Good morning and a very Happy New Year to you all! Thank you for making 2012 such a special year for Tiffinbox. It's with your participation that we can make this site even better in 2013. I am truly excited to tell you that Angela Pointon, whose posts you have read here in the past, has agreed to come on board as a monthly contributor. Kicking that off is this very useful post for photographers who want to rock out their market in the new year. Read it, join us, comment!

A lot of photographers get confused by marketing. They consider it in the very beginning of their business, and those considerations typically include things they know they need, such as a website, business cards and a printed price list.

However, marketing is so fundamentally rooted when done well, that if you don't think about it properly, you'll end up spending a lot of money and wondering if it really made a difference in your business. Working on your own marketing is like being a doctor. If you don't truly understand the human body and how it functions, you cannot make it work better.

STEP 1:

Understand your target market deeply and fully. Often times, I find that business owners day dream about working with a certain target market, but find themselves consumed by working with another one. Thus, it creates an unfulfilling business and a bit of a feeling of quicksand that is difficult to get out of.

When you understand who you want to target, you take the first step toward landing more business from them.

STEP 2:

Understand what makes your business different. And remember, it has to be different in the eyes of your defined target audience… the people you want to be working with. I recently wrote an entire post about figuring out how to be a different, special and unique business in the eyes of your audience.

Read more about being different here.

STEP 3:

You have to define what financial bliss means for you. This is as unique as any other aspect of your business. Figure out how much you want to make and how many bookings you have to land in order to get there. Why is this important to marketing?

Your marketing should align with the goals of your business. If you do not define your monetary goal, how can you manage to market enough to obtain it? Oh, and one more thing about defining you financial bliss… it cannot limit you. Financial bliss is not a ceiling; it is just a target that you are shooting for. Exceeding it is highly possible and therefore, should be welcomed (assuming you're willing to work harder).

STEP 4:

Create the business goals you need to achieve in order to satisfy your financial bliss. These goals could include bookings, events you want to do or anything related to your business' success in 2013. I recommend including anywhere from 2-5 big goals.

STEP 5:

Take your big goals and break them down a bit. They should become a list of key steps you need to take in order to achieve the goals. As the days progress, your list of key steps will become daily tasks. I personally use Evernote, a free web-based tool and app, to keep track of the daily tasks I need to tackle in order to achieve my big goals. Goals become easier to obtain when they're broken down to small, easy-to-do daily tasks.

The One Page Marketing Plan

I recently launched a free webinar called the One Page Marketing Plan, where I went through the five steps listed above in greater detail and provided a free template for recording all of your thoughts and ideas. Download it here for free.

Photography Marketing Academy

On January 3rd, I am launching a new educational program called Photography Marketing Academy. This simple three-session program offers you access to up to five of your photographer peers and me. Together, we'll walk through your business goals for 2013, your current marketing, and you'll leave the sessions with clear, actionable steps you need to take in order to achieve a year of your dreams in 2013.

Learn more about Photography Marketing Academy and register. Space is limited and registration will likely close the morning of January 3rd.

Angela Pointon loves photographers and artists. She studied photography, but had a love affair with business and marketing. She decided to combine all three together when she started Steel Toe Images. She coaches and inspires photographers and other artists to kick major butt through her one-on-one sessions, blog, emails, workshops and her first book (coming soon), called “The Art Of A Photo Business: What Every Photographer Wished They Knew Before They Started”. Follow Angela on Twitter, Facebook or her blog.

I believe that what you do is amazing.

Every time you freeze an image, you give a gift to the world. I also believe you create a different experience, uniquely your own that no one else has the power to duplicate. Your business exudes a feeling that other businesses can try to copy, but ultimately fail at mimicking because their business is their business and yours is yours.

This is where marketing begins: at you.

The best photographers know what they're capable of bringing to the world, and they've worked hard to define that very thing in one or two succinct sentences. An amazing photographer isn't trying to copy another photographer; he or she knows that this effort is futile and, in fact, copying another photographer just robs the world of their own abilities, their talents and their uniqueness.

As photographers, we are challenged to identify what truly special difference we offer that no other photographer can. Yet, we all have this inside of us; it's just a matter of uncovering it.

The best photographers challenge themselves to constantly ensure they are articulating their amazingness using the right words that evoke mystery, intrigue, and fascination.

Know the people who will die to buy.

Have you ever been a raving fan of a brand, product or service? Have you ever talked to a friend about this brand, product or service with the same immense passion that one uses when speaking of their religious or political beliefs? Have you ever had a buying experience so amazing that it left you wanting to have it again? Have you ever bought something when competitive offerings were available solely because of the incredible buying experience?

That company knew your profile. They knew who their ideal customer was (ie people like you), and they built an experience to tantalize the very things that you would find unbelievably enjoyable. They matched the services to the person with the cash to spend.

Sometimes it's easier to start at the who. Who is the perfect buyer of your services? Who do you get along with, set off sparks with? Who do you cause the reaction of saying “that was amazing” at the end of their initial buying experience with you?

How will you attract more of them?

It's great if we've had a buyer or two who have been amazing. But how do we attract more? How do we work with fewer clients who are just okay and work with more who are unbelievable?

I've had success in my life finding people by hanging out where they're hanging. I have found that walking into a real room with a group of people can instantly feel right or wrong. The same is true of online places, too.

Plan Your 2013 Marketing To Capture More Souls

So if you want to define your brilliance, if you want to figure out who your ideal client is, and if you want to find more of those clients, then the One Page Marketing Plan is for you.

FREE Webinar: The One Page Marketing Plan

Wednesday, December 5th, 8:30pm eastern / 5:30pm pacific

There are some business owners that believe long drawn out business plans are the key to success. But if they are tirelessly drafted to only sit on a shelf, what good are they? I have put together a program to help you get your 2013 marketing mapped out on a single sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ paper. I'll walk you through how to effectively plan your marketing in order to get what you want out of business next year.

Together, we'll spend 60 minutes walking through my one page marketing plan template (a template will be emailed to you right before the webinar). I'll pose the thoughtful questions and provide the examples you'll need to get your wheels of creativity turning.

By the end of the webinar, you'll get your marketing mapped out, including:

the target market you'll go after in 2013:

– what makes your unique business different than the rest
– your financial bliss to obtain next year
– your business goals for 2013
– your essential marketing actions to get you to those goals

Register for the One Page Marketing Plan

PS – there will be an additional program starting in January for photographers who want more one-on-one, in-depth support with their marketing. By becoming a member of the Photography Marketing Academy, photographers have the opportunity to learn from me and from up to five of their peers as we work on your One Page Marketing Plan in more detail. This new program is $249 (normally valued at $1,200) and it includes 3 sessions, PLUS a free 30 minute session with only me to talk about anything. Only 5 photographers will be allowed into Photography Marketing Academy. Learn more here.

If you are a wedding photographer, you are heading into the quiet months when you will be meeting and planning your photo shoots for next Spring or Summer. Portrait photographers either have a bevy of photo shoots scheduled inside where it is warmer or are braving the cold temperatures outdoors (at least here in New England where I live) to photograph their clients. Either way, the goal is to be totally booked. Question is: are you? Can your calendar be full, to the point where you have to start a waiting list? Won't that be awesome? (I am hearing a resounding YES).

I wanted to tell you that Sarah Petty and her crew at The Joy Of Marketing are launching a new program today called “Get Totally Booked” for photographers today.

If you enjoy learning and implementing what you have learned from successful photographers like Tamara Lackey, Jerry Ghionis, Tim Walden, Josh Hudson, Lori Nordstrom, Julie Klassmeyer, Jeff & Allison Rodgers, Laura Novak, Joy Bianchi-Brown & Jules Bianchi, Rod Evans, Vicki Taufer and Jeff Richardson.

This is a FREE event over two days – November 6th (did you vote?) and November 7th. If you are not around at home and in front of your computer, you can order all of the recordings here. While that is an affiliate link to Get Totally Booked, I have to tell you that I invested in this program as well.

The cost is $59, but only until it launches at 10 am EST. Then it is expected to go up. Plus, you'll receive over $200 in bonus offers from Marathon Press, whcc, ProSelect, Jill-e Bags and PWD Labs.

For me, programs like “Get Totally Booked” where I am taught how to do something better are incredible value. Just look at the full schedule here and decide. But do so quickly

It's so appropriate that this blog post appears in October, the month Halloween is celebrated in the United States.

Danny Iny, is an author who quickly became known as The Freddy Krueger of blogging.

He is most recently the author of two seminal and free marketing e-books, Engagement from Scratch and Naked Marketing Manifesto.

Danny, as busy as he is on a variety of projects, agreed to audit my site, Tiffinbox based around these essential questions:

Who are you and what do you do? [01:15]

When did you start the site and how has it grown since? [02:05]

Can you give us a sense of what the numbers are like? [02:40]

Who is your target audience? What do you offer that is appealing to them? [03:20]

How are you getting the attention of your target audience? [04:55]

How does the site make money? What kind of things does the site promote? [08:15]

What is your conversion rate? [10:50]

How do you go about creating a cycle of commitment and reward, asking readers for an increasingly large commitment and in turn offering a bigger reward, and so on? [13:20]

If you could go back in time and give some advice to Seshu of 2003, what lesson would you give? [21:25]

Now, I know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself, “Gee, this is all about Tiffinbox, what does it have to do about me and my business.”

Well, what you'll hear in the audio applies to you. Trust me. I learned a ton about how to approach my photography business from Danny, even though we were talking about this photographer's community.

[podcast]https://s3.amazonaws.com/nakedmarketing/nm_audit_seshu.mp3[/podcast]

For example, check out his advice on how to leverage Pinterest. Sure, that's something I could do for Tiffinbox, but it could very well apply to our collective marketing efforts for our own businesses.

Soon after I spoke with Danny, Angela Pointon and I collaborated on a webinar series (this is on going and you should totally sign up) with Tamara Lackey, Rosh Sillars and Skip Cohen as guests. Danny's suggestion of offering a FREE webinar was brilliant. Over 100 people registered for it.

This is a candid chat with a guy who knows his stuff. Not only does he ask some very poignant questions, but he gives me some very specific solutions too.

Give it a listen now and tell me one thing you learned from our chat that you will apply to your photography business. You can also read the transcript.

I am kicking myself. Hard.

Why? Well, I went on a social media spree and posted about a webinar series I am co-hosting with Angela Pointon, called Swift Kick: Four Things Every Photographer Should Know About Business. Those who follow me on my Twitter and Facebook saw the posts and signed up quickly.

But I didn't really get you guys involved until … now. I am so sorry!

Well, the good news is, there is still time to register for the webinar series that will expose you to the marketing fundamentals most photographers miss.

I am sure you are curious what the webinar series is going to address and how it will help you. Let me tell you a story and I promise to keep it short.

After graduating from journalism school, with a strong emphasis in photography, I thought I was ready to take on the world and offer my photography services to anyone who asked me to photograph them or their event. Sad truth was unless I opened my mouth and told people that I was a photojournalist, no one really knew what I did for a living.

That's the case even today, except I am much better at marketing myself.

As I have already mentioned I have a fairly strong presence on both Twitter and Facebook (and I am exploring Google+). But that's really only online. What about off-line marketing, otherwise known as good ole' networking? I recently signed up to become a member of a local BNI chapter. I expect to renew my local chamber of commerce membership. I am joining other groups where members refer clients back and forth.

All that's great, but even those forays require some structure.

Angela Pointon, with whom I am co-hosting these webinars suggests that we begin by acknowledging our gut instinct. If a certain connection feels right to you, go for it. You really need to listen to what she has to say about this (and this first webinar is free).

The next webinar, with Tamara Lackey as our guest, will delve into the topic of “Discipline.” Without discipline, I am finding rather quickly, one's focus can get distracted. (on October 3, 2012, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm … that's TODAY folks!)

Rosh Sillars, based in Detroit, Michigan, comes on board to talk about “Branding” (which hopefully we all know means how our business is perceived or thought-about rather than the existence of a logo. (on October 17, 2012, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm EST)

Lastly, Skip Cohen, a marketing maven in the photography industry joins us to talk about having the “Right Tools,” to market our business. (on November 7, 2012, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm EST)

Details about each of these sessions can be found here. If you are getting your business off the ground or you have been at it for a few years and want to know more, register for ALL FOUR sessions for just $25 now.

As an added incentive, ProDPI, Fundy Software, Song Freedom, Photocrati, ThinkTank Bags and Sticky Albums have all come on board as sponsors and have some exciting prizes that they are giving away.

ProDPI is giving away a 20″x30″ canvas per webinar.

Fundy Software is giving away Action Hub (a $79 value) to those who enter their email address into a special form which also enters you to win the Total Studio Pack (valued at $499).

Song Freedom is giving away one license for a song on their site, per webinar.

Photocrati is giving away one WordPress theme per webinar.

ThinkTank Bags is giving away one SlingShot 20 bag per webinar.

Sticky Albums has a special code to receive $30 off of their annual plan.

When you register for all the remaining webinars, you'll receive all the recordings PLUS you have at least three chances to win one of the prizes mentioned above.

So, what are you waiting for? Register now.