Things have been flipped on their head around here. We’ve moved back to Oak Cliff and it’s time for me to get to work on finding clients. Surrounded by so many small businesses that I would love to work with. So it’s time to focus on how to present and sell my services, just like the businesses I’m looking to work with. How to convince them that they need me to photograph their products. There are only so many articles or blogs that you can read on the subject before you get burned out. I’ve even taken a few classes in marketing to learn as much as I can about marketing your work. The market is saturated with photographers and new technology that make it very difficult to convince a small business to spend money on a photographer. Some say it is the quality of the work that sells itself but I don’t think that’s all. The new client needs to understand the value of great photography and what it can do for their business.
There are several shows on TV that teach the value of spending money on your business. One of the new ones is Richard Rawling’s Garage Rehab. He finds these shops and re-conditions them to start making money and how to run a great business. Most of these shop owners don’t want to spend the money to keep their shops nice and clean. But that is the first thing a new customer notice. And if your shop doesn’t look good then the quality of your work probably isn’t much better. So before a new customer gets to judge your work, make sure that they are seeing the best of what you do. Walking up to a local taco shop and the photos look like they were done with a disposal camera in 1998, doesn’t make me really want anything out the kitchen. If the owner would spend some money or sometimes you can trade with a photographer, you’d present your wares in a better light and entice more sales. When you look at something and it is photographed very well, you don’t need to tell them anything about the item. Your work will show and threw a great photo that will show. If you have produced a great looking product but the but is horribly lit, your work won’t shine.
I have photographed a lot of cars for Michael Grubbs of Grubbs Collision in Garland over the years. One car that I photographed for him was this gorgeous blue 1969 Chevy Camaro. Everything was perfect for this shoot. The sun was just coming up and I had me new MagMod diffuser and focused on capturing this amazing car. Weeks after I photographed it and went back to shoot another car, Mike told me that only hours after the photos were posted of the car, a guy called him from Oklahoma and said he was on his way to buy it. He hadn’t even seen the car in person but he said that the photos were so awesome, he had to have the car. I just smiled and said to Mike, “That’s why I do what I do. And do it to the best of my ability.” I was hired to do a job and my knowledge and talent and it showed when someone drove hundreds of miles to spend a few thousand to by a car he’d never seen in person.
When you look in a magazine or watching a commercial on tv and the product looks amazing, do you not wonder how it all was done? I worked on a commercial for Ford a few years back and it was an eye-opening experience for me. It was amazing to see how many people went into making a 2-minute commercial and all the work that went into it. It takes a lot of money to get it all done. Someone told me that they spent about 2 million dollars just to film it. And it came out amazing, Drop Everything That’s what all business should understand and desire, to look amazing. So I’m gearing up and reaching out to local business and pitching my work. I’m really looking forward to connecting with local businesses and producing some great work for them.
Leave a reply