When I was thinking of what to write about, I started thinking about what has been one of the main keys to our success, and that elusive thing is originality! We discovered the concept of being original when we started shooting the black and white Relationship portraits 15 years ago when everyone else was shooting only in color! Wow, was that different! Then, adding to that, we cut people’s heads off! Well, not in a real life-threatening way, but in our imagery. We wanted to cut through the clutter to get right into the child’s face or the baby’s eyes or whatever the subject might be.  This concept was against all that was being taught at that time which was to back way up, make the portrait pictorial and the subjects so small that you had to get a 30×40 to even see the faces! And then there was the fact that we set up a darkroom and hand-printed every image when everyone else was sending all of their work to a lab and you see why we stood out!

In today’s marketplace,  you can see what we started nearly 15 years ago around every corner and the concept of “baby parts” in a 9-opening mat is not so odd, but it was original way back then! When the public caught on, we were on a rocket ride straight up and our sales went through the roof! Those were the days, as they say. The public really loved seeing their loved ones’ faces close up and they loved the drama and simplicity of our Relationship portraits.

In fact, here we are in 2010, still shooting Relationship portraits nearly 60% of the time. As the years have progressed, we have finessed our Color Studies and they are in high demand as well. As most of you know, we also added Beau Visage, a trading up division that offers painted portraits in 2005, and that division is coming along nicely, but it still has room to grow which we are working on right now. The important aspect is to be original, no matter what the medium.

Along with being original, you must try to be the first as well. Being first allows you to capture that particular “territory” in your client’s mind. With the Relationship portraits, we were both original and first, and we own that “brand”  not only in our state, but virtually everywhere we go. In the book “Positioning, the Battle for your Mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout, they lay out a complete strategy on how to position your business for success. I would recommend this book, and in fact, I just purchased a follow-up book about this topic called “Re-Positioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis” by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin.

As I close this blog, I challenge you to find originality in your photography style. What makes you different? Why would a client choose you over a competitor? What do you offer that would entice a client to come to you? How can you keep your clients from leaving you for someone else they see as more original? I believe the answer to these questions may very well be the difference between the success and failure of your business in the coming years!

Have a great week!  Bev

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Tim and I have been running our studio together for 30 years now! Boy, how time has flown by and how things have dramatically changed in the way we do business. In cleaning out the studio recently, several things I found reminded me of how we used to do things and caused me to reflect on how we are doing things now. It is always good to reflect on the past to make sure you haven’t drifted from what you once did to become great!

For example, are we better now at customer service or are we in a rut and just going through the motions? Do we really love our clients as much as we used to? Sometimes, I get so consumed in my daily tasks that I lose track of those who create the tasks (our clients) and I have to step back and evaluate myself.  I take myself out from behind my computer and call up some friends for lunch just to have live conversation. I think part of my problem is the massive amount of time spent on the computer without input from humans. Remember them????

Our studio meetings every month or so also help all of us to get on the same page and talk about some of these problems if we see them cropping up. If we are taking our customers for granted, we talk about it and ways to again raise our level of customer service and customer experience at Walden’s, bringing to the forefront the importance once again.

Our clients are truly the best in the world! I want to make sure we treat them as they deserve and never sell them short.

Have a great week!  Bev

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Last week, I promised I would share our color work from Studio B, our Associate-Run division of Walden’s. Tim and I are not involved in the photography of Studio B; it is the sole responsibility of our associate photographer, Laura. Although we are both under the same roof, we each have separate galleries in order to clarify what we do. We even have separate entrances into the building. Just to refresh your memory, Walden’s does the Black and White Fine Art Relationship portraits, Color Studies and Beau Visage paintings. Studio B also has three categories; High School seniors, Bebes and Kids which also include Furry Kids!

Today, I am going to discuss Studio B Kids and Furry Kids. We knew we needed to have definite dividing lines between Walden Color Studies and Studio B Kids in order for the public to understand each “brand.” We took the Studio B Kids in the direction of a more colorful and interactive portrait while Walden’s Color Studies remain classical and more posed. We also changed the product mix to accommodate the more colorful and playful approach and introduced the collage of 9 images which has been a huge hit. The Showcase idea was carried over from Walden’s to allow the client to purchase a variety of images without taking up wall space as the set sits on a table easel, but we still get our numbers up where we want them. The other product which is a perfect fit for Studio B are the 4×10s framed in GW Moulding frames which are very reasonably priced. It is a perfect add-on sale.

We do very different marketing with Studio B, utilizing Facebook much more to communicate our message and emailing more than calling our clients. The typical client for the Studio B line is a bit younger and more into technology although we have a lot of crossover between Walden’s and Studio B which answers the age old question of a long-time client, “What can I do next that is different?” We can now offer a wider variety without diluting the long-established Walden brand.

Studio B has been a huge hit in our community and has been received very well. To learn more about Walden’s and Studio B, why not make this the year you attend Walden University and take your studio to the next level! We would love to have you…we have extended the Early Bird Registration until March 15th, so be sure to sign up by the deadline and save $100.00!

Have a wonderful week!

Bev

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I thought I would squeeze a photography topic in today, and since most of you are familiar with our Relationship Black and White work, I wanted to introduce you to Walden Color Studies.

First of all, our Color Studies are intended to show clients are their best. Beautifully dressed in simple but elegant clothing, we style it richly and the images are more “posed” than our Black and White imagery which can be more interactive at times. The background choices (Maheu backgrounds) (Photo Showcase) are classic and we also use our window which is very popular and beautiful for a creamy, ivory set.

Second, we keep it simple. Simplicity is the key element at Walden’s and always has been. Props are used, but with discretion and usually have the purpose of positioning our clients in certain ways. We do use flowers in hands to keep them still, especially in small children and it works very well.

Posing needs to be elegant, elongating and graceful. With children, we often look for a bit of whimsy as well such as toes turned in or a funny mannerism with their hands. We like the more formal pose mixed with that bit of whimsy! We also work for angled lines in the bodies, not straight up and down. Remember too that the “S” curve is a very fluid and graceful line for females!

So remember…timeless, graceful, elegant, rich and simple are all attributes of Walden Color Studies. Next Monday, I want to share what Walden’s Studio B Color work looks like. You will see a big difference in each brand which is vital to clarity in the marketplace! Until then, have a great week!

Bev

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When we first started doing Black and White Relationship portraiture, we were printing the images in the darkroom and the largest size we could print was 20×20 (since we only offered them in square format). This created an issue when a client needed a larger image to fill a specific space in their home, so the idea of selling in groupings was born. We could sell four 16×16s  or three 20×20s and that would take up quite a bit of space. The other factor that we didn’t count on was the added ability to sell those “heart” images which may not have been a main purchase, but as part of a group, were validated!

We started calling the main image the “Anchor” image and it was often the family portrait. The other companion images that would hang with the Anchor image were named “Abbreviations” since they represented parts or abbreviations of the Anchor image. This was a huge success 15 years ago and is still the way we offer our Relationship portraits.

In the camera room, we have learned to specifically shoot images that will format into Anchor and Abbreviation imagery for the sale, knowing that it will make our job much easier if we keep this in mind. The other factors that make this work so well; all of our Relationship imagery is always black and white which makes our groupings look much more cohesive plus we only print in a square format, making beautiful groupings without the hassle of trying to make both verticals and horizontals work together.

I hope this little lesson will help bring up your sales totals…have a wonderful week.

Bev

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I remember teaching at NEIPP last year when Tim said he thought we were through with having to market so hard and work every day for new ideas. Then he said no, it was just the opposite. We were once again having to create the momentum in our community through aggressive marketing, just like when we first started! Laughing, he said it was time to kick it up a notch (again) and get busy!

This brings us to today’s topic, Marketing on Mondays. What you may not know was that we never closed on Mondays because our commercial clients like LexMark and IBM needed us to be open 5 days a week. Of course, that was many years ago before our portrait business became so strong that we could leave the commercial business behind us. However, during our entire history, we have always been open on Mondays. That is why, when Tim mentioned that we close on Mondays for marketing, I was very surprised! However, we both knew it was time to put more emphasis on marketing once again, so we worked out a plan.

We met with Laura, our office & marketing manager, and made a plan to start closing on Mondays, starting in 2010. We then wrote out our goals for Mondays since we now had 8 hours of uninterrupted time to pursue marketing at a new level. The main task we all agreed on was that we needed to find new partners in our local area and then, we needed to offer a higher level of service and attention to those partners. Because our studio is divided into Walden’s Photography (Tim and I) and Studio B (Laura) and our styles are so different in each, we decided to find partnering businesses for both Walden’s and Studio B. Laura packed her car with samples, pamphlets, business cards and treats and took off with the goal of getting exhibits in area businesses that we thought matched us. The first Monday she went out, we hit every goal we had set. The following Mondays have been over the top successful with many area businesses joining us in partnership, both long term by accepting an exhibit and some short term by helping us hand out information an upcoming events.

Phone calls are still taken on Mondays, even if Laura is out, by having all calls forwarded to her cell phone. She can also book appointments on her laptop anywhere she is since we use StudioCloud, a web-based studio management program which has access to the studio calendar. However, when she is out, doors are locked until she returns, and we don’t book appointments at all on Mondays now. Clients were notified of the change and we have had no problems at all.

Two things always come to mind when I think about this idea. The first is from the book “The E Myth” where a statement was made, “Take some time to work on your business, not always in it.” Wow, on it and not in it-that’s a major thought for those of us who own our own businesses and stay so busy just trying to keep up. It’s time to step away to work on your business, whether it’s an hour, a day or a week! The second thing that comes to mind is an article I read long ago in the Rainbow, a magazine put out by Burrell. There was a story written by a photographer who decided to close on Mondays just to work on marketing and he spoke of the great success he had. In fact, he stated it worked so well that he decided to close for two days and then three days a week to work on marketing! Well, that idea stayed in the back of my mind. When we decided to close on Mondays, I just knew it was going to be one of the most successful ideas we implemented for 2010. So far, it has proven to be true!

Here are some things that have worked for us:

~Have confidence. We load our car with wall samples that we can put up immediately along with brochures, booklets, biz cards, etc. If the business is interested, we can go in and hang a couple of portraits right away.

~Ask two questions…”What can I do for you?” and “What can I do with you?” The first question is important because it allows us to service our partners better by knowing what we can do to help them. The second question allows us to join with them in their events or maybe even create an event together. We want these partnerships to be strong, healthy and lots of fun too!

~Take treats! There is no better way to show you care that to bring in a tray of cupcakes, brownies or cookies. We even get to know the children and then start taking them little bags of goodies just for them! Small thing…HUGE result!

~If you get rejected, always ask this question. “If I have another idea I think may work for you, may I come back and talk to you again?” That way, you always have your foot in the door and it removes the funny feeling of coming back again.

~Create gift cards just for them with their logo, your logo, their kid’s portraits done by you, etc. You have the access and ability to provide these and they don’t. Make this extra effort to help.

~Create a rotation calendar and make sure you change their samples often. Don’t get exhibits and then leave them hanging too long or forget to go back and replenish literature! That leaves a very bad impression!

Marketing Mondays…a great idea for us and hopefully for you too! Have a great week!

Bev

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I thought I’d give you some tips and also some links today for design magazines and sources that give me inspiration when I sit down to design a project. First of all, I think it’s important to figure out when you feel the most creative during the day. For me, it is in the morning until lunch time. After that, I  feel my creative edge wears down.  If it is a project that is simple, I work on it later in the day, but if it is a cornerstone project, I work in the morning for the best results.

Secondly, many times, the first design is often not the best you can do. I will go back a few hours or days later and review my project and often, I make changes that greatly improve it. So, don’t despise doing something twice!

I do my best work when I have a “vision” for what I am designing. The stronger the vision, the faster and easier it is for me to be creative and come up with a great look. Tim is good at laying out the “vision” which is the big picture so to speak. When he turns to me and says, “Make it happen!” I can run with it if it is well defined. So, I think the next point is to have clarity of vision. This also applies if you are hiring a designer-he or she must understand what your vision is for your business in order to produce the correct style for you, so be good at sharing that.

Finally, just as a photographer gets better with practice, so does a graphic designer. I find myself growing every time I work on a project and it is exciting to see the progress.

OK, now for some sources of inspiration for you. The first one is absolutely FREE and is a catalog from J.Peterman, an incredible marketer.  Some of you may remember him as the man Elaine worked for on Seinfeld. Anyway, his catalog is an entire lesson on emotional marketing, storytelling and great design. Get on his mailing list today and…ok, buy a few things! They are also incredible!

The other two magazines I subscribe to and enjoy are for Graphic Design professionals, but we can take a peek at what they are up to, can’t we?  One is called HOW and I have gotten so many great ideas from it. Even the paper it is printed on is wonderful.  The second one is a sister magazine and is called I.D. and profiles the products and graphics being designed today by the world’s top designers. Both should be named WOW-ha ha!

And…finally, for the first ten of you who write a response to this blog, I will send you my special teaching “7 Thoughts on Design” absolutely FREE! We will track who you are behind the scenes. The only way to get this particular teaching is to do our Coaching Community program. It is part of our Knowledge Base. So, get those fingers flying and have a great week!

Bev

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For those of you who attended the IUSA Pre-convention class on charities, you heard us speak about Daniel’s Care, the pediatric arm of Hospice here in the central Kentucky area. All hospices have a pediatric division; just not named Daniel’s Care as this was named after Rick Pitino’s son, Daniel, who passed away as a child. For those who don’t know who Rick Pitino is, he was our UK Basketball coach several years ago before he moved to the northeast to coach a professional team and then came back to Kentucky (they always do), but took a different position than UK when he became the coach for Louisville. Enough on that, though!

Several years ago (I think about 7), our marketing director, Donna, came to us to discuss a charity we felt we would be compatible with and she actually had Daniel’s Care in mind. What we needed to work out was what to do and how to do it, so we met with the woman in charge of it and talked about what we wanted to accomplish. This is what was decided that day long ago and is still the way we work with Daniel’s Care.

~We do one Black and White “Relationship” portrait per month of a critically ill child with their family which Daniel’s Care chooses based on health factors. We get the most frail children first.

~All portraits are done in our studio (easy since most come to Lexington anyway for doctor’s appointments, etc) and the others live here.

~After the session, we select and print a 16×16 matted, archival fine art black and white portrait which is then matted and framed and ready to hang.

~The social worker in charge gets the portrait and delivers it to the family. No money ever changes hands…EVER!

~We also raise money for the Indigent Fund at Christmas along with collecting toys for the children.

I want all of you who read this to go to our website at www.waldensphotography.com and visit the Daniel’s Care page where you can get the contact information of our local chapter who can then put you in touch with your local chapter. Also, watch the video there-I promise, your hearts will be touched. If you feel you could do a similar concept in your area, please let us know if we can help in any way. After seeing the tragedy in Haiti this past week, I think we all understand better how very blessed we are daily and we should all review what we do for others for absolutely nothing in return. Charity involvement, volunteer work, helping others in need, having a giving heart…whatever it may be, please get involved somewhere. My mother volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House (after she retired) for 15 years and my dad, a veteran, volunteered (pushing other veterans to appointments in wheelchairs) at the Veteran’s Hospital for as long as he could until his health started failing. What great examples were set before me:-)

This week, determine to do something to help your fellow man. Until next week–

Bev

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I must start this blog with an apology to all of the readers as this week, I am tardy with the blog due to the IUSA convention. It was with good intentions that I was going to write one before we came so it would post on time, but…well, you can guess what happened (or didn’t)!

On top of that, many of you stopped me at this convention and told me you like to read my blog and thanked me for being so consistent in my postings;-( Sorry to all of you and please forgive me:-)

OK, I wanted to tell you all who may not have attended a few of the things I learned this week. The first thing I heard over and over from the attendees was a general feeling of optimism that 2010 is going to be a better year. I heartily agreed with them and am planning on that outcome for us as well.

From Nancy Emmerich and Rose, her daughter, I learned that they schedule their Senior outdoor sessions all on one night each week and they always meet and stay in one general area, each session lasting 1/2 hour. They can fit 4 in at a time that way and it utilizes their time more efficiently. Also from the Emmerichs, I learned that the Seniors love signing their name on white paper which they scan and add to the images; sort of a personal touch. Great idea!

From Greg and Lisa Daniel, I learned that you create a desire with distinct branding (where have I heard that before), then you build a relationship and satisfy their needs by understanding the client’s vision and fulfilling it. They recommended the book “The Experience Economy” and “Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage” to take customer service up a few notches. They also get their clients to write a few words (a testimonial) at the pick-up and mentioned that if your client says they will just mail it, you will never receive it, so get it then! Great information.

From Drake Busath, I learned about posing families that were quite large and thinking of the heads as music notes to make sure our melody is not stagnant, but curvy. Guess you had to be there to understand this concept…additionally, we learned how he stitches panoramas of families together and gave us some helpful hints. I think he is one of the best teachers around right now, so if you ever see him listed as teaching anywhere near you, GO! You won’t be sorry!

After these programs, we wore ourselves out at the trade show and had the opportunity to teach at the Kodak booth, always an honor! One of the most creative ideas I saw at the trade show was at Jen Hillenga’s booth called Love Notes and she also has a wonderful collection of textured backgrounds and layouts that can be combined for cards, books and canvas wraps. You need to check her out at http://jensfabulousstuff.com/store/

I will post some photos from this week on our Fan Page later, so check them out there. The one of us with Bill Clinton and George Bush are hilarious! Until next Monday, have a great week!

Bev

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WOW-was 2009 a year to remember or forget? Part of me wants to forget it and then the other part takes over and says to learn from it. As a whole, we cannot complain. Both of our daughters graduated from nursing school and are set in the job market-that’s a BIG relief! And no, neither one wants to follow in our footsteps which is fine too. We just want them to be healthy, happy and financially stable. We are still standing which is an accomplishment as many of our dear friends have had to leave this wonderful profession for monetary reasons. We are healthy, still love each other, have our wonderful bull dog to come home to every night-what could be better?

Anyway, as I promised on our Facebook Fan Page (please join us if you haven’t already at Walden’s Education for Photographers), I am writing the five top things we learned in 2009 which I know will help us have a better 2010, so here goes.

1.  We realized that our top clients of the past were no longer our top clients of today. Why is this important? Well, we touched base more often with these clients, writing them personal letters and keeping up with them. What happened? Their kids got older and it became less urgent to get them photographed as often. In fact, the main reason they returned at all was a new baby which then put them back on our “top” client list once more, but no baby, no client! It’s ashamed, but our clients just don’t come as often when their kids get into elementary school (the upper grades). We now work more on scouting out new (qualified) moms with young children by working closer with our partners.(see point #2)

2.  Partners have always been important, but now are critical in connecting us with the clients we want. We have put new emphasis on nurturing our partnerships including closing the studio on Mondays in order to visit them (and take goodies of course), work on marketing materials such as cards for them, calling on new, potential partners, etc. We do a couple of interesting things here-we make each partner a beautifully designed card for them to give to their best clients for a Studio Session. We photograph their child/children to use on these cards and ask them to only give them out when someone spends a certain amount which they determine. We also make clothing tags for them to use on outfits that are perfect for photography. Working more closely with our partners will be part of our success in 2010!

3.  Direct mail to both clients and non-clients isn’t as effective as it used to be. However, we do send special mailings when we have been given names either by our Senior Reps or as part of a partner event as we feel these people are both super qualified and currently interested in our products. If you keep sending mailings to people who aren’t interested, all you do is interrupt them at a time when they are not ready or primed for you (and you waste a ton of money). We also are doing a lot more social networking and feel this is a part of our future success as well.

4.  Change is inevitable and needs to be embraced which means our minds needs to be upgraded much like our computers. We cannot keep doing the same thing the same way and expect different results-we must learn to think in a new way. How? Read books, join a forum you trust, talk with others who are doing what you want to do, hang around successful people who uplift you and on and on! In desperate times, amazing things are invented. Click on this link and be inspired by those who turned their situation around during the Depression.  http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/12/1205_sb_necessity/1.htm

5.  We learned that what we listened to the most in 2009 filled our minds and changed our attitudes, but with doubt and fear, not hope and success. We are addicted to (and still love) Fox News, but when the message on the economy was bad, bad and getting worse, it started to create FEAR (False Evidence Altering Reality) and then we had to combat that along with everything else. We started to listen to more positive messages such as our church’s sermons, motivational speakers, etc., giving our minds something new to focus on. This has made a huge difference in our attitude. We also make it a point to hang out with positive-speaking people as much as we can.

So, this is our list…brutally honest…may God bless all of you in 2010!

Bev

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