It’s not easy to read a business book that is 250 pages long within a couple of weeks, much less read it twice.

But that’s what I did with Maurice Jager’s book, “Personal Branding For Photographers.”

While there are webinars and courses for photographers to learn all about “personal branding”, Jager’s book is the first and most comprehensive book I’ve read on the topic.

According to Jager, “Branding is the process of giving people the opportunity to create a perception of who you are and what you offer; the creation of a brand experience.”

TL;DR – If being seen by your audience means anything at all for you, you can skip the review below and just buy the book and read it. It is required reading, which you will reference again and again as you change your personal branding strategy.

Reading “Personal Branding For Photographers”

The book is hefty, not just because of its length but also because of the content. Jager begins by walking the reader through the importance of taking stock in one’s own story and background. If you buy the electronic version of the book and print it, I am going to guess you will have copious notes on the margins of this section because Jager nudges all kinds of interesting questions I had never considered before.

This first section of the book really got me thinking about how I present myself to the world and why I have held back so much. I can shore it up to being shy or introverted, but to Jager’s point, I just need to get over that and do the work.

The questions Jager suggests come at a rapid-fire and if there is one thing I do wish for is a set of worksheets that could have accompanied the book that one could download. As I said, I would and could easily fill the pages I had printed but having something fresh to use would be helpful.

Once you have answered those questions, you can then embark on your “visual strategy”, which allows you to share “authentic and powerful content which reflects your personality, work, and process.” This process of repeatedly showing up online or in-person has a way of communicating to those interested in your work that you are an expert in the field.

Getting To The Heart Of Telling Your Story

Jager offers an in-depth framework for visual storytelling, making the six chapters the bulk of the book.

Here are the six chapters:

1. Who are you?
2. What’s your background?
3. How do people see you?
4. What do you want to achieve?
5. What are the details?
6. What do you sell?

These overarching questions are subsequently broken down with even more questions for us to consider. The amount of content you are going to generate from this exercise alone is massive and is going to take you some time, but Jager confirms that it will be all worthwhile in the end.

The responses to these important questions lead us to create our story and Jager provides a social media matrix where we can use the content we have created in a very methodical, yet creative manner.

Interviews That Bring It All Together

In addition to the many examples in the book, Jager deftly segues into lengthy but informative interviews with a variety of successful photographers. You’ll read perspectives from Andrew Sommeling, Clay Cook, Dani Diamond, Glyn Dewis, Emily Teague, Pratik Naik, Humberto Tan, Tony Taafe, John DeMato, and Peter Hurley. My advice: don’t skip these parts of the book. There is gold in there too.

Part of owning your own domain is to have an active blog. Given how lousy I have been on my commercial websites with blogging, I found this section particularly useful. My advice is to print Jager’s eight guidelines for publishing a blog and having it within arm’s reach when you are looking to publish a blog post. In fact, I used it to create this post!

There is a lot to read and do in “Personal Branding For Photographers.” It’s not a passive book. It’s only in your action that you will see results from this book. For folks like me who often get overwhelmed with ideas and not knowing which action to take first, second, or third, Jager’s book gives me structure and a sense of satisfaction when portions of it are done and I can move on to the next task. In some respect, it’s a workshop in a book form.

Seeing Proof!

After I read the book all the way through the first time, I wanted to see if some of the strategies mentioned in the book would work for me. I had almost never posted a selfie online, though I am warming up to the idea of having my photographs being seen online. So, on two recent photoshoots, I had someone photograph me working. I posted both to Instagram and was floored by the number of people liking the post.

Here are the Instagram links for you to check out!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNkpYkBsC6Q/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CN787FAMCbo/

There is a lot more to “Personal Branding For Photographers” and I wish I could mention it all, but I hope I have whet your appetite a bit for it so that you can buy and read it. In addition to the book, Maurice Jager runs an active Facebook group, an annual conference, and a podcast.

Like anything he does, Jager’s heart and soul are in every venture, so, again if being seen and eventually hired to work with your audience is important for you, I highly recommend you read “Personal Branding For Photographers,” and also sign for the conference (coming July 2021) and subscribe to the podcast. I was honored to be on Episode #19.

Lastly, I love this quote in the book because ultimately this is what personal branding is all about:

When people already trust you, prospective clients have no reason not to trust you, too.

Why Should You Buy ‘Personal Branding For Photographers' Now?

So, why do you need to read Maurice Jager's book now? Two big reasons: As a photographer, you are looking for a way to stand out authentically within your community and what you will have is a playbook that walks you through the exact steps to present your brand in your own way. Do the work prescribed in the book, and success will find you. This is $30 investment is a no-brainer in my opinion.

Still on the fence? Watch this video to learn more from the author –

Tony Taafe's TNT Method

As photographers it can be really easy to put the business and sales side of our work on the back burner and focus heavily on our creative craft. In my quest to better my business, I stumbled across Tony Taafe’s “TNT Method” tutorial. This tutorial is a blueprint for not only bettering your client interactions but it is also helpful in other parts of your business. The tutorial caters to headshot photographers but it can definitely be related to other photography genres (or in fact any business venture!).

In the first year of his photography business, Scottsdale Arizona based headshot photographer Tony Taafe made $60,000. By his third year in business he was making $250,000. Tony is now looking to help other portrait photographers achieve these numbers through his TNT Method which helps to show them how to get there. 

Tony’s strategy is obviously working for him, and working well. He came from a background in car sales in the UK and had worked for companies such as Audi and Bentley. Over those years Tony won several awards and obviously learned a lot about customer service. As he started his photography career these experiences were clearly beneficial to him as he positioned his product as a luxury one.

TNT Method Facebook Group

The tutorial is divided up into digestible bite sized videos to make running through it a breeze. In addition to the over 2 hour tutorial, you also get access to Tony’s private “TNT Method Facebook” group. The participants in this group discuss all things “sales” in their portrait photography businesses. This group is a fantastic way to keep in touch with other photographers who may have similar questions as you.

I have found that it is a very safe environment to learn alongside like-minded individuals. Inside this group you will hear both success and failure stories from other photographers. This can be a huge help and motivation for how you operate your shoots moving forward. 

Part of the tutorial also includes commentary from world-renowned headshot photographer Peter Hurley. Peter, who has had no issues creating a successful and lucrative portrait photography business, talks about how the TNT Method changed his sessions for the better, and has made him even more money. Seeing two very successful headshot photographers, Tony and Peter interact and talk business in this one tutorial is truly remarkable and a great pleasure to watch. Having someone like Peter endorse this strategy, made this an easy purchase for me to make. 

I went through the tutorial and compiled an overview of some of the main chapters. You can decide whether you think it will help you in taking your business to the next level. I know from personal experience, after applying the tactics he outlines in the tutorial, my individual session sales have grown and my clients are more informed of the session process (more on this later). 

Removing Obstacles To Buy:

I am a sucker for comparing the business of photography to the way other businesses are run. I knew I was going to enjoy this section when Tony started out by touching on how easy it is to buy products on Amazon. “Have you ever used Amazon Prime?” Tony says. “What you do is you swipe at the bottom, and a package arrives two days later. It’s easy.” This intro really changed the way I think about selling my photography products.

There is no reason why our products can’t be as easy to buy as the ones that are on Amazon. This is where removing any obstacles to buying our products comes into play! Tony spends the remainder of this video listing ways photographers get in the way of themselves when selling their service. I think there are definitely some things on this list that I hadn’t thought of as hindering my ability to sell before, so it was certainly eye opening. 

Decisive vs. Indecisive Buyers

This section covers the different types of clients you will run into during your sessions. Tony talks about both decisive buyers and indecisive buyers and how to handle each. I had never thought about the different characteristics my clients showed throughout my shoots before. He began to list things that decisive and indecisive buyers will say and how you can know who falls into each category.

When the decisive buyer comes in “they will probably have less outfits and they are going to have a purpose for every single outfit.” Whereas the “indecisive buyer will come in with more outfits than they can carry.” This plays into other behaviors as well. Choosing photos, backgrounds etc.

Knowing if I am shooting with a decisive or indecisive buyer is definitely something I will continue to use to my advantage during my sessions. I feel as though I know so much more about the psychology of my clients purchasing decisions and how to communicate with them as individuals. 

The Process:

Something that Tony focuses heavily on during the tutorial is the client experience. He mentions simple ways and tips you can use in an effort to improve upon what clients experience. Things like offering your client beverages when they arrive, allowing unlimited time per shoot, and also clearly explaining the shoot process throughout all of your communications with them.

All of these examples add up to show your clients that you really care about them, their experience and they feel that you are taking care of them. 

Putting This To Use:

Throughout the beginning stages of this course I felt as though I really wanted to see the tactics Tony talks about in action. All of what he was saying sounded great but I didn’t know how it could be used in the real world. Luckily towards the end of the tutorial Tony and Peter team up to do a “mock shoot”. They show everything, from when Tony (client) first walks into Peter’s (photographer) studio, to the final image selection process. This quickly became my favorite section of the entire tutorial.

Periodically there are also cutaways to Tony discussing what Peter is doing right and (more importantly) wrong throughout the shoot and sales process.  I found this section to be so helpful as it showed me direct application for a shoot. 

After watching this tutorial series I am better equipped than ever to not only increase my individual shoot sales but also provide my clients with an overall better experience. Since having taken so much of what Tony talks about and applying it to my photography business, I have without a doubt increased my average session sale.

I have also been hearing many positive responses from my recent clients. They love it! Some reviews clients have left online show that they like how clear the shooting process is laid out on my website and how clear and easy I make it for them in person.

Where You Can Buy Access To The TNT Method:

I believe this tutorial can truly be a game changer for you and can also help improve upon any current sales strategies you may be using. 

The TNT Method with Tony Taafe can be purchased directly on the Headshot Crew website. Please note, you will need to have or sign up for  a free or paid account on the Headshot Crew in order to purchase the tutorial which can be had for $249.

Are you currently using any specific sales strategies for your business? Have you implemented any of the tactics talked about in this article? Let me know in the comments as I would love to talk about what is and is not working for you! 

Rajesh Setty knows you are smart. But he also know that you sometimes get stuck in business. He speaks from personal experience and he wants to help you get unstuck fast.

As a serial entrepreneur (see list below) and a book author based in the Bay Area, Rajesh encounters numerous examples of business owners initially enthusiastic about their project but who find themselves soon spinning their wheels.

Speaking with him recently, I know he feels passionate about helping people in trouble. His latest book, “Smart, But Stuck,” outlines the problems most business owners face, and what he believes can be solutions to get them out of their own way.

Give this interview a listen to see if you can glean any nuggets from it that will help you get unstuck too!

Rajesh is crowdfunding the book, “Smart, But Stuck“. Supporting this self-publishing process not only helps Rajesh get his important and timely advice into the world, it also inspires other authors to step up and contribute to the business dialogue that is often sorely missing in the marketplace of ideas.

Learn more about “Smart, But Stuck,” here. To contribute to Rajesh's crowd-funding campaign, please go here.

Here are some of the projects Rajesh has been involved in with over the years:

Witty Parrot
iCharts
Compassites
Jifflenow
ForesightPlus
Thoughtful Cards
Napkinsights

I hope you will step up and support the publication of Rajesh Setty's new book, “Smart, But Stuck” with me. The information and the steps outlined in the book could be priceless for your photography business. Isn't it time you invested in yourself?

G.E. Masana, a New York based wedding and portrait photographer has a boat-load of real-world experiences and advice on sales and marketing. If you are a wedding or portrait photographer, this post is for you.

I had the pleasure of speaking with G.E. Masana several months back about six specific strategies for wedding photography success:

The 6 Strategies For Wedding Photography Success

1. Be Strategy-Driven Rather Than Tactic-Driven
2. Strategy: Mean Something Significant To A Significant Number Of People, And For Which They'll Pay You Significantly More
3. Strategy: Responding To Inquiries – Stand Out From The Rest and Get Results
4. Strategy: Purpose Of The Phone Call Is To Set Up The Consult For Success
5: Strategy: “Just Get The Booking” and why
6: Strategy: Sales Without Pressure – Gently Guiding Your Prospective Clients To Sell Themselves On You

Mentoring & Courses

Click here for Mentoring, Coaching & Consulting Options

Maximum Wedding Album Profits contains business nuggets, aha! moments, insights and principles as well as a complete system for selling more wedding photos to place into your clients' wedding albums. A few booking strategies are thrown in for good measure.

Instead of a few hundred, you'll know how to set the stage to make thousands. I've averaged adding another up to $15,000 per wedding from regular every day couples with this system.

G.E.Masana's courses (yes, I bought these) are well-produced audio presentations that will help you move beyond the blocks you have:

How to Raise Prices, Increase Profits, Even When You Think You Can’t – Especially If You Think You Can’t

How To Turn Phone Inquiries Into Paying Clients

Other Resources

Listen to G.E. Masana's tips on sales or selling in Ben Hartley's Six Figure Photography podcast.

Buy the book: When They Say That, You Say This: For Wedding and Portrait Photographers – The Strategy for Handling Sales Objections

A Very Special, Time-Limited Offer

From G.E. Masana:

“So as you know, I'm playing with the idea of teaching wedding photographers my complete systems, strategies and tactics, which would cover everything from marketing to handling inquiries to getting bookings to after the wedding sales: the entire what to say, what to do and how to do it. No fluff and no cheer-leading, no theories, just solid info, everything 100% tested, proven and true.”

If you are interested in learning the strategies from booking to marketing your wedding photography clients, contact G.E.Masana right away. This offer is only for 5-10 wedding photographers, so you must act quickly.

Please include your name, location, how many weddings you do now and how many you want to do in the future, and how much money did you make photographing the weddings you say you have photographed.

If you enjoyed the interview and this post, would you please do me a favor and share it among your wedding photography friends please? Thank you!

“I began my journey worrying about equipment, web page, blog, client documentation, accounts … and left one of the most important (and ongoing) aspects to last – marketing.”

The finding and keeping of clients is such an art and a science, and yet so many photographers ignore it.

Any why?

If we’re honest, it’s because it’s hard. We want to do the easier things first and “play” business because getting people to pay you with their hard earned money is super intimidating.

But it doesn’t have to be because I’ve put together a list of the top six uncommon trends that are going to be huge for your photography business this year.

Uncommon Trend #1: Live Video

For the past few years, photographers have used social media to share their work (photos) and have seen a lot of success. While most people were just posting text, we found that photos got a lot more engagement and social media could be a huge asset to our business.

But, as engagement rates dropped and organic reach plummeted (especially on Facebook), social media lost a lot of its ability to drive business for photographers.

But that will turn around this year. If we look at how so many brands are leveraging live video to engage with their audience and get in front of new people, it’s no surprise that two-thirds of all internet traffic is streaming video.

Some studies suggest that 80% of consumers prefer watching a live video to reading a blog post with images.

And you can do it on almost every platform: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Periscope.

The best part is that those videos remain forever on the platform and can be repurposed in the future for blog posts, email autoresponders, social media posts, etc.

Uncommon Trend #2:Content Marketing

Video is just one type of content that you should be making for your ideal clients. If we agree to the idea that every photography business should be a media company, we need to start treating our content as an essential business aspect.

This means creating content that helps out ideal clients in every way including:

Video (live)
Video (edited)
Blog posts
Infographics
Audio (podcasts)
Messaging (Bonjoro)

For example, here’s a great guide that Michael Will put together of the top wedding vendors in his city. It’s a great way for him to spread the word about all of his friends and colleagues and also build a solid relationship with his ideal client (brides and grooms).

Uncommon Trend #3:Getting Featured

I’ve been pretty strong in arguing that more photographers need to write. It’s simply the easiest thing that you can do as a photographer to get more traffic from Google and build a deeper relationship with your audience.

If photos are proof you know what you’re doing with a camera, the words are what get people to pay for your services.

Getting featured on other websites can be difficult when it’s completely one-sided (“Please feature me! PLEASE!”), but what you can offer in return is to create some amazing content, using the above content marketing ideas.

By using search terms like “write for us” and “submit post” in Google, you can find a lot of opportunities to connect with other websites that would love to feature you and get you in front of their audiences. This is especially valuable if you’re just starting your photography business, too.

Uncommon Trend #4:Hyper-local Search Results

More and more people are using their mobile devices as their primary means of searching online and when they search for your services, Google is serving them “hyperlocal” search results.

This means that not only are they getting unique results based on the country and city they’re located in, but now they’re customizing results down to a one-block radius.

As most photographers get traffic to their website based on local search results, you need to make sure (at minimum), that you’ve set up a physical business location in Google (guide).

This also means that while you may not rank for a big keyword like “Chicago wedding photographer,” you may see an increase in website traffic if you have a physical address in the city.

For photographers like Evermark Studios, being located in Pittsburgh is great, but having a prime location on the most important street in the city (Penn Ave) is going to become more and more valuable in 2018.

Uncommon Trend #5:Client Personas and Journey Mapping

Most of the photographers that I’ve known have never considered creating client personas or a client journey map as a formal technique, yet they’ve done it informally hundreds of times.

Basically, along the journey of a person discovering you to become a client, they’re better served with different communications and experiences. A person who clicks a Facebook ad is at a very different trust level with you than an email subscriber that’s opted in to receive a custom wedding quote, right?

Smart Insights put together this really smart life-cycle map of all the potential touch points across different types of media. Look at what you’re currently doing? Where are the gaps in your marketing?

Uncommon Trend #6:Live Chat (Anything But Chatbots)

From live video, to content marketing, to chat, the trend in 2018 is going to be for personalized engagement.

With the rest of the marketing community clamoring about chatbots, I would argue that even though they are helping businesses grow now, we’re seeing the return of the “voice menu” when you call a big company.

I’m sure they were novel and helpful at first, but the thought of going through 10 menus just to talk to a person makes me want to scream.

So let’s skip over that horrible trend and look at the bigger picture. People want real-time communication which means any time we’re at a computer, we should offer it to them.

Photographers like Playa del Carmen-based Pixan Photography have already implemented these concepts and are seeing big results.

But if you want to get ahead of the game, check out Facebook’s chat feature they’ll beta-testing and align your Facebook presence with your website:

What's Next

If you really want to take advantage of one the big photography marketing trends this year, here’s what you need to keep an eye on:

Live Video
Content Marketing
Getting Featured
Hyperlocal searches
Client Personas and Journey Mapping
Live chat

Now that I’ve lifted back the curtain and showed you how to really grow your photography business in 2018, it’s time for you to pick one of these and test it out for yourself.

Let me know in the comments below what you’ll be working on this year (I read every one of them!)