Success is subjective. It means different things to different people.  I divide photographic success into two distinctive areas.

The first area is the opportunity to create beautiful images.  For many photographers, successfully finding and taking advantage of great opportunities to create beautiful images means they win.  Once you decide to make photography your career, the story changes.

For photographers who wish to make a living, success still involves finding great opportunities.  The difference between the amateur and the professional in developing photographic opportunities is marketing.

The second measure of success for the photographer is all math.  Your income should be greater than your expenses and your net income should be enough to live a comfortable life.  Once again, the measure of what is comfortable is subjective.  The basic math of income over expense is not.

A successful photographer knows how much he spends each month on studio space, location fees, insurance, assistants, professional fees, equipment, and repair.  He knows how much he needs to make each day to generate a profit and achieve his income goals.  Do you?

Add up every fixed business expense, to the best of your knowledge, that will you encounter over the next year.  Then add how much you realistically need or want to make as your annual income.  Then divide the total by the number of jobs you had last year or a realistic number of days you will work this year.

You might be surprised by how much you really need to charge to stay in business.

You cannot afford to work hourly.

When the average person thinks about hourly rates, she envisions $25 – $50 dollars an hour as a professional rate.  This is not realistic.  Here’s why: Most photographers don’t spend 40-50 hours a week photographing for clients. To meet her expenses and income goals, a professional photographer needs to charge more per hour on average.

Unfortunately for the hourly photographer,  photography production takes less time than it did 10-15 years ago.   It is more important than ever to focus on the value of the image.   Pricing per image is the way to go.

The only type of photography that can practically employ hourly rates is event photography.  The photographer is required to be at the event for a specific period of time.  An event photographer can’t get out early because she thinks she “got the shot” or worked efficiently.

Great, now that I’ve explained how you may be losing money doing what you love, how do you find more photography opportunities?

 Marketing

When it comes to marketing, it is important to discover and understand your competition. In the photography industry it may be easier to figure out who is not your competition, because everyone is a photographer. 

If everyone  is a photographer, you must understand what the average photographer does.  What is considered average and make sure you are not average.  If someone is going to hire a photographer, that person needs to feel she brings value beyond what they can do to the table.  Great value.

One way to help make the competition less relevant is to find your And.  Create a valuable product, service, or style that no one else or very few photographers are offering.

Create demand

You may offer a wonderful service, but if no one knows about it you will have trouble making a living.  You need to develop a 2012 marketing plan.  This plan must involve digital marketing and social media.

Many photographers still resist digital marketing.  These new marketing ideas are not new anymore. They are standard and effective.  This does not mean traditional marketing techniques do not work.  Many are less effective than they once where, but if you executed them well you will earn positive results.

Cost is one of the major factors limiting the use of traditional marketing for the 2012 photographer.  Quality and effective direct mail, Workbook advertising, in-person meetings, lunches, events, posters, and traditional public relations are all expensive.  In the past, good marketing was more about the photographer’s financial budget.  In 2012 it’s a combination of money and time.  The photographer must decide which is more available and how to balance her assets.

The solar system

To keep your marketing in focus, you need to develop a plan.  I recommend using my solar system model.

Start with your website.

A photographer in 2012 who does not have a website is not in business.  A photographer’s website needs to be clean and easy to use.  The photographs must be the very best work, not a catalog of your career.  There is nothing wrong with having a photographic catalog on your website, but it is important for your portfolio section to contain only the top 10-20 images that represent your vision.  Always make sure you have contact information on every page.  It is important to make sure visitors know what steps to take next.

Your website is the foundation of your marketing in 2012.  This is where you sell.  Everything else is designed to drive traffic to your website.  Circling near your sun is your blog.  Your blog is your personality.  This is where you share outtakes, commentary, personal projects, behind- the-scenes photos and videos.  This helps photography buyers understand who you are as a person as well as a photographer. It is also excellent for attracting visitors to your website via the search engines such as Google.

The next orbit of planets are your inner planets.  These are content-sharing multi-media sites such as YouTube, Flickr and 500px.   Your outer planets are social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google +.   This is where you engage and develop your community.  It’s not as much about selling as it is educating people about what you do and developing referrals.

Note: I share more support information about my solar system marketing model in my book The Linked Photographer’s Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media.

Business in 2012 is still about people and relationships.  The difference is that relationships are now developed and reinforced online.  Social media does not replace in-person relationships. Social media and digital marketing doesn’t replace anything, it is a valuable addition to what already works in your marketing.

Digital marketing is not all social media.  Direct marketing such as e-mail and search engine marketing must be considered for your plan.  These direct marketing tools are like asteroids in your solar system and lead directly to your website for the conversion.

What is a conversion?

A conversion is the person visiting your website doing what you want them to do.  This could be a phone call, e-mail or filling out a form.  Once you get people to your website it is all about your sales funnel.  A sales funnel is the steps it takes to complete the sale.  What does your funnel or workflow look like?

An example of a broken sales funnel is all those business cards in your desk drawer.  Many business people collect the cards, but don’t do anything with them.  Another example is all the traffic coming to your website without conversions.  If you don’t know where your traffic is coming from you are losing opportunities. Take action to fix the funnel and make it more efficient so your sun doesn’t turn into a black hole.

Don’t let your sun turn into a black hole

The great thing about digital marketing is that you can test it.  Testing makes your solar system more efficient and ultimately generates more successful conversions and sales.   What do you test?  Everything!

Different keywords attract different qualities of traffic in your search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).  Your favorite photograph is not always the best image for your front page.  Often our favorite photograph has personal and emotional value, but it is not our best photograph to sell our services.  Test headlines in your e-mail campaigns and blog posts.

A successful photographer in 2012 never stops testing and experimenting.

Speaking of experimenting, a successful photographer strives to improve his photography every day.  Techniques and styles continually change.  Yours need to develop and grow, too.  Never stop learning.

Keep track of your successes.  What worked last year may not work today.  Some activities that worked in the past may have gotten lost in the shuffle.  Test them again, they may still work.

One thing that always works is to show appreciation to the people who hire you.  Thank clients and reward people who generate valuable referrals online and in real life.

Photography is an easy career in get into, but it is an extremely hard industry to stay in.   In 2012 a photographer cannot build a career just on the love of the craft.  She must have a vision, understand business and marketing,  separate herself from the competition, and continually educate and update.

What would you add?

Rosh

• Detroit Creative Labs Podcast – Photographer Edition – You don’t need to be from Detroit nor a photographer to be apart of this digital marketing and social media experiment.
• Time: 20:00
• Podcast host: Rosh Sillars
• This week’s show notes:  Will Twitter help answer your SEO questions. Selina Maitreya call… Photographers Path Series.  Sociable plug-in, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter. Travel Plans?
• Google Plus Hangout: None
• Rosh Sillars Google+
• Like us on Facebook (video updates)
• Twitter @roshsillars
• Itunes Detroit Creative Labs: Photographer edition -  subscription
• Comment line: 64-newrosh-1 (646 397 6741)
• Email Rosh Sillars
• Rosh Sillars Speaking sample video 2:06 minutes
• http://about.me/roshsillars
• Rosh Sillars Pinterest
• My Plaxo
• Rosh 500px
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• Detroit Photographer People Portfolio
• The Driven Business Blog and Podcast
• e-mail

Really?

In some cases, social media drives more than 30 percent of a photographer’s income.  The percentage is higher for wedding and retail photographers.

Should the person who knows the least about your company or industry  be the one representing you out in the world?

No.

There is a myth that young people are social media savvy because they all have Facebook accounts.  That is like saying my aunt Lucy should deliver my next direct mail campaign because she sends me postcards while on vacation.

Teenagers tend to know their cell phones inside and out.  Would you hire a teenager to call on your best client or make the introduction call to a hot prospect?

Of course not. That is what you are doing when you entrust interns with your social media.

Now, the good news.  Interns and assistants are a very useful part of your social media campaign.  Have them set up accounts, monitor your accounts, track Google alerts, research information, look for articles to share, and post information directed by you.  Social media is social and not about posting your latest press release.  It is a two-way conversation; a knowledgable person needs to be the conductor of such an exchange.

How would you train your assistant to attend a networking event on your behalf?  You must have confidence in your team member. Will she represent you well?  If you are satisfied with her abilities, let her respond to basic social media comments and post standard information.

Make sure you have policies in place to support your team.  They need to understand when it is appropriate to comment and when they need to hand over the matter to you.

Social media for business is most beneficial when used for networking and educating prospects and clients.  Ask yourself: Who is the best person to take on that role?  If you can spend an hour a day networking online in the name of growing your business, I say ultimately the job is yours.

This week: New Goals!

• Detroit Creative Labs Podcast – Photographer Edition – You don’t need to be from Detroit nor a photographer to be apart of this digital marketing and social media experiment.
• Time: 24:00
• Podcast host: Rosh Sillars
• This week’s show notes: Talking business, Begin 2012 with Website Basics @asmp blog, good competition keeps us on our toes,  your website, commenting revival, using a slide show for a portfolio, review other photographers blogs and websites, Don’t get mad at your clients.
• Google Plus Hangout: None
• Rosh Sillars Google+
• Like us on Facebook (video updates)
• Twitter @roshsillars
• Itunes Detroit Creative Labs: Photographer edition -  subscription
• Comment line: 64-newrosh-1 (646 397 6741)
• Email Rosh Sillars
• http://about.me/roshsillars
• Rosh Sillars Pinterest
• My Plaxo
• Rosh 500px
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• Detroit Photographer People Portfolio
• The Driven Business Blog and Podcast
• e-mail
• LinkX: http://www.rostonics.com/  and  New Jersey Photographer

This week: The tale of two Scotts

• Detroit Creative Labs Podcast – Photographer Edition – You don’t need to be from Detroit nor a photographer to be apart of this digital marketing and social media experiment.
• Time: 30:00
• Podcast host: Rosh Sillars
• This week’s show notes: Easy sharing in social media, RSS feeds, Search Engine Optimization for photographers, SEO = activity, fresh websites,  The tale of two Scotts (Scott Monty and Scott Bourne), Robert Morris ,  11 Simple things you can do to grow your photography business, New New Twitter, Engaging in social media, Rockthepost.com , Enjoy your holidays.
  

• Google Plus Hangout: None
• Rosh Sillars Google+
• Like us on Facebook (video updates)
• Twitter @roshsillars
• Itunes Detroit Creative Labs: Photographer edition -  subscription
• Comment line: 64-newrosh-1 (646 397 6741)
• Email Rosh Sillars
• http://about.me/roshsillars
• Rosh Sillars Pinterest
• My Plaxo
• Rosh 500px
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• Detroit Photographer People Portfolio
• The Driven Business Blog and Podcast
• e-mail
• LinkX:   Marc Garrison Fine Art Photographer
  

Social media participants are not exempt. Many people create automated accounts with RSS feeds to share other people’s news, thoughts and commentary with their community.  Some will link all of their social media so it only takes one blog post or tweet to populate their social media world.

Many social media members don’t reply to comments made by people who take the time to acknowledge their work.   Some do the minimum just to say they are using social media.  They repurpose industry news and rarely offer an original thought. Seriously, setting up an account on Facebook and Twitter is not active social media.

Passive, unengaged social media earns passive results.

The people who engage with their community receive the rewards.  That doesn’t mean strategic automation or feeds can not be a valuable part of some social media programs. Answering questions and responding to comments is always part of the program.  I preload Twitter with information, ideas, and thoughts the night before or early in the morning so I will be more consistent and keep the conversation flowing.

Although I have preset tweets, I still share additional thoughts, retweet and comment throughout the day.  I’m active.

I’ve worked with many companies that want to take advantage of the benefits of social media.  I’ve found few willing to do what it takes to actually be successful in social media.  To be fair, many of these people are overstretched marketing and public relations professionals.  They do have budgets to hire an outside firm to at least put up a good front if they can’t do it themselves.

As for individual professionals, you have two choices when it comes to marketing:  You can invest time or money.  Unfortunately, for many professionals, both are in short supply with money being the most scarce. If you are going to invest time into social media, make sure you are around for the opportunities.

Passively sending stuff out there and checking in once in a while is like checking your e-mail once a week or logging on to voicemail only on Saturdays.  Doing business like this is unacceptable.

It’s as bad as attending a networking event, handing out a stack of cards, and running out the door.  That doesn’t work very well.  No meaningful connections are actually made. This isn’t networking and neither is passive social media.

Rosh

This week: How are you using social media?

• Detroit Creative Labs Podcast – Photographer Edition – You don’t need to be from Detroit nor a photographer to be apart of this digital marketing and social media experiment.
• Time: 30:00
• Podcast host: Rosh Sillars
• This week’s show notes: You don’t have to be from Detroit to be apart of this experiment. New New Twitter, traditional media, Twitter , Discover, The Aliens are landing, new opportunities working for the media, make sure your time and expenses are covered, it’s about people, photographer working for free, Cloakbags.com, How do you make money in social media?, Digital Marketing firm Synectics Media, Hello , SpringPad, Commenting on blogs, Marketing Grader. Facebook Subscribe.
  

• Google Plus Hangout: None
• Rosh Sillars Google+
• Like us on Facebook (video updates)
• Twitter @roshsillars
• Itunes Detroit Creative Labs: Photographer edition -  subscription
• Comment line: 64-newrosh-1 (646 397 6741)
• Email Rosh Sillars
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• Detroit Photographer People Portfolio
• The Driven Business Blog and Podcast
• e-mail
• LinkX:  You should be here.
  

I’m not suggesting that by searching the Internet for instructions, anyone can do what you do well, effectively, properly, or legally.  If I wanted to learn how to perform heart surgery, had the aptitude and means, I could figure it out.  I could find the needed equipment online and — dare I suggest? — the heart, too.

Please don’t interpret this as permission to break the law.  I’m merely pointing out that you are not alone.  Many professions have been affected by advances in technology.   While this is not new, the pace has increased substantially.  Professionals are finding it hard to adjust.

What can a professional do?

The answer for most is to develop a plan to render the competition irrelevant.

How to you do this?

One way is to employ the and.  Combine your specialty with another craft, technique, philosophy, or technology and become the inventor, guru or go-to expert on the topic.  In the past, this was hard to do on the small-scale most professionals are engaged.   If the development of an and becomes too narrow of a niche, there would not be enough clients to sustain a career.

Most professionals of the past were also limited by geography.   Today the world is open to everyone with an Internet connection through social media and digital marketing.  If you develop an expertise in a niche area by combining two disciplines,  you can test the idea in your hometown and then share it with the world.   Even if there is only one person in each town who can use your service, you now have a much better chance of gaining access to them.

The new professional is a specialist.

Not every new professional creates a niche using the and. Some professionals limit their specialty to a narrowly defined  niche within their profession. However you develop your niche, average will not work.  Today there is too much competition to just be an everyday accountant, financial planner, photographer, writer, designer, printer, or business coach.

This week: Facebook and Google updates.

• Detroit Creative Labs Podcast – Photographer Edition – You don’t need to be from Detroit nor a photographer to be apart of this digital marketing and social media experiment.
• Time: 30:00
• Podcast host: Rosh Sillars
• This week’s show notes: Question from  Joey Chandler Photography, New Youtube, Facebook insights, The Driven Business Podcast, cinemagraph,  Jesh de Rox, Michael Shilling Photo creative 365 photography podcast and blog,  Preloaded tweets, what is the ROI for social media and public relations, Seven reasons you are not generating leads in social media via social media today (I said hubspot), Who is your target market?,  How do you figure how what your target market should be?

• Google Plus Hangout: David Griffin ,  Andy Stuart
• Rosh Sillars Google+
• Like us on Facebook (video updates)
• Twitter @roshsillars
• Itunes Detroit Creative Labs: Photographer edition -  subscription
• Comment line: 64-newrosh-1 (646 397 6741)
• Email Rosh Sillars
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• Detroit Photographer People Portfolio
• The Driven Business Blog and Podcast
• e-mail
• LinkX:  You should be here. Kentucky Wedding Photographer
  

This week: Facebook and Google updates.

• Detroit Creative Labs Podcast – Photographer Edition – You don’t need to be from Detroit nor a photographer to be apart of this digital marketing and social media experiment.
• Time: 20:00
• Podcast host: Rosh Sillars
• This week’s show notes:  Working through my identity.  Facebook changing website import policy. Preloading twitter and automation, Google +, www.thinkwithgoogle.com,  iTunes Match, Quora credits. What is your core social media. Location based social media.  Do you believe in branding? New Year Speaking.

• Google Plus Hangout: none
• Rosh Sillars Google+
• Like us on Facebook (video updates)
• Twitter @roshsillars
• Itunes Detroit Creative Labs: Photographer Edition-  subscription
• Comment line: 64-newrosh-1 (646 397 6741)
• Email Rosh Sillars
• Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
• Detroit Photographer People Portfolio
• The Driven Business Blog and Podcast
• e-mail
• LinkX:  You should be here.