Are You Over-Marketing To Your Friends? Part 2

If you’ve missed part 1 of this mini series, click here to get caught up!

Internet marketing, I admit, is no small task.  A medium or large business will have a dedicated marketing department, brainstorming and implementing their ideas for 40 hours each week.  If you, however, are a small business or just starting out, you are likely a one man show.  You act as research and development, manufacturing, operations, quality control, advertising, marketing, public relations, inventory, distribution, sales… it’s all you.  Whew!
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Are You Over-Marketing To Your Friends?

It seems like the old days of hanging out with friends just for the sake of hanging out, are dwindling. In my age group, it was about seven or eight years ago, when a pretty invitation arrived in the mail for a party! A specialty party, jewelry or makeup or lingerie or gourmet kitchen line of products would be featured. The reminder, “Don’t Forget Your Checkbook” was standard and in large letters. As it turned out, the products offered were not so much specialty items as just ordinary items one might purchase from a shopping mall in Anytown, USA. Although we were told, “No Obligation To Buy”, there was pressure. The close quarters allowed on lookers to notice what everyone else was ordering and not ordering and that, by itself, put pressure on the guest to buy something, anything. To generate more prospects, all were encouraged to host their own party and invite a different circle of friends, thus eliminating the possibility of marketing to the same group of people and thereby expanding their market. It was successful, as long as the “Invite them and they will come” notion worked. The bottom line was that someone wanted your money, a friend. 
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Growing From a Fauxtographer and my First Photo Session.

The email went something like this:

“Hi! I recently got a camera and wanted to see if I could maybe please, if you would be interested, maybe I can practice on your kids? I think I want to be a photographer. It wouldn’t cost you anything and I just think your kids are so cute and let me know if you’re interested, if not that’s ok because I know you’re busy but I really need cute kids to practice on.”
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Individual Pin It Buttons

We’ve all seen Jessica Claires adorable pin it button below her images. We’ve all also tried to use our own PIN IT plugin that includes all the images on that page including our banner and sidebar images… I don’t know about you, but I wanted those little individual Pinterest buttons. My wonderful friend Mike decided to take on the challenge and create a plugin for WordPress users to have individual pin it buttons using WordPress shortcodes. I’ve also designed a few custom ones you can choose from or you can design your own! Now it’s so so easy to add the button below your images!
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what to look for in a photographer

I am easily impressed with the unfamiliar. I think this is true for most people. When taking a walk with a foreign couple years ago, they were fascinated with a Cactus. Cactus are about as common and fascinating as dirt to Arizona residents but they couldn’t take enough pictures of cacti.

This used to be me with photography. I used to think every backlit photo, every blury background, every shot of a babies hand wrapped around a mothers finger was something to be marveled at. It wasn’t too long until I developed a choosier eye, or, until I became the Arizona resident, unimpressed with the cactus.

This is how you should be choosing your photographers. With a critical eye. Of course, nobody wants to judge someone elses art but keep in mind, this is art that is going on your walls so it should be compatible with your style.

So how do I judge art that I’m not familiar with?
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5 Steps for a Great Senior Portrait Session

I didn’t want to start this post with a statement so trite and predictible but I will anyway: I LOVE seniors! I adore how fun and carefree they are. I love how they will WORK it Tyra style. I love that we can be goofy or different and stress free. I love how each senior is different and generally they’re past that “Everything is dumb” phase and moved into the “Everything is AWESOME” phase which is always….awesome.

This post, needless to say, is all about seniors. When I photograph a senior, I will always ask them if THEY have any idea in mind first. I’ll ask if they play an instrument, if they’re in dance, cheerleading, a club of any kind. Then, we can go from there. You want their session to be solely about them. If I have the option, I will raid their closet. This is always fun for everyone and tends to create a feel for the session.
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