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Mark Johnson, Senior Lecturer, Grady School of Journalism, welcomes everyone to the workshop.

Yesterday, I was privileged to speak at THE BUSINESS OF VISUAL JOURNALISM WORKSHOP, held at the Grady School of Journalism on the University of Georgia campus.

The first speaker was Allen Murabayashi, CEO and co-founder of PhotoShelter, who covered fundamental web marketing tactics, essential website design requirements, and critical features (plus some advanced concepts) that help photographers better utilize their website as a business and marketing tool and grow their online presence to generate new business.

Some of Murabayashi’s points were similar to my topics, but from a slightly different perspective. Hopefully, by the end of it all, people will realize that if a few people mention similar things, they may pay attention to them.

One of the things we were trying to do in our talks was to help those starting or struggling with what we are doing with our time. Easier, er, I wrote a post about how I spend much of my time. Here is a link to that blog post.

It doesn’t take long before you start to see some common themes when applying marketing to any industry. First, you must realize that not everyone qualifies for your services. When you run the numbers, the number is more likely in the 10% range of those interested in hiring you.

You need a large fishing net to be successful when fishing for clients. In that earlier blog post, I discussed the marketing funnel process.

This is the process I talked about earlier. The idea is to get as many people as possible in the first stage of being aware that you are in the marketplace. At each step, you improve that area to help increase the likelihood of people choosing you.

Allen Murabayashi also used the marketing funnel. He also told everyone that the first step is to make people aware of your services. You must define your nnichébecause otherwise, your awareness group has to be even larger than if you are more restricted in your niché.

Freshman vs Senior Social Networking Skills

Since most of the audience were college students, I felt like the best illustration I could use was for all of them to remember what it was like as freshmen. When they went to parties, they had to go around and introduce themselves and meet folks. They were proactive and needed to find some friends.

I contrasted how they went to parties as freshmen to when they were seniors. As seniors, you usually meet with your friends and enjoy each other’s company. You are not looking for more friends; you have them.

I challenged the class to act like first-year students again and never lose this perspective–looking for friends.

What happens in your senior year is graduation. After you leave, you discover that many of those you had moved on with have lost touch. You are forced to be a freshman again—you are new at your first job and have to make friends again.

Old School Social Networking

I highly recommend getting off your computer, where you are on Facebook and Twitter, and trying the old social networking style. Go to meetings, parties, and social mixers in your community.

Join an organization and get involved. As you serve, you will meet more people. If you have done a good job defining your nicheniché, it will be easy to identify organizations where your potential clients are already.

Get involved and serve. Volunteering at the registration desk is one of the best ways to meet everyone.

How do you grow your business?

The first step in that marketing funnel is defining your nichéniché and creating awareness of your services among those who need them. How do you grow your business? By increasing the number of people you come into contact with.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

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Jay Maisel, Bernie Boston, Hugh Morton, and George Tames are four famous photographers. I took this at the Southern Short Course in the 1980s.

Most photographers want to be known for their work, and almost everyone I know wants to have their work judged as significant.

Like many other photographers, I have tried numerous times to get hired by National Geographic Magazine. I wanted to cover important stories and be well-known.

I’ve had the privilege to meet some of the most outstanding photographers of our time. What interested me was that most people in the room had no idea who they were. They knew their images but didn’t recognize them.

One year later, I met Bill Fortney, who shared his thoughts. He pointed out that other than maybe Ansel Adams, most other “famous photographers” who walked into a local mall would most likely not be recognized. I think he is right.

Fortney went on to talk about how his pursuit of being a “famous photographer” was probably a big mistake. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he came face-to-face with the demons of pride in his life.

My mentor and friend, Don Rutledge, taught me much about being a photographer. I have yet to see anyone masterful storytelling with a camera. I was also impressed that he would talk with anyone and help anyone who asked him to. Rutledge helped just about everyone he met, even those just starting.

The Road to Success

I have spent most of my career figuring out the steps to success. As a result, numerous books help people climb the corporate ladder. Unfortunately, there are no photography career books outlining the steps to success.

What I continue to see over and over is “The Secret.” Most of the books helped me realize that to succeed, I must serve. However, this formula left a bad taste in my mouth. The message was more about how to rise to the top rather than how to live in the moment.

It continued to bother me that the only reason all these authors were writing the book was to tell everyone to do this for a while, and then you will be in charge.

What Don Rutledge Taught Me

Don wanted to tell stories with his camera, but they wanted him to manage communications departments because he was so good everywhere he worked. Don knew he was not gifted to lead but had a talent for visual storytelling.

People around him were mad at him for not stopping to do what he was good at and for leading the division.

I learned from Don that if I were a good ditch digger, there was no reason I couldn’t make a career out of it.

Finally, a book about how to be your best

While in Hawaii, I met Jack Hart. Jack was the art director for many years at CBS for TV shows like The Price Is Right.

After talking for a while, Jack said he had a book I needed to read. Unfortunately, I had to run off to teach a class, and just before I started, Jack came into the room and handed me The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places: The Joy of Serving God in the Ordinary.

It is a rapid read; you can also get it as an eBook.

Here is the first book I picked that outlined what I learned from Don Rutledge.

I believe the key to success is being joyful in life where you are now and not where you might be in the future.

What does this have to do with photography?

I have been working on a book to help students and those starting in this profession become successful photographers. One of the key messages is learning to connect the eighteen inches between the head and the heart.

The connection between why you do what you do and your attitude can make all the difference. Your mood is what makes people want to hire you again and again. 

It took me many years to understand the importance of the question “why” in a story. I was asking Who, What, Where, When, and how, but I was filling the holes with information. I needed to be like a child and ask, “Why is the sky blue?”

Why does the story need to be told? 

Attitude Adjustment

I have come to see that photographers understand they are here to serve others. They operate by helping others communicate effectively using visuals.

When you are a freelancer, a client occasionally insults you- or it feels this way. They may demean your position or some other way you feel offended. You can respond and set them straight; sometimes, this might be necessary, but you must ask yourself if it is worth losing the account.  

As I read Ken Barnes’s book, I came across this quote he had from Gordon MacDonald in his book Rebuilding Your Broken World.

“You know whether or not you’re a servant by how you react when you’re treated like one.”

Do you seek significance? Do you want to be recognized? Is this getting in the way of your joy in living?

Chick-fil-A is one of my best clients. They are my best for many reasons, but one that I have realized over time is that they teach me the value of service.

Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, had trained his children that whenever they came to the restaurant, they came in to pick up any trash. Truett also does the same even today. He will bend over at 91 and pick it up if he sees something.

Chick-fil-A trains its people to do any job joyfully; this includes the bathrooms and the dirty dishes.

You may become a “famous photographer” if you serve others. But I think the real question is, will you be happy in the role of a servant only when you discover the joy?

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There are three major sections to an estimate for a job you are bidding on for a client.

1.    Your costs
2.    The price the client pays
3.    Your selling of yourself and why you are the best person for the job

Your Costs

There are two sections to every job when it comes to expenses.

1.    Ongoing expenses spread across all jobs, which we refer to as the “Cost of Doing Business.”  This gets broken down even more into

a.    Living Expenses
b.    Business Expenses

2.    Job costs associated to the project.  If you have prints, travel expenses, and other things that you would not have as expenses unless you were doing this job.

Your costs are not what you quote to the client. You use this to help you know what you must clear for a profit. Take this information and then figure out what you need to charge.

The Price the Client Pays

1.    The Price

If you are selling to the public prints they put on their walls from portrait sessions you may have a variety of packages that include the shooting fees and maybe a starting number of prints.

You may shoot weddings and then have similar print costs like the portrait photographer, but also have more prints and binders to create books for the couple.

When you shoot for corporate or advertising you have shooting fees plus usage fees.  These usage fees are based on where and for how long they plan to use a photograph. 

 2.    The Package

Typically you are going to offer more than one solution and hope that you can up sell the client. Most often you will have 3 to 4 prices.

A)    Rock Bottom Price
B)    Low End Price
C)    Medium Price
D)    High End Price

Your Sales Pitch

This is the area I see the weakest in most photographers. They quote a price as a take-it-or-leave-it price. Those who understand how to sell often do not mention prices until they have sold the client on their services.

The key is to find out what they need and learn how to meet that need and even exceed it. Once you have done this, selling is relatively easy.

If you pitch packages and do not understand how they plan to use the images, you cannot show how you are helping them.

Let’s break this down into bite-sized steps:

1.    Establish the need.  You can ask directly and sometimes they know, but more than often you are going to need to explore with the client and understand them and or their business to be able to establish what they are trying to accomplish.

2.    Word all of your pitches to address the need and show them how by picking a certain product you are offering they will accomplish even more.

3.    Give them options. Too often photographers do not put themselves in a very good negotiating position.  Try your best to always think of three prices they could choose to meet their needs.  Maybe on the bottom price they only get the digital images.  Next level they get prints and on the top end you even provide online galleries.  Be creative think of ways that you can give them a choice.

Learn to say yes!

Unless a client asks for something you are uncomfortable with, all prices are negotiable unless it is illegal. You can either bring on help to make it happen, or the money is enough to make it worthwhile. When you say to the client, ” I would love to help you, and here is how much it is to do that for you, “they say no, not you, if the price is too high.

Too many photographers, for example, say no to selling their copyright. You put the price high enough that it is worth it. Suppose you would like to retire tomorrow for the right price today.

Put yourself in the client’s perspective.e

While you may have done everything just right and it makes sense, ask a friend who knows nothing about photography to hear your proposal and let them know if anything doesn’t make sense to them.  Ask TM if it feels good to serve them.

If people only shop for price, you will rarely get the job. If they are shopping to solve their problem and feel taken care of by a photographer, you are most likely in the running using these principles.

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