Recession-proof Pricing

[by Judy Herrmann]

This recession has hit photographers harder than any that I’ve lived through previously and many are working for lower fees than they’d ever consider accepting before.

Past experience has taught me that quoting lower fees during a recession makes it very difficult to bring those fees back to normal when the crisis ends.  Instead, look for ways to streamline costs or scale back the project to meet client budget requirements.

Non-monetary compensation can be an avenue worth exploring providing the client has something to offer that you really need.  Make sure any trades are based on exchanging equal value – you need to receive tangible benefit, not just promises.
If you feel you have no choice but to reduce your creative fee, don’t just quote a lower price.  Instead, communicate the full value of your fee, verbally and in your estimates and invoices, then extend a courtesy discount to bring the total where it needs to be.  The discount becomes an act of generosity – the tangible expression of your understanding that we’re all in this mess together – rather than a new definition of what your work is truly worth.

What’s the Difference?

[by Judy Herrmann]

Focusing on differentiation is a great way to improve your marketing efforts.   Make a list of 10 really good reasons why someone should hire you instead of someone else.  Your images don’t count – producing good images is a given these days – this is all about added value.

While you’re making and prioritizing your list, do some research!  Come up with creative ways to find out what your prospects and clients care about most when hiring a photographer. Incorporate what you learn into this exercise.

Once you have your prioritized list of differentiators, make sure your marketing materials clearly communicate them.  Make a cheat sheet to keep by the phone to remind you what your key selling points are so you don’t forget to bring them up when talking with clients or prospects.  Obviously, you can’t be too heavy-handed here but keeping your value points by your side will make it easier to spot appropriate moments to mention them.

Protect Your Assets

[by Judy Herrmann]

In a recent thread on ASMPproAdvice, a photographer asked about the necessity of obtaining releases when photographing his client’s employees. Several members of the listserv pointed out that releases don’t just protect the photographer, they also protect the client – especially if an employee who’s been photographed leaves under bad terms.

The thread made me remember how intimidated I was by paperwork when I first entered the field. I felt uncomfortable asking people to sign assignment confirmations, advance expenses, sign releases and change orders or even pay our bills on time.

Once I realized that using good paperwork protected my clients’ interests as well as my own, it became easier to talk to them about it. As my business grew, I discovered that for many clients, good paperwork is a must – it shows you’re a professional who knows what you’re doing and understands the rules of the game.

Make sure your paperwork keeps up with the times – if you’re thinking of adopting new technologies or diversifying the services you offer, answer these questions before you take the plunge:

• Does this new approach or technology affect my potential liability with my clients, models, locations, vendors or suppliers?
• How do I need to change my terms & conditions or other forms (model releases assignment confirmations, change orders, delivery memos, etc.) to minimize my risks?
• What do I need to communicate verbally as well as in writing to protect myself from any miscommunications?

If your paperwork could use a tune-up, visit the ASMP Forms Tutorial and Terms & Conditions Module for recommended language you can modify for your needs.  ASMP’s dpBestflow project includes a digital file delivery checklist and sample digital file “read me” memo that all photographers should check out.

Take Back Your Power

[by Judy Herrmann]

At the SB2 conferences a couple of years ago, I noticed that many photographers were exhibiting the classic signs of mourning.  Back then, most were still in denial but many were grappling with a sense of helplessness, paralysis and loss as they faced what they perceived as the death of a profession they loved.

Today, it’s clear that far too many of my colleagues have graduated to the anger phase and that anger is doing as much damage to our profession as the recession, changing technologies and changing markets combined.
In Vein of Gold, her 1996 sequel to The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron wrote: “When we are angry or depressed in our creativity, we have misplaced our power. We have allowed someone else to determine our worth, and then we are angry at being undervalued.” I’m willing to bet that every single one of us either is that person or knows that person.

Looking for a silver bullet?  The magic answer?  Here it is:  the one thing that’s going to help you survive as a professional visual communicator is your creativity.  I can’t tell you what your career is going to look like – that’s up to you – but I can tell you that without creative vision, creative thinking, creative problem solving, creative strategies and creative approaches to building your business in the “new economy” you’re not going to make it in this field.

If you’re one of the angry ones, all I can say is Get Over It.  Find help, find hope, find whatever shot in the arm you need because if you allow your anger at these irrevocable changes to get in the way of your creativity, you are walking roadkill. If you’re not one of the angry ones, if you’re still hopeful, still open, still looking for what’s possible, I congratulate you.  Foster your creativity – nourish it, protect it and don’t let the kill-joys near it – for it is the key to your future.

Digital Video: Lessons Learned

[by Judy Herrmann]

A couple of weeks ago, my partner, Mike Starke, and I finished our very first digital video project.  We made our deadline with about 15 minutes to spare and only pulled one all-nighter; two facts I take inordinate pride in.  In the process we discovered a lot that we’ll do differently the next time.  Here’s what we learned:

1) Shooting – get tight, get loose, get high, get low, go wide, go long – just mix it up!  Once we were editing the footage, we noticed that even if each segment is showing different people or activities, too many shots from the same distance with the same lens or from the same camera height get boring fast.

2) Editing – I haven’t yet figured out the organizational system that we’ll use in the future but I know we need a better one!  I can’t tell you how much time we lost searching for a particular clip that we had tagged but couldn’t remember which bin it was in.  About halfway through the project, we wound up creating an Expressions Media catalog for our clips.  There’s probably a better way but this let us use a tool we already knew really well to visually scan key stills from each clip instead of trying to remember what we’d named it and where we’d stashed it.

3) Set up – Video editing applications are monitor hogs.  You don’t just need two monitors – you need two big monitors.  We got by with a 21″ and a 23″ display hooked to our tower but would have happily used more space.

4) Time away – After watching our footage over and over and over (and over) it got really hard to figure out how long someone who’d never seen the shots before would need to see a clip before moving onto the next thing.  Every few hours, we really needed to get away from the project for a few hours so we could refine our edits with fresh eyes.  As we work out the deadlines for future projects, we’ll take this into account.

5) Rejuvenation rocks!  One really great side effect of doing this project was experiencing the excitement (and fear) of doing something we’d never done before.  We’re not just learning new software, we’re learning a new way of seeing and a new way of thinking as visual communicators. I’m feeling more excited, more creative and well, frankly, more hopeful than I have for awhile.  It’s been a good reminder of how important it is to keep pushing myself creatively.  As Miles Davis once said “If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change.”  After 21 years as a still photographer, I’m ready.

Stretching Your Wings

[by Judy Herrmann]

A lot of photographers I’ve met recently are avidly searching for ways to expand their businesses and diversify their income streams.  Some are exploring new technologies like digital video, Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) or immersive environments.  Some are looking at education  – joining academic institutions, developing seminars and workshops or creating information products like webinars, podcasts or DVDs.  Others are offering a broader range of services by partnering – formally or informally – with others.

All of them, regardless of what direction they’re going in, are looking to expand beyond the core competency (still photography) that’s been the mainstay of their careers.

A 2006 Bain and Company study of US retailers expanding into adjacent businesses offers some valuable insights that anyone looking to diversify should consider. The study discovered three principles that dramatically increase the chances of successful expansion:
1) Look for new businesses that are close to your core business.
2) Concentrate on markets with larger profit margins than your core area.
3) Estimate the potential for growth in that market before entering it.

The companies Bain studied that didn’t follow any of these principles had just a 6% success rate.  Those that followed one principle increased their chances for success to 30% while those following at least two of these principles had a 60% or higher chance of success.

Go here for the full study.

Three tips for Holiday Promos & Gifts

[by Judy Herrmann]

1) Don’t get lost in the “Holiday” shuffle – this time of year, everyone’s getting way too much stuff from way too many people.  Do something simple for the Holiday-with-a-capital-H season then pick a different date to show your clients how much you value and appreciate them.  You can use a smaller holiday or even just pick a random date.  A thank you gift when you’re not expecting it or another box in the pile of stuff on your desk in December, which would you remember more?

2) Research gift policies before sending – many corporations, educational institutions and government agencies have strict policies prohibiting employees from accepting anything worth more than $25.00.  Be sure that your clients can accept your gift before placing them in the awkward position of having to send it back.

3) Make it personal – if all you’re sending is a preprinted card with your name scrawled somewhere, well, all I can say is when I get those cards, I don’t think “Wow, this person really values their relationship with me.”  Instead, address the envelope by hand, write a personalized message, pick an image you know they’ll really love – do something to let them know they matter enough for you to spend a moment thinking about what matters to them.

Here’s a question for you: How many clients do you need?

[by Judy Herrmann]

No, really – 1,000?  500? 50? 10?

If you’re like me, the number’s a lot closer to the right than the left.  In fact, what I really need, what I really want is a core group of repeat clients who I like and respect and who like and respect my work.

If you’re dying to be EVERYBODY’s photographer, read no further.  But if you, like me, are looking to build relationships with like-minded people with whom you can produce creatively satisfying work then I’ve got a crazy idea for you.

What if we stop scattering seeds to the wind in the hopes they’ll land on fertile ground?

What if we stop the mass mailings and emailers and broadcast marketing blasts that go to faceless, anonymous people who are already receiving thousands of these things from a multitude of faceless, anonymous photographers?

What if we take the time to find those individuals whose aesthetics and visual communications needs really resonate with what we love to do.

What if we took that common ground, mixed it with a little creativity, ingenuity and good-old fashioned chutzpah and used it to build relationships with those individuals instead of marketing to them?

Maybe, just maybe, we’d actually get what we want.

It’s Not Rocket Science

[by Judy Herrmann]

For decades, my Dad, a real live Rocket Scientist, has been telling me I’ll be more productive if I work fewer hours and solve problems faster if I take more breaks. But did I listen? Of course not! Until, that is, I heard it from someone else…

The “Entrepreneurial Time Management System” by Dan Sullivan turns my Dad’s approach to life and work into a simple and effective formula.

The concept is to divide your time into 3 types of days:

Free Days – 24 hour periods during which you don’t think about your business or do any business related stuff.

Focus Days – 24 hour periods during which you spend the majority of your time focused on productive activities for your business including planning, dreaming, thinking, strategizing and producing.

Buffer Days – 24 hour periods where you deal with all the petty details that have to get taken care of for you to be able to schedule your Focus Days and Free Days.

As much as I recognize the value intellectually, I’m still not capable of dedicating entire DAYS to anything (Sorry, Pops!). But I have started scheduling chunks of time along these lines. I try to make sure that each week I have a chunk where I don’t check email, am not available for calls and am doing some kind of growth activity – brainstorming, reading, researching, writing, thinking, forecasting, etc.

Obviously that chunk gets sandwiched between chunks of “buffer” time. As for Free Days…well, going 24 hours straight without thinking about my business? Um yeah, probably not in this lifetime but I am forcing myself to take some big chunks of time, mostly on weekends, where I disengage from everything related to work and try to be as loose and free and relaxed as I’m capable of being.

Ok, so at this rate, I may never conquer space but I am making a good dent on time. As much as I hate to admit Dad was right, even my limited adoption of the “do more with less” strategy is working.

dpBestflow – Join Us Tonight!

[by Judy Herrmann]

On December 3, 2002, Dave Harp, the president of ASMP at the time, asked Richard Anderson, Peter Krogh and me to meet with him and Gene Mopsik in Baltimore. The ASMP Digital Standards Committee was born that afternoon and I don’t think any of us remotely imagined the full import of what we began that day.

Today, it is my great honor to invite you to celebrate the launch of a unique and powerful information resource: dpBestflow. The culmination of years of research and hard-won knowledge, dpBestflow provides best practices and workflows for photographers.

Now, best practices and workflows may not sound like the most glamorous topic in the world but if you’re like me, you’re dying to just put the constant time-suck of keeping up with technological change behind you and focus on making great images.  dpBestflow helps you do just that.

Efficient workflows lead to more productive use of your time.  They increase your profitability and give you more time to focus on important things like diversifying your skill-set, marketing your work, achieving your goals or even just having dinner with your family.   Best practices preserve your visual legacy.  They ensure that your data is protected and interpreted exactly how you intended – today and in the future.  Until now, figuring out how to achieve efficient workflows and embrace best practices has been a real challenge for photographers.

The dpBestflow team has done the homework for you.  Instead of culling through countless books and websites, trying to piece information together.  You now have a one-stop-shop for all things workflow related.  Got a burning question about a single topic like sharpening or storage media? You’ll find a distillation of exactly what you need to know.  Searching for guidance on a broad category like how to organize your files or keep your data safe?  On the dpBestflow website, you’ll find concrete answers including informative how-to tutorials and movies.

I invite you to join us tonight to celebrate the launch of this exciting new initiative.

7pm
Navy Memorial Auditorium
701 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington DC

Lessons from Childhood

[by Judy Herrmann]

My daughter, Julia, judges books by their covers.  At 2 ½ she walks through the library and says “I want the baby blue one” or “That one, with the dog.”

She recently checked out a story called Franklin Goes To the Hospital in which a young turtle with a cracked shell is afraid the x-ray will show how scared he is on the inside.  Dr. Bear assures him that bravery isn’t about fearlessness, but rather “doing what you have to do, no matter how scared you feel.”

As children we all heard variations on this theme in countless books, stories and movies.  As adults, though, fear often paralyses us – stopping us from being able to clearly see what we have to do, let alone actually doing it.

Producing creative work that comes from deep within you is scary.  Putting that work out for the world to see and respond to is scary.  Being self-employed is scary.  Taking risks is scary.  Adapting to change is scary.  Doing none of those things, though, is even scarier.

My partner, Mike and I, are in the process of reinventing our visual style for the 5^th time in 20 years.  I don’t mind telling you that I’m scared.  Will anyone like it? Will they point and laugh? Are we tapping into something new and cool and wonderful or have we completely lost it?

So I’m taking Dr. Bear’s advice and doing what I have to do even thought it’s scary.  And, you know what?  Now that I’ve made that commitment, there’s a growing bubble of excitement and exhilaration that’s slowly but surely drowning out the doubts.

And in doing this process again, and again, and again, I’ve come to recognize that the one begets the other – you don’t get that excitement and exhilaration without pushing yourself through the fear.  I’ve also grown to understand that it’s when we’re NOT scared that we’re in real trouble.

Gear to Go

[by Judy Herrmann]

About 8 years ago, after 12 years of being strictly studio photographers, we shot on location professionally for the very first time.  Preparations were stressful, to say the least.  We were so nervous about not having something we’d need that we practically brought the entire studio along.  We got through the shoot without using half the stuff we brought and decided there had to be a better way.
As we unloaded from the shoot, we launched my favorite outlining application and created a master list of everything we’d brought. Before a given shoot, we save a copy of our master gear list and edit it based on the needs for that job. We keep our lists organized by container – each case gets its own category and the items it contains are nested within.  If we edit the gear down to where some of the cases are partially empty, it’s easy enough to drag and drop items into a new “container category” so we’re bringing the minimum number of cases needed and all are full.
As we pack up, we tick off the items so we know when each case is ready to load.  Then, we tick each case off when it’s loaded into the car.

What I love about outlining apps is that they let you create broad categories, nest items within them and track what’s already been done.  They’re a perfect way of organizing location gear lists, especially if you’re not the only person packing up!  Unfortunately, my favorite app for this, Omni Outliner (shown below) is only available for the Mac but PC users have told me that VIP Simple To Do List offers similar functionality.

Triangles let you toggle categories open and shut, hiding or revealing nested items. A click in the box creates or deletes the check mark. You can drag and drop items from one category to another. Tab and shift+tab let you indent or un-indent items.

Blog Smart

[by Judy Herrmann]

In the past few months, I’ve worked with a number of photographers who are struggling with their blogs.  Their technology is fine – they’ve been successfully managing their blogs for several years and have worked out the kinks.  They post regularly and have a rhythm down.  Their site analytics reveal lots of unique visitors who leave lots of nice comments. Their blogs are perfect in every way except one.

The community they’ve spent all this time cultivating will probably never spend a dime supporting their families.  Why?  Because instead of posting information of interest to the client side, they’ve focused on what interests them. As a result, they’ve built a strong, vibrant community ofŠcompetitors.

Now, I’m not saying that everything you do has to be rooted in a profit motive.  If the compensation you’re getting takes another form (like giving you a platform to push yourself creatively) that still counts.  These photographers would tell you, though, that after awhile the novelty wears thin and as much as they’ve enjoyed the ego strokes, the effort they’ve put into building this community has used up a lot of time, energy and elbow grease that could have been tapped more profitably.

In times like these, few of us can afford the luxury of investing time or money in places where the return on investment is low to none.  These photographers now have a tough choice to make. They can come up with a way to generate income from the community they’ve built or start over and focus on building a new community of people who’ll pay cash money for what they already sell.  Either way, they’ve got a lot more time to invest before they’ll see much return.

If you’re gonna blog, blog smart.  Make your blog interesting and useful to the people who need what you sell.  Show them your value.  Show them how you can help them.  If doing this consistently seems overwhelming, consider guest blogging as a way of reaching the right audience.  As these photographers have learned, blogs can be a powerful marketing tool but that marketing doesn’t help you much unless it’s reaching the right people.Blgo

It’s Not You, It’s Me…

[by Judy Herrmann]

Anyone who’s ever been on either side of that line knows it’s a lie.  It’s never really ME, it’s always really YOU, right?

Colleen Wainwright, aka The Communicatrix, has identified one arena where this hackneyed saw actually becomes the truth: marketing communications.  A former actress, copywriter and designer, Colleen has worked in pretty much every aspect of communications.  She now focuses on helping solo- and duo-preneurs define or refine their communications strategy.

For years, we’ve been told that marketing is all about telling the world how great we are, but Colleen points out that people – even people who are looking to buy the services you sell – well, to put it bluntly, they’re just not that into you.  What they’re really interested in, what really gets their attention is…you guessed it…themselves!

Colleen’s developed a formula for marketing communications that puts the emphasis squarely where it belongs. And, honey, it’s not YOU, the provider, it’s ME, the buyer.  Best of all, she’s giving it away for free along with a bunch of other great advice in this video seminar.  Just scroll down to the bottom of the page at:

http://www.communicatrix.com/speaking

I highly recommend watching the whole thing but if you just can’t wait to learn the secret formula, you can skip to the 5 min 33 second mark and hit play.

Take Some Me-Time

[By Judy Herrmann]

Keep your business moving forward and your perspective clear by scheduling an hour or two each week for reflection and planning.  Use this time to think about what’s working, what isn’t and what needs to change.

Quick Tip Week – Build a Technology Plan

Most businesses think about business plans and marketing plans but it’s important to develop a technology plan, too.  Think about what new technologies (and skills) you need to invest in over the next year or two.  Include their costs in your CODB analysis and make sure you’re clear on how they’re going to help you increase your value so you can recoup the costs!

Ideas Worth Spreading

I first learned about the TED conferences several years ago from John Giammatteo, a Connecticut-based photographer who served with me on the ASMP National Board.  These annual conferences “bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers…to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.”

Ever since, I’ve tried to watch as many of the TED conference programs as I can and every year I’ve been awestruck by the mix of people, topics and information covered.

Over 450 free videos ranging in length from a few minutes to the 18 minute maximum are currently available at www.TED.com with more added regularly.

The 2009 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global conference will be held in Oxford from July 21-24 and I can’t wait to see the new ideas, inspirations and information they’ll be posting this year.

Breaking the Rules

For quite some time now, I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz in the advertising world about how the days of using traditional print or television advertising to grab market share are fading.  People are too busy and have so much more control over what they’re willing to pay attention to that “interruption marketing” doesn’t really cut it any more.

It’s gotten me thinking that the same philosophy applies to our clients as well.

Not surprisingly, what advertisers are discovering is that the answer lies in creativity and innovation.  Some recent examples:

• Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Grand Effie winning multi-platform campaign for Burger King which centered around a staged event in which customers’ reactions to news the Whopper was permanently discontinued were filmed.  See Adweek.com for details.

• Campfire’s immersive campaign for HBO’s new season of True Blood invites viewers to spice up the mundane world by participating in the “alternate reality” of the show’s Vampire inhabited society. Even the Financial Times took note.

It’s time for photographers to look beyond the (e-)mailer.  How can you leverage this same kind of thinking to reach potential customers and clients who don’t have the time or tolerance for traditional interruptions?

The Future of Advertising

The other day, I read a fascinating article in the Financial Times about the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival which noted a “seismic shift” towards interactive and digital marketing over traditional advertising campaigns.

The shift from print to electronic media is old news to photographers – we’ve been talking about that for a couple of years now.   What struck me about this article was a quote from Chuck Brymer, chief executive of DDB Worldwide who said “We are charging for the ideas – that’s the value you [as an agency] provide.”

The old business model of agencies giving ideas away in order to grab a percentage of the media buy no longer works and agencies who fail to grasp the import of Chuck Brymer’s observation are in for a rough ride.

Similarly, photographers must examine the value that we provide and recognize that our true skill does not lie in our knowledge of lenses, f-stops or Photoshop but in our ability to tell a comprehensive and compelling story within the frame of a single image.

Social Media – It’s Free … or is it?

The other day, our architect comes over and starts talking about social media. He has a website but now he’s thinking he should start a Blog, join Facebook or use Twitter. When I asked him why, he said “Oh, I don’t know, it just seems like everyone’s talking about these things so I figured I should do them.”

Huh?

Like any other significant investment that you make in your business, Social Media has to provide a reasonable return on investment. “But,” you say “Social Media is free or close enough to free, what’s the big deal?” Well, it may not cost money but ask anyone who Blogs or Tweets or updates their Facebook page intelligently and they’ll tell you that using Social Media effectively is one of the biggest time-sucks on the planet.

So, if you’re going to spend your time this way, make sure that what you’re doing makes sense. Create a list of goals (what do you hope to achieve through these vehicles?) and a list of audiences (who do you hope to reach?). Then, answer the following questions for each of your audiences:
1) How/where do they look for information?
2) How can I attract them – what do I have that they want?
3) How should I approach them – what will make them stay with me? (Think, too, about what will make them pass you by or even worse, flame you)
4) What do I want them to get from me?
5) What do I want to get from them – what do I want them to do?
6) How do my Social Media activities fit in with my broader marketing efforts?

For me, as an educator and business consultant as well as photographer, spending time participating in this Blog makes sense. Am I trying to sell you? Well, yeah, of course I want to grow my audience but hopefully I’m giving you something valuable along the way. And, if I’m not – if I fail to deliver on the promise of this brave new media, or if I’m too heavy-handed and you feel like I’m here JUST to sell you – you’re gone in the blink of an eye (or the amount of time it takes for your mouse to hit the next link).

So, outline your goals, develop your strategy, figure out who you’re trying to reach and why. Invest your time wisely – make sure you’re giving the right people good value in exchange for their attention and then well, come on in – the water’s fine.

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