My Blog

Well, it’s been far too long since I’ve logged in and written to you my friends. But I must say that I am so excited about this group that I’ve become a member of. It’s called the Joy of Marketing and Sarah Petty & Erin Verbeck lead it. These girls rock! Here are some notes from the latest audio from them. I probably don’t do it justice with my notes but I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway. If you’re a photographer then you should check them out and sign up too. Enjoy!

How to Increase you Efficiency in Business

Credit: Sarah Petty & Erin Verback – thejoyofmarketing.com

1. Avoid perfectionism: Do a job the best you can & move on. Don’t spend all day on one thing.

2. Schedule Marketing Time on your calendar: You carve out time for this

3. Schedule Email on your calendar. Only check 2x per day and send an auto responder email that tells your clients this.   With email: Respond. Delete. Delegate – Pick one of these.

4. Chunck out your time: If there is something that needs to get done so a job can move on then put time on your calendar for this. Example: Retouching

5. 80/20 Rule: What’s your 20% activity? Is there an activity that you need to make your 1st Priority in the day so that the job can be completed and you can get paid? Make it 1st in your day.

6. To Do List: Do not make your To-Do List more than 3 – 4 items. Your 1st priority should relate to “bringing in income”

7. Cross Train: Cross-train your employees so that if someone gets sick then the job can still be completed.

8. Process & Evaluate:  Make sure there is a Workflow Process in place and that all employees know how to do it.

9. Log In: What do you spend your hours on? Write them down & see.

10. Retention: Build relationships with clients. It’s much cheaper to keep an exisiting client then to find a new one.

11. Invest in Education, Software and Technology: Mark out one day (or part of one) for training that will help you in your job. There are lots of online training courses

12. Get Organized:

13. Just say NO: That’s right women – just say no. Then you’ll have time to focus on work

14. Stay FOCUSED: Don’t be like Dory in Finding Nemo going from one “shiny thing” to the next. Example: Don’t click on email, then FaceBook, then a link…. well, you get the idea

After more than 10 years of photography and 5 years trying to market my business, I have finally figured out that “Size Matters”. Now before you start laughing, I want to explain. I have finally figured out how to market to my target audience…. Women. And after showing many products to my wonderful women clients, the ones that always get oooed & ahhhed over are the small albums, small photos, and small cards. In addition to this, I have found that although I  LOVE my current 4 x 8 promo cards that are so beautifully designed, they are best sent in an envelope, not placed behind a register because they are too big.

Enter a FaceBook post from my friend from photography school, Sean Arbabi. He got some new Mini Moo promo cards from Moo.com and I thought they looked PERFECT! So then I got some! These cards are small, portable, and most of all FUN! You can upload as many photos as you want. I got 200 cards for $45. Wow! And the best part? I get lots of ooohs & ahhhs because they are different and once again FUN! Thanks to all my business friends who have allowed me to put these cards at their registers! I appreciate it more than you know.

Here they are…… photos on the front, my contact info on the back. Go get some for your business