If you don’t… I will be blunt… your wasting your time and money. Period.

There are various ways to track your marketing success. No, you can’t see if someone even glanced at your postcard before throwing it in the circular file. BUT, you if you have it set up that you can see your web site statistics, you can see if the number of visits to your web site go up after sending one.

And email campaigns, if sent through a service, can provide you with open rates, and, however creepy, by whom and at what time. No, that doesn’t mean that after you see a prospect has opened your email you need to call them and say… “I see you opened my email.” I think that is borderline stalking and I know it would unnerve me if I received that call.

So, at minimum, you need to start some kind of tracking system. Here’s a basic approach:

1. In a text document list the marketing activity, say “January eNewsletter”
2. List what day it took place
3. Several days after the eNewsletter went out, check your delivery statistics. How many people opened it? How many people clicked on a link within it. What links did they click on. Did anyone forward it ?  If so, be sure to get that email into your client database so it is included in future efforts. Did you receive any emails? Any calls?

Something you always need to remember to do, when you receive that first contact from a new prospect asking for an estimate or similar… Ask them how they found you! That will help you know which search engines they are using, or which trade association is sending you referrals.

Kimberly Blom-Roemer is a Gulf Coast architectural photographer who is slightly twisted in the brain because she loves to track her marketing campaigns’ data and the challenge of tweaking each effort to further improve those numbers. kimberly@r2-photography.com

If you don’t track where leads are coming from, there is no way to know where to put future time, effort and money.

Reviewing Google Analytics is an important part of tracking website traffic and understanding your Internet sales funnel.

Tracking clicks from your latest e-mail campaign will help you become a better e-mail marketer.

Tracking your social media statistics is important to understand what works to drive the most engaged traffic.

We have wonderful technology available at our finger tips. This doesn’t replace important old-school marketing information.  This information comes from the most important thing you can do when you finally receive that e-mail or phone call requesting your services.

Ask the right questions:

• How did they heard of you?
• Why did the prospect chose to call you?
• What images did they like the best?

Ask the questions that will make you a better marketer.

Rosh Sillars is a photographer, author, blogger, and podcaster supporting the photography community at http://www.roshsillars.com.

There’s no question that tools like email newsletters, trackable bit.ly URLs and other digital tools with baked-in statistics are a boon to businesses wanting to market themselves. You can test different approaches and come up with meaningful measures of how comparatively successful your efforts have been.

But one of the most effective ways of leveraging your existing marketing is even simpler than that, and woefully overlooked: keeping track of the people who refer business to you.

Think about what usually happens when you give a referral, and you’ll understand what I mean. A colleague needs a recommendation–for a plumber, a graphic designer, a stylist–and you serve one up. Often you’ll get a thank-you from the service provider (with or without accompanying graft). But imagine if along with the thank-you, that service provider came back to you with specifics of how the job went? And imagine if then, six months down the line, you received a follow-up note of thanks, along with news of another terrific job the provider had been able to do for your colleague. Provided the provider didn’t go overboard, wouldn’t actually knowing that the job(s) went well make you more likely to keep sending referrals their way? I know it does me.

The people who refer business to you are part of your extended marketing. So take care of them by keeping track of them. You can use a robust database, or a combination of a calendar and the notes field in your Address Book app. But use something. Your business depends on it.

Colleen Wainwright loves the people who refer business to her just as much as the ones who attend her lively ASMP talk on marketing, “Making People Love You Madly.”

Tracking your marketing efforts closely is a great way to understand what is working for you and what isn’t.

For each mailing campaign, I record the recipients, the type of campaign (4×6  postcard, mini-portfolio, etc), size of the mailing, date and the cost.  For broader endeavors, such as a yearly subscription to a list service or, in my case, attending a trade show, I record the full cost for the year.  If a marketing endeavor is essentially free, such as a LinkedIn account, I make note of how much time I spend setting it up, updating my portfolio and resume, etc.

Finally, I monitor responses & booked jobs.  For example, if I received 50 responses from a mailer but only booked one small job, that’s information I can use.  If I spent X dollars on a trade show and had a 0% rate of return within the following year, that tells me something too.

It’s important to remember that marketing campaigns are typically effective over time.  I still want to monitor my efforts in detail, so I can look for patterns and adjust accordingly.  An easy way to start is by asking every potential client a very simple question: “Where did you find me?”  Sometimes the answers are surprising.

Jenna Close spends a lot of time marketing.  So far, it’s been time well spent.  She can be found at www.p2photography.net.   

There are two apps that can keep you from falling asleep at the wheel on the road to your photo marketing success: Evernote and  iCal. When used in conjunction, they’re even more powerful.

1. Good content always comes first. Evernote is a great app to capture portfolio shoot ideas as they come to you; great ideas can happen anywhere, anytime. Don’t let them slip away. Rope and tie ‘em.

2. Then use iCal’s reminder function to actually schedule your portfolio shoots. Commit to scheduling a minimum of 6-12 new images per year. Put them on your calendar now even if you don’t have the actual idea fleshed out yet. Create deadlines with multiple alarms for every aspect of the shoot.

3.Use Evernote again to capture any promotional ideas, leads, and resources that inspire you about marketing. Use the Tags feature.

4. Then schedule action steps related to your marketing ideas into your calendar. Use more alarms. Move a task to the next hour–or the next day– if you don’t complete the task on time. Keep the alarm active until the project is totally complete. Getting sick of hearing the alarm go off can be a powerful motivator. And it will create new habits.

5. Finally… schedule a victory reward for the work you’ve done to support your creativity and your intention to move your marketing forward.
Don’t skip this step!

Carolyn Potts, photography marketing consultant, former photo rep, and compassionate butt-kicker, shows photographers how to get more work. Although, only 3 alarms were needed to write this article, there are several more alarms to go before her new website launches. In the mean time, find her at www.cpotts.com , http://bit.ly/FaceBookPottsConsulting and http://carolynpotts.net.

It’s hard to part with the money needed to launch a marketing campaign, especially when you are just starting out or business is slow.  When I’m sweating the expense I look at the total cost of the campaign and compare that with how many average sized jobs I need in order to break even.  This puts my output and input into perspective.

Jenna Close tries to break everything down into manageable bits.  You can find her examining the pieces at www.p2photography.net.

Even though nearly marketing book on the planet recommends focusing on client benefits, most service based businesses don’t understand the difference between a feature and a benefit.

Feature: the characteristic of the person or business that OFFERS the benefit to clients.

Benefit: What does the client RECEIVE from a feature?

Another way of looking at it is to remember that all features can be written with the words, “I/we have…” while a benefit can start with the words, “You get…”

Now look over your marketing materials… which way are they written?  Are you telling your clients how great you are…or how they can benefit from your great service?

Louisiana based Architectural photographer, Kimberly Blom-Roemer, is the newest contributor to join the Strictly Business blog.  She can be reached at www.r2-photography.com

A new year.  A fresh start.  Time to rock that marketing!   But before we dig in, well, there are millions of things that need to get done first.

When it comes to marketing, most of us have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen.  The challenge lies in getting it all done. If you’re struggling to find time to update your website, refine your prospect list, put together your marketing campaigns and make follow up calls, it’s time to figure out why.

One of the first questions you’ll have to address is how big a role does avoidance play?  Are you really that busy or are you unconsciously (or maybe even semi-consciously) coming up with activities that will let you put off the discomfort of marketing?

If the issue really is time related, are there ways you could work more efficiently or manage your time more effectively?  If not, what activities can you eliminate to make time to market your business?

Or does the stumbling block lie in feeling like you just don’t have enough information, lack certain skills or aren’t sure how to move your business forward?  If so, how can you get the knowledge, skills or insights you need?

If perfectionism is getting in your way, what will it take to get you to let go?  If putting yourself out there is just too terrifying, how can you maneuver yourself into a position where someone else does that part for you?  What support systems do you need to put into place and how will you get them?

Chances are that once you’ve identified the stumbling blocks, you’ll discover countless others who’ve been there, done that and figured out a way to overcome those barriers.  So make it a priority to figure out what’s stopping you from marketing your business, then make 2012 your best year ever.

Judy Herrmann of Herrmann + Starke uses seminars, consultations and her blog, 2goodthings.com, to help photographers and other small business owners take their careers where they want to go.

While I was getting ready to write this post, the radio began playing Michael Jackson’s early hit “ABC easy as 123.” It struck me that that song’s message –about keeping things simple–applies as well to marketing your photography. Just remember to use “ABC” and “123.”

A. Always promote your best imagery. Trim your portfolio regularly. Markets evolve. So should you. When the dead wood is gone, new content can grow in its place.

B. Be you. Discover and commit to a marketing activity aligned with your personality, skills, and resources. Not everyone has the personality to excel at in-person networking. Not everyone is technologically adept at social media. Find a strategy you like. They all work, but only if you…

C. Commit to consistency. If you want results, nothing beats consistency. Remember, it takes at least 7 impressions before a prospect can even remember your name–even if they LOVE your work!

And to be a successful marketer of your photography:

1. Do it. Do what ever it takes to make yourself do it. To actually achieve consistent results, you need to master doubt, fear, and procrastination. Mastery over any limiting beliefs you have about marketing, will always precede your external victories.

2. Delegate it.  To do that, you need to hire–or bribe–a willing teammate to take it off your plate. Learn to leverage your time. If there’s someone else who can do it well, use your valuable time to focus on your core business: image-making.

or

3. Team up with an accountability partner. If your consistency often flags, get a friendly, deadline-dictator to hold you accountable on your goals and deadlines. This will help build your self-confidence so you can achieve some real wins–ones that will help you overcome any further marketing resistance.

Fellow photographers are a great support system, but don’t overlook teaming up with a non-photographer. Find someone who needs support in sticking to their New Year’s resolutions (e.g., losing weight, quitting smoking, cleaning out the basement, etc.). On the road to achieving a big goal, everyone inevitably falls off track at some point, but with support, getting back on board is so much easier.

You can get better at marketing your work. It’s essential for your success–especially in today’s market. But it doesn’t have to be hard.
Just remember A, B, C.
It’s easy as 1, 2, 3.

Carolyn Potts, photography marketing consultant, former photo rep, and compassionate butt-kicker, shows seasoned & proactive photographers how to get more work. She’s also promised her accountability partner that she will finally get her very outdated website updated by end of 1Q2012. In the mean time, find her at www.cpotts.com , http://bit.ly/FaceBookPottsConsulting and http://carolynpotts.net

2012 will offer more choices than ever for your marketing dollar and time.  Where do you want to spend it?

The first place is your website, which is the core of your marketing efforts in the 21^st century. Even if you use offline marketing, prospects still check you out online.

What are they seeing when they get to your site?

Update your online portfolio.  Make sure your site is easy to use, loads quickly, and clearly describes what you do. Update often by adding new pages with great photographs and descriptions of your talents, style, philosophies and adventures.

Not only will your prospects appreciate the ease of use and great information, but Google will reward you with increased traffic.

Last January I decided to spend a year working on search engine optimization in order to drive more traffic to my portfolio website: www.rosh.com.  My goal was to become the No. 1 ranked site on Google when someone searched for Detroit photographer.  Unfortunately, I’m the lucky guy who lives in the same town as photography SEO guru Blake Discher.

So, how did I fare? My site climbed from No. 17 to No. 2 in Detroit photographer searches.   Sometimes I’m No. 3, depending on Google’s mood.

In 2010, I attracted 32 visits to my rosh.com website with the keywords Detroit photographer  In 2011, I had 148 visits for the same keywords. Even better, I can track more than $20,000 of income related to those keywords alone.   This does not include all the other related keywords that sent quality traffic to my website on a daily basis. By quality traffic, I mean visitors who care about my site, such as prospective clients.

Did I fail?  You be the judge.

No matter how good my SEO skills seem to be, they mean little if my website doesn’t offer value to those who click on my name.

Whatever your marketing strategy –  search engine optimization, social media, e-mail or direct mail – they all will fail or offer less impact if you don’t keep your website up-to-date.

Make sure you start 2012 with a good foundation before you spend your valuable time and money.

Rosh Sillars podcasts and blogs about marketing photography at roshsillars.com