Do I Need To Run Online Ads?

Do you have a product or service that requires you to show up in person?  If so, your best advertising focus may be an OFFLINE advertising strategy in a local area.

Do you have a product or service that can be purchased and delivered online, without any in-person interaction needed?  If so, than you definitely benefit from an ONLINE advertising strategy.

Too often people get stuck in the idea that they need to do everything and anything to promote their business, which is a great way to throw money down the drain and waste time on marketing or advertising strategies that are not going to be as effective.

If what you do requires you and a client to be in the same location when you provide your product or service, than you will miss an entire population of people who aren't checking the online market with any frequency to make a difference for your business, but who may be walking right by you every day in your cafe or local retail shops.

A local business needs to focus on local strategy to reach its ideal clients where they already are.
An online service or product based business needs to focus on online strategy to meet clients online.

Are you aware of all the ways you can market offline?  Check out this Annual Marketing Evaluation to see how many strategies are out there for marketing your business and which ones you may be missing out on if you're a local business!

Anne Ruthmann is a retired professional photographer in New York City. With over 13 years of success as a full-time photographer in weddings, portraits, editorial, architecture, and interiors. She now spends any extra time she has helping others find smart solutions to business problems. Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Managing The Fame Monster

Fame can create a type of PTSD (post-traumatic-stress-disorder) when you don't know how to deal with it and respond to it appropriately, or at least it did for me.  If you've witnessed someone else's journey close enough to the surface of fame, you may have a better chance of dealing with the public response as it arrives, but it took me about 10 years to really recover from a period of fame that I got early on in my career and felt very unprepared for.

I thought I was just entering contests and submitting work to get feedback and a response around what I was doing well, but it also turned into awards, publications, special features, speaking invitations, and things that started putting me in the spotlight before I was really ready to handle all the other negative stuff that came with being in the spotlight.  I didn't realize there'd be an entirely other element of reputation management that I'd need to deal with as well.  So I ended up taking a huge step back once all the attention got to be too much to manage and started taking me away from my clients and the work that was paying the bills.  I realized I just wanted to get back to doing what I loved: creating images for clients who valued my work without all the fame nonsense.  I gave myself a lot of time to consider what I could do differently if it happened again, and I hope sharing this helps you walk a slightly easier road through any moments of fame that come your way...


1. When You Finally Win Some Awards
People will hate you and people will admire you.  People will talk bad about you and they'll say you're the best they've ever seen.  They'll talk about how they can create better work than you, and they'll talk about how they wish they could create work like you.  They'll say they should have won the award you won, and they'll say they'd never be able to win the award you won.  They'll do this behind your back, to other people, online in comments, in forums, etc.

You really just have to let them do this without defending yourself.  You've already won the award and received the recognition that you were aiming for.  Any defense makes you seem insecure about your win.  Any boasting makes you seem cocky about your win. This is just part of what comes with winning. The only response people want to hear is how grateful you are that the judges liked what you sent them. (People know it's all judge preference anyway.) 


2. When You're Finally Published in Magazines
People will say you bought your way in.  People will say they wish they had your skill.  They'll say your work is too trendy or too posed or too staged.  They'll say you're amazingly creative and a genius for thinking of something so unique.  They'll say you copied them and it's all been done before and that you just rip off other people's ideas.  They'll say you're brilliant and inspiring and they want to be just like you.  People will take your work and try repeating the same results.  People will call you a fake.  People will say you have an inside relationship.  People will assume you can get them published too.  People will put you on a pedestal.  People will try to knock you off a pedestal.

Let them think what they want to think.  Being published and recognized means you don't need to prove anything to anyone.  The only response that people want to hear is that you feel really lucky your work was chosen out of all the great work they could have chosen from.  (People don't blame lottery winners, just their own luck of the draw.)


3. When You Finally Get Invited To Speak
People will say you don't have enough experience.  People will think you know everything there is to know.  People will suggest you need to teach because your work isn't good enough.  People will say you're teaching because your work is amazing.  They'll think your ideas are rubbish and uninspiring.  They'll think you've opened up an entirely new way of seeing things.  They'll walk out in the middle of your talk.  They'll stay after and want your signature.  They'll tell you what a fan they've been all along even though you're meeting them for the first time.  They'll become someone you once knew really well and now refuses to acknowledge you.  They'll think you're a hack.  They'll think you're an expert.

These are all a matter of their own varied perspectives and you have to go in knowing your message is only going to be heard and liked by about half of the room, much like running for American Presidency.  Remember that your message is less about you and more about what other people make of it even if it's not at all what you meant.  You're just the messenger who happens to be the one brave enough to stand on the stage.  The only response people want to hear after commenting on your speech is how you tried your best and were honored to have the opportunity.  (People honor the process of being selected and showing up, no matter the message.)


4. When Strangers Start Recognizing You In Public
I think it was Gary Fong who once said, you aren't really famous until the bagger in a grocery store recognizes you in the check-out lane.  It's a great way to put "fame" of any kind back into perspective of the larger world out there.  That being said, in the world of the internet, if you put yourself out there often enough, you may gain some stalkers or fans who do actually recognize you in places you'd least expect it, even when you don't have any makeup on or just walked out of the gym.  At first, you feel totally weird that a complete stranger is coming up to you and acting like they've known you forever and yet you know nothing about them.  However, if you know how to handle it in advance, you can level the playing field by responding really down to earth and friendly, rather than standoffish and rude because you felt attacked.

The response I've found which seems to work best for dealing with this kind of guerrilla attack is to say "Hello!  What's your name?  What are you working on right now that made you familiar with my work online?" It does take an extra minute to hear someone out rather than turning your head and running away as fast as you can, but it also becomes a chance to gain a little market knowledge about the tribe who follows you and how they found your work online.  It's also much more personable than simply standing there saying "Oh, thank you so much" over and over again on autopilot.  Having a real conversation with someone about what THEY know and can share with you makes it slightly less lonely at the top if you're traveling in an unfamiliar area and want some recommendations for a good place to eat or a special park to go for a run in.


Are there any fame monster moments I've missed?  Have you come up with some solutions and responses that work better for you?  I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments.

Anne Ruthmann is a professional photographer in New York City. With over 10 years of success as a full-time photographer in weddings, portraits, editorial, and now architecture and interiors, she spends any extra time she has helping others find smart solutions to business problems.  Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Do I Need To Be On Snapchat?

Every time a new fad social media thing comes on to the market, we all have to ask the question, is this something good for me and my business?

The questions I always start with are:
1. Are my current clients using it and inviting their friends to join?
2. How is it currently being used to add value to my clients?
3. Is it aligned with how I want to present my work to others?
4. How effective are you on the other social media channels you're already using?

Right now, the people I see joining snapchat are my colleagues, but not my clients.  Photographers tend to be early adopters and heavy social media users, so that makes sense.  Does this mean clients will follow?  Maybe, but also maybe not.

We thought they'd follow to Twitter, but Twitter has remained quite a B2B environment with most people using twitter for spot news, PR releases, and brief public announcements or questions among other B2B users and marketers.

Did they follow to Instagram?  Only a few here and there- mostly photographers and clients who were already visual artists or business owners at some level and had enough visual content and loveliness that they wanted to share and see from others.

Facebook & LinkedIN are still the two most frequently used social networking sites by people who have jobs and purchasing power.  How are you leveraging those networks- where there's already active engagement for business and professional use?  If you aren't leveraging those networks, how is adding another one going to be any different?

More noise in more places does not equate to more business or more success.  If you aren't already "killing it" and attracting new clients through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, or YouTube, than you definitely do not need to be using SnapChat for your business or personal life.  Feel free to prove me wrong and then create your own success story of how you landed new clients on snapchat to share with everyone here on this blog.  I love a good success story!

Anne Ruthmann is a professional photographer in New York City. With over 10 years of success as a full-time photographer in weddings, portraits, editorial, and now architecture and interiors, she spends any extra time she has helping others find smart solutions to business problems. Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Is Social Media HURTING Your Business?

Companies do a great job selling us on the idea that Social Media outlets help our business by keeping us in touch with our client base or introducing us to new clients- but what about all of the ways that it might actually be hurting a business?  See if you fall into any of the social media traps that are more harmful than helpful for your business....

1. Wasting Time
Have you ever opened your phone, Facebook feed, instagram feed, pitnerest feed, snapchat, etc. first thing in the morning, or during a break in the afternoon to think you were just going to spend a quick minute checking in to see what everyone was up to, only to find yourself endlessly scrolling and eventually wasting an entire hour looking at nothing particularly important?  How many emails could you have answered in that time?  How many solid work tasks could you have completed instead that would have actually helped your business, rather than mindlessly looking at whatever other people post?

2. Feeling Less Successful
Even though we all know how deceiving social media can be with regards to only showing the highlights of someone's life, we still end up finding ourself fall into the trap of jealousy by comparing our real life to someone else's social media stream.  For many people, these comparisons aren't empowering and motivating, instead they feel self-defeating and irritating because we "think" someone else is doing better or living a cooler situation based solely on their social media stream.  If you can't stop yourself from having those feelings, than the only solution is to cut off the source of that jealousy until you can do the inner work to return to the social media stream with more clarity and confidence.  Constantly comparing yourself to others does nothing helpful for yourself or your business, unless you're using it as positive fuel and examples of how you can move yourself forward.

3. Expecting Social Media to Bring Clients
Social media may appear like a great place to connect and stay in touch with clients, but how many of your social media followers are people who are really paying you for your work?  Too often someone thinks that if they just do all the right "social media" things, they'll bring in more clients, and that's not alway the case.  Social media may have a global reach, but your business may only have a local reach, and if you're too busy connecting with people who aren't going to hire you in a another part of the world to take time connecting with people in your local area who can actually hire you, than you're expecting social media to do the work that you should be doing in person with networking events and local face-to-face connections.  Look at your actual sources of income and where those clients came from - nurture those connections first and foremost before investing heavily in social media.

If you've ever felt like you're drowning in the social media lives of others and not fully living the beautiful life you have, it may be a good time to take a social media vacation by removing all those social apps from your phone to see how differently life feels when you aren't trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing.  It's amazing how much more of your own reality you can start to appreciate when you aren't comparing it to everyone else's social media reality.  You may even find that you may actually want to connect with people more in person, to see what's real and true for them at a person-to-person level rather than a "what I want the world to think about" level.  If you've never tried a social media vacation, it may be time to really step back and consider how taking a break may actually be more helpful to your business and life than always being tied into the stream.


Anne Ruthmann is a professional photographer in New York City. With over 11 years of success as a full-time photographer in weddings, portraits, editorial, and now architecture and interiors, she spends any extra time she has helping others find smart solutions to business problems. Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook... but only if you aren't taking a social media vacation... ;-)

The Branding Illusion

"I have a friend whose website looks AMAZING, but she can't seem to find any work"

"People say they love my work, but I feel like no one is hiring me"

You'd be surprised how often I hear this.  

That pretty shell, that fabulously curated website, that swoon-worthy instagram account, all of those styled shoots- they all create a grand illusion of a brand having its shit together, but it doesn't mean the person behind it is making a living from their art.

I'm not saying having a lovely brand means people don't have their shit together.

I'm saying don't assume a lovely brand means a lovely business bank account.

How many of those gorgeous images were done for free?  How many were styled shoots with friends who are stylists or make-up artists?  How many were personal projects?  There are a lot of great artists in the world.  There are many fewer great artists who are also great business owners.

Don't assume someone's stage act resembles their behind-the-scenes life.  You'd think in a world full of social media we'd be beyond the assumptions of the illusion by now.

"My website and portfolio are such a mess, I never get around to updating because I'm working all the time"

You only hear this when you meet working creatives in person.  You probably never even heard of them.  You probably never visited their website.  Yet, if you see a brand online and their work looks old or their website outdated, as a fellow creative you might assume something about their business.

The point is, don't compare yourself to an illusion in either direction.

Don't assume an old or outdated website means no business.

Don't assume a pretty website means great business.

An online brand is just an illusion, a stage act.

You don't have to have a well-put together brand to have a thriving business.  I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to keep your website updated, or you shouldn't do personal work when you don't have any clients, or that you shouldn't strive for a lovely brand.  I'm saying you don't NEED any of that to be successful as an artist and a small business owner.  It's just wrapping paper.  The real gift is underneath all of that.

All those things you think will make you "look" better are great for the ego, they are great for making you feel confident about putting your work out into the world, however they don't guarantee that clients will hire you.

The brand is the impression we want people to have of our business, but the actual business and financial exchange comes from our SERVICE and our desire to serve others with our talents.  The real brand experience comes from how we SERVE.  When people meet you in person, are they excited to work with you?  Was it your website that gave that brand impression, or was it your energy and passion?

You don't even need a website to be in business and to make a living as a creative.  Yep.  That's right.  You still exist, and you still have the ability to serve as a professional creative, even if you don't even have a website, even if you don't have a pretty brand.

Stop comparing.  Stop holding yourself back.  Stop thinking you're not good enough to serve with your talents if you don't look like you have it all together.  Stop underselling your gifts.  Stop thinking you need to look a certain way in order to serve others.

Get out and serve.  Find your clients offline.  Set up meetings with people.  Listen to what people need.  Offer to work together.  Spend more time focusing on your service to others than you spend on your brand.  Your bank account will thank you.

Anne Ruthmann is a professional photographer in New York City. With over 10 years of success as a full-time photographer in weddings, portraits, editorial, and now architecture and interiors, she spends any extra time she has helping others find smart solutions to business problems.  Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

How to Automate Online Marketing & Social Media w/ Mike Allebach

Since emerging on the wedding & portrait photography scene, Mike Allebach has created strong online brand recognition around himself as the Tattooed Bride Photographer.  His Allebach Photography Facebook Business Page has over 21,000 likes and his TattooedBridePhotoGuy Instagram Feed has nearly 5,000 followers.

When I personally met Mike in March of 2014, he had just given his first WPPI Platform Talk with Jaleel King and they were so popular that they were invited back a second time to talk about going viral and getting press.  Getting press is awesome, but I wanted to know how he MANAGES that constant marketing cycle that's needed to expand marketing reach?  Is he working with a social media manager?  A publicist?  How does he have time for it all while still serving clients?

On Thursday May 7th at 4pm EST, Mike shares one of his most powerful automated workflow solutions for managing his brand and growing his following.  This will be hosted as a LIVE webinar demonstration of how he actually does it as well as a Q&A session for attendees.  No recording will be available for review, so I do hope that you can carve time out of your schedule to attend!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR

An email reminder will be sent to your registration email one day before the meeting and one hour before the meeting.

Anne Ruthmann is an editorial & event photographer in New York City. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography full-time in 2004 as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

My No Portfolio, No Website Experiment

If you'd prefer to listen, rather than read, I've included a 10min audio file so you can listen along:


Last May I got so sick of listening to myself say, "I need to update my portfolio- the work on my website is over 7 years old!" that I actually decided to completely eliminate my website portfolio.  Yep.  Just deleted the whole thing and reduced my beautifully dense portfolio of weddings and portraits to just a one page, no gallery, about.me page with a photo of my face, one architectural image to suggest my new architectural work, and some text with links:

I actually tried to update my portfolio before deciding to completely eliminate it.  I'd worked with Kristi at Editors-Edge to refine the last 10 years of my wedding work down to several sample weddings and some themed galleries that were perfectly in line with the type of weddings I loved photographing, while also showing what made my style unique.  She helped me map it all out and finally got me to a point where I could stop spinning my wheels and just put my work out there.  It was all ready to go and yet, I STILL couldn't make myself do it.  Something inside me had such a powerful resistance and wall around putting my wedding work back out there that I just eliminated the whole thing.

When I took stock of how my business was shifting since moving to NYC, it became clear that my happy growth path here was going to be in the commercial architecture & lifestyle world rather than the wedding world.  The only problem was that I didn't have ENOUGH architectural imagery that I felt proud of yet to put up a portfolio I wanted to share, so I put up this simple one page site instead and sent out portfolio material as it was requested and as it applied to the client who wanted to see it.

What happened next is actually quite amazing.

Let me caveat all of this by saying that, thankfully, I'd already secured a steady interior photography contract that I could easily rely on even if no one else booked me.  That contract was the turn-key that helped me dive so fully into architecture and interiors.  While the money wasn't anything to brag about, it was frequent work, sustainable, and allowed me to work in my preferred methods, times, days, and locations while still giving me the flexibility to take better clients and opportunities as they came along.

I looked at that contract as essentially getting paid to walk 3-5 miles a day and meet my local neighbors while taking photos of their homes- which has also led to some interesting follow-up work, but not as much as you might think.  This was a win-win-win for me, the company, and the clients I shot for, but I knew that leaning too heavily on one contract was too small of a funnel for any growth.  I knew it was crucial for my continued growth and success to market myself beyond that steady contract.  Knowing that, and how little time and effort I was willing to invest in my online presence, I decided to stop relying on my website or any other online listing to do the work, and decided to take my marketing efforts off-line.

Luckily, I live in a place that would be considered a bee-hive of networking opportunities.  You can literally find networking events every morning and night of the week here.  It might cost you to attend them all, but if you want to hit the pavement with networking, there's no better bang for your time or buck than NYC, especially if you're working in a commercial context.  Even if you live in a small town, there are great networking opportunities to be found, because I've lived in those rural podunk towns too.  Over the years I've learned that networking and developing personal relationships is ESSENTIAL if you're a service business, especially one that generates its greatest income from word-of-mouth referrals.  There are other ways that don't require as much person-to-person time, but you'll just have to spend a lot more money on advertising.

Anyway, here's what happened when I eliminated my traditional photography website...

I actually received 3x MORE traffic to anneruthmann.com while being hosted on about.me than before on my own server.  Why?  Because the about.me platform encourages searching other pages and finding similar connections, which ended up getting more eyes to my site.  Cool beans, right?!  Well, sorta.

We all know that eyes on our sites are only worth something if they convert into paid clients.  I did another thing I would never recommend anyone doing- I put a lengthy contact form on my site that required at least 5 clicks to get to submitting your contact info, and even requested that you set up a specific appointment time and day to actually call me, not just send me an email!  Want to know how many people actually took the time to fill out that form over the last 10 months?  1.  One person actually made it all the way to filling out that contact form, despite having great traffic to my site.  Want to know how many people said they called me direct from my website? 1- and it was a sales call for advertising.

Let me summarize - I gave you no portfolio to look at online and I made it ridiculously difficult to get in touch with me!  To many people, this would appear to be a total business killer.  However, that's because too many people rely so heavily on online marketing to drive traffic and new contacts to their inbox instead of focusing on personal relationships and existing contacts.  I essentially flipped the system on its head and made it impossible to get into my inbox.  You literally had to know someone who knew me personally in order to contact me, and I can tell you that most of those people don't have my business card.  They either had my email or my phone number, and they would have to be able to find it in their phone or in their email if they were going to refer you to me.

What's kind of amazing is that as word of mouth traveled that I was focusing on architecture and interior photography, all the people I had personal connections with made me their point person.  I'm pretty sure half of them hadn't even noticed that I didn't have a portfolio of my work online!  However, because I came highly recommended from a trusted source, even the inquiries were willing to look beyond the lack of website material and simply requested I send them samples directly.  

So, how many new commercial clients did I book this way for something I had no portfolio to represent after just recently moving to this city?  10.  That may not seem like much until you understand that some of those clients became recurring contracts that included multiple shoots over the course of the year, some turned into extended licensing deals, and some have already resulted in more referred work and extended contracts for the year ahead.  Could I have booked more if I'd had a more refined portfolio online or made my contact form much easier?  Probably.  Will I book more in the coming year?  Yes, but it will not be because I will have a new portfolio online (eventually).  It will most likely be because I spent so much time offline, pounding the pavement, shaking hands, and reaching out to help people.

The lesson of this story is, don't expect your website do all of the talking for you.  You can have all the SEO in the world sending thousands of visitors to your website, get hundreds of inquiries a week, and still find that the majority of clients who actually pay to work with you, come from word-of-mouth, rather than online marketing.  So, get out from behind the computer and meet the people who like to make connections.  Get to really know the people who talk to your clients before you ever do.  Figure out who you can help and how you can help them- not because you expect a direct return, but because you enjoy your work and love serving others.  When you love what you do, it shows when you talk about your work, and it attracts people who value your expertise and passion for your craft.

I hope this has been an inspiration for you, and encourages you to take action in your own business to make more happen offline instead of relying purely on your online presence.

Why is Everyone Else Doing Better?

There's a reason they call it March Madness, and it has nothing to do with the NBA- unless we're talking about "Not Being Already-booked."  It's that point when photographers have spent far too much time online- fielding emails for inquiries of people who haven't cleared their winter brain fog, going over last year's work and deciding if they should rebrand or create an entirely new website AGAIN, and spending too much time on social media or forums where they can size-up and compare themselves to others.  Whether we think we're better or worse than what anyone else has going on, the danger is in the comparison itself, and taking the attention off of our own intentions and focusing it on others instead of ourselves.

This is also the time of year I end up doing more consulting with people who want to get ahead by putting plans in place now before it gets busy, and one of the things I hear over and over again is people saying something to the effect of, "this person is doing SO well, they're sharing new work ALL the time."  Of course, they rarely seem to stop and consider that perhaps that work isn't paid work, or perhaps it's actually recycled old work from last year that's just now getting shared, or any other combination of things that appear to be one thing when maybe they're actually something else.

You see, the illusion created is that other people appear busy while you're just hanging out online, and regardless of what's actually going on behind the scenes.  You just fell for an illusion, or even worse- compared yourself to that illusion like looking at a photoshopped magazine cover model.  If you were busy implementing your own plans and getting down to work on your craft, you'd have no time to dilly dally with comparisons or other people's illusions.  If you were shooting, or out networking, or creating your next newsletter, or developing your next pitch for a special sales event, you wouldn't be on facebook or twitter watching the world go by your browser window.

The reality is that you're not getting ahead because you aren't creating work for yourself, instead, you're waiting for work to walk in the door.  If you aren't creating work for yourself, than you also aren't sharing work to promote yourself, leaving you even more time to spend looking at what everyone is doing rather than creating your own buzz-worthy projects and sharable shoots.

See where I'm going?  Do I even need to finish?

If what you want is to get ahead, you have to take some action and create something that's in line with what you love and what you want to attract.  Have fun with it, go big, get crazy, be outrageous, try things you'd never try with a paying client, answer only to your own sensibilities- and in doing that, you may create something entirely unique and buzz worthy.  Share it unabashedly like it's your newborn child.  Share it in as many ways as you can and leverage that work to attract new work.  Don't stop there, rinse and repeat.  Make it a practice that when you don't have work from others, you create work for yourself, so that you can always keep moving ahead to your next great client.  Start your process now by telling us in the comments what your next awesome project will be!

Anne Ruthmann is an editorial & event photographer in New York City. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography in 2004 as an independent small business.  She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems.  Stay in touch on Twitter or Facebook.

Would You Rather Be Famous or Amazing?

I've never been impressed by popularity contests, celebrity, or fame.  Some people focus on becoming "famous" and forget that most people who are really famous were also first "amazing" and not trying to attract their fame.  Now, this is not always true.  You CAN buy fame if you want it.  That's what advertising is- fame for sale, and if you have enough money to spend or a company you're willing to sell your soul for, than you can acquire plenty of fame.

Another way to become famous is to become compelling or controversial- which is how many artists end up getting national press these days.  In most circumstances where fame is created with these strategies, it's more of a flash-in-the-pan kind of fame that doesn't last very long.  Like the one-hit-musician or the you-tube-star.  When it appears to last a long time, it's because the artist is constantly cultivating their next fame-making stunt.  Acquiring fame can be an art form in and of itself, but it comes with a lot of baggage, hate, and jealousy that most people- especially artists- don't have the stomach to endure.  Fame has destroyed plenty of lovely humans who turn to drugs just to tune out the fame monster and have a moment of escape.

Do you REALLY want to be FAMOUS?

Of course, fame isn't all bad.  It provides access to special people and places, and it opens doors more easily to pursue what you love.  However, when you consider the amount of time you have to simply "deal with being famous," it can take a lot of time away from doing work that actually pays the bills or allows you to sustain yourself beyond the next marketing stunt.

As icky as it feels to admit it, I've been in that fame circle in the photo industry and I endured its good and bad until I realized my inner peace and happiness were slowly slipping away from me.  It probably only took one year of "fame" for me to realize it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and in the meantime, my clients weren't getting nearly the attention or love that they deserved.  Once I got to see it in all of its raw ugliness, I realized it was not at all what I wanted for myself.  However, that's me, and I don't assume that everyone is like me.  If you look at the fact that "celebrities"only represent about 1% of the population on the planet- I'd say that 99% of people reading this would feel like I did.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

To be amazing is to make a difference in the lives of others in a way that goes beyond the original energy you invested.  It is not to draw people to idolize you, but to encourage and inspire people to feel special and courageous about who they are.  This takes so much less energy and offers so many more rewards.  No one hates someone who is simply trying to be amazing at what they do and who they are.  Doors still open and access is still granted to help you pursue more of what you love, but the treatment is so much different.  There's no hate in being as awesome for your own sake.  There's no hate when you've inspired someone to be their own personal best, instead of being more like you.

One of the big mistakes I see now with social media is when people run popularity campaigns just to get more people to "like" their page on Facebook, or ask people to create false reviews just to get more positive reviews and rankings. Those likes and reviews may give you a temporary warm fuzzy, but they don't cultivate an audience of people who really love you and care about what you have to offer. It's much better and EASIER to carefully and deliberately curate your audience by producing amazing work that draws people in and makes them want to stay simply because they want to be a part of the amazingness that you create on a regular basis.

Being famous is hard and requires a lot of personal compromise, but being amazing only requires you to be your personal best and to be true to who you are.

So, what would you rather be- famous or amazing?

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Respecting Images of Our Clients

The debate over offering unwatermarked images to bloggers has continued in many different places online. Some are furious that bloggers are making money off of unwatermarked work, while others could care less about where their work ends up and how much credit they receive for it. Regardless of where you stand as a blogger or as a photographer, this post is for the consideration of the clients who hired you, for the guests who attended the private event, and for the other hired creatives that produced original work at that private event.

Since moving to the Northeast, I've had many more clients seeking a higher level of privacy with their wedding images. By watermarking my images (putting my logo or copyright statement directly on the image itself) and refusing to provide unwatermarked work to bloggers for content use, I reduce the chance that someone is going to take that photo and use it elsewhere online without permission, while also increasing the chance that brand management tools will be able to find it for me on the web so that I can resolve any improper or unapproved image use. Notice I did not say PREVENT, just reduce. Obviously, ignorant people and those who mean to do harm will do whatever they want and when we find them we will kick their ass ask them to cease and desist. I usually have to send at least two emails each year to some company whose website designer grabbed my work, cropped my logo out, and plastered it on their commercial site without my permission. Because my watermark was there- the web designer KNOWINGLY did something wrong. If the image has no mark, it's easier to assume it's free content that can easily be used to populate someone else's website.

So, even if you do not care about receiving credit for your own work- at least consider respecting your clients' likeness and the likeness of the original work created by the other event professionals, which can be grabbed easily and used elsewhere without permission when there are no deterrents in place, such as a watermark.

See also:
Why You Need to Watermark Your Work

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Social Media - It Isn't Just a Fad

Want to know where your clients are at? Just look to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Especially Facebook. They are there - are you? Facebook gets more traffic daily then Google. YouTube is the #2 Search Engine for people in the world.

What are you doing about it? How are you creating experiences that will allow your clients to find you? To connect? To help them spread the word about how fabulous you are?

Everyone's decision is personal because you have to do what is right for you & your style. What is it that fits your brand? For me, I've been on Twitter since 2006. I've had my Twitter account and Facebook account linked for years. I give clients a web-ready sized DVD of watermarked images with permission to post them online anywhere they want. I ask them to please link to my site or at least add a note on the photos that I took them.

I sometimes create my sneak peeks on Facebook and tag them in the images so that all of their family & friends will see the photos. I prefer to leave this in their hands though because people are more likely to look at them and comment on them.

I want my images to be seen - if they are hidden away under lock and key, my next client might not ever discover me. If I set them free in web-ready format, they are passing them along and sharing them. Most importantly - they are talking about me & my work, and the experience of working with me.

It is what works for me & my brand. What works for you?

[Thanks to Liene of Think Splendid for the link to the YouTube video above!]

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.

5 Essential Facebook Tips for Photographers

We received a great guest article from Nikole Bordato Photography , sharing her essential facebook tips for photographers!  Check out her quick & easy tips:

1)      Get a fan page instead of a group. Fan pages (now known simply as "Pages") are a place to share your latest news, events and promotions. Fan pages also publish new fans and content to news feeds. But the biggest benefit over a Facebook group is that fan pages are fully indexed by Google. You can never have too much search engine optimization opportunities.

2)      Secure your unique username for your fan page. Once you have your first 25 fans, you’ll be able to register your unique username which will allow you to personalize your Facebook URL. To register your username visit www.facebook.com/usernames.

3)      Insert keyword-rich text throughout your fan page. Because fan pages are fully indexed by Google, there is an opportunity to increase your search engine optimization. Make sure you have you taken advantage of all the places to enter text – write your bio, fill out the information sections and put tons of keywords in that little box under your profile picture. Also make sure that you are updating your page regularly to keep the content rich.

4)      Create a profile picture that will utilize your available space. As photographers, our profile pictures will be an important contributor to positive first impressions. To help create a profile picture that stands out utilize the entire space. The ideal size for a Facebook profile picture is 200 pixels by 600 pixels. Your Facebook avatar will be a teeny tiny subsection, so you may need to play with the picture to get a photo that works as a profile picture and your page avatar.

  

5)      Import your blogs posts. Use the Notes application to pull in your blog feed. This will help automate posting new content to your page and will be published in your fans new feed. Notes will also allow your fans to read and comment on your blog posts without actually checking your site out. This is handy because people who log on to Facebook every day, may not be checking your blog daily (the horror!).

*Please note: Facebook is CONSTANTLY changing, so please check with facebook FAQ for the latest information.

About Nikole Bordato: "I am a reformed program manager who loves to wrangle light and help people understand how photogenic they really are. If I have spare time, I spend it thinking about trips, books, more photography and Halloween"

Advertising In Blog Comments = Brand Damage

I tend to avoid writing negatively worded articles, but after encountering yet another poor attempt at marketing, I think it's time to address a marketing tactic that will ultimately do more damage to your brand: Advertising in Blog Comments. Whoever thought that posting advertisements in the comments of blogs clearly is not a blogger or familiar with the whole "social" aspect of social media.

Example:
"Thanks for posting such a nuice articles....you can hire lenses from our company for photo shoots..." (company name omitted)

I'm sad to say that this was an actual comment posted to our blog, and it's just one of many that has annoyed me and made me run for the "delete" button. First off, it's misspelled, which comes across online as stupidity. Secondly, a compliment followed by an advertisement basically reveals the insincerity of the compliment. Thirdly, the comment was made on a blog post that had low relevance to the brand of the company. What the company actually accomplished in their blog comment was that I now associate stupidity, insincerity, and annoyance with the company brand that was attached to the blog comment. I do feel bad that there's probably an actual person behind that comment, but I also think they need to learn that this isn't an acceptable form of marketing.

Solution:
There is a "right way" to utilize blog comments as a form of marketing, but it requires genuine interest in the content being shared by the blogger. It requires you to actually read and post a question or idea that's relevant to the article's topic. If your comment is interesting or engaging, people will naturally want to know more about the person or company posting the comment, which will result in a higher click-through rate and greater brand recognition. By genuinely engaging in relevant topics with people who care about things that affect your target market, you create a stronger brand. It takes more time and energy, but the results are much more positive and long-lasting.

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

How Viral Is Your Brand?

Sounds kinda gross, doesn't it? However, if your business brand is what needs to be spread, you'd better make your brand is as viral as possible! The more viral your brand is, the easier it will be for people to share your work, talk about you, and bring your brand to a larger community where it can be found by more potential clients and supporters.

FEED ME
You already know how viral blogs can be. In fact, you probably found out about this blog from someone linking to a particular post or talking about it somewhere else online. Yet, in this Web 2.0 world of "everyone has a blog", why do some blogs NOT have an RSS or ATOM feed (or don't make it publicly available)? People are becoming increasingly efficient about managing the information they get and consolidating that info into things like feed aggregators so that they don't have to frequent a list of bookmarks just to see what's new. If people can't easily get your RSS feed into THEIR preferred feed aggregator, or if they prefer to get email updates and can't easily subscribe to your blog via email, than chances are that they won't be viewing your conent as much as the blog that makes these subscription methods easy to find and use.

Let me take feeds a step further by suggesting that you make sure your blog feed allows the ENTIRE post to be viewed by an outside aggregator and not just a snippet that then requires people to click through to your blog. While it may be easier for you to track your stats and visitors, how annoying is it for the reader who starts one of your posts in their aggregator only to have it cut off after so many characters? Do you want that annoyance to be associated with your brand? Is the hook & bait communication method part of your brand identity? What subtle suggestion does this send about you as a person or business?

MEET ME
... where I'm at. If I'm your client and I'm on facebook, meet me there. If I'm on myspace, meet me there. If I'm on linkedin, meet me there. By letting potential clients discover your brand and connect with you on a platform that they're already using on a regular basis, you increase your chances of being referred to your next great client through that very same platform.

If you're setting up a calendar, are you going to set it up on a platform that can easily be exported, downloaded, subscribed to, or transferred to my preferred calendar so that I can view your events side by side with my regular schedule? Or, are you going to force me to look at your site or manually enter all of the events I'm interested into my calendar? What's going to make my experience better as a person interested in your product, service, or brand? How much more likely will I be to attend your events if they're easy to add to my own calendar?

FEEL ME
One of the worst things you can do for your brand is to make your potential clients feel dumb or confused. Common sense, right? Then why do some companies insist on creating sites that aren't user friendly? Creativity and uniqueness is valuable, but only if it's done in a way that makes people feel smart. If your potential client has to spend more time trying to figure out how to simply use your site, find the information they need, or decipher what you mean by the words you choose to use rather than just experiencing your product, brand, or content with ease- than your desire to be unique may be adding layers of confusion and frustration to your brand. Are you making yourself more or less accessible in the way that you structure your site? In the words that you choose? In the information you make available about yourself and your company? Is your ideal client easy to identify through your branding and content?

Some people don't want to be easy to access, which might be you if you have more work than you can handle. However, if you find yourself lacking in inquiries, than perhaps it's time to ask yourself if you've made your brand too inaccessible or difficult to understand based on any of the things I've mentioned above. The more accessible your brand is, the quicker it will be spread and shared with potential clients that would normally be out of your immediate reach. There are plenty of smart and savvy people who will simply not waste their time on something if it seems like it will take additional time to navigate or investigate. They aren't dumb, they just have little patience for things that take too much of their precious time. If your navigation is easy to use and your information is quickly understood, than you've created a positive experience with your brand that makes your potential client feel smart and savvy- which in turn, makes your brand feel smart and savvy.

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Tools for Tweeting

The whole point of Twitter is that it is all about the conversation. You don't want to just post a tweet about the latest update on your blog. Follow people that follow you - and others that might be of interest to you. Make sure you talk with them, just don't just post updates!

You're using Twitter to build your personal brand. YOU are what your clients are buying when they hire you - everything that they get, including your stunning photography, is an extension of you. So always remember, if you don't want something attached to your personal brand (the details of the party you went to on Saturday, your rant about someone or something) -- then don't post them to Twitter, or really anywhere else online!

You can always just use the regular web browser for reading and posting to Twitter - lots of people do that. But why limit yourself to just that when there are some other really cool software options out there?

I use Twitter a LOT, and I keep up with a wide variety of people - wedding photographers, children photographers, other wedding vendors, friends in my area, and knitters. To make it easier to keep up with everyone, I use Tweetdeck. The coolest feature of Tweetdeck? I can sort people into groups! That makes it so easy to keep up with what is going on in my different circles of friends!  Note: one big tip for using Tweetdeck? When you first set it up, it takes awhile to populate with everyone you're following and all of their posts. Don't worry, as people update, they will update in Tweetdeck too. (PC, Mac - Free)

When I'm away from my computer and want to post to Twitter, my tool of choice for the iPhone is Hahlo - which actually runs through the web browser. It has a nice, clean interface, easy to use buttons, and my favorite? When people respond to a post on Twitter, you can see what they are responding to - right in a nice, streamlined interface! (Web browser based, great for mobile phones - Free)

Twitterific is another very popular application for Twitter, available for both Macs and the iPhone.  It is a nice, clean, easy to use interface. (Mac, iPhone - Free)

Before I discovered Tweetdeck, I used Twirl, which runs on Adobe Air (like Tweetdeck), so it will run on both PCs and Macs. It also has a very nice, clean interface with some customization options. Sometimes I switch back to using it if I want something smaller on my desktop.  (PC, Mac - Free)

Other applications that are highly recommended - but I haven't tried them out yet!

- TwitterFon (iPhone - Free)

- Twinkle (iPhone - Free)

- Tweetie (iPhone - $2.99)

- Twitterberry (Blackberry - Free)

- TwitterFox - Firefox add-on (requires Firefox. PC, Mac - Free)

- TwitBin - Firefox add-on (requires Firefox. PC, Mac - Free)

- Twitterlicious (requires .NET framework to be installed. PC only - Free)

What is your favorite, most used Twitter application? I would love to hear all about it!

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet!

Next up in the Social Media lineup? Twitter!

I first discovered Twitter shortly after it launched.  Back in 2006, Evan Williams (the original person behind Blogger before Google bought it out) had a little box on his blog with his latest tweets, sharing with the world in a micro format what he was doing.  I immediately went and signed up. Evan is an innovator, and I knew if he was involved it was going to be something cool.

Twitter didn't really start to grow into what it is today until the spring of 2007. There is a large Film/Music/Interactive festival in Austin, Texas every spring called SXSW. At SXSWi, enough of us were on Twitter that we found it really useful to coordinate meeting up with people, making dinner plans, and everything else you can think of. From there, Twitter took off. (You can read a lot more about Twitter over on Wikipedia.)

But what is Twitter?

Twitter is basically microblogging. In 140 characters or less, you share what you are doing at that time. You can use it for any number of things - post where you are at, the funny joke you just heard, ask for help with something, talk about what you had for lunch.

There are no rules.

The best way to start with Twitter is to just sign up. Find people to follow that you might have similar interests with - other photographers (I'm there and so is Anne), people in your city, people you know on Facebook.  Follow people who those people follow. Join in the conversation. If you just sit on the sidelines, it won't make any sense. It will make a lot more sense if you talk with people through Twitter.

Yes, Twitter can even help your business grow, in a lot of different ways. I've often heard people say that Twitter sure seems fun, but really? They will never get business from it. That isn't true. Back on November 10, 2007 I helped rescue a wedding thanks to Twitter.  I had done shoots for a local magazine, along with my friend Mark. He is an amazing concert photographer - and for months, we had chatted back and forth via Twitter. The owner of the magazine was in a wedding where the hired photographer did not show up. He only had the other photographer's phone number in his cell phone. Being a concert photographer, he knew he wasn't up for a 300+ guest wedding - but he immediately thought of me & my second shooter, Elaine. He messaged us both, and within 15 minutes we had talked with the groomsman and we were on our way to save the wedding. We booked at least 3 weddings in 2009 that were a direct result of that wedding (1 of the bridesmaids, 1 friend of the bride's brother, and 1 who just thought it was awesome that we would do that) -- and it is something that would have never happened without Twitter, and networking with people in my city. The whole thing was a Defining Moment for me and my business.

Do you Twitter? Has it helped your business? Has it helped you grow a stronger community of photographers around you?

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.

What Can Blogging Do for You?

The first form of social media that most people use and encounter is blogging. Almost every photographer has a blog these days (and if you don't - you should RUN and get one!), and many use blogging effectively.

The biggest point behind a blog is to give you a voice. When people look though your portfolio, they only see the images. These may be very soul-stirring images, but when you give readers a chance to know how you felt about the image - why you captured it, what it says to you - then it brings the reader even closer to the image. It personalizes it.  It makes it about YOU, and your artistic vision.

Blogging gives you a chance to talk WITH people.

More and more brides are using the internet as a tool in finding the perfect wedding vendor. Your blog can help you stand out to them. I can't tell you how many times I have had couples comment to me in our initial meeting about something that they read on my blog, and how that spoke to them. I've had some greet me at our first meeting like we have always been friends - and they normally say that that is how they feel, like they already know me because they have had a chance to read my writing. This is an incredibly powerful aspect to connecting with your clients!

Another great thing about blogs? Search engines LOVE THEM.  Last year, I had a splash page for the entrance of my website, which then lead people to either my blog or my flash portfolio. Having been a long-time blogger, this bothered me. I knew Google and the other search engines were not coming back to that static index page. In December 2007, my blog only had about 800 unique visits.  Superbowl Sunday, while watching the game, I decided to move the blog to the front page of my site. Now when you visit my URL, you land right at my blog.  The impact on my traffic?

Unique Visitors by Month:

December 2007 - 811

January 2008 - 1887

April 2008 - 3911

August 2008 - 5232

November 2008 - 5673

I went from 811 to 5673 unique visitors a month, in under a year!

I still have my flash portfolio site, but it is now the secondary portion of the site, what people see if they choose the Wedding Portfolio link at the top of my blog. Added bonus? Google loves me! Plus potential clients can see my latest work, not just what goes by in my flash portfolio. They can engage with me. We can have a conversation. They can leave comments, and I can email them back - creating that dialogue.

Your blog can truly set you apart. Let your voice be heard!

Do you blog? Have you tried moving the blog to be the first part of your site that people see? How did it work for you?

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.

What Is This Social Media Thing??

One of the things I didn't mention in my bio post the other day is that I was a geek before I became a professional photographer. Well, actually, I was a photographer before any of us even knew about the internet, but I spent 1996-2006 working in internet related fields before I finally started to live the dream of being a photographer for hire.  Social Media is something I've been involved in for years (even before I knew what it actually was) - but something that has only recently become a buzzword among the tech crowd.

Social Media, as defined by Wikipedia:

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences

Social media (and social media marketing) isn't specifically about the internet -- it is all about having conversations with your clients, your peers, your community! The internet is the vehicle for this conversation to take place. 

 

Magazines and other types of marketing only let you talk to people.  It doesn't allow for the back & forth interaction of the internet. Social media is about blogs, forums, podcasts, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, RSS feeds, anything online that helps you communicate your message to others - and anything that allows the people listen to you to engage in a conversation with you easily online.

You never know who might be a part of your social media circle.  It can be between you, potential clients, other photographers, magazine editors - you name it!  It is a conversation that isn't organized, controlled, and doesn't always even have to be a business related message.  You're a lot more likely to be heard if the messages you put out there are vibrant and fun, business related and even personal things.  The key is to create value for the people you reach.

There is a lot of media out there. We are bombarded by it all, all the time.  Social media helps you connect by having a conversation. It is a way for you to stand out among the crowd.  Bonus? It doesn't cost anything. All it takes is time.

How should you use social media?

Lets start with the basics.  (I'll get into different types of social media outlets in later posts.)  Think of it like one big mix and mingle type of party.  Everyone is sharing, talking about whatever they want. Work, friends, their life in general.  The party is fun, and you want to meet a lot of people. Sometimes, they are people you can help and that can help you.  

Now imagine if over in the corner there is one person, always saying "Look at me! Look at me!"  They are only asking for your attention, but they aren't a part of the conversation. They are just talking about themselves.  Do you really want to listen to them?  NO. You would much rather go over and talk to someone that wants to have a conversation. 

It is just like at a party, and sometimes you might find someone really fascinating when you don't expect it.  Mingle. Get your word out there -- but be sure to listen too! Be a part of the conversation, and you'll be surprised where social media can take you!

Don't talk to us as if you've forgotten how to speak. Don't make us feel small.  Remind us to be larger. Get a little of the human touch. - The Cluetrain Manifesto

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.