Client + You

The “relationship,” as we call it here at Emancipated Artist. Both you and the client need each other and at the same time speak different languages. We want to help you get on the same page and learn “client speak” before it’s too late. Check out the links below…and remember they are people, too.


Marketing Fundamentals

Writing Your Photography Marketing Plan
From Matthew Kauffmann of the Black Star Rising agency, this post is part of a multipart, ongoing series on marketing plans, covering such topics as mission statement, goals, determining target markets and SWOT analysis.

Zen and the Photography Client Experience
Thoughts on marketing with a focus on the client’s point of view, excerpted from John Harrington’s book, Best Business Practices for Photographers, 2nd Edition. Discussion of five stages that clients go through during the process of working with a photographer: anticipation, trepidation, inspection, fulfillment and evaluation.

Marketing Case Study: Putting Together a Creative Promo
See how photographer Casey Templeton creates promotional boxes filled with multiple “collectible” items that highlight his portfolio, mails them to clients nationwide, and generates an “overwhelming” response.

The Mix - The Marketing Formula of Successful Photographers
Photography consultant Selina Maitreya has years of experience advising professional photographers about the business side of their art. Her "formula" for success is decidedly holistic: There are eight key components, but the real secret is to avoid the natural tendency to work on just a couple of areas and then forget about it. Maitreya explains why you need "the whole enchilada," rather than just trying one strategy for a while to see if it works. Also, great advice about creating a marketing budget based on business goals, and "layering" social networking tools on top of more traditional marketing channels.


Using Social Media

Five Ways to Use Social Media Sites to Boost Your SEO
Practical suggestions from Japan-based freelancer and writer John Lander. To boost search engine ranking for his images, Lander estimates that he spends about 50% of his marketing efforts on social networking sites: tweaking captions/keywords, tweeting photo galleries, adding them to Facebook, using StumbleUpon, etc.

Using Twitter
List of suggestions by Scott Bourne of Photofocus: “Since I actually live in the real world, where commerce is the engine that makes things move, I believe in the Internet as a marketing medium. I believe it has other value, but I also believe photographers would be remiss if they don’t take advantage of the online tools that exist to market their work.”

Twitter for Photographers
Overview of the many potential benefits of Twitter for photographers, written by fine art, travel, wedding and portrait photographer Quana Mestrich. Great list of business- and marketing-related tweeters in the profession.

Linking to Photos
From the PhotoShelter blog, a concise guide to using social media to build links to your photos.