Bev's Blog

The year was 1988! That was the year we took over from Tim’s dad who had started Walden’s House of Photography. We changed the name to Walden’s Photography and never looked back. Our vision was certainly different from Tim’s dad in that we decided to create a more specific style of photography instead of being all things to all people as he had done.

One of the first things on our minds was how to become better known in our community, especially since we were starting over with Tim at the helm now. Since this was before the age of social media, we had to rely on different methods of marketing and the first one we focused on was displays.

Displays…

Our main marketing plan (if you can call it that) was (free) displays, displays, displays! Where ever we could get them and not have to pay, we took them. This included children’s clothing stores, restaurants, doctor offices, veterinarians, and strip centers.

{A note about strip centers} 

Our approach was to ask if we could decorate their empty spots that were for lease and often, just had the windows papered over. This way, it looked nicer and we would leave the lease sign in the corner. If they agreed, we sent out our staff to clean the windows and put up drapes to hide the back of the empty space which was often a mess. We involved furniture stores at times, letting their interior decorator “spice” up the space and put a sign up as well. The great thing about using empty spaces in strip centers was the lighting-they always kept the lights on at night for us and didn’t charge us for it!

Our promise to them was two-fold. First, we told them we would never be a burden to them by asking them for anything. We would come get a key, clean, and take the key back afterwards. Second, we promised to move our exhibit out on a day’s notice if they rented the space and needed us out. This rarely happened, but we were ready to move quickly if we needed to.

As far as the rest of the exhibits listed above, we generally got them free of charge and it was our goal to keep them rotating so they didn’t get stale and keep literature stocked in those places. If an owner of a store or a doctor asked for family portraits or money in exchange for the exhibit, we always worked out a plan for them. We just didn’t offer it in the beginning until we knew that particular exhibit would be fruitful. Today, we call these businesses our partners and we are solid allies with them. We always go into a business where we want to create a partnership asking two questions. The first question is, “What can we do for you?” We want to build a relationship with these businesses and offering our services asking nothing in return at the beginning is a great way to start. It is an unselfish gesture that is very much appreciated. The second question we ask is, “What can we do with you?” This is where we sit down and plan strategies with them that benefit both sides. Some of the ideas include drawings, holding trunk shows in our studio, offering special gifts to their top clients such as Session Fee cards which gives their clients a free session with us and so on.

Let’s talk about the mall for a moment… 

Our mall was a different story with the main difference being money and lots of it! In Lexington, our mall is a regional mall and is very successful. We spent years on a kiosk which was not the best situation, but we never complained and always paid our bills. We could afford the mall because the results were amazing in the new business it brought us.

Once our display we approved, we took over the center of the mall where the children’s play area was with four separate units. For many years, this was the best way we had to access new clients. Remember, this was before social media and the technological advances we now take for granted. We put small paper pads with the exhibit for people to fill out for more information and collected them weekly. We gained many leads this way. We also tried putting a college student at our exhibit on the weekends, but felt they were not the right image we needed to stay high end.

Fast forward to today and you will see us in the same mall, although we took a year off to re-set ourselves and re-think how we wanted to appear. When the opportunity came again for us to exhibit in a smaller area for a bit less money, we decided to do it again in order to reach those who may not know who we are.

Auction items for private schools… 

These played a significant role in the past and still play a pivotal role in reaching the right clients. It’s not all about quantity, but quality of clients. In order to keep a high end reputation and attract the right clients, we give a gift that is valued very high in order to get into the “live auction.” Many times, the gift has to be in the thousands of dollars, but we have discovered that it is bid on by exactly the people we want walking through our doors!  This is a great source to attract business and has been for years. Once you build a relationship with the right people in the private schools, you can then work out other money-making ideas with them and they will be on board with you. This takes time!

Newsletters and direct mail…

Although direct mail has taken a hit with the social media that is now available and free, it was pivotal in the past to reach people with our message and name. We still use it in a very restricted way today with highly qualified leads such as high school seniors whose names have been given to us by our “models.” Newsletters are still effective for us, but we have changed how they are delivered. We do an electronic newsletter three times a year at the beginning of each season. The one that is printed and mailed is our Christmas edition which is actually mailed in late October.

{We find if they are short, easy to read and have emotional content with beautiful images, newsletters do very well.} 

Speaking to local businesses…

This was a great idea to get known and build a reputation as the expert! We asked if we could speak at our local bookstore and finally got the ok! They put bookmarks (we made and paid for) in every bag for a month to promote it and it was very successful. We also spoke at any women’s group we could which linked us with exactly the right clients. Speaking is free and has great results. In fact, we just did an invitation only evening event in our studio with 8 women (great clients who will be great evangelists for us) and we taught about taking better pictures, how to correctly save them, etc. It was a wonderful night!

You have to put yourself out there in order to create relationships, which, in the end, is really what marketing it is all about!

Turn the calendar back to the early 90′s and you will find two photographers plus an office manager running a business that was not making enough money to continue. After taking over Walden’s Photography from Tim’s father in the mid-80′s, we discovered that the business model he had built was an “all things to all people” photography studio. We did mainly color portraits, but also events, commercial work, industrial shoots, passports, copy and restoration, framing and so on. We didn’t require a planning session. It was always understood that whatever the client wanted, we would do. We had no definition in the marketplace. Another way to say it is we had no brand that a prospect could identify.

It’s been said that desperation is the mother of invention and this is true, at least for us. We decided, sitting in a dark room one day with no hope for the future unless something changed, that we would fire up the darkroom and go back to our roots (Tim’s, that is) and start a line of black and white artsy portraits called Relationship portraits that would celebrate relationships. We decided to put the emotion back into our work in a stronger way and this was the perfect vehicle for that. These portraits were structured more loosely and included hugs, kisses, snuggling, passion, closed eyes and anything we could think of to shout LOVE!

It is hard to imagine now how unique and daring this move was. During this same time frame, portraits were always in color and nobody printed their own; they were sent to a lab. We also decided to charge much more for these as “artist” pieces, limit the sizes and choices on mats and frames, only offer them square and limit their purchase of any of our 4 wall sizes to the initial sales appointment. After that, the negative was retired and not available for printing a wall size again.

Brave or dumb? We were about to find out!

We understood, or course, that everything takes time to flow into the marketplace. We kept on doing the variety we were doing, but we started marketing only the Relationship portraits, figuring the public knew the other things we did already. It took about three years to fully catch on and then we hit an exponential curve that even we couldn’t believe. Our Relationship portraits finally caught the eye of our market and for a decade of more, it was 80% or more what we did. Finances were in the black and we learned many lessons during this period in our history.

Lesson#1: Things take time-be patient and consistent in putting the message out.

We didn’t stop everything we were doing and wait for this to catch on. We let it take its course and replaced the things we didn’t enjoy doing or the things not making us money with the Relationship portraits as they consumed more of the calendar. We call this leveraging. Once the Relationship portraits created a positive cash flow that was steady, we could drop the other things, but not until we knew we had a sure financial foundation built. In order to make a huge change like this, you must be consistent in marketing the same message over and over.

Lesson #2: Emotion was pivotal in the success

“…the most memorable and enduring brands not only linger in people’s rational minds, but they also creep into their emotional cores. In this emotional core, consumers form their opinions and make their purchase decisions. This is the place where all brands should strive to be.”    Emotion Marketing, the Hallmark Way of Winning Customers for Life

When we first jumped into this, we didn’t understand the depth of this concept. It was only by experiencing this style of photography that we began to understand how emotion played such a pivotal role in its success. We encouraged emotion in the camera room through letting our walls down which allowed the clients to let their walls down.

Lesson #3: Once you capture emotion in your photography, you must learn to market it also.

Our first campaign to market Relationship photography was called “Images that Speak…behind every face, there is a story.” and we started writing the stories of our clients. Then we printed them on 5×7 cards along with the portrait to put in our mall exhibits for people to take home. This was super impacting! We also included stories and images in our newsletter. Adding stories to the images was like adding gasoline to fire-it burned bright and increased our business trememdously.

I’ll conclude with this quote, “Companies should remember to emotionally reach out to their customers-for those that focus solely on rewarding them will miss out on being rewarded by them. Customers have loyalty to give. Rewards may rent their loyalty temporarily, but emotion-based experiences will own it!”  Emotion Marketing, the Hallmark Way of Winning Customers for Life

Have a great week, everyone!  Bev

www.timandbevwalden.com

Is your brand boring? Is your photography becoming stale and dated (normal)?  Do people ignore it because you’re out-of-tune? Do you want to make it come alive and have a personality of its own? You gotta think “weird!”

Being first to market is important. But it’s not the only thing. And it may not be the most important thing. As photography instructors, one of our strongest held beliefs is that each of us needs to be unique in our photography style and approach in the marketplace. Is your photography the run of the mill stuff your clients see every time they turn a corner? Or…are you the stand out in the crowd? Are you weird?

Let me define “weird” for the purpose of this blog. Simply put, the definition of “weird” for this blog is being different-marching to the beat of your heart; after all, photography is part art and part heart! Webster defines it this way: of strong and extraordinary character. In the marketplace and in a prospect’s mind, are you extraordinary? Is your product worth the investment you are asking people to make?  Seth Godin, in his book, The Purple Cow, made a statement I have never forgotten. He asks this question, “Are you remarkable or are you invisible?”

With so many new photographers flooding the market, this is a message that is sorely missing. In our early days, we wanted to become every photographer we went to see and failed miserably. We weren’t being ourselves. As we matured, we found our own style and although we are a tiny bit of everyone we have ever seen, when you look at our work today, it is distinctly ours. It is “weirdly Walden.”

Our greatest success was in the development of our Relationship Black and White portraits. When everyone was shooting color, we decided to shoot black and white. Weird! When everyone was sending their work to labs for printing, we set up our own darkroom. Weird! When everyone else was heavily propping portraits, we stripped all props away and used parents as props instead. Weird! When all teaching said to leave room above the subject’s head, we severely cropped into the top of the head. Weird! When everyone else was saying “cheese” to make a subject smile, we were asking for pensive expressions. Weird! Looking back, what made this such a success was that is was ground-breaking in style and approach. We didn’t offer many sizes which was very different and we restricted wall portraits to the initial sale, eliminating the problem of clients asking if they could order later! Mats only came in one color (white) and we used only one background for the entire session. Clients didn’t change clothes and dressed in black. Remember, this was in the mid 90′s, and everything we did to implement these portraits was “weird.”

When you create a style that is distinct, a prospect cannot go around the corner and buy it cheaper at another business. These Relationship portraits took us from near poverty to amazing success because, at least for us, normal wasn’t working! We stood out in the crowd and offered a significantly different product that our clients drove hours to get and paid the price we asked without complaining.

This week, take a look at your photography. Is it normal or weird? Normal makes you invisible in the marketplace. Wouldn’t you rather be weird? So come on…join us in our journey to be remarkable! You just gotta be weird…because normal isn’t working anymore!

Have a great week everyone!

Bev

Groups…families…do you dread it when you book a family session? Are your skills weak in this area? Although there are many aspects to learn about composition, I thought I would share FOUR tips and the items we absolutely cannot do without and that we use daily at our studio when we have two or more in a group.

Items we MUST have for group posing:  Be sure you have many items on hand to adjust heights and are easy to pose people on. This would include nesting stools, Hanson blocks, chairs, couches, small tables or a desk, pews, stools(adjustable or not) and hassocks to name just a few. Years ago, we kept thick books as an inexpensive item that we could sit someone on to lift them up or stand a small child on. Have these items out and handy to grab; with young children, you must work quickly. We have dark cloth on hand to cover light colored items to make them disappear in the photograph.

Tip#1: Watch where heads are positioned! Be wary of lining up heads in a horizontal line or creating a vertical line by positioning one head directly under another. Squint your eyes when you have your group posed to easily see the faces and make adjustments if you need to. They should be spaced much like music notes on a page, gently flowing up and down, left to right, each playing its own note in unison.

Tip#2: Create diagonal lines with arms, leaning bodies and head tilts. Diagonal lines in composition indicate energy and life and give extra punch to your groupings. We often pull a person’s arm out farther than they would naturally do, causing them to lean or we rest a hand on their hip just to create a diagonal line. People standing straight up or sitting without leaning will create a rigid feeling. In some cases, a circular composition is beautiful. We find this true with newborn babies and their families. Since newborns cannot see very far and enjoy looking at their mom and dad, we often position them to do just that with everyone else looking on. This creates a wonderful circular composition, perfect to portray the love a family has for their newest little member. Think of a triangle when posing a family. It should have a wide base and go up to a smaller top, just like a triangle. This composition is the most used when doing groupings.

Tip#3: Demonstrate the pose you want your subjects to do and then step back and let them copy what you did. This is much easier and quicker than verbally instructing them. Again, with small children, you must work quickly, and this method is much faster. Also, if you can do a pose, then you know you are not asking your subject to do something that is not possible!

Tip#4: Hand posing can be frustrating. Position hands where the broad, flat side is not towards the camera when possible. The side of the hand is much more slender and pulls the eye less than the broad side. If you don’t know what to do with a hand, simply hide it. Be careful with someone’s hands showing just the tips of the fingers around a waist or on a shoulder. When in doubt, less is better. NEVER have the hands out in front of the subject so much that they become distorted by distance. You don’t want a young lady’s hand looking like she plays for the NFL! Also, be careful with extending legs where the feet come towards the camera or you will have distorted and huge feet! I always try to keep the hands and feet in towards the body as much as possible or pulled out to the side to avoid distortion and problems with focus.

I know posing groups is challenging-I hope this quick primer helps!

Have a great week, everyone. Bev

For years, we wanted to publish virtual magazines to support our marketing efforts, but it was only recently that we found a company, issuu.com, that was reasonably priced and easy to use. Adding to that was the absolute beauty of their virtual renditions of our designs. With that in mind, I want to share the 4 main reasons we use e-magazines.

Reason #1: They add an extra layer of messaging to our printed pieces and add support

We will always have a printed booklet with timeless imagery and our core message, however, there are times when we want to show more current portraits along with more in-depth information. What we do with our Walden e-magazine is to layer our message with additional images and text that reinforces what we want to say to prospective clients. For high school seniors, having the most current seniors’ images is critical! They know when you use an old photograph and it makes them wonder if you have done any of their friends recently. E-magazines featuring seniors is a great way to stay current at very little cost.

Reason #2: We can send a more targeted piece to prospects who ask

For example, in our core printed booklet, we show a nice collection of our imagery, but if a prospect calls and wants to see a type of image that is not in the booklet, we now have a way to quickly send a beautifully designed e-magazine that can be in their hands within seconds. This allows us to laser focus and niche market with little cost. As we speak, we are developing e-magazines for every conceivable use including maternity, newborn, urban kids and so on that stay housed on issuu.com with a link we can provide to our potential clients. Our standard e-magazines that we designed first were the ones we send about Walden’s and Studio B, describing each, and then came Design Appointments, Selection Appointments, Senior Design and Selection Appointments and so forth.

Reason #3: They serve as our newsletter

We were sending a newsletter 4 times a year and found that they were getting too expensive to print and mail, so we decided to send only one printed newsletter each year at Christmas and do the other three virtually. This has worked beautifully for us, gets the information to our clients in a timely and beautiful manner and saves us money that we put to use marketing other ways.  As a side note, the printed newsletter and the e-newsletters look exactly the same; keeping a design fluency is critical so your clients immediately recognize your pieces whether in their email box or mail box!

Reason #4: They are a vital part of our partnerships with area businesses

We developed this idea after hearing a fellow photographer, David McKay, talk about using e-magazines to feature businesses and events in his community. Since our focus is children, we went to all of our partners who were  involved mainly with children and asked if they would like to be included in a virtual magazine that would be no cost to them and that they could send to their email client base-we named it Pitter Patter. All they were required to do was provide us with an article about children, a head shot, a bio and an ad. We would do all of the work and they would get the benefit! Of course, as the editors, we added photos throughout and wrote an article. Not only does this enhance your relationships with your partners, it increases your mailing list to include all of their clients. We didn’t ask for their clients’ emails, we simply provided the e-magazine link and set everything up for them to send out. Making it easy for them is a key to this idea working.

Here’s the scoop on how to do your own e-magazine:

First, design your pages in a program that you can export as a PDF. I design in Photoshop or Pages. You can make them any configuration or size such as 8×8 or 9×12, vertical or horizontal. As long as it can be exported to a PDF, that is what matters. Then check out issuu.com which is the company that takes your PDF and turns it into an e-magazine. We joined and pay a nominal price for the professional membership so that we can brand our page. Otherwise, it is free.

Your task this week: figure out where e-magazines fit into your marketing mix and start designing one (or have a designer do it for you and save it as a template) for the next issue. They are fun, effective and a low-cost way to get your message out!

Have a great week everyone!   Bev

PS-Check out my new and improved Book Loft  and please subscribe to this blog if you haven’t already. I am trying to build my readership up this year.

www.timandbevwalden.com    Facebook: Waldens Education For Photographers

Following up from last week, let’s look at four more marketing strategies that we consider successful for any business.

5. THREE WORDS need to stay in the front of your mind as you determine your marketing strategies. Those three words are: FIRST, BEST, ONLY. Are you FIRST in your category? The one that is first captures the minds of the consumers and it is very hard for competitors to find a way into your clients’ minds once you are there. Are you the BEST at what you do? This message needs to be spoken as well in all of your pieces. Always put your best foot forward, show your best work and keep getting education to become better and better. Third is ONLY; are you the only place to offer this or that. Are you the only one doing this or that? Use these words and concepts often in your messaging!

6. Developing awareness: Generally a potential customer will have to be exposed to you 5 to 15 times before they are likely to think of you when the need arises. You must stay in front of your clients consistently if they are going to remember your product when that need arises. That is why we continue to do a mall exhibit as well as multiple exhibits with area partners. We work diligently with our partners to make sure they refer us often. If not, we find ways to help them such as gift cards from us for session fees for their best clients and working with them on events. Develop many “streams” of exposure in your community to make sure your community is aware of you and your business. We offer an annual class for our clients who are amateur photographers to give them tips on how to improve their snapshots. We involve our local camera supplier to answer questions they might have about their cameras or equipment as well as offering our facility for any group that needs a place to meet. Of course, they will get a nice packet about Walden’s when they come in. Awareness…that is what we are after here.

7. Marketing Integrity: Consistency in your printed pieces and internet design (web,blog,Facebook) are critical for marketing success. This includes the message you deliver, the level of customer service, and the quality of the product. Being consistent is more important than having the “best” product.

8. Keep your message focused: Focus allows for more effective utilization of the scarce resources of time and money. If you promote a single product or idea to your defined target market and if you promote that same product or idea to that same target market over a continuous period of time, you will find more success than if you promote too many ideas or products in a scattered way. Pick one thing and promote that; then expand over time once that first idea is planted and has time to grow. Read this article, “The Tyranny of Choice” for a real eye opener!

Have a great week everyone!  Bev

Years ago when we were just getting our feet wet in this industry, marketing was simply sending a postcard a few times a year and counting on word of mouth for the rest. There were no classes (if there were business or marketing classes, nobody attended them), no internet, no Facebook or any social media. Now, all of these marketing avenues are vital components of our success and we have learned many lessons along the way. Here are the first 4 of 8 strategies that we feel have helped us achieve success over the years.

1. Sit down and determine your photographic style to build the foundation.

Where do you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, and one year? It’s easy to become overwhelmed by  how much to spend, where to put your money, which clients to target and how it will all play out. All marketing starts with that first step of writing your goals down and the basis of all marketing must be your photographic style. Who are you photographically? Are you fun, bubbly and colorful or classic, quiet and vintage? Narrow your style and laser focus it to reflect who you are inside. How can you market without determining the foundation that your marketing will be built upon?

2. Create a plan that has layers.

We used to have a Yellow Page ad and when a prospect would call, we would ask where they heard about us and they would answer the Yellow Pages. However, if we continued to dig, we found out that they saw our exhibit at the mall and then went to a friend’s house where they saw portraits we had done. The Yellow Pages only served to give them our phone number, yet it got the credit!

We learned from that and to this day, our strategy is to market in layers. Successful marketing depends on several well-planned strategies working together such as working with partners, Facebook and blogs, exhibits, auctions, focused mailings, personal notes and of course, word of mouth and referrals. Your plan is only as strong as its weakest link, but when everything works together, it strengthens your potential to reach more prospects.

3. Sometimes a plan works and sometimes it doesn’t. Don’t give up!

There have been times when we launched a marketing plan and it bombed! When that happens, we don’t throw everything out, but we take a second look to analyze where it failed. Sometimes it is bad timing, sometimes just a bad idea. Another reason an idea fails is not having enough redundancy built into it. The public needs exposure to an idea, time to absorb it and then, they need to be reminded of it again and again (redundancy) before it takes hold. If it is a mailing, be sure to put it on Facebook, blog about it, put an article in your next newsletter about it, do a second and third mailing and so forth. Don’t quit too soon!

4. It takes time!

Decide on a well-thought-out program and stay with it. Don’t forgo your marketing just because you’re not seeing immediate results. Most of time, we find that we just haven’t given it enough time! Time, time, time! Give it enough time to catch on. When we introduced our Relationship Black and White portraits in the mid-90s, we didn’t see the full impact of it for almost three years. We had exhibits, we did mailings, we hired a graphic designer to create the campaign, “Images that Speak” and from that, we sent out postcards, made banners and advertised it in our newsletters. Back then, we didn’t have social media to help spread the word; if we had, I believe it would have been a shorter time from introduction to success. Now, with social media, we all have an expanded way to market and a very low cost, but don’t give up on printing physical pieces to enhance your social media efforts. We find it takes both to succeed.

Have a great week everyone! We’ll talk about the final 4 strategies next week!

Bev

In the beginning of our careers, we thought if our photography was good enough, people would line up at our doors! Nothing could be farther from the truth. Yes, great photography makes it easier to sell, but we have friends who are great photographers who are driving trucks and teaching at the university. In those days, we were the jack of all trades…and the master of none.

What we discovered when we decided to add the Relationship Fine Art Black and White portraits to our arsenal…

When we were sketching out this style, little did we know that the emotional punch of these portraits was going to open so many doors. As we became more emotional photographers, we also became emotional marketers. What we discovered is that every studio should offer one emotional style; images that touch the heartstrings and not just record faces. This gives you a different platform for your marketing to spring from as you can now market the result of your photography which is far more powerful than marketing you, your awards, your lighting, low prices, specials or your products. Instead, we learned to market relationships and we celebrated those relationships with the families through our photography. PPA used to have a slogan, “World’s Greatest Storytellers” and that is what we became.

Emotion drives prospects through the doors…

For the last fifteen years, we have used Relationship imagery as our main marketing tool. The emotion present in these images separated us from others who record faces and gave us depth as artists.It was more than doing good portraits of families and kids; too many other photographers could do that. No, what we showcased instead reflected the stories told us during the planning session. It changed who we were as photographers as we worked to portray that story through our photography. We were unique in our approach and the clients did stand in line at our doors! WOW! Even if the client decided on one of our other brands, it was the Relationship brand that got them through the doors.

The Law of Reciprocity…

Our definition of this law as it applies to marketing is this, “Make your marketing about someone besides yourself and you will reap the results.” Our most successful campaign was “Images that Speak” which allowed us to share others’ stories with our community. When a client had an interesting story, we would do the portrait portraying that story and then use them together in our displays and newsletters. It was a powerful 1-2 punch and as we used this approach in our marketing, we saw much better results.

Tip: To learn the story in the planning appointment, we ask, “If this portrait were a chapter in your life, what would the headline be?” We learn that behind every face, there is a story to be told!

Write a love letter…

To drive emotion home, there is no better way than to pair a love letter with a portrait. We ask all of our clients to write a love letter to their child or children portrayed in our portraits; then we provide a pouch to attach it to the back of the image. We suggest they keep it a secret, waiting for the day when that portrait is presented to that child (now an adult) for maximum emotional impact. We provide jumping off sentences to help them get started if they are not comfortable with writing. It is truly an emotional experience…try it yourself if you haven’t.

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Coaching Community AUDIO Nugget “Kids Without  Adults“

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