One awesome way to get outside of your own world and get feedback on how clearly you are presenting your message is to have some of your friends read over your material and give you feedback. Often as photographers, we use photography-related words that the outside world doesn’t understand. We actually hired a marketing director 15 years ago who was a past client and she helped us to see our business through new eyes. She told us, from her perspective as a past client, the things we did that were confusing to her. We took this very seriously; after all, if she was confused, how many of our clients were also confused? It was during this time that we started getting serious about a “Clarity Campaign” which simply meant everything we printed had to pass the clarity test and that is also when we started segregating our work more stringently (ie: black and white Relationships and Color Studies).

Clearly defined ideas are easier to remember. One thing we did along with separating and defining our photographic styles was to not dilute any of them with crossovers. What I mean by that is that we didn’t and still don’t photograph clients dressed all in black turtlenecks and black slacks which is the wardrobe for our Relationship black and white portraits as a Color Study. No, that would dilute the message of clarity. Color Studies have a completely different goal and that is to photograph someone looking their best and they have a classic twist. Relationship black and white portraits are more contemporary and always include more than one person celebrating life, love and family. The Beau Visage paintings are milestone images, done when children are at least 4 years old and they are usually very formal. Making these decisions early in the game to never crossover allows us now to continue to define and refine our clarity efforts.

I will end Part 3 with a short chapter from the book, “You, Inc.” by Harry and Christine Beckwith.

“Most venture capitalists, who make some of the largest purchases in all of sales, ask two questions of companies that come to them for money and help. Their first question is simple, but the answers often are not. What do you do? You must answer simply too. Otherwise, you will confuse the person. If it sounds like you do too many things, or too many seemingly unrelated things, the person will assume you cannot do any of them well. Ask that question. Write down your answers. Show it to four people whose opinion you value. Ask them:
Is it clear?
Is it simple?
Does it inspire their confidence that you are focused enough to master whatever you are selling? Ask and answer: What do you do?”

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We found that to get our Relationship Black and White Brand where it is today, we had to be so repetitive that we were almost sick of it, but it took that to make it clear to the public. In the beginning and for about three years, every exhibit had only the Relationship work on it. Every marketing piece featured only the Relationship pieces. We stripped the message down to “Behind Every Face, There’s A Story.” Easy, concrete, simple to understand! We told stories about the people we photographed and others recognized them and it helped build our brand as they read about their friends or neighbors in our newsletters and in special give away papers we put in our mall exhibits. The public understood that our Relationship portraits involved a story. To be simple and find our core message in the beginning was absolutely crucial in launching our Relationship line of portraiture, but it took great effort and courage to whittle ourselves down enough for it to catch on. Have you whittled yourself down enough so that what you present to the public is painfully clear?

To be continued…

P.S. If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to it if you haven’t done so already. Also, be sure to tell all of your friends about it, comment on Facebook and Tweet about it when a topic speaks to you. I would surely appreciate it:-)

Have a wonderful week, everyone. Bev

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This post will deal with something we teach all of the time and that is originality. In order to create a brand that sticks in people’s minds, you need to surprise them a bit; offer them the unexpected. We cannot demand attention, we must attract it. To attract it, there must be an element of surprise.

Again, I will link our BRAND of black and white Relationship portraits to the thought of originality. In 1993 when we introduced this brand (we didn’t know it would become a brand at the time), we were trying to remedy the problem our studio had of being all things to all people. This made us unrecognizable in our community other than we were a better than average portrait studio. When we introduced the Relationship black and white fine art portraits, nobody was shooting in black and white. All portrait studios were using color film, so that was a HUGE difference and totally unexpected and original. If you look at the history of photography, black and white portraits were not a new and exciting invention of the Waldens! However, in a world of color in the 90’s, they were new and exciting!

Let’s look at some other things that made them original. One huge factor was the severe crops we used in these portraits. We actually had the courage to crop into people’s heads, sometimes cropping the entire head off and sometimes, just leaving chin and lips! What a unique approach! Different! Original! Tim often jokes that when he studied photography in the beginning, if he cut people’s heads off, he would fail the class, but now, he gets paid for it!

Black turtlenecks and slacks were another very different and surprising element in these portraits. We were not interested in photographing clothing or even talking about it; we needed simple, dark clothing to carry through the vision we had of Relationship portraits. We simply told our clients to think of a mime and notice what was important to their performances; face and hands! We wanted to show and elevate people’s relationships with each other through touch (hands) and facial expressions. We often asked (and still do) our clients to close their eyes and snuggle. It changes everything in the portrait and they are so authentic, portraying the love between family members. Closed eyes? Yes! In a world of trying to keep people from closing their eyes in a portrait, we ask our clients to do just that! Different, surprising and original.

Now let’s look at the factor of emotion. When we introduced these portraits into the marketplace, we wanted an emotional tag to go along with them. We came up with the line, “Behind every face, there’s a story!” In our Design Appointments, we started to ask for stories of why this portrait was being taken and we learned about the personalities of who was going to be photographed. Remember that we were a photography studio, yet, we were delving into people’s lives and hearts to learn their stories and then portray them through our Relationship portraiture. Our standard question to ask was this, “If this portrait were a chapter in a book about your life, what would the title of the chapter be?” With this one question, we learned about our client’s innermost thoughts and then portrayed what we learned in an intimate, touching portrait that was so different from the typical camera smiles that photographers typically sought. Most studios at that time were not inclined to do Design Appointments because it was too much trouble and nobody was asking for people’s stories. That was unheard of! Different, surprising and original.

When we came up with this idea, we decided to treat it with respect and as a true art form, therefore, we did not mix black and white and color sessions together. Our clients booked one or the other, not both together! We simply explained that black and white Relationship portraits involved stories, celebrations of relationships and were styled completely different (and because of the simple, black clothing and special lighting), we did not and could not mix this type of session with anything else. It was elevated to a different and higher level than anything else in our studio. WOW! This was very different! And surprising! And original!

When it came to the product itself, we only offered it in three wall sizes, one mat color choice (which we picked out) and only as squares. No exceptions. We also instituted a policy of offering the wall portraits for sale only at the initial appointment. If they didn’t buy wall sizes at that appointment, those negatives were retired and were never available again for purchase other than 8×10 and smaller. The reason we did this was really for Tim’s sake as he hand-printed each wall portrait one by one in the darkroom and matching a wall portrait that was printed in the past was nearly impossible. Not able to order later? Only squares? NO choice of mats? Different. Surprising. Original.

So you see with just these few thoughts put down how we created a strong brand 17 years ago that is still going strong today! In fact, it is still requested more than anything else we do today! I hope you see the importance of ORIGINALITY, SURPRISE AND BEING DIFFERENT! Read this again and again and make notes of how you are going to create your own brand!

Have a great week! Bev

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Principle. Definition: a fundamental quality or attribute
Branding. Definition: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. Branding today is used to create emotional attachment to products and companies. Branding efforts create a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and an aura of intangible qualities that surround the brand name, mark, or symbol. Dave Dolak

PART 1-SIMPLICITY
In order to create a recognizable brand for your business, you must first strip down the business to find the core idea. This means we must exclude the non-essential peripherals and that can be painful. Tim often says that today is the first time in our history in this profession when wisdom is in knowing what NOT to do instead of what to do! With all of the possibilities digital technology opens up, we can get lost in the race of the latest and greatest filter or action. We go to trade shows and see the vast, and I mean vast, array of goodies before us in cute framing presentations or beautiful jewelry; trendy handbags and cutesy props. Along with that is the photography itself. There is something new and hot in our email inbox daily! So, where do you fit in this craziness? Can you find your core identity? Can you simplify what you do down? A powerful “brand” must be simple and quick to understand.

To strip an idea down and get to its core, we must learn to be “masters” of exclusion and create a brand that is also profound so that it has a long future ahead of it.

When we started the Black and White Relationship style of photography 15 years ago, we didn’t realize that we were creating a brand. In fact, the word “brand” was only used in professional marketing firms, not small “mom and pop” businesses. However, we were drowning in being everything to everybody which really meant we were a non-recognizable brand and we were being chosen based on location and price. We were convenient (location) and we were reasonable(price)!

This is what we decided to do on that day long ago when we made the decision to create a brand, although at the time, we didn’t understand that what we were doing was creating a brand.
1. We decided that Relationship photography would only be in black and white and we would offer them as fine art silver gelatin prints which meant Tim went back into a darkroom to hand print them. This was at t time when nobody was doing anything in black and white; everything was done in color.
2. We decided that Relationship photography would, as its name implied, portray relationships which meant more than one person would be in these portraits.
3. We decided that our subjects would wear black clothing, very plain and long sleeved, little or no jewelry and that we would photograph them on an “old masters” background. We did this in order for the images to be simple and impacting in their simplicity.
4. We decided to sell them only as squares and only in three sizes-small, medium and large. Now we sell in five sized, but still only square.
5. We decided to put white mats that were acid-free on them-no choice in other colors. We made the choice of which white we would use based on what looked the best with our portraits.
6. We decided to price them as fine art pieces which meant we didn’t base the price entirely on size; the price was based on the value of a fine art piece.
7. We decided to never compromise on Relationship portraits (ie: putting them on sale, making them rectangular if someone asked, etc)
8. We decided to make them highly personal and emotional; capturing and celebrating the moments between parents and children or siblings, etc.
9. We decided to separate our gallery area in order to display only the Relationship portraiture in its own dedicated space. In our mall displays, we did the same thing, dedicating space to show only Relationship portraiture.
10. We decided to market this portraiture by using people’s stories and we used the tag line. “Behind every face, there is a story.”

Hopefully, using our Relationship Black and White photography as the example, you can see how much we simplified it to create a strong, simple and profound brand. Over the next five weeks, we will continue down this road, learning the other 5 principles to creating a brand.

P.S. If you already have a strong, simple and profound brand, you may want to tune in to listen to Tim’s audio recordings on creating a Sub-Brand within your brand. It is available if you are a Coaching Community member. If you have not joined our Coaching Community, check out the features and benefits on our home page as Tim takes you through it step by step.

Have a great week, everyone.
Bev

digital,photography,acidfree

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What did we used to do for our clients that we have let fall by the wayside? Where are we not providing a consistent experience? Whether we let something fall because it is inconvenient or because of expense, in a tight market, we really cannot afford to let anything slip! There is just too much competition for clients and we must make the effort each and every time to provide a full, consistent experience. Sometimes, we don’t even know we have slipped on some things. They just don’t get done and then, one day, you stop and realize that you haven’t provided this or that for a long time. Drifting…

Consistency in experience is one of the greatest tools we have for success. Clients expect a consistent experience or they will go somewhere else. I am like this when we go to a new restaurant. The first visit sets the stage and gives me a yardstick to measure each and every visit after that. If I get hot rolls oozing with butter within a couple of minutes the first time I visit a new place, I want the same thing each time. If they slip up, I may let it go once or twice, but after that, I will leave and never go back. Why? Because they violated my expectations. It would have been better for them not to set their standards that high and be able to deliver service in a consistent manner, but they drifted from the original experience.

We know, at our studio, that we cannot serve every client just-baked cookies, warm from the oven, every time they walk through the door, so we don’t do it! We don’t want to disappoint our clients the next time by not having the time to bake the cookies or maybe we didn’t get to the store to buy the dough. However, we can provide, on a consistent basis, hot coffee with the Keurig one-cup-at-a-time coffee maker and we can have chilled soft drinks and water ready all of the time. You need to know your limits and be able to repeat them time and time again without fail! We know our limits and we don’t let ourselves drift!

So, what did you used to do for your clients that you have gotten away from? It takes diligence to keep everything on track. Make sure you stay diligent and consistent in everything from the refreshments you offer to the packaging of the orders-your clients do sweat the small stuff! Don’t drift!

Have a great week everyone! Bev

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1. Friendly and able to make a friend instantly.
This requires you to find common ground and quickly. If you are a mom and your client just had a baby, relate your memories of that time. If you are a sports enthusiast and your client loves sports, get the conversation flowing in that direction. We feel comfortable, which is a key to a successful relationship, with those most like us. Likes attract and different often shunned. People often feel they know us after they have seen us on PhotoVision and they will come up and talk to us at conventions. I love that! The ice is already broken for both of us.

2. First impressions must be positive.
This point has to do with your facility, but also with you. What clothing do you wear when you have a sale? Are your shoes polished, is your pedicure nice, are your fingernails polished, are your clothes pressed? All of these things and more form a first impression that must be positive. If it is not, it will make the sale much harder and create a tense atmosphere. On my sale days, I dress up more than other days. Most of our clients come in casual clothing, and by dressing up a level, I gain authority, a subtle but powerful point. I make sure we have refreshments set out in the sales room and have nice music playing. We put scent on our rings (on the light bulbs) on our sconces so it smells good. Lights are dimmed and one of their images is projected onto our screen. We don’t keep people waiting! Everything is clean…I am telling you, from a woman’s point of view, clients do notice everything and they make the decision on how much money they will spend with you in the first few seconds as they cross your threshold and walk through your door. Details do matter, so sweat the small stuff.

3. Adapt your pace to your client’s pace.
This is a great thing to learn to do as it creates the atmosphere of friendship and trust. Every client has a tempo they do business with and you must understand their tempo. They will give you visual cues, but you must be alert to catch them and adapt. If you talk too much to a person who is analytical and slow to speak, you may overwhelm them. If you are too quiet with a quiet person, though, things can also be uncomfortable. It is a fine line to walk. To comfort your clients, they must feel similar to you; they must buy you. If you don’t mimic his pace, he may feel you don’t understand him and he will tune you out.

4. Make your clients feel like they are the only people who exist while they are with you.
People like to feel important! Period! Have you ever walked into a store where the employees are conversing among themselves and don’t ever acknowledge your presence? That makes me so angry! Why? Because I want them to make me feel important! This is a basic trait of humans; we crave respect. No matter what else is going on in your business, when that client walks in for a sale, treat him with utmost respect and attention for a successful sales experience! For that period of time, nothing else should matter.

Finally, I will close with the five magic words, according to Harry Beckwith in his wonderful book on sales entitled “You, Inc.”
“Thanks.”
“Welcome.”
The person’s name.
The names of the person’s children.
“I’ll get the check.”

A quick commercial here…if you haven’t joined our Coaching Community yet, why are you waiting??? The price is going up August 6th to $25.00/month (it is a subscription). Right now, it is $20.00/month. So, get in on the action and join us.

One of our new members, Joe, says, “Tim and Bev .. just got your “you better subscribe or else” email and I mulled it around for a couple hours and decided to pull the trigger. I have to say, I can already tell you that this is the best 20 bucks that I have spent in A VERY LONG TIME. Not only are your technical articles terrific in the Knowledge Library and Image Studies, your Template Club has some great stuff in there. But the RAK and links into Bev’s Blog are simply amazing. I missed you guys here at Texas School last year, but I think you have a new fan and I am looking forward to meeting you guys in person.

Have a great week, everyone! Bev

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I had a few free hours this weekend and thought I would look up a few websites. It was so interesting to see the different approaches of photographers, not only to their photography, but their websites as well. It got me thinking about design and how much I love great design and how my emotions are touched by it. It is such a monumental part of my life now; design projects are where I get inspired and have so much freedom and fulfillment when I can pull off something that looks enticing and gives great joy.

Recently, while designing several e-zines for the studio to use as informational pieces and as our newsletter, I realized a few things about design. These were principles I knew, but they were reinforced by having to structure an entire magazine, so I thought I would share them with you.

First of all, I realized every design piece must be simple, easy to read and quick to grasp. That is the “utility” part of designing. Everything must function correctly, grammar must be right, text must be laid on the page where it is easy on the eyes and the message must be clear and easy to understand. I made sure that for every text-heavy page, it was followed by a design page with a quote and image with a lot of negative space around it. I was giving the eyes a place to rest and take a breath, so to speak! I thought of these pages like an oasis in the desert.

Second, I knew I needed to make these e-zines so compelling that the reader couldn’t stop looking at it. This is where two things combine for me; beauty and emotion. By the use of unique fonts, colors and images along with creative page layouts, I knew I could make the publication beautiful. Emotion came in the stories and quotes and it really added to the mix to create pieces that were easy to read and also delightful. Don Norman, an author and engineering professor said, “Aesthetics matter. Attractive things work better.”

Daniel Pink, the author of “A Whole New Mind” says this, “Good design, now more accessible and affordable than ever, also offers us a chance to bring pleasure, meaning and beauty to our lives. But most important, cultivating a design sensibility can make our small planet a better place for us all.” I love that thought of bringing pleasure, meaning and beauty in what I can sit down and design in Photoshop and it is now so much easier that 10-15 years ago when we had to take everything to InstyPrint to have done. We have come a long way!

I am including the Walden newsletter and the Walden e-brochure here to help you grasp the concepts of utility, emotion and beauty. Enjoy!

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You MUST develop your own style and carve your own niche to gain recognition in the marketplace.

Adding the “E” (emotional) factor into your photography, marketing and sales will elevate your studio in every way including sales numbers!

Perception is more important than reality and will become your reality. In other words, “To be successful, you must look successful!”

Telling the stories of others with your images is a win-win situation in the marketplace. Behind every face is a story!

Marketing integrity in all of your literature, whether printed or electronic, is a must for the true professional.

Partner with other like-minded businesses in your community to elevate both and cross-market.

Hire your “perfect client” as a marketing director to help you create new ideas and implement them in your area.

Give back to your community by offering your talents in an area of need.

Create a buzz in your area with new and exciting products that the “digital” world has opened up, but be selective in what you choose.

Don’t be surprised if your next staff member is a graphic artist.

Have a great week!  Bev

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This week, I thought I would post how I get images ready for the Sales Appointment. Above, you see a before and after. Below, I show the Before, two in-between steps and the After to show the progression. The reason I do this prep is because people are visual, so I want to put my best foot forward in the Sales Room to show what a wall canvas will actually look like or at least, get it close.

As it does take more time, I do a simple and quick prep on a group of my favorite images and do this extensive work only on the one or two I suggest for the wall pieces. Once clients see the “fixed” image(s), they are sold! Some of you are thinking you don’t have the time to sort and then work on a few images that you suggest, but my thought is I would rather take the time in private, before the sale, to sort, eliminate and work on these few suggested images and then, the sale is much shorter and much less confusing and tiring. On the sales audio I recorded called “Solving the Puzzle of Successful Sales”, I talk about the three things that kill a sale; confusion, frustration and fatigue. You want to avoid these things at all costs!

The four image details:

1. the Original image has just been cropped and nothing else.

2. Image 2 has been retouched to remove the red blotch on the bridge of her nose and a few stray hairs and then I applied the Imagnomic Portraiture filter and brought the opacity down to where it looked soft, but still natural.

3.  Image 3 has been vignetted and had the edges blurred using Tim’s palette from Ron Nichols. Even though named Tim Walden’s Black and White Darkroom palette, it works beautifully for color imagery as well.

4.  Image 4 has the eye work applied and also other highlights bumped up as well as a few lashes added and the darks enhanced which include the pupil and the ring around the iris. When all was done, I darkened the entire image a bit.

Hope you enjoy this post! Check out Tim’s palette at www.ronnichols.com and my Sales mp3 audio on our website under Educational Products.

Bev

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We just received a note from a fellow photographer who was really struggling in his business…that hits home with all of us! As educators, we know there is no quick fix for the economic mire we are in right now. However, what we do know and teach are principles that have proven to be true  and we are living those principles day in and day out in our own business. Most of the time, what we teach are ideas that take time to start producing, but for us, they are the right ideas for building long term success.

What I would like to accomplish in this blog is to hear some ideas that are working for you right now to get customers through the door in your business.  Let’s all pitch in with ideas to help each other in this time of need!

I will start by sharing one idea that is working well for us to generate new business. We decided that starting January 1st, we were going to re-energize our efforts to get business partners in our community to align with us and help us find new clients. In order to do this, we decided to close on Monday and dedicate that day strictly to this effort. That is one-fifth of our work week, but it shows how important we feel it is! We found two new children’s clothing stores in our area that were suited for each of our divisions…one is perfect for Walden’s (more classic) and one is perfect for Studio B (more contemporary and colorful)!

We visited each store and pitched our ideas about partnering with them and shared our thoughts on clients. Of course, it needs to be beneficial for both of us to work. Whenever we approach a new business about partnering with us, we always ask two questions. “What can we do for you?” and “What can we do with you?” Then we work out the details of each question to everyone’s satisfaction. We do offer to photograph the owner’s children and/or family in order for them to experience Walden’s or Studio B, but we clarify how long we would like them to use that sample in their business before taking it home. We want it to be a win-win situation for all parties. We then design custom cards with those portraits and a few other portraits we feel are appropriate from our files that have a gift of a Session Fee from us that they can give their best clients. From there, we play it by ear as far as what we will do for that business.

Some things we are doing for our partners at this time:

~We visit a few times each month, take them treats (or take them to lunch) and talk about ideas to work together on.

~We set up drawings a few times per year (ie: Mother’s Day, Easter, etc) and from these drawings, build a data base of names and emails that we can market to. Besides the main winner of the drawing, we have the store owner select 10-15 additional clients they feel would be a good fit for us, and we send them Gift Cards worth $300.00. The amount given has to be enough to entice that person to call. If you just give a few dollars or an 8×10, it is not enough to create a successful call to action. We also put an expiration date on these cards with a 30-45 day window.

~We make them custom clothing tags with images of their children and both of our logos. We use WHCC’s Rep card template for these as they are economical and come in larger sets.

~We show up at store events with a snapshot camera and take a few shots (just because), have them printed and give the images to the store owner.

~We make sure to change out images often and if we photograph any of their best customers, we use those as their samples.

So, this is one idea to generate new business. What are some of your ideas? I really would like to hear from all of you who read this blog:-) Let’s help our fellow photographers out with some of your great ideas!

Have a great week! Bev

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