Here Comes Summer …
[by Susan Carr]
I hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. We often think of summer as down time for marketing and sales, but in this tough economic climate, these areas of our business can’t really afford any time off. Yes, you can take a vacation, but do not take three months off from promoting your business. With this in mind over the next two weeks, the Strictly Business Blog is going to focus on practical marketing and sales ideas for these summer months. We hope they help you plan a productive period for business promotion.
In these lazy days of summer, most of us have fewer commissioned assignments, so my suggestion is to use some of your time to photograph for yourself. Whether you photograph in your studio or out in the world, create pictures that come completely out of your interests, passions or ideas. We all have things we have thought of pursuing photographically, a place or subject, well, dig those ideas out and go for it. How about dedicating a day a week or three consecutive days a month to this task? Whatever formula works best for you, make the time focused; if you are working in your studio, resist checking email or if your plan is wandering a park or neighborhood with your camera, consider turning your cell phone off. By setting aside time to create, when September rolls around, you will have new portfolio pieces or perhaps even the start of a significant personal project.
How is this promoting your business? We sell creative services, and if we do not nurture that part of our job, we will have little to offer the commissioning client. Our success depends on being distinctive and we cannot achieve that without actively engaging in creativity. My advice for the summer, grab your camera!
Susan Carr is a Chicago based photographer and ASMP’s Education Director. She is currently working on a book, “The Art and Business of Photography”, scheduled to release in early 2011.
