scheduled follow-up meeting where you ask them where they are at with each goal you outlined. Because otherwise, they can just sort of float around, talk to you to people they know at parties and charge you a huge monthly fee.

So with publicity, I have interviewed quite a few people in the PR industry who are very convincing at selling large PR investments with side caveats of "being patient" while requesting large retainers. With that said, I know of several people who have been very successful investing in smaller fees for specific tasks like writing a PR release, crafting a pitch, or promoting an event. Please share your own experiences and questions in the comment box below!

maximize your day

As you can read from the below post, John and I survived wedding planning, had a great honeymoon and are now settling back into life at home. One main goal that I have determined for myself is to try to stay on John's work schedule as much as possible, being home for dinner and available to go out to parties. It's something I have been thinking about quite a bit lately but being married has created a realization within me of how important it is that we spend time together. Several people out there are fortunate to work with their spouses (which I understand brings about a totally different set of challenges) but since I do not, I have been thinking about more and more ways to make my day efficient.

Here are some of the things I have been practicing:

1. Manage Your Time. Each day, I review my to-do list with iGTD (John uses Backpack) and determine what I am going to get done, in which priority, and review if that day's tasks are realistic or not. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, I look at my list again and re-allocate anything that has not yet been completed to another day.

2. Let go of perfectionism. There is a fine line between creating something great that your clients will love and spending five hours on one image because you can't walk away until it's perfect. A lot of times 'great' is strong enough to run a business on, and perfect is not required. I honestly believe that the most effective businesspeople know when it's time to complete a project and keep moving along.

3. Take care of yourself. When you are lethargic and not eating well, you are much less effective in your day than when you have balance in your mind and body. My most effective days are when I exercise or go to yoga early on, shower, eat a good breakfast and organize my day. On these days, I'm typically home by the early evening cooking a nice dinner and spending my evening reading and relaxing.

4. Take a day off. For the last two years or so, I have decided to take all Sundays off from work, appointments, and photo shoots. In the rare occasion I have a Sunday wedding, I take Saturday of that weekend off so I am not ever working both days within a weekend. Not only does that provide me with an uninterrupted day to spend time with John, but it gives me a day to recharge and refresh.

5. Ask for help. There are a large variety of people in my area who I have found for support including coaches, marketing consultants, and other small business owners who I contact to bounce ideas off of when I'm about to make a big decision. This makes the growth of my business so much more efficient as I navigate through plans for the future and benefit from lessons others have already learned from.

Balancing life and work is never an easy task, but above are tips I have found which makes it all a little easier. If you have anything to add, I would love to hear from you in the comment box!

Doing it Right

Laura and I just returned Costa Rica where we had an opportunity to see true customer service first hand. At the end of our trip through "coffeeland", we made our way to the Four Seasons on Peninsula Papagayo on the Pacific Coast.

The Four Seasons in Costa Rica has been rated as one of the Top Hotels in the world several times. One of the reasons that it gets this acclaim is due to the level of service that their staff is able to provide. The service level that the Four Seasons provides sets the foundation for the customer experience. It is not just the service, but the experience that makes guests want to return time and time again.

Observations from our stay in Costa Rica:
1). Know your customer's name- From the moment we arrived at the front door of the resort, we were greeted by our name. Our arrival notification was passed from the security gate to the lobby and added a nice touch when we pulled up to the door. Even the pool wait staff made it a point to remember your name over the course of several days.

2). Make guests feel comfortable- Upon check in, we were greeted with cool face towels that were scented with lime and a tropical fruit smoothie. Both items were a welcomed treat after several hours of traveling.

3). Little items go a long way-While we sat by the pool or on the beach, the wait staff would walk around handing out bottles of water and small tasting cups of tropical drinks and frozen coffee. These little things helped guests relax which in turned had them ordering $15 frozen cocktails.

I could go on and on about our stay at the Four Seasons, but let me tie in the above three points and how they can relate to a photography studio business.

1). Know the names-either working a wedding or at pre-meeting at your office make sure you know the key players' names. If you need to, repeat the name several times in your head to help recall it when you need to. Being able to address the parents or grandparents of a customer will help provide a good experience.

2). Feeling comfortable-How many times have you had a client walk into your studio or office and have had the scent of today's lunch still lingering? Be aware of the perception that someone has when they walk into a space-make a good first impression. You might not be able to give out a scented towel, but perhaps a drink or a small snack for guests that have traveled far to your studio.

3). Little things-People like getting little things-a sample at the Four Seasons is similar to a small photograph or a set of greeting cards. Perhaps the small token will have the guest wishing to purchase something a little more from the studio.

These small little things are all "bricks" in the foundation to setting a "wow" customer experience. The Four Seasons certainly knows how to do it right. I am anxious to get back already!

thirst relief auction

* Special Auction Opportunity for Photographers *

Are you looking for some assistance on the road to becoming a successful professional photographer? Or maybe you already have a great business, but would like to take it to the next level?  This is your chance to participate in the Thirst Relief Mentor Benefit Auction by bidding a 90 minute mentoring session with award winning photographer Laura Novak. 

Yes, Laura is still away on her honeymoon, but don’t miss an opportunity to bid on this exciting mentoring session.  During the session, Laura will spend 90 minutes of quality time speaking to you about how to achieve success with your photography business.  This is your chance to have a one-on-one discussion with Laura Novak to build a vision for your new business or to revitalize the plan that you now have.

Click here:

http://www.fotoverite.com/joomla/index.php

to bid on the auction which includes:

1.  the 90 minute mentoring session with Laura AND
2. a Strategy Avenue Path to a Business Plan DVD set (a $299 value)

The Thirst Relief Mentor Benefit Auction will begin on Saturday, February 9th, 2008.    To place a bid, go to the above auction site and click on the Thirst Relief Banner.  This will take you to the auction site where you can start your bidding.

*bidders will need to read the entire auction, including payment information so please review it very carefully

gone fishin'

Now that the wedding is finally here, John and I will be 'out of the office' for the first two weeks of February. Please note that all Strategy Avenue products will continue to be fulfilled and shipped daily while we are gone.

For more information on the March workshop in Wilmington, please click here:

Any individual requests for information will be responded to when we get back. Thank you so much!

perception is not always reality

One of my very favorite aspects to mentoring and teaching is that when I do it it's very much a learning process for me as well. I find I tend to 'fill in the gaps' of what my brain consciously knows, and subconsciously has knowledge of as I'm explaining things. Each person I speak to always inspires me to explore more, develop new classes or create a blog post!

The other day, I was mentoring a Strategy Avenue customer about the struggles and stress they have with their business. One thing I realized when talking with them is that there are popular beliefs amongst photographers about what is perception and what is reality. One reality I think is so important to understand is the following principle:

It's not about how much you make, it's about what you keep

Say that to yourself right now.

A lot of times someone may, reasonably so, base an idea of what they "should" be charging by an assertion, or an unproven proposition, created by another person in their lives. But that is a simply just a perception of reality on the part of the listener - it may or may not be actual reality. It also may or may not have anything to do with their lifestyle choices, ability to pay bills or save for retirement.

Let me explain. You may hear that photographer A charges 15,000 a wedding (which is an assertion in itself until proven) and think "that is where I need to be." But their costs of servicing that client could be $10,000. After paying sales tax on the $5,000 left over and only photographing 20 weddings a year - that person may or may not be making a livable wage. Whereas photographer B charges 5,000 a wedding, but photographs 40 weddings a year and keeps their costs and overhead much lower. Is very possible for for photographer B to have a higher salary than photographer A.

Whereas it's unrealistic to ask other photographers for their accounting records when speaking to them in order to determine if perception is reality, it's important to know that the only proven reality you can base your goals on is your own. You know what you are capable of, you know your cost structure, and you know if you can afford your tax bill at the end of the year. Remember, when it's all said and done - the name of the game is not how much you make, or how much others appear to make, but it's how much you actually get to keep.

as promised!

In between packing for the honeymoon, confirming seating arrangements for the wedding, and writing thank you notes, I just posted the notes from the Imaging USA convention which can be found here:

Strategy Avenue: Managing Competition PDF

How's that for dedication?!

A few notes about the notes (so take notes!):

- You will notice that I eliminated slides that had other people's copyrighted images and material on them, since I only had permission for presenting them live.
- At then end of the presentation, you will see mention of $50 off Strategy Avenue products. That discount is valid by typing PPA50 into the shopping cart only until the end of the month. After then, you'll have to catch me at a speaking event to get the discount.
- If you are using Safari, you need to right-click to download the file (ctrl on a mac)

Enjoy!

The Big Picture and the Energy Bus

Just as I was leaving the office today I received the weekly newsletter from the author of Never Eat Alone - Keith Ferrazzi (by the way, great book). In the newsletter, Keith provided his weekly tip and a story from Jon Gordon's new book The Energy Bus.

"There's a story about when President Lyndon Johnson visited NASA and as he was walking the halls he came across a janitor who was cleaning up a storm, like the Energizer bunny with a mop in his hand. The president walked over to the janitor and told him he was the best janitor he had ever seen and the janitor replied, 'Sir, I'm not just a janitor. I helped put a man on the moon.'...Even though he was cleaning floors he had a bigger purpose and vision for his life. That is what kept him going and helped him excel in his job...So drive with purpose today and every day and cultivate it in your team and they'll not only stay on the bus when it's cruising but they'll also get out to help push it when it breaks down."

The story got me thinking. As photographers, the business is so much more than just taking a picture-in many cases you are putting a "man on the moon". Never lose sight of the bigger picture in what you do and why you choose to pursue photography.

If you get a chance, take a look at Jon Gordon's new book as well. It outlines ten rules to fuel your life:

10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team
with Positive Energy

1. You’re the Driver of the Bus.
2. Desire, Vision and Focus move your bus in the
right direction.
3. Fuel your Ride with Positive Energy.
4. Invite People on Your Bus and Share your Vision
for the Road Ahead.
5. Don’t Waste Your Energy on those who don’t get
on your Bus.
6. Post a Sign that says “No Energy Vampires
Allowed” on your Bus.
7. Enthusiasm attracts more Passengers and
Energizes them during the Ride.
8. Love your Passengers.
9. Drive with Purpose.
10.Have Fun and Enjoy the Ride.

Are you right brained or left brained?

The Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or counter-clockwise?

CLICK HERE FOR THE TEST

Depending on which way the dancer is turning for you, you might be able to determine if you really truly are left brained or right brained! I have always said that I am both, but I can only see the dancer moving to the right. John can see the dancer moving both ways, but he says it freaks him out a little when the directions switch.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

PR Update

I would like to first apologize for my absence here at Strategy Avenue; as John and I get closer to our wedding in just a few short weeks planning has dominated most of our evenings and weekends. I am also posting each day until our nuptuals at the laura novak blog in case any of you wedding junkies out there would like to be part of the fun.

What a great time we had at Tampa - John and I are still recovering from all the emails, phone calls and wonderful feedback we had. Here is a photo Jessica Claire took of me speaking at Imaging USA with her iphone:

There are cookies involved for anyone else who has photos of me speaking!

In the next week, be sure to check back to this blog as I am going to be posting class notes from both the DWF Setting Goals seminar as well as the Imaging USA Competition semainar in the form of a PDF download. I PROMISE they will be up online by the time we leave for our honeymoon :)

Meanwhile, there has been quite a buzz around regarding Public Relations in the industry and whether or not it's beneficial for a photographer to hire one. I have some experience in this area which I am more than happy to share to our loyal Strategy Avenue readership.

I personally think it's very difficult to get a return on investment from PR as a small, service business. If we sold purses, for example, and the purses got into Oprah's O-List, then the PR would pay off immediately within 24 hours of that big hit. But if you get one big feature from several months of an expensive retainer, it would be extremely difficult for the investment to be worthwhile when selling just your time. The reason being that you might get some inquiries trickling in as a result of the press you get, but it's not like a viewer or reader can go on your site and purchase a product within that second of hearing your press, which to me would make a large PR investment worthwhile.

Often PR people want you to get into an expensive, long term agreement with a lot of promises and not a lot of results or follow up saying that you have to 'be patient' because "good PR takes a while." Remember they are very convincing because after all, being convincing is thier job! After hiring two PR people in a row, I am now doing my own press, creating my own PR plans and executing them myself. While I am all for hiring marketing or public relations professionals on an hourly, or workshop basis, I personally believe you are best suited executing the plan yourself.

I believe that if you do hire a PR person, they have to be someone you can see and talk to often, and micro-managed to that extent with VERY specific, measurable, time-specific goals of what you want to get out of them with very regular, scheduled follow-up meeting where you ask them where they are at with each goal you outlined. Because otherwise, they can just sort of float around and talk to you to people they know at parties and then charge you a huge monthly retainer.

I have been in a few major magazines which were pushed through using my old PR person, but other than bragging rights they have never turned into actual dollars. Meanwhile, I was placed on the front page of our state newspaper about a year ago through a contact I established at a local networking event and can attribute tens of thousands of dollars of phone calls from that one hit in my sales databse. All of the great opportunities that have come my way in this business have come from clients or personal connections I have had.

The bottom line is that I believe as photogarphers we are our own best publicists, and there are a lot of resources out there to help you learn about the profession and understand how pitches are made. Although having bragging rights on press is great, that in itself does not translate to the revenue you will need to pay yourself and any overhead expenses you need to concern yourself with as a business owner. If you meet someone who you like, and they have a reasonable hourly or monthly rate write out several specific, measurable, time-sensitive goals that they will be responsble for and keep them accountable. Also inquire if they have a pay for placement service, and estimate what a placement would be worth to your business in terms of a return on investment.

Finally, never let anyone charge you money to 'research' your profession. They can learn the industry on their own time, not on your dollar.

Place any questions below and I will answer them in this post! I prefer questions posted here publicly instead of sent privately in an email so that others can benefit from the learning.

Updated to answer Amy Zellmer's comment: Good for you Amy! I'm so excited that you are savvy enough to send PR releases to your local newspapers. Regarding weddings being featured in magazines you

1. have to have a wedding that is editorial-worthy. This mostly has to do with unique or over-the-top decor, multicultural weddings, weddings with a unique story or angle. A unique location such as a private home or Art Museum, a unique idea from the bride (I'm thinking of the first person who put their programs on a paper fan), or anything like that would be editorial worthy.

2. Once you have one or two of those weddings in queue, bring a second photographer to shoot JUST the details for the purposes of sending in editorial submissions. Be certain that the bride and groom would like to be published, and the hire someone to just focus in on the details.

3. when sending in the weddings to the photo editor (which is listed in the front of any magazine) pitch the wedding and why it should be published.

Those are the three biggest tips I can provide when it comes to publishing weddings!

Delaware Women in Business

Every year, Delaware Today Magazine chooses 35 women across the state as their "35 Top Women in Business." I was recently fortunate enough to be chosen as one of the 35 for 2007, which you could find in the December edition of Delaware Today or online in this article.

As I read the piece written about my business (which I did not see until it was published), it's so interesting that the very topics I speak and teach about manifest themselves in a small paragraph written by a writer who I never met. The article speaks to how I'm different than other photographers in the area, why I would never compromise my vision, and some of my targeted marketing strategies. When reading the articles of the other women, I also also get a clear idea of who they are, what they stand for and what they plan on achieving.

What goes are you setting for your business in 2008? Feel free to share them in the comment box below, I would love to know!