The role of marketing.

To understand the role of marketing it's essential to understand the way that buyers decide what and where to purchase.

First, a buyer recognizes that they have a need or desire.

Then they seek out information: they have questions. Marketing's role is to educate buyers about what needs your product or service fills and the special advantages that you offer. You can't appeal to all buyers in all ways (you can't be seen as the top quality provider and also the low cost provider). You must carve out your own niche that appeals to a segment of the buyers and then educate them. You must answer the question "Why should I buy from you?".

Your marketing should act both as filter and funnel. It should filter out the buyers who you aren't meant to serve. It should funnel the rest to either buy or contact you for more information (in a frame of mind that's predisposed to doing business with you). Then it's the role of sales (one on one selling) to fine tune the presentation to their specific needs.

If your marketing doesn't educate, if it doesn't clearly explain why they should choose you, then it's not doing its job. You'll lose sales. They'll leave your website in a second to look elsewhere.

Photos are an excellent way to educate. They speed up the process since the brain understands the information in a photo so much faster than text. They provide a way for clients to connect with and relate to you. But only if you use images that are uniquely yours.

If you use stock photos you'll look no different than everybody else. They don't educate and inform. Buyers will wonder what your hiding. Stock photos undermine trust, and without trust you'll lose sales.

Quote of the day

"Marketing is the greatest return-on-investment activity a business can ever do."

Jay Abraham

Using photos with PR releases.

Here's a link to an excellent Entrepreneur magazine article by Rachel Meranus - "Optimize Visibility with Quality Photos" about how to effectively use photos with PR releases. Lots of very good advice. Check it out.

Quote of the day

"When you finish changing, you're finished"

Benjamin Franklin

Photos that communicate quality

(click on the image to see it larger)

This image of a '67 Corvette Stingray die-cast model was created for The Franklin Mint along with some detail shots. It was quite cool actually. The lights worked, the windows cranked up and down, and much more. They need photos that communicate quality, create desire and make their models look as realistic as possible. Remember, we buy with our eyes. High quality photos can make all of the difference between making a sale or not. Great marketers like The Franklin Mint get it. They understand the vital role that photography plays in motivating buyers to purchase.

Quote of the day

"Photography is like golf, you never master it, but you can always get better."

Anonymous

Stock photos are the new clip art.

If you're trying to differentiate your business from the sea of look-alikes in your industry you must understand that stock photos aren't going to cut it for you. Stock photos are the new clip art. That's all they are. Most are crap. Any competitor of yours can use the same images (along with any other business in any other industry) and there is nothing strategic about them.

I realize that I have strong opinions about this and motivation for doing so, but I really believe every word that I'm saying. I believe that stock photos have only very limited applications and are are a smart choice in only very limited situations. (They're excellent for making sub par businesses look as good as an average player in their industry.) To show my sincerity in all this, I've never submitted a single image to a stock photo agency in my entire 35 years in business as a photographer. During this time, many other photographers were telling me that I should be doing this to earn additional income. (And I could have really used the money at the time.)

Use them at your own peril. Most people can tell that they're stock. They don't inform. They don't make you look unique. They don't inspire trust, they undermine it.

In short, they make you look second rate.

Quote of the day

"If you're doing what everybody else is doing, you aren't differentiating yourself from the competition. You're marginalizing and commoditizing yourself."

Jay Abraham - Marketing Expert

Target your ideal customers

In today's marketplace you must differentiate yourself from your competition. You must design your website and your sales copy so that it targets your ideal customers: those that benefit the very most by purchasing your service or product.

This branding will make you stand out from a sea of clones who copy what everyone else in their industry does. Their websites all look pretty much alike. Because they try to appeal to everyone, they don't have a strong appeal to anyone. Will this specialization turn off some potential customers? Yes.

You have to give something up to get something else. Strong brands repel as strongly as they attract. However, the customers that you lose are not the ones that you want, and you'll make it up with repeat business from those who you're meant to serve.

My website (www.Quindry.com) for instance is geared to business. My ideal clients are those that want to either increase their sales by attracting new customers or wish to improve their image (or both). I don't shoot weddings, babies, model portfolios or pets. The people that I am not meant to serve usually leave my site as soon as they see my home page. That's fine. My website communicates what I do and who I serve. It's meant to attract only my ideal clients.

Yours should too. You'll gain much more business than you lose.

Quote of the day

"Everyone enjoys doing the kind of work for which he is best suited."

Napoleon Hill

Shoot for an interior designer.

(click on an image to see it larger)

Just shot these for Dana Neeld, a very talented interior designer in the Philadelphia region. These were shot in a 60 year old home that she did an amazing transformation on. They'll be used in her portfolio and on her website.

These images, especially when combined with the "before" images will be invaluable in her marketing when it come to showing potential clients what she brings to the table.

Quote of the day

"What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come."

Oprah Winfrey