If you’re a photographer, which about 99% of my Facebook friends are, then why wouldn’t you at least have a head shot in your profile?  And, with that head shot, if you’re new to Facebook and looking for other photographers why wouldn’t you have a camera in your hands or at least be creative.

Relax, I’m not picking on anybody who just has a great head shot or a picture of your kids etc. The issue is being new and not putting the right information in your profile, head shot etc.   When you don’t know somebody and they’ve got nothing in their profile then why exactly do they get upset when you don’t friend them?  This definitely falls under my “life is too short” philosophy.   Seriously, save feeling hurt, indignant and upset for the really great crisis moments in life!

From freelance writer Robert Brault I found a great quote for today:

Life is short, God’s way of encouraging a bit of focus. 

We all know the lizard from Geico…the golden arches of MacDonalds…if you’re local you can sing the Empire Carpet jingle and if you’re into any television series you know the music from all your favorites.  So, how are you going to get your target audience to remember your name just as well?

It would be the longest blog I’d ever written if I went into all the detail, but here’s the short version.  You need to weave a web around your target consumers.  You need to be in front of your target audience at every opportunity. 

1) Direct mail puts you in their mailbox.

2) Advertising gets you into the local papers and magazines.

3) Email blasts and newsletters get you into their computer.

4) Links from everything bring them to your website.

5) Community involvement gets you physically next to them on various projects.  This is about you getting to know the people in your community and your neighbors getting to know you.

6) Publicity releases get you into the local paper.

7) A great image on a holiday card brings you into their homes at holiday time.

 8) Your business card and stationery remind them you’re a photographer.

9) Cross promoting with other non-competing vendors gets you into their heads via association with other business entitites in the community.

10) Being active on Facebook and Twitter gets you into their world of social media and makes you more accessible.

11) Writing your own blog and keeping it fresh with a consistent presence gives you an opportunity to show off your work and your personality,

12) Editorial gives you an incredible level of exposure and gives your publicity and advertising crediblity.

That’s it – twelve points of contact and ways to reach your target and build your brand, but it takes patience.  It also takes consistency and an unwavering dedication to delivering a quality product.   But even more important is your passion for the craft.  If you love photography and always shoot with your heart, then you can create images that tug at people’s hearts and word of mouth advertising becomes the mortar between the twelve bricks listed above!

But remember, nobody can build this “house” except you!

If nothing else I want to share the background of what happened yesterday.   Sheila and I had been dating for a year and a half, when we decided to move in together at the end of last April.  We’ve known each other since second grade, but were never friends through high school.  The friendship started up when I attended a high school reunion three years ago.

We had decided to get married in late August and even had invitations printed up for a backyard wedding.  We wanted very badly to have my folks here with us, but knew with their health problems that was unlikely.  So, we really started thinking about what most important to us.  We’ve both been married before, so it wasn’t our first rodeo!  The more we thought about it, the more we wanted to find a way for my folks to be a part of the day.

Yesterday was my parent’s 63rd wedding anniversary and it just made sense to take advantage of the great karma and get married on their anniversary date.  So at 7:00 am yesterday morning, Sheila’s friend Karen, the Chaplain at Akron Children’s Hospital where they both work, married us on our back patio with Molly the Wonder Dog as our witness.   The “wedding” could not have been more wonderful or had more meaning for the two of us.

So, thank you for your good wishes.  Thank you for continuing to show that social media is faster than the “grapevine” ever was.  And thank you for being such an important part of an industry I love so much.

Oh, and the answer to who was the photographer – oops, we didn’t have one.  But I did have a Flip set up on a tripod that captured the moment and the rest of the event was all shot on “neuro-chromes”!

Happy Wednesday everybody – make it a great one!

I’m going to profile one photographer a day in alphabetical order for the next few mornings.  All the links to their blogs, Twitter, etc. will be right here , so expanding your horizons will be just one click away.  

Scott Bourne:  Scott’s become a great buddy and we’re involved in the GoingPro project  together, but that’s not why he’s teaching at Summer School.  I love working with people who I truly learn from and Scott is at the top of the list.  Professional Photographer Magazine wrote a story about him as the “King of Social Media” and he deserves the title – just his blog alone gets close to two million page views a month, greater reach than most of the photographic magazines.  

Scott’s message is so strong and his willingness to help people utilize social media is unmatched.  People used to say you can’t be in business without a yellow pages ad…well today, you can’t be in business without a website and in turn, social media is a critical component.  How are you going to make your blog more effective?  How are you going to use Twitter to expand your reach? 

He’s done a few guest blogs here on how to get the most out of Twitter.  Plus his background includes virtually every specialty in professional photography and he’s got a great marketing head as well.  Technically,  he’s pure geek through and through – on a constant quest to stay on top of technology.   And it’s the same for staying current with the latest challenges in our industry.

In his controversial January 25 blog regarding too-low pricing he wrote:

“It’s impossible to run a sustainable business over the long haul, deliver good quality and care for the client at lowball prices. I’ve been around a long time. I’ve seen dozens of businesses fail using this model and more importantly (and more to the point) have seen dozens of brides’ wedding memories ruined by photographers who had no business being there in the first place. There’s no do-over on a wedding. It takes a decent budget to get a decent result. Good reliable gear with backups cost money. Training cost money. Quality wedding prints, albums, books and gallery wraps cost money. If you sell a bride a cheapo wedding album that falls apart because you couldn’t make enough profit doing the cheapo wedding shoot, how does that serve the client? These are people’s lives you’re messing with. What could have more value than the wedding album – the first family heirloom of a brand new family? Think about it.”

Scott’s program on Visualization will kick off the first full day of Summer School on August 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas!  Then he’ll be helping me with some fun networking ideas at the end of that day.  One of the best parts of Summer School is just the ability to hang out with everybody and Scott will be there throughout the program to answer questions and help you with ideas to build a stronger business.

Want to learn more about Scott?  Follow his blogs, Photofocus and GoingPro.  Follow him on Twitter @scottbourne and @GoingPro2010.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at Joe Buissink, repeatedly referred to as one of the top ten best wedding photographers in America!

The Internet changed the way we share images, shop and communicate.  Digital photography changed the way we create and capture.  Social Media changed the way we connect and with who we connect.  Do I miss my life from ten years ago – NOT A CHANCE!

First, I love staying connected to an industry I truly appreciate.   Think about the people you “talk” to every day.  It used to be a year between friends connecting, often only at an annual trade show.   Now I’m connected to those once-a-year friends every day.

Second, the world is getting to be a tiny place.  I “talked” to Jerry Ghionis from Australia the other day who’s in Rome doing a wedding with Ryan Schembri.  And I’m connected to Yervant and Anie on a regular basis. I’ve never met Chris Fawkes and yet we regularly communicate, again on Facebook.    I can also keep track of where everybody is…Seshu, who I’ve also never formally met, a contributor to Charity Fest last fall, is on his way back to CT from India, Joe Buissink was in Russia and Charity Goh, a student I met at Hallmark Institute last year is trying to land a job in her home country of Singapore.  It’s all thanks to Twitter and Facebook.

Third, trends that used to take months to create, are out there in seconds in front of hundreds of thousands of people.  And if a manufacturer produces an inferior product, the word is out on a dozen forums in a flash.  Best of all, when you need help with a challenge, especially in photography, just post it on a forum like DWF and watch the number of people, many of whom you’ve never met, come to your aid!

Fourth, how about the way digital technology is changing our lives?  Jason Groupp, Charles and Jennifer Maring, Joseph Victor Stefanchik and Katherine Hall are leading the charge in Fusion Technology, while Jose Villa is shooting exclusively film and creating work that’s spectacular.  Bambi Cantrell and Dawn Shields worked a bridal fair recently and Bambi sent me an image on her i-phone that was good enough to post on the blog!   We’ve got the very best of all worlds at our fingertips.

The world shrinks a little with every step you take further into Social Media, but best of all is the power you have as a photographer to market yourself.    If you do it right and build your website and blog with a great attitude and the dedication to stay involved, you’ve got the power to communicate that just a few years ago only a national magazine might have had!  Scott Bourne’s PhotoFocus site has over a million page views every month, more than most publications!

So, every now and then I’ll complain that my day starts out with a couple of hours of blogging and I’m answering emails before the sun comes up.   But, would I go back to a nine to five job and not knowing what was going on until I literally opened my mail?  Would I trade in my computer for the silver letter opener my Dad had on his desk?  Would I trade in the excitement of “chimping” now and then for the pride of getting 38 exposures out of a 36 exposure roll?

The answer to all of the questions and the dozens we could all add to the list – NEVER!   In the history of photography, there’s never been a more exciting time and never more tools at our disposal to capture, create and share images.   If you’re not actively involved in staying on top of technology, as well as social media, you need to take another look.  I found the following quotes that seem so appropriate:

 ”Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”
Stewart Brand

“The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.”
Steve Ballmer