Or, maybe some of you are just thinking of rolling into town for the Trade Show, (and a little late-night partying?  Or some themed photo shoots?) …then check this out:  You can go to the trade show for FREE!  Just use the code:  WPPIEXF when you register at www.wppionline.com.  No limit, no strings attached, just attend the trade show for free!

(Note:  I cannot be responsible for any money you might spend INSIDE the trade show, what with the Canon 1DX and the Nikon D4 being around!)

BTW, if you’re *NOT* going to WPPI this year, never fear!  SLR Lounge will have an extensive, full report to give once the educating (and partying?) subsides.  Check back for more coming soon!

Take care,
=Matt=

We had a blast yesterday teaching at the Los Angeles SMUG (Smug Mug User Group). Thanks again to Chris Schmitt for inviting us out. We had so much information to talk about that we were modifying our presentation down to the wire. Which did actually result in a few unfortunate deleted slides and awkward moments which those that were there witnessed ;) But, all in all it was awesome.

Apparently there were quite a few that couldn’t make it since we had nearly 140 RSVPs and only half in attendance, tisk tisk tisk. What happened to all you slackers? Was it the horrid Los Angeles traffic? Cause we enjoyed a good 2 hours of that on the way up from Orange County. Anyway, if you didn’t make it we spoke on business strategy, branding and image, website usability, SEO and web marketing.

It is tough cramming days worth of information into 2 hours, but hopefully everyone was able to walk away with a few golden tidbits to help their studio and business. What would you guys think about us doing like a 2 day intensive workshop on Strategy, Branding and Web Marketing? Perhaps if it is something you guys want, we can plan for something like that later this year.

Anyway, for now we just wanted to say it was wonderful meeting you all. We had such a blast and we were delighted to meet so many wonderful fellow photographers. Below, you can download the full presentation PowerPoint file, though it probably won’t make too much sense unless you were at the meeting since it is very abbreviated. But, if you were there, this should help you guys have a little guide of things to continue researching.

Thanks again everyone!

Download the PowerPoint Presentation Here

– Post Production Pye

Hey everyone! Just wanted to make one final announcement. We have been invited to give a lecture at this months SMUG in Los Angeles at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn this Thursday January 26th starting at 7pm. The event is free, and there are already over 102 people attending, so be sure to get in your RSVP quick if you are planning to go. You can RSVP and get all the information by visiting this page – Los Angeles SMUG.

We are going to be discussing the following topics:

Business Strategy
Branding and Image
Website Cohesion
Client Experience
Blogging Guidance
SEO Tips
Social Media (FB, Twitter, etc)

We are going to have a blast, so come on out and meet the Lin and Jirsa, SLR Lounge and UNDFIND team! Can’t wait to see you all.

Post Production Pye

In the previous posts, 10 Great Wedding Slideshow Songs and 10 More Great Wedding Slideshow Songs, we listed 20 songs that were emotional, fun, romantic, and/or moving. Here are a few more that we’ve found lately. We all know how hard it is to match a song to a couple’s personality, lifestyle, and overall attitude towards life. However, between the thirty songs we list in this article and the previous ones, we hope you can find a few to suit your taste and your photos. Enjoy!

1) One Republic – Good Life
Purchase: Click Here

2) Plain White T’s – 1,2,3,4
Purchase: Click Here

3) Boys Like Girls – Two is Better Than One
Purchase: Click Here

4) Plain White T’s – Rhythm of Love
Purchase: Click Here

5) Dashboard Confessionals – Stolen
Purchase: Click Here

6) Amel Larrieux – Make Me Whole
Purchase: Click Here

7) Colbie Caillat – You Got Me
Purchase: Click Here

8) Dave Matthews – You and Me
Purchase: Click Here

9) Sean Kingston – Magical
Purchase: Click Here

10) Secrets in Stereo – Happy
Purchase: Click Here

Email has become a resource many of us would have trouble living without these days. However, email is more than a convenient method for keeping in touch with friends and relatives, or receiving inter-office memos. When used effectively, email is a powerful marketing tool.

An email list is the most valuable asset for any photography business. It’s the easiest and most direct way to engage with past and potential clients and encourage them to do more business with you. In fact, most photographers book more clients after sending out an email, than at any other time during the year. However, if the emails are never opened, they are obviously of little effect. When you send an email to a list of 1,000 people, 300 might open the email driving 50 clicks back to a website. How many of those visitors lead to new business? A strategy for getting emails delivered, opened, and clicked is essential!

Before crafting an email, create a value proposition. That’s a fancy marketing term telling the user what’s in it for them and what action to take. This should be something that grabs their attention right away. Your proposition might be education (what to wear, tips for hanging prints) or an offer (discount to loyal customers, limited holiday sessions available). Attention to subject lines will drastically affect how many users see your emails.

Every email needs a call to action that tells the user what you want them to do. The best calls to action reinforce the subject line and are repeated in various ways throughout the email. For example a subject line of “7 Tips for Better Wedding Photos” may have a link at the top that says “View examples of better wedding photos,” a button at the bottom that says “Contact Zach to get better wedding photos,” and a clickable wedding image on the right that says “Click the image to see Zach’s best wedding photos.” No matter where the user clicks, you achieve the goal to get the user to view more images or contact you. Timing also affects a campaign’s success. You wouldn’t send an email in June talking about Christmas sessions. Similarly, don’t send an email on Sunday evening if your subscribers respond to email during business hours. The most effective time to send emails is Tuesday mornings, but you can experiment with your list to see if that holds true.

There are many businesses that offer periodic newsletter subscriptions to their customers, and other visitors to their websites. This is a great way to promote your business and remain in touch with past and future clients. However, if the client is unsure how the newsletter will benefit them, they won’t give up their email address to simply “subscribe”. So what can you offer an existent or potential client to interest them in receiving your newsletters? Perhaps tips on taking photos at home, preparing for a photo session, or ideas to hang portraits. You can see how this sort of information is written in the interest of the user and therefore captures more interest than an email newsletter that simple “sells.” For return customers, I offer an email subscription to my blog posts. People who read the valuable content in my posts like them are likely to sign up to receive them in email.

However, newsletters can be a very time-consuming endeavor. This is why I use auto responders. An auto responder is a scheduled series of emails that walks a subscriber through my most important information. My website with web marketing ideas for photographers uses an example of this. 5 pre-written emails get automatically delivered over time to educate new website visitors with valuable information. The content is excellent, stuff I normally charge for. Each email is an opportunity to expose my brand, build trust, and get someone to contact me.

Benefits:
¢ Subscribers have a reason to sign up (valuable information)
¢ Everyone starts at the beginning
¢ I only have to write 5 emails instead of an ongoing weekly newsletter
¢ Grows 5-10 times more quickly than other email campaigns
¢ People can’t wait for the next email (high open rates)
¢ People refer their friends to subscribe

Auto responder benefits over traditional email newsletters:
¢ Huge time savings. It takes 5 minutes to email the text of a blog post and hours to create a newsletter
¢ More readers to your blog
¢ More comments on your site because you reach more people with blog content
¢ Ability to up-sell with promotional messages (can’t do that with RSS subscribers)

Remember to give people a reason to subscribe, open, and act on your emails. Strong subject lines, call to action links, and autoresponder emails can help accomplish this to make the most out of your email marketing efforts.

I’m a dad and social cyclist who loves to talk marketing over a cup of Lipton tea. I contribute to dozens of photography business sites. I wrote Photography Web Marketing Guide to help photographers get more clients with photography websites. At only $29, you’re going to make your money back with your first booking. It’s a no brainer. Follow me at http://twitter.com/zachprez

Article edited by Lin and Jirsa, Los Angeles Wedding Photographers and creators of Undfind Photography Products and iPad Cases