From a previous business i can verify that word of mouth is important. * I never open email unless they're from someone I subscribed to from the website, or someone I'm expecting an answer from.
Cont... Wedding and Commercial photogs are among the worst because of the over-exaggerated fees you all try to get. Mr. Gale did point out in Part 1 that when we ask potential photogs for proof of general business liability insurance, they cannot show they have it. Again, this violates the law as stated above! Further, working for us, you are vendor or subcontractor, meaning that any photos or video you take are the sole ownership of my business. Plus, any fees over $600, per IRS tax laws, you will receive a 1099 Misc. C form for which you will pay taxes on. Most get mad at us because they know they are working a normal job and any income made from their photography is not reported. Now let's talk real marketing! It's sad the B&H blacked their own eyes to delete this comment once before. I can see why and I'm not the least bit surprised. It would make them look bad using Mr. Gale for this mini-series and he is one of those photogs who is giving bad advice. But this can be super helpful if you want an edge over your competition. First, aside from going the legit route as stated here and in Part 1, you want to do a Market Analysis. You want to know who your competitors are. You can Google photogs in your local area and do the same market searches on them as I described above. You want to know what your competition's Sales and profits are, Percentage of the market they have, Number of years in business, Strengths & weaknesses are, Customer satisfaction rate, Quality of work, Fees and operational methods and Photography specialties are. So, what is your share of the market? Let us assume your research shows there are 1600 potential photogs in your geographical area, you feel you can serve, but only 25% market penetration, then you have just learned 2 important things. One, there are only about 400 photography jobs in your area under present conditions. This would be the actual market size. Two, you would have to get at least 50% of the photography jobs in order to make a full-time living as being a photog. This means you need at least 50% of the market share from the outset. If there is an existing market for 400 photography jobs and the established photogs seem to be doing 175, do the math: 175 / 400 = 43%. This means that the existing competition is only taking 43% of the market share. In all likelihood, your marketing goal would be to establish your photography business by earning at least 200 photography jobs a year. Since this is a large percentage of the market we have "discovered" in this example, you need an aggressive strategy to convert perhaps 20% of the competition's business to your side and usurp the additional business you know exists. Sadly, if we were to ask Mr. Gale what his market share is in his area of New York, I seriously doubt he could tell us or explain it as above. This is the major problem in photography. Mr. Gale can tell us all about camera settings, editing, and copyrights... be a prick and do not give up your rights. But most know nothing about business or marketing. You need to know your numbers... what are your costs! I can tell you what my camera bodies, down to my SD cards cost me an hour. Can you? So, when you come at me with a $5000 "creative fee and another $5000 photography fee that you; earned from someone like Mr. Gale. you better be able to give me a line-item cost of all of your fees! It’s also required by law! This is another red flag if you are giving lump-sum pricing without breakdowns. In the wedding photography arena, most clients don't know this stuff, and this is where most of you start your career as a con-artist photog because you learn bad business practices from people like Mr. Gale and his hour-long presentation here proves it! Again, most of you will get good at camera settings and editing. But who is your client or customer? Where do they live? How old are they? Do they have kids? Where do they work? Where do they shop? What do they do for fun? What social media apps do they use? Do they buy online or from stick-and-brick-type stores? Most do not care about this stuff. You are only concerned with your camera lingo, settings, lighting, editing, and damn copyrights. Is it a wonder why most struggle, violate the law, and never make a good steady income? Instead, you hear photogs like Sue Bryce or Northrup's say "Charge More! Charge What You Are Worth! "No Money, No Images!" or "Never Give Raw Images!" That is all a bunch of crap and you are basing your pricing and marketing off of what you have learned from someone like Mr. Gale. Now when it comes to business to business (B2B) things are a bit different. If you pay attention, Mr. Gale gives insight into this. He states marketing to Marketing & Advertising Companies. This is a huge point. They are typically the middlemen for a company like mine who does not want to market or advertise in-house. So, in essence, yes they have large budgets and tighter deadlines. This is where you would want to use copyrights with the ad agency but work together with the business if they will tell you. Most likely they are not going to share this info about their client as they don’t want you side-steeping them. When Marketing to a business like mine, first and foremost, be legit as I will check! Any smart business owner is going to do the same. Next, know your numbers! I’ll explain this when Part 3 is posted! Know what the company does and who its customers are! For example, there are tons and tons of you creating content on social media like TH-cam on posing models for “glamour”. This will not work for my business to sell garments. I have proven it time and time again by even taking the same shots of models posed my way with a cellphone alongside you photogs with your top-end gear. I will give Mr. Gale credit again as when working for someone else, remember you are working for them. *Give them what THEY WANT, NOT WHAT YOU WANT!* This is why most of you fail to grow your business! While not as bad as photogs, I have to retrain models on how to pose and I mean even models who have been at it for years and published. So where did I learn how to pose fashion models? From the women around the world who have told me what they want and need to see in photos to buy online. I cannot stress enough to leave the artist crap out of it and be a photog and a service provider. Do the best you can with what you have and be the best service providing photog in your area or field! When it comes to social media, this is where I have fully disagree with Mr. Gale from Part 1. Show your clients ALL of the images as well as the unedited ones and the outtakes. Let them decide what images they want. Take construction for a moment. You have a couple wanting to build a new home and are paying you $300,000. Are you not going to let them see the project site until you are completely done building their home? Of course not! They would find another contractor. So don’t buy into that crap and keep yourself out of trouble and out of court! This is just one point where Mr. Gale and those like him mislead you. Your client is paying you, so give them all of the photos! Stop being a con artist. No one is going to be buying the 1500 images from Jane Doe's wedding 5 years ago. Showing the behind the scenes is a great marketing tool and can allow your followers, clients to follow along with your process. It is a great way to educate them, unlike Mr. Gale’s poor advice. For example, I have watched a young couple on TH-cam post a weekly video over the past 3 years go from selling their typical average home to moving across the country and building a shipping container home. In just two years they are over 1 million followers and subscribers… why? We see their real-life struggles of having absolutely no build experience to almost completing their home. You see the bloopers, the cutting up, the struggles, the mistakes they made and had to redo. You see the achievements and bliss. People can relate to that! It is that simple Yet far too many of you are getting school by old school photogs like Mr. Gale and aside from thinking you are the know-all of photography, you are struggling and have to have a real job. Or you are violating the law and ripping off your customers and clients with crappy contracts, copyrights, licensing, and usage fees. There is a time and place for it. I’ll leave you with this. If Mr. Gale is the President of the APA, how come he has not touched on any of this? Would you think he would have more followers on his social media accounts? As far as his photography goes, you decide! But when it comes to business and marketing, he is clearly not one I would take advice from! If you want to be a great photography business, learn the business and follow the law! Check out your local Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Administration as well as your State's Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). Each has great resources on business and marketing as well as can point you to someone who can mentor you on business and market analysis.
I could not agree with you more! I saw all I needed in Part 1 and B&H really succeeded in bombing in this mini-series using Tony.. I mean It should be titled, I submitted to Sony Contests and Market for them so I am a Sony Artisan. Very disappointed and what a waste of time!
I took tons of notes. Outstanding, even watching on the 30th of December in 2024.
Thank you for making this series. I got a lot out of it.
Glad to hear it!
From a previous business i can verify that word of mouth is important. * I never open email unless they're from someone I subscribed to from the website, or someone I'm expecting an answer from.
PersonLLY, I never open unsolicited emails.
Cont...
Wedding and Commercial photogs are among the worst because of the over-exaggerated fees you all try to get. Mr. Gale did point out in Part 1 that when we ask potential photogs for proof of general business liability insurance, they cannot show they have it. Again, this violates the law as stated above! Further, working for us, you are vendor or subcontractor, meaning that any photos or video you take are the sole ownership of my business. Plus, any fees over $600, per IRS tax laws, you will receive a 1099 Misc. C form for which you will pay taxes on. Most get mad at us because they know they are working a normal job and any income made from their photography is not reported.
Now let's talk real marketing! It's sad the B&H blacked their own eyes to delete this comment once before. I can see why and I'm not the least bit surprised. It would make them look bad using Mr. Gale for this mini-series and he is one of those photogs who is giving bad advice. But this can be super helpful if you want an edge over your competition. First, aside from going the legit route as stated here and in Part 1, you want to do a Market Analysis. You want to know who your competitors are. You can Google photogs in your local area and do the same market searches on them as I described above. You want to know what your competition's Sales and profits are, Percentage of the market they have, Number of years in business, Strengths & weaknesses are, Customer satisfaction rate, Quality of work, Fees and operational methods and Photography specialties are.
So, what is your share of the market? Let us assume your research shows there are 1600 potential photogs in your geographical area, you feel you can serve, but only 25% market penetration, then you have just learned 2 important things. One, there are only about 400 photography jobs in your area under present conditions. This would be the actual market size. Two, you would have to get at least 50% of the photography jobs in order to make a full-time living as being a photog. This means you need at least 50% of the market share from the outset. If there is an existing market for 400 photography jobs and the established photogs seem to be doing 175, do the math: 175 / 400 = 43%. This means that the existing competition is only taking 43% of the market share. In all likelihood, your marketing goal would be to establish your photography business by earning at least 200 photography jobs a year. Since this is a large percentage of the market we have "discovered" in this example, you need an aggressive strategy to convert perhaps 20% of the competition's business to your side and usurp the additional business you know exists.
Sadly, if we were to ask Mr. Gale what his market share is in his area of New York, I seriously doubt he could tell us or explain it as above. This is the major problem in photography. Mr. Gale can tell us all about camera settings, editing, and copyrights... be a prick and do not give up your rights. But most know nothing about business or marketing. You need to know your numbers... what are your costs! I can tell you what my camera bodies, down to my SD cards cost me an hour. Can you?
So, when you come at me with a $5000 "creative fee and another $5000 photography fee that you; earned from someone like Mr. Gale. you better be able to give me a line-item cost of all of your fees! It’s also required by law! This is another red flag if you are giving lump-sum pricing without breakdowns.
In the wedding photography arena, most clients don't know this stuff, and this is where most of you start your career as a con-artist photog because you learn bad business practices from people like Mr. Gale and his hour-long presentation here proves it! Again, most of you will get good at camera settings and editing. But who is your client or customer? Where do they live? How old are they? Do they have kids? Where do they work? Where do they shop? What do they do for fun? What social media apps do they use? Do they buy online or from stick-and-brick-type stores? Most do not care about this stuff. You are only concerned with your camera lingo, settings, lighting, editing, and damn copyrights. Is it a wonder why most struggle, violate the law, and never make a good steady income? Instead, you hear photogs like Sue Bryce or Northrup's say "Charge More! Charge What You Are Worth! "No Money, No Images!" or "Never Give Raw Images!" That is all a bunch of crap and you are basing your pricing and marketing off of what you have learned from someone like Mr. Gale.
Now when it comes to business to business (B2B) things are a bit different. If you pay attention, Mr. Gale gives insight into this. He states marketing to Marketing & Advertising Companies. This is a huge point. They are typically the middlemen for a company like mine who does not want to market or advertise in-house. So, in essence, yes they have large budgets and tighter deadlines. This is where you would want to use copyrights with the ad agency but work together with the business if they will tell you. Most likely they are not going to share this info about their client as they don’t want you side-steeping them. When Marketing to a business like mine, first and foremost, be legit as I will check! Any smart business owner is going to do the same. Next, know your numbers! I’ll explain this when Part 3 is posted! Know what the company does and who its customers are! For example, there are tons and tons of you creating content on social media like TH-cam on posing models for “glamour”. This will not work for my business to sell garments. I have proven it time and time again by even taking the same shots of models posed my way with a cellphone alongside you photogs with your top-end gear. I will give Mr. Gale credit again as when working for someone else, remember you are working for them. *Give them what THEY WANT, NOT WHAT YOU WANT!* This is why most of you fail to grow your business!
While not as bad as photogs, I have to retrain models on how to pose and I mean even models who have been at it for years and published. So where did I learn how to pose fashion models? From the women around the world who have told me what they want and need to see in photos to buy online. I cannot stress enough to leave the artist crap out of it and be a photog and a service provider. Do the best you can with what you have and be the best service providing photog in your area or field!
When it comes to social media, this is where I have fully disagree with Mr. Gale from Part 1. Show your clients ALL of the images as well as the unedited ones and the outtakes. Let them decide what images they want. Take construction for a moment. You have a couple wanting to build a new home and are paying you $300,000. Are you not going to let them see the project site until you are completely done building their home? Of course not! They would find another contractor. So don’t buy into that crap and keep yourself out of trouble and out of court! This is just one point where Mr. Gale and those like him mislead you. Your client is paying you, so give them all of the photos! Stop being a con artist. No one is going to be buying the 1500 images from Jane Doe's wedding 5 years ago.
Showing the behind the scenes is a great marketing tool and can allow your followers, clients to follow along with your process. It is a great way to educate them, unlike Mr. Gale’s poor advice. For example, I have watched a young couple on TH-cam post a weekly video over the past 3 years go from selling their typical average home to moving across the country and building a shipping container home. In just two years they are over 1 million followers and subscribers… why? We see their real-life struggles of having absolutely no build experience to almost completing their home. You see the bloopers, the cutting up, the struggles, the mistakes they made and had to redo. You see the achievements and bliss. People can relate to that! It is that simple Yet far too many of you are getting school by old school photogs like Mr. Gale and aside from thinking you are the know-all of photography, you are struggling and have to have a real job. Or you are violating the law and ripping off your customers and clients with crappy contracts, copyrights, licensing, and usage fees. There is a time and place for it.
I’ll leave you with this. If Mr. Gale is the President of the APA, how come he has not touched on any of this? Would you think he would have more followers on his social media accounts? As far as his photography goes, you decide! But when it comes to business and marketing, he is clearly not one I would take advice from! If you want to be a great photography business, learn the business and follow the law! Check out your local Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Administration as well as your State's Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). Each has great resources on business and marketing as well as can point you to someone who can mentor you on business and market analysis.
That speech can be titled "Marketing for beginners" or better "I do marketing for sony"
I could not agree with you more! I saw all I needed in Part 1 and B&H really succeeded in bombing in this mini-series using Tony.. I mean It should be titled, I submitted to Sony Contests and Market for them so I am a Sony Artisan. Very disappointed and what a waste of time!