Marketing pt 2, News and Features!

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Marketing pt 2, News & Features!

Greetings Folks! Hope everyone's ok out there in photography land. Doing ok here I suppose. Starting to slowly heal that tail bone finally. So if it seems like I haven't been around much lately, well now ya know why lol Anyways, I have a LOT to get to in this journal, so I am going to ahead and just cut to the chase with it.
Keep on a shootin'!
---John

Marketing pt 2!!--- A couple journals back, I wrote an entry entitled "Let's Talk Marketing Your Photos" which concentrated on marketing yourself and your images online. This time we take a look at the other end of the spectrum, marketing your photos and images offline, and how to get your work out there and be seen! So without farther delay, let's dive into this! I wish to thank Judy also for the help with this, as she made some of these suggestions to me and gave me ideas when we were trying to figure out how to do this with my work.

A solid portfolio.--- There are many ways to go about this, but I will concentrate on 2. Having a solid portfolio book with 15-20 images printed on NICE paper (read Mpix.com Metallic here) will hold well. You want your VERY best work only, and I mean the cream of the crop. Have a couple extra images printed up that you can leave behind wityh you contact info on for samples. The second kind of portfolio---get a laptop, design a really nice slideshow using flash, I have seen this done and believe me, it works VERY well! And again, make sure to leave samples behind.

Business Cards.--- Gert em done asap. I am going to start designing mine next week and will go with overnightprints.com Think of all the places you go where you see business cards, think of all the people you meet that you come into contact with. Hand them out like it was a first aid kit for the injured! For more on business cards, ideas, and examples, see this thread over on digitalgrin.com, part of smugmug.com called "Show us your business card"

Flyers, small print, and local newspapers---. Ever actually looked at all the flyers in a grocery store? I see adverts all the time for pet photography , senior portraits, etc. The same goes for local newspapers in the classified section. Get your name out there, place an advert, post some flyers!

Do TFP work--- "Time for Prints". Usually on places like craiglist.com you will see adverts from models who are wanting to work with photographers and in exchange either want only prints, or a burned CD with the images on them. Of course you get images as well and you also gain experience in working with models and doing portrait work.

Galleries--- Yes, galleries. Many galleries are for emerging artist's or are co-op's. Walk in with your work, talk to the gallery director, see what they have to say. They usually love this kinda thing anyhow, and doing so can lead to some pretty big things! In fact, huge!

Boutique's--- Small specialty shops, I myself have sold images in these kinda places before. They are great, because they usually accept smaller work like 5x7's, and think outside the bounds some...greeting cards, stationery, etc.

Local Camera Clubs--- These can be a great source of wealth as far as networking, meeting new people, learning more, and yes, getting your work out there! Many have contests for their members that are heavily promoted to the general public.

News--- ALWAYS take your camera with you. ALWAYS. Seen a bad accident? Stalled in traffic? Grab the damn camera and start clicking away, news channels will often pay for these shots!! If it's newsworthy--it's $!!

Art Shows--- get yourself printed up nicely, framed up, and start entering local art and craft shows. You will be shocked at how many stop and look !

The Chamber of Commerce--- They are there for YOU, go meet with them, get to know them, and see what they say and suggest. They are a VITAL contact and one which you will use over and over again.

Well I hope all this has made you stop and think, naturally there is MUCH more, but time and space doesn't allow for it at the moment. If any of you have anything to add, then please do!