I hope you enjoyed everything we talked about last week. We covered a lot of different aspects and I know it can feel overwhelming at times. It’s hard to know where to start. I remember when I was first pushing into the next stages of my business feeling very overwhelmed with where and what to spend my (very limited) money on. As a rule of thumb (this is just my personal opinion) I have tried to spend the bulk of my $$ on upgrading equipment and improving my skill. NOTHING WILL SELL YOUR WORK MORE THEN GREAT IMAGES and I was lacking in that department! I also recognized that I needed to make great first and last impressions to get them in and then keep them talking, thats where the need for The Everything Marketing Kit came from!

I know that as you build a business you have a lot of wants and needs, I purposefully priced the kit at a low intro price so that anyone can afford it and start using it and I designed it with lots of very affordable printing options because I needed them! Marketing your business can be fun and exciting, and I seriously recommend looking at it that way. Instead of allowing it to be a daunting task look at a creative challenge – with the reward being a more lucrative and successful business.

Creating the complete package is imperative to my business! From start to finish I want to impress my clients. I want each step of the experience to be better then expected. Thats why I love Nordstrom and it’s exactly why I want my clients to love me! From the first email, to receiving beautifully done contracts to the disk and prints followed by a hand written thank you card on my own company stationary. Each step reminds them of the previous (i.e. branding) and is always building on top of the last. I think one of the easiest ways to understand branding is to think of it as the complete package. You’ve got the camera, a portfolio and the name, The Everything Marketing Kit creates the package!  And remember it can be customized for you as well.

With everything we’ve talked about, one thing I hope you are really getting is that you need to find YOUR style. Think it out, dream it out, write it out! It’s the crucial starting point! Next is seeing it through. It’s important to execute your plan from start to finish. Here are some concepts you might like using as you develop your start to finish points?

1. POC (point of contact) is probably your blog or website or maybe a business or referral card. Are they sending the right message?

2. The Product. You work is your real product, make sure it’s great!

3. The Paperwork. Contracts, Model Release. Session Info. Who likes looking at boring white paper that they have to sign? At least make yours fun to look at and maybe even feel!

3. The Session – This is where you need to prove that your branding is an honest fit – and yes that is very important!

4. Packaging for Prints and CD’s. Think of the soap? What would you be more excited to receive? The Value brand or the beautifully packaged delicious yummy soap? Duh!

5. Thank you card, Referral Cards. Keep them thinking about you with fun referral cards to hand out to friends and a hand written thank you on your own company stationary after everything is complete!

I guess the big thing I’ve learned so far is to look ahead. What ever step I was at, I always became so fully engrossed with it that I forgot to look up and forward. I would find myself unprepared and scrounging to appear as if I was and that may have seriously hindered my chance at some great opportunities!