The Daily Mentor Minute Blog | Bruce Hudson

Who’s YOUR Perfect Photography Studio Client? Part One (Also Part Two of “Red Carpet” Marketing)
Saturday, Jan 30, 2010

Sorry I haven’t finished my thoughts on “Red Carpet” marketing, here’s part two of that blog! We were able to put on our calendar release party for not much out of pocket by leveraging our contacts and making the event a win-win for all of our vendors. For Armondo’s (the restaurant that the event was held at) it brought in people who had never experienced his food before. We did provide some beer and house wine, but he had the bar open and people were buying drinks, so he made a little money. We will also let him send a thank you card or an email to the people who attended with a coupon to come back. Armondo is a friend and always cuts us a little deal on food; we also trade for commercial photography, so these events really don’t cost me anything. As for Bobby Medina and his band, it’s the same principal! I photograph Bobby all the time and cover events for him at no charge. In return, I get some awesome music at all of my events for free! Plus, we post Bobby’s link on our Facebook page and feature him in our newsletter, it really drives some amazing referrals his way. Ok, there’s a short ending to that blog series. Let’s get into today’s topic! Have you noticed that not everyone you interact with on a daily basis in your photography business is as excited about photography as you are? I’ve found in 27 years of business that everyone has different priorities in life. Some put photography at the top of their list; some put it at the bottom. The concept of the “Perfect Client” comes from the people who highly value their family and choose to invest in it. If family is a priority, then photography is too, these are the people we want to work with. In order to find these people you need to understand who they are. I’ve been analyzing this for many years and during the next few blogs I want to share with you some specific characteristics that all perfect clients have in common. (1) They are eccentric! These people love off the wall kind of things, they live their life just a little different than everyone else. They are not boring! (2) They are looking for something different! For these people you have to show them why you are different, why you are special. For us it’s carrying actual canvas portraiture and custom designing large wall portraits for their home, not every studio does this, especially now days with the invention of the “CD.” (3) They are very family oriented! Family means a lot to my perfect clients. For me, having images that reinforce family togetherness and lifestyle is essential. They take family vacations, their kids are in private school, and they love celebrating with family dinners! These are the people who would rather put up a wall portrait of their family instead of a painting they bought at a gallery. Ok, that’s enough for today, I’ll post a couple more tomorrow. I have to get ready to go over to Josh’s house tonight for a family dinner! Wait, I put family first, does that mean that I am a perfect client? LOL you bet! It’s important to understand where your clients are coming from; you have to walk a little in their shoes. Get to know them, their habits, and their desires. Once you do that, you’ll know how to push their marketing buttons better! Have a great Saturday everyone!- Bruce

I hope you learned how to take good notes in school…It can help you become a better marketer!
Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010

Hey everyone, Josh here! My dad is doing some video editing tonight for our new Mentor Moments Video Blog, it should be live here any day for members only. Tonight I decided to blog about something I spent about an hour on today. But first, let me ask you a question: Who are the easiest people to market and sell your services too? Give up? People who know you already! Your past clients, their referrals, and people who have experienced what you can do. Or in today’s case, people who came in for a consultation and didn’t go through with the session. “Wait, why would I market to someone who didn’t book a session with me”, you are asking yourself right now? The answer is simple…”life” happens! Last year more than ever we had clients come in for a consultation, leave excited about the session, and postpone it at the last minute. Last year was a scary time financially for most people; you can’t blame them for second guessing spending thousands of dollars on portraiture. Today I tasked myself with going through all the “open” files from last year, and even some from 2-3 years ago. It was interesting reading the consultation notes from my dad. He wrote down possible size options, ceiling height, home colors, number of kids, where they see the portraits hanging, family hobbies, and anything you can think of! There was also email correspondence, phone messages, basically a complete file on each of our clients. “Why is that important, are you a photographer or a CIA agent???” You see, just because a family couldn’t pull the trigger initially doesn’t me you should write them off. Sometimes a year later can make all the difference in a buyers mind. Here’s one example I came across today. I read an email from a mom who cancelled last minute for our Portraits in the Leaves Safari last year. Right before Christmas, she emailed us and apologized again for having to cancel. “I can think of nothing more I would like better than a Bruce Hudson wall portrait in my home, but money is just too tight this year. This is a decision that will haunt me forever, I will be back to accomplish this goal”, the woman wrote. After an email like, would you toss that client aside? Another example is a family we photographed this summer. They actually came in for a consultation back in 2007 and booked a session. Of course, sometimes “life” happens and the session was cancelled. After a few years of getting our newsletters, emails, and mailings, guess who came a calling? It ended up being a nice $4,000 family sale and a $1,200 senior sale. Were they worth waiting for…you bet! Today I started writing personal letters to each client like the family I just described. Based on my dad’s consultation notes, the letters talk about their home, family, hobbies, and anything else to get them to relate on an emotional level. Emotion sells in our business, harness it! Anyway, 30 or so letters will go tomorrow, we’ll see what happens. Although, we do have a free frame promotion going on through February, maybe that will be the incentive they need to pull the trigger! Thanks dad for taking such good notes! –Josh PS. A new image of the week up, check it out on the site!

Beating the brush for new clients in your photography business doesn’t always mean you have to move to a new field! Sometimes the best revenue opportunities are right under your nose!
Monday, Jan 25, 2010

During the first quarter many of us in the photography business slowdown; this is not some ground breaking information. But like I’ve always said, there is still good business to be had during the historic slow times. Josh actually did a seminar for our Seattle Professionals Group (SPPA) a few weeks ago on ways to drum up business in the 1st quarter. You’d be surprised how many revenue opportunities there are right under your nose. Case in point, here are few fast and inexpensive places we are looking to drum up some instant business right now: (1) Selling old wedding negatives! Yes, for you newbie’s out there, I said negatives, that is a film term. LOL! Just kidding! We have over 30 years of wedding negatives in storage and we’ve been selling them off to our clients. We are also donating some of the proceeds to the Sue Hudson Memorial Scholarship Fund to make it a win-win for both parties. Each client also gets a $150 gift certificate for taking them off our hands. This has actually helped us reconnect with some older/inactive clients and brought us some more business. (2) Letting our Chamber of Commerce know that we are running a 2 for 1 business portrait special! I spoke with the author of the email newsletter today and she will advertise it for us! Yep, business portraits are not a ton of cash, but string a few together in a day and its cash-flow baby! (3) Instituting a lost client retention plan. Huh? It’s a fancy word for sending a letter to clients who canceled their sessions for whatever reason the last few years. You see, if a client comes in for a consultation and doesn’t end up booking a session, we do just write them off. For whatever reason, maybe the time for a substantial investment in portraiture wasn’t in the cards. A simple letter with a current studio offer might do the trick to get them back on track! (4) Marketing graduation products to this year’s senior clients! Graduation DVD shows, announcements, additional wallets; there are a ton of add-on products we can market to our clients. It’s hard for a client to have an immediate need for these types of items a year before they graduate. It’s easier to sell these as the deadline approaches. In conclusion, there are more opportunities than you think right under your nose to make some good money during the slow times. With the future always uncertain even during booming economic times, I’d rather make money now than wait for the “spring rush”, you just never know what lies ahead in business, better to be prepared with a healthy bank account! Hope everyone had a great weekend! -Bruce

Client Appreciation Events! Our 2010 Calendar Release Party! Part One
Sunday, Jan 24, 2010

Today we had our 2010 fine art calendar release party, it was a blast! Every year we produce a fine art calendar and give it to our best clients. It’s a great way to say thank you and give them a marketing piece that hangs up in their home for the next 12 months! We take the liberty and mark down all the important dates and events throughout the year at Hudson’s for them! During the release party, we aim to create a fun experience that they will surely be talking about the next day at work. I like to call it “Red Carpet” Marketing! We provide food, beer and wine, and even some live entertainment! All in all, this helps us connect with our clients, show them that we appreciate them, and give them a chance to feel like they are part of a community. But this type of appreciation event and “Red Carpet” marketing doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. More about this event tomorrow as well as a Facebook highlight video! -Bruce

Don’t let industry jargon keep you from connecting with your customers online!
Thursday, Jan 21, 2010

Today Bruce and I finalized some of the last pieces of our new Hudson’s Portrait Design website. After the images and the copy, what else is there to do, right? Well, with today’s competitive market place out there, you have to have a dominating web presence, especially on Google. Today was all about SEO and getting key words into our copy, meta-tags, and alt-tags. We ran the top search terms for our industry and it always surprises me what is populated back, it’s never what I would have guessed. You see, for us in the industry, words like portrait and image seems to be the way we describe our photography. I for one prefer the term portrait instead of picture; I feel it has more meaning. But does that meaning carry over to our customers? I hate the word photo, but that is searched 100 to 1 over portrait. My point with all this is to not let industry jargon get between you and your customers finding you online. Be sure to get the top search terms and key words in your copy and in your tags, it makes all the difference in the world! For you monthly mentor members out there, go the articles section tomorrow, I’ll post the top 5 search terms for our industry, they might surprise you! Take care and have a good Thursday! -Josh

Marketing with a very small investment during slow times!
Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010

Let’s face it; we’re right in the middle of the slow road right now. Despite the lack of cash-flow, we still need to be marketing and getting our face out there. This week I’m doing 3 things that will “touch” about 1750 clients/prospective clients for under $88! You really can market effectively with a small investment, here’s what I’m doing: (1) I sent out 150 invitation post cards to our top local clients for our fine art calendar release party this Sunday. It’s being held at a local restaurant. COST- .50 cents per card including postage, thank you Send Out Cards! (2) I sent out our Jan. Hudson E-Newsletter to our email list of about 1200 clients. COST- .15 cents per email, the total cost was around $18. Thanks Marathon Press! (3) I crafted a quick presentation for one of the major charities in our area. They are expecting 400 people at their event to celebrate their tenth anniversary! We will be receiving some major kudos for doing the pro-bono presentation for them and there will be many “heavy hitters” in attendance. Not to mention many of my clients! It should create some buzz for us. COST- About 2 hours of my time. Thanks…me! Ok, to sum this up, even when money is tight in January and February there are still ways to get your message out there. Have fun and be creative with your marketing! See you tomorrow! –B.H.

Marketing that helps you stand out…the Bill Glazer No BS Way!
Monday, Jan 18, 2010

I just returned from marketing guru and professional copy writer Bill Glazer’s Outrageous Marketing Conference! If you’ve never heard of Bill Glazer, you need to Google him and his business partner Dan Kennedy. Combined these guys are some of the most brilliant and outrageous marketing minds on the planet. I won’t bore you with the details, although I did take the Flip Camera with me to document the seminar and I will be posting a short highlight video on our YouTube Channel and Facebook page for you tomorrow. This entire conference was about Bill’s new book “Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get From Their Marketing” and how to add more personality and results in your advertising. I’ll talk more about this concept tomorrow and share with you how you can get a copy of my detailed notes from the conference, I took 16 pages! –Josh PS. A new image of the week will be up shortly, it’s from our 2010 Fine Art Calendar that was just delivered to the studio today!

Daddy’s on his way home! Crap, better get some work done!
Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010

I hope all of you have enjoyed some of my blogs this week! With Bruce at Imaging, I’ve been at the helm. But, I just got off the phone with him and he is on his way home. He sounded pretty excited about the interviews he conducted while down in Nashville, many of which will be featured in this year’s up-coming Monthly Mentor issues. The one thing that scares me a little bit when my dad is gone from the office is the rampage he will be on when he returns. LOL, you’re probably envisioning the Hell’s Kitchen guy! His rampages are actually good! You see, when we go to seminars, workshops, or marketing meetings, we get some great ideas. It’s overwhelming at times! But most of us don’t stay fired up; we don’t take the necessary steps to implement our new ideas. My dad is just the opposite. When he returns from a trip like this he is fired up, excited, and wants all the new ideas done yesterday! We usually have a staff meeting and discuss the coming changes in our business. This is one of the reasons for his rapid and continued success in this business, it’s his ability to shift gears and step on the gas when needed. But, as a business partner, it can be overwhelming when he gets back because there is so much to do. Here are some of the ways I deal with Bruce’s rampages: (1) I try to have everything organized for him. It’s hectic enough trying to get back into “work mode”; I try to make it easy for him. I layout his phone messages (marking which ones are priorities, like calling our Monthly Mentor Subscribers back), have his office area neat and tidy, and have a summary of what has gone on at the studio during the week, so he can get up to speed. (2) I get prepared to be bombarded with ideas and new projects! I try to get all of my daily work done (phone calls to clients, emails, etc.) so I can focus my full attention on whatever he needs. (3) I need to be ready to go 120%! I say 120% because I already give 110% on a daily basis. This means getting a good night sleep and a good breakfast! So I know what some of you are thinking, “I am a one person studio, this blog means nothing to me!” Well, let’s look outside the box for a moment and make some connections. Have you ever gone to seminar, loaded up on new ideas, and then went back to your studio only to be bogged down by your daily work like Photoshop? Unfortunately, about 5% of photographers who attend seminars actually implement the information they learned. I know this from experience, it’s true. Some of the ways I get ready for the return of Bruce you can actually do for yourself! Prepare yourself for your own rampage. One of my dad’s good friends and former students Kevin Conners is great at this. He’s a one man studio in San Diego, CA who has risen to great heights in a short period of time. When he decided to leave corporate America a few years ago to pursue photography as a full time gig, he dedicated himself to learning the craft and the business. My dad was just one of the many educators he studied with within a short period of time. After each workshop and seminar, he would devote the next week to actually implementing the concepts and ideas. I remember him telling me once that, “you have to get into that kind of mindset. Do whatever it takes to implement the things you know are going to grow your business and increase your artistic appeal. It’s all about actually implementing the concepts, studying with someone means nothing if you don’t change what you are doing.” With that said, I’m going to get back to work! Bruce will be blogging tomorrow; I’m actually flying to Orlando for a marketing convention. Hey, maybe I’ll be the one on a rampage when I get back on Monday! -Josh

“No Client Gets Left Behind!”
Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010

The beginning of the year is a great time to start fresh! Exercise, eat better, and reevaluate things in your life. It’s also a great time to work on your business and implement some new strategies. Today at the studio, I took the last hour of my day to reevaluate our client follow-up procedures. With things being as hectic and stressful as they were last year, I felt like we were leaving some clients behind. Don’t get me wrong, I would say that we are better than most studios when it comes to following up, our clients have told us that many times, but it is always good to find more efficient ways to do things. I decided to consolidate all our follow-up into one binder and place it centrally in our main office; I want it to be accessible to everyone. I also wrote a more detailed description of the step by step procedures involved when you take a phone inquiry, answer an email, or even respond to a Facebook post. Everything needs to be cataloged, dated, and put in its proper file. Before, it was sort of up to whomever to follow up with their leads. Now, anyone can take a minute and see who needs a phone call, an email, a Send Out Card, or a letter. I’ve found that the more touch points you have with a prospect the more likely they are to book a consultation. It is essential then to track what actions have been taken and to follow-up accordingly. For instance, I had a commercial price quote request today via email. Here was the procedure: (1) Copied her (it was the female marketing director of the company) information down on our new follow-up tracking sheet and printed the email (2) Emailed her back with links to our commercial album on Facebook, a video of Bruce doing a commercial shoot, and ball parked a price for what she was looking for. I also laid the groundwork for a consultation. (3) I filed her info into the commercial tab in the follow-up binder. Pretty simple, huh? Tomorrow, I’ll go through the binder, pull her information, and give her a call personally to see if she received the email. After that, I’ll mark down that I called her, date it, and write down any special notes. I know this stuff isn’t sexy; in fact, it’s downright boring, even for a marketing geek like me. But you have to have things in place like this, even if you’re a one person studio. Read the book The E-Myth, it will open your eyes! For you Monthly Mentor Subscribers, I’ll post our new follow-up procedures and the new tracking sheet in the articles section for you tomorrow. Print them off and give them a try; you’ll be surprised how organized you feel! -Josh

The power of an unrelated gift!
Monday, Jan 11, 2010

Today I spoke to one of our Platinum Monthly Mentor Subscribers; he is teaming up with the floral department of a local grocery store. He was about to meet with the manger to go over his display and the offer he would be promoting. Basically, come in for a session and you’ll get a gift certificate towards a dozen roses this Valentine’s Day. I was proud because this member is taking action and using other businesses to not only display his work, but also drive business his way with an unrelated gift. So what is an unrelated gift? It’s a gift that is not related to your company or your product line. For instance, we gave a $15 iTunes gift card to every HS senior who came in for a session during the month of August. We’ve done a promotion similar to this before where we gave 16 free wallets, which is worth far more than a $15 iTunes gift card. But to the kids, the iTunes credit was far more appealing and we booked a lot more because of it this year. For some reason, when you give a gift with purchase that is not something of your product line, consumers put more value in it. $10 Starbucks gift cards seem to be big when it comes to referrals lately, I know 3 dentists off the top of my head who give those away. I’ve personally got about a half dozen from my dentist this year alone! If I ever come across anyone new to the area, I always ask them if they have a dentist yet, I want my Starbucks baby! LOL! Would I be as enthusiastic if it was $10 off my dental work? Probably not. My point with all this is to think outside the box a little bit. Partner with a dress shop, a florist, or just buy the gifts yourself, but give consumers a reason to use your services. Sometimes it’s the unrelated gifts that will help you close the deal. –Josh P.S. I hope everyone enjoyed January’s E-Studio Success Tip, it was emailed today. If you didn’t receive it, you can add yourself to the list on the home page!

Marketing works no matter what time of year…but you have to do it!
Sunday, Jan 10, 2010

Last week we were crazy-crazy busy! You wouldn’t think that the first week back to work after the holidays would be a busy time for a portrait studio, but we were. Our 5,000 piece 4 color newsletter (printed by Marathon Press) started hitting the streets. And guess what, the phone is ringing! One of the first examples was a commercial client of ours; she called on Monday to book 3 new board members for headshots. She said it was the newsletter that prompted her to call us, it was a “great reminder” she said. Another example of this kind of relationship marketing working (even during the 4th quarter) was a wedding inquiry that contacted us several weeks ago. Josh did a great job following up with an information packet and a Send Out Card. She called back to schedule a consultation and to say thank you for getting the information so quickly. She also mentioned that her folks got our newsletter and reminded her to call! Turns out I photographed this bride to be back in 1989 for her senior portraits. I also photographed their family in 1998. Her parents still live in the same house and get all of our newsletters. After chatting with the bride on Friday, it’s pretty much a done deal, we have the wedding. Marketing your studio through something like a newsletter is the best investment you can make, but you have to do it! I can’t remember who said, “A major part of success is just showing up”, but it’s a favorite quote of mine. So start 2010 off right and do something that is going to get your phone to ring! I’ll be blogging for Nashville this week, hope to see all of you at national! -Bruce

Do you know the history of YOUR clients and prospects?
Wednesday, Jan 06, 2010

Last night (Jan. 5th 2010) I gave a program to the Seattle Professional Photographer Association entitled “Gearing for the 1st quarter of 2010!” This was actually my first “solo” program given to a live audience, it was awesome! Anyway, I covered ways to market in the first quarter and how our studio actually generates cash-flow during the dreaded first quarter. One of the topics was effective follow-up. If you remember, I did an article for the Monthly Mentor Studio Success Guide about 6 months ago on this. Since then, our email marketing program has made some changes that I want to share with you briefly. I highly stress that you invest in an email marketing program; it can make all the difference! I’ve seen some photographers email newsletters that are sent via their hotmail or gmail accounts with a JPG or PDF file attached. Yes, it’s better than not doing one at all, but you have to be able to track the results, how else are you going to know if it’s effective? Who opened it, click through it, forwarded it, and who did they forwarded it to? There are a lot of services out there, I personally am a FIRM believer in Marathon Press’s Email Marketing, and it just got a whole lot better. Here’s what I mean! They just updated their program and added some new features that now make my life a whole lot easier! I can now view the complete history of each one of the clients/prospects that I have in my email database. I can see what they have received, which ones were opened, what they clicked on, and who they forwarded it to. It’s cool because I can now start to figure out what an individual prospect is interested in. If they click on links regarding children’s photography, I know that is something they’re interested in. I can now craft messages to fit the individual needs of my clients and prospects, which will definitely help with my conversion rate, very cool! If that wasn’t enough, Marathon’s email marketing now has “trigger” capabilities. Basically, you can set up automated email follow-ups that are sent to prospects and clients based on what they click on. It can be right after they click on a link, or set it for a week later! This makes my life a lot easier, its automatic follow-up! Anyway, just some cool things I am excited about for 2010. If you want more info about Marathon Press and this email marketing program, please go to www.marathonpress.com and click on email marketing. They truly are the professional photographers marketing partner! Thanks guys, you rock :) -Josh

Good Bye 2009 Hello Twenty Ten!
Friday, Jan 01, 2010

Last year on this day I shared some tips from Dr. John Grohl on how to keep your New Years Resolutions alive throughout the year. I feel they are worth repeating so here goes: (1) Pick realistic goals (2) Define your goals (3) Set a schedule (4) Do not be upset by set backs (5) Enlist additional support when needed! Pretty good stuff! One of my goals for 2009 was to send 2 cards (www.sendoutcards.com/hudsons) per day-5 days a week to our TOP CLIENTS thanking them for their business over the years. So how did I do? Pretty good! I admit I didn’t send 2 cards every day, but I did send over 500 cards to clients last year. In addition, we sent 2 beautiful 4 color newsletters (designed and printed by Marathon Press) to approx. 4000 each time in our data base, 5 premiere newsletters to our top 350 clients, and over a dozen ENewsletters to 1500 in our Email Dbase! One of our major goals last year was to create a separate brand for our Senior’s & launch a Senior only website. We completed this in July! Check it out @www.seniorsbyhudsons.com! Our final goal last year was to totally over haul our studio website and up date our studio logo. Well, we didn’t finish in 2009, but we are weeks away from going “live”. Be watching for that @www.hudsonportraits.com. So what’s your goals for Twenty Ten??? I want to leave you today with a great quote from Robert Allen—“The Future you see, is the FUTURE YOU GET!” Here’s to a Bright Future and an AWESOME NEW YEAR!