Essential The Official Photography Thread

Kamikaze Revy

Kamikaze Revy

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GoldenGlove said:
This really depends on the kind of work that you want to be doing. If you have the skillset that coincides with Marketing then the pivot makes sense. If not... then a better pivot would be to go from photographer/videographer to Video Production company.

I say this, because some people don't want to deal with all the shyt that comes with marketing and comms. There's consultation with anything of course, and I agree you have to pitch and present your value in a way that resonates with folks. If you have the people or the skills to do it all, then yes it makes sense.
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Just to clarify not to be argumentative;
I'm saying regardless of the field you're in and your passion, I recommend that if you want to grow a business you should present it as something anchored in marketing. I'm saying that based on a few things but primarily on the idea that if you want to position yourself in a way that you can tell the client what they need, then I feel you have to be mindful of the client's perception of you. In my experience, if you say "I'm a photographer", you are positioning yourself to have to wait for the client to decide on their own, or when they're told by someone else, that they need a photographer. For example, if you were to say, "I own an [ad agency] that specializes in photography" you're more likely to open the conversation up to where the client will trust your opinion more on what their marketing needs are. I'm not trying to force a point or imply that these are hard rules for everyone. Just trying to suggest that we all pay attention to what customer's needs are and pay close attention to the way they perceive us. Like I said, for me, I noticed my regular clients were basically ignoring my suggestions until and 3rd party "marketing consultant" came in and told them the same exact thing I was saying all along.
Of course, if [you] are passionate about [wedding photography] and that's all you want to do and are happy/fulfilled doing that, then none of this would apply to [you]. If you're a creative that wants to take product photos, headshots, promo videos, etc. then I think these are very important points to consider.
In terms of doing the ancillary stuff like website and social media management etc. I'm just putting that out there as a long term goal if people really want to build a sustainable and strong business. I'm not saying you actually do all the work yourself. You should definitely leverage people around you on a 1099 basis but find people that are comfortable with doing "white label" work for you so you can present a wrap around service solution to big clients.
Sorry for being long winded, I just really enjoying sharing business goals and experience. I've learned a lot in a relatively short time and one of the big things I've learned is that I need to network more physically and digitally because you never know what you can learn hearing from other people's experiences. I've learned about a lot of business grants and programs just by showing up to networking events that I would have never known existed.
 
shutterguy

shutterguy

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