The SMUGS Blog

He shared some great marketing tips:

• Don’t spend big bucks on print advertising.  Very rarely will you see a return on your investment with this marketing strategy no matter how much advertisers promise it will grow your business.

• Write a blog and share your work.  Be consistent in writing blog posts; people need to know there is something to return to when they visit your blog.
• Send e-mail n ewsletters to your clients and contacts you meet.  Be sure to not only share about your business, but also give readers some resources and information they can gain from so they will continue to open and read your newsletters
• Create strong vendor relationships.  What better way to get referrals than from awesome vendors you work with? Send vendors who are a part of your photo session watermarked photos after the session for them to use on their website and to advertise with.  It is a great and easy way to build relationships and grow your word of mouth referrals!
• Send hand-written ‘Thank You’ notes to your clients.  Snail mail is not obsolete and means so much more than a quick email!  Taking the time to write ‘Thank You’ notes shows your care and dedication, because you took the time to write it by hand and mail it.
• Be cautious and smart about doing daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social.  Don’t give everything away, or you will easily get burnt out and have no time for paying clients.  If you decide to use a deal site, be sure you have a plan for being able to up-sell the client after they have purchased the deal and also think about how you are going to schedule everyone.
• Connect with clients and visitors on your website by having a photo of yourself and a little bio that they can read.  They need to know you are someone they can relate to!

He also went on to explain that we shouldn’t be afraid to think outside the box and come up with creative ways to market our businesses and vendors at the same time. For example, Kevin Keith Photography hosted a photography workshop and all of the vendors involved donated their products for them to use in return for photographs of those products that were used during the workshop (location for the workshop and photo shoot, borrowed wedding dresses from a bridal shop for the models to wear, hair and makeup for the models, etc.).  After the workshop each vendor received a beautiful album of photos of their products that they set out in their stores with the photography information included on the album.  A great and inexpensive form of advertising for the vendor and your business!

The OKC SMUG meeting took place at Baker’s Learning Center, with the meeting starting off with a discussion about some articles about the most expensive photograph ever sold, and the 15 most expensive photographs in history prior to the sale of Rhine II. We then discussed the infamous Space Shuttle Twitpic, and how it was very well known, highly viewed, and the photographer was hardly compensated for the photo.

Our guest speaker, Romy Owens, was then introduced to us as an accomplished fine artist. Her art is like nothing I have ever seen before. Romy mentioned that she wants the viewer to pause and pay attention to what they are viewing, which she accomplishes in her work.

She began creating art while she was studying for her photography degree. She wanted her work to be big but did not have the resources to make such giant images, so she started overlapping and somewhat scrap booking images together. Then, eventually, she decided that she could sew them together and highlight the seams.

Romy spends 50-60 hours sewing photos together to complete a single piece of art. One time she spent 2 months sewing one of her projects together. It was 4 ft tall by 56ft long. Romy refers to her art as non-functional quilts. As Romy hand stiches each piece she will write comments on the back. It could be something about the movie she is viewing or something that she was doing in life at the time. Looking at the back of her art work was amazing to see the words, detail, and precision of each and every stitch.

Romy talked about finding your own style and challenged the group to not be afraid to step out of the box and create something different. An attribute that you will need to possess is a thick skin. When you find those who do not like your work, don’t let it get you down. She also talked about how you should value your work and include the cost of your time into your pricing.

Romy is a very active member of the local art community. She finds that by helping to promote others she in turn gets promotion. Participating in community activities helps to be seen and get your name out there. Romy suggested that folks get involved with Oklahoma Visual Arts Council. OVAC does more for Oklahoma visual artists than any other organization.

Submitted by the OKC SMUG Scribe: Sherri Smith.

Sherri loves to photograph families, high school seniors, and weddings. Sherri loves the OKC SMUG meetings because of the learning experience, and the people who attend are great to network with. Stop by and check out their next meeting. You will not be disappointed!

The OKC SMUG meeting was held at Baker’s Learning Center. We had a great turnout with nearly 30 people attending the meeting. This month’s meeting consisted of a tour at the Baker Learning Center with the help of Patricia Isbell and Hank Baker.

Patricia is the owner of Shades of Gray Studio and also works with the Baker’s Learning Center. Patricia discussed her longtime work as a portrait, wildlife, and commercial photographer. Patricia shared with us her love of wildlife photography and some of her adventures while pursuing her passion. The images she presented were nothing short of spectacular. Patricia taught us that nature photography can be extreme at times. From hiking in the freezing snow for hours, to the heat of the tropical areas- it get be intense, but it can be an amazing experience when you capture that award winning image. Patricia shared one of her experiences with us that illustrated how making mistakes will only make you better.   When you screw up and all your photos are a bust, you will figure out what you did wrong and correct the problem.  This type of learning will not be forgotten, and your mistake is not going to happen again.

Hank Baker, Baker’s “Lightroom and Photoshop guru” and the owner of Baker Photo & Video, is a weather photograper. He taught us about the Photographer’s Market 2012 that is published annually. He explained how it lists what images companies are buying and how much it costs them. This information could be very helpful when trying to tap into the market.

Hank and Patricia showed us around the newly opened Baker Learning Center.  The center includes a fully-stocked photography studio, available for hourly rental (including gear) to any OK photographer. They were also kind enough to give us all a demo of the studio. You can find Baker’s Learning Center here or on their Facebook.

Submitted by the OKC Scribe: Sherri Smith Sherri loves to photograph families, high school seniors, and weddings.  Sherri enjoys the OKC-SMUG meetings, because they have been a learning experience, and the people who attend are great to network with.  Stop by and check out our next meeting- you will not be disappointed!