VIRB

Most marketing experts say you need to strictly adhere to a plan and adopt specific tactics and objectives in order to be successful. Well, as a photographer with a creative soul whose spirit prefers shooting wonderful images more than being awash in spreadsheets, I follow three pretty simple rules: I cast a wide net in the right waters by having a great website, practicing targeted email marketing, and making sure to stay in touch with current and potential clients.

The Internet offers a huge sea of potential clients, so one of the key things for me is to cast a wide net with a great website. This net is my 24-hour presence and my virtual storefront, so it's important to show my best work. I love the way my liveBooks website displays large, high-quality photos and permits me to change or move around photos in a snap. I cannot tell you how many times I have had a potential client tell me they decided to call because they saw my site. In the past 18 months (the time I switched over to liveBooks), my revenue has risen over 50 percent. One client even told me he looked at more than 250 photographer sites before narrowing it down based on site views alone. It came down to me and one other candidate. I got the job.

Of course, you can never be sure who's surfing the Internet, so that's why I constantly include fresh images and keep the range of displayed photos wide. Just after updating my site, I reeled in a big client, the National Mango Board, who in turn referred me to their agency. I was hired to shoot a campaign for them, including recipes and beauty shots of mangoes. As it happens, the account executive we worked with loved my photography, decided to tie in the American Lamb Board, and sent them to my site for their feedback. Once again my site came through without my knowledge. That union led to another client through the same agency, the National Peanut Council.

Besides this wide cast, I like to use personalized email marketing to nab or influence individual targets--the ones I know. I call this my narrower net. My list is up to 3,000 names, mostly clients, peers, and people I have met and think might one day be a source of business or referral. My email marketing process is not highly polished or mailed at consistent intervals; I'll send out HTML emails featuring a fresh image whenever I have the opportunity. These shots are simple and clean with appetite appeal! I add a few personal sentences and hit "send." I think recipients appreciate the sentiment and see this as a greeting card, not a marketing push. Just staying in touch reminds people of your work. A few holidays back, I emailed about 500 notes using martini-glass photos. Nearly 10 percent responded with well wishes, and I netted two big jobs. Today I count 80 percent of my clients to be repeaters, so email marketing is definitely an inexpensive and positive mainstay for me.

The third part of my marketing is getting out there as often as possible to network face to face, the old-fashioned way. People like working with a photographer they have met and with whom they are comfortable. I always carry plenty of business cards, which have a mouthwatering photo on the back. Combine this with a great website and consistent communication through the Internet, and you have a winning recipe.

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