Yesterday we had John Pyle talking about how to specialize in photographing high school seniors.Today's guest post is by Jen Basford, a highly successful Edmond, Oklahoma-based photographer. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.

Like most photographers, I love what I do. I mean, I REALLY love what I do. And my biggest passion is marketing to seniors (which is JUST slightly above photographing seniors, however on most days I tend to love them just the same). And to be truly honest, I just love marketing in general. It is quite possibly one of the biggest factors in the success or failure of portrait studios in today's world. So you need to take a hard look at how you're approaching things.

First of all – who are you marketing to – the senior or their parent? In general, I am marketing to the senior. However, don't ignore the parents entirely or it can come back to bite you. So with that in mind, I look at ways in which to reach my target market most effectively. Oh, and I also should let you in on another little tip – I like to do EVERYTHING differently. And I like to do it my way. :)

For me, that means doing what everyone else ISN'T. I've done a LOT of research over the past several years into what gets the attention of teenagers. And I can tell you that it is NOT direct mail. Everyone mails pretty little postcards to seniors with the same things on them – here are some images of what we do, here is our latest campaign, and here is an offer to get you to come in and have your portraits made. And I can tell you that every single one of them looks alike. Sure, the colors may be a bit different, and many people use WAY too many fonts, but they all look like they come from a photography studio trying hard to get your business. Which will bore the daylights out of a soon-to-be senior.

Who, by the way, is quite possibly way MORE marketing savvy than you are.

Teenagers are marketed to nonstop from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep (and some might argue even well past that point). They can spot a fake, a gimmick, or something cheesy from 3 states away. They aren't interested in discounts. They aren't interested in deals. And they aren't interested in the fact that you can photograph really great well-lit images (though you'd better at least be able to do that if you're calling yourself a professional).

What they ARE interested in is fame. Being important (or made to feel like they are). Helping others. Relationships. Being REAL. You get the gist here.

So how do we reach them? By developing relationships with them and giving them once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Our 2 main marketing ventures for high school seniors are our senior model program and our annual Lights. Camera. Fashion! show we put on every spring. And these two things work hand in hand with each other. We recruit our models each year from the current year's junior class, and give them options in which they can choose to participate. And this isn't your parents' ‘rep' program designed to make kids work for referrals and discounts. Our model program offers the kids so much more – fame, the chance to be a top model for our studio, the chance to be a national senior portrait artists (spa) model winner, and the opportunity to be a runway model in our annual fashion show. We do offer incentives for direct referrals, however our model program is designed such that if they don't directly refer seniors to us we still benefit from indirect referrals, and the model then becomes a full-paying client. It's truly a win-win in all situations for us.

Our fashion show that we hold each year is the biggest event of its kind in our area. The focus is on the upcoming fashion trends, and we show high schoolers what types of clothes they will be wearing for their upcoming senior portraits. We also show them what a great time they will have at our studio, and how senior portraits are SO much more than just having your photograph made. They are about an experience. A feeling. A passion. A love. About everything you've worked your whole life to be, and everything you're heading off to become. It's a point in time that will never be repeated, and we want to make sure they realize the value of their senior portraits and that our studio can provide them with the best experience possible.

To support and supplement our model program and our fashion show, we effectively use Facebook, twitter, our blog and our website to create personal interaction and relationships with our models, clients and potential clients. One thing you have to realize, however, when using social media is that you HAVE to make it personal. Making a connection with your audience goes a LOT further than making it ONLY about business. High schoolers especially will start to tune you out before they even really tune in. Simple posts such as ‘Monday-1, Jen-0' on your social media can spark connections with almost everyone, as all of your target markets can relate to this humorous quip in some fashion or another. Keep it fun, make it personal, and use it effectively to enhance your business.

And keep it up. Regularly. If you don't, your audience will soon become bored and wander elsewhere. So it's your job to continually engage them and keep them coming back for more.

Assuming you are good at your craft, by giving some attention to your marketing and looking at how you can differentiate yourself from the pack you will be able to drive your target client towards you without the need to compete in the same arenas as ‘everyone else'. You must find out what makes you different, and start to capitalize on that. Because if you continually do things the way everyone else is doing them, eventually you will burn out and find that you are just a commodity to your market base. And people compare commodities on price – a war you will NEVER win, no matter where your pricing falls.

So play hard or go home. Because if you're marketing isn't on its ‘A' game you're going to be left behind.

John Pyle Photography specializes in High School Senior Photography and is a three time national senior portrait artist (spa) winning studio. He and his wife, Sallye Anne, own and operate John Pyle Photography in Columbus, Georgia and enjoy their soon to be 2 year old daughter, Julie Anne. Follow John on Twitter.

When I first began specializing in seniors (about 4 years ago) weddings were the buzz in the photography world.  People were laughing because I was on “that Facebook site.” Others thought all you needed was “passion”, a 5D camera and a 1.2 lens to become a wedding photographer. Now it seems that everyone with a camera wants to photograph high school seniors. The marketplace and Facebook have become saturated with photographers tilting the lens to create images for high school grads. So how do you separate yourself from fan pages, logos, and self proclaimed “artists” in  a growing and crowded senior market?

My point is you don’t have to sink in a massive pool of mediocrity if you are doing what it takes to stand out.

Competition

Before full time photography I was in pharmaceutical sales. I sold one of the most popular drugs in the market with only one competitor for 6 years. When a new competitive drug launched, everyone was panicked that our market share and business would crumble. But the opposite occurred. Despite the drug being slightly cheaper than the one our company sold OUR sales grew! Why? Because there was more noise being made about the market, the drug, and the disease state it treated. Sometimes competitors can actually grow your business. Especially if your work and sessions clearly stand out. 

Yesterday a client told me she was surprised at how many “photographers” are on Facebook when she began looking to book a session. She also said that it was actually very clear who did quality work because so much of the “noise” coming across Facebook from other “photographers” was not ”good at all”. 

My point is you don’t have to sink in a massive pool of mediocrity if you are doing what it takes to stand out. This may start by educating your clients on what quality is and by valuing what you do. If you don’t value your own work then people aren’t going to randomly decide to value it for you. Worry about your customers while competitors worry about you. 

Know Your Customers

When photographing high school seniors you better target everything to seniors right? WRONG. Seniors are a unique population to photograph because you are essentially targeting several clients in one; seniors, parents, family, siblings, peers, classmates … etc. Meet with the seniors and their families prior to shoot to clearly define the goals, likes, and dislikes before a session. You want customers to be thrilled with your images, excited about the session and be proud enough to show off the images. Sit down and analyze your customers to include defining who you want your ideal customers to be.

I talk with a lot of wedding photographers who are frustrated that they aren’t attracting brides who value their work, invest in their business, send referrals, and praise them to friends on Facebook. Some are advertising 75% off of everything, giving away free books, free CDs, free engagement sessions, etc. That’s fine if you don’t need income. But if you do need income you can’t be afraid of the word “profit”. It is still a business and being blessed enough to create images and work in your “passion” is still not enough to pay for gas or buy groceries.

Knowing your customers means knowing business also. A great lesson to be learned is if you sell on price, what happens when you aren’t the cheapest anymore? And if all your customers choose you based on price then that may be the only thing they value about you. Perfect your craft and learn how to run a business.   

Social Media

When utilizing Facebook and a blog/website make sure you show what you want to shoot. If you are constantly posting images of flowers, babies, concerts, airplanes, the beach, brides, and parks while claiming to specialize in senior photography don’t be surprised if your senior business doesn’t grow. You can’t sell what you don’t show. 

Customers (current and future) don’t need to see 463 images from a session. Limit what you show and choose what you show very carefully. This includes personal pictures and information as well. Personal pages are as much business pages for people and political statements, bad jokes, angry comments, and insults turn everyone off. Remember teenagers, seniors, parents, and grandparents are on your Facebook now. It’s also a good idea to monitor the images you post online for inappropriate comments. Every picture we post we are tagged in for this very reason.  

Network

Seek out other businesses outside of photography including those that target your market. Find out what they are doing right, and what works and doesn’t work for them. 

Invest in yourself and your business. Joining professional organizations, online forums, attending quality workshops, and experiment with new styles of shooting and lighting.

These will all improve your business and your creativity. The days of secret locations, mystery editing techniques, and hiding in darkrooms are over. You cannot be complacent in the senior market.  

Finally seniors are a very rewarding population to photograph. They keep you young and force you to stay current. But you must enjoy interacting with people and creating experiences on your sessions if you want to grow this segment of your business. Seniors only graduate once. You can’t even say that about people getting married anymore.  

I am honored to have Glyn Dewis as this week's first guest blogger. He is a UK based Photographer, Workshop Instructor and Adobe Community Professional specialising in Conceptual Portraits both location and studio based. An avid blogger, Glyn thrives on sharing his photography and editing techniques through his Workshops, YouTube Video Page and Blog. Follow him on Twitter.

When I was approached about writing a post for Tiffinbox I have to admit that at first I was a little stumped as to what I should cover. I changed my mind more times than I care to remember but that being said I always came back to the same starting point …‘Style’ and by that I mean ‘the unique, defining look to your photography’.

But when it come to style how do you get it? How do you develop you a look that makes you stand out from the seemingly saturated market of photographers?

I have my own blog that I update several times each week covering such topics as recent photo shoots, editing techniques, latest news plus hints and tips. In addition to that each month I interview prominent photographers from around the world; such names as Tim Wallace, David E Jackson and Matt Kloskowski to name but a few, and post the content of the conversation in full on the blog.

One question that I always ask is “How does someone develop a style?” and the answers always intrigue me:

Tim Wallace says “Your style is influenced by your life experiences and every time you press the shutter, in a way your photographing yourself.”

David E Jackson says “You don’t find a style…your style finds you.”

Trying to make your name as a photographer and have a style that is recognizable as unique to you is no easy task that’s for sure but one thing that is, is that the process is alot harder if you’re not picking up your camera on a daily basis.

So what do I mean by “having a style”? How do you define it or more to the point, how do you get a photographic ‘style’ ?

In today’s current climate where photography has become so much more accessible and people are setting themselves up as photographers almost as soon as they’ve unboxed their new DSLR, the need to separate yourself from the crowd and get noticed is more important than it ever was!

Now just to clarify, what I’m not saying here is that I believe your ‘style’ is set in stone, but what I do believe is that the more you use your camera, each and every day getting out and shooting something…anything, then your photographic style will evolve.

Up until a few years ago I used to compete in Bodybuilding Shows. For the life of me I can’t recall who it was said this to me but it rang so true …

“Photography and your ‘style’ is like your bodybuilding. You can’t expect to go to the gym just occasionally if you want to develop your physique to a level where you can compete. It takes dedication … training hard every day, putting in the hours and even when you’ve built your physique, continuing to train.”

Copying someones style is financial suicide.

Much like photography, it takes practice, constant practice to get good and even when you’re at the top of your game you still keep practicing. Look at Joe McNally, for example. He is without doubt amongst the best in the world but again someone who continues to practice, day after day and even attends workshops!

We’re all individual and we will all develop our own unique style. Going back to the bodybuiliding analogy, we could all start training doing exactly the same exercises, with the same weights, eat the same, get the same amount of sleep but still our physiques would look different; just as our styles will be different in photography.

Of course there are those that try to ‘copy’ to the letter other people’s styles. I remember a year or so ago when I was looking for a company to build my new website. Sure they seemed to do a great job with the design and functionality but what really shocked me was that in their ‘samples’ section, there were a large number of sites, all with slightly different designs but what seemed like all the same photos. Clearly there were/are a large number of people ‘cloning’ a style from photography training they’d received in the UK but weren’t putting their own ‘style’ into it.

Copying someones style is financial suicide. Our goal should be to attract clients that want us for our ‘style’ and quality of work but ‘copying’ a style will only lead to getting clients on a cost basis i.e. everyone is doing the same, so who is cheapest? Does that make sense?

Style is vital if we are to stand out from the crowd and attract clients, but don’t stress over it. Just get out and shoot more and more often and let your style find you. But the less you’re out shooting, the longer it’ll take and the more you’ll feel frustrated.

Talking of getting out and shooting more, some might say they would do but they have no one to photograph. Well in that case dare I say it, shoot for free! Get people in front of the camera on a time for prints basis; i.e they give their time and you give them a disc of edited images. This is something I did to build up a portfolio and is something I continue to do.

The big advantage here is that you can choose what you shoot and how you shoot it and those images can be used in your portfolio so you then start to get more of the same type of clients but who will pay you!

Just to finish off, this topic came up yesterday when I met up with a friend who mentioned something valid:

Your style won’t show itself until the technical side of shooting is second nature. Know your camera controls inside and out to the point you can change settings, and know why you’re changing them, without really looking at what you’re doing.

Do you feel like you have a defined style? If so, what is it? If you are struggling with it, do you think the steps Glyn has outlined here will help you? Chime in below in the comments section.

Today's guest blog post is by Rosh Sillars, a veteran photographer with a photojournalism background specializing in people, food and interiors. He earned his BFA in photography at the College of Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit. Rosh offers his services to traditional media, new media and corporate clients. He owns the creative representation firm The Rosh Group, Inc. and teaches photography at two universities and serves as a marketing and social media consultant for Synectics media. Rosh is also the coauthor of the book Linked Photographers guide to marketing and social media.Please visit his new project The Driven Business.

Is it really possible to increase dramatically your photography income?

Yes.

Photography has changed over the last 10 years. Digital cameras have made everyone a photographer; many of the basic point-and-shoot jobs have been lost. But, that doesn’t mean the opportunities are gone.

The truth is, there are more opportunities than ever. The secret is to make your competition irrelevant.

How?

Great photography and your creative ideas are the answer. Photography can be combined with writing, video, Photoshop, and other digital technologies to help you create unique offerings.

You must find your niche.

If you don’t have a good website, you are not in business. Make sure it is easy to use and well-optimized (If you don't know what that means, find out.) to attract the people who are searching for what you do. Don’t take search engine optimization lightly. Make sure you have a blog that is updated weekly with great images and text.

Get out of your home, office, or studio. Business is about people and developing relationships. Go to at least one networking event a week. Make sure you have business cards, portfolio cards, and your freshest images ready to share on your smart phone or tablet. Always have a portfolio available. You never know when opportunity will come knocking.

Follow up using the social web. Keep your new connections alive through social media. Develop new relationships using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Don’t sell to your followers, educate them. Teach them how to find leads for your business and you return the favor with opportunities and valuable introductions.

Create partnerships with companies that focus on the same target market. Develop packages and market your products in cooperation.

Don’t just sell your product. Sell the experience of working with you. You can’t hide behind your products. Photographers today need to understand that if they are going to be successful they are part of the product. Customers, in many cases, are buying the photographer more than the photography.

Make it easy for someone to do business with you. It is important to protect your copyrights. If copyrights were not important, people wouldn’t be working so hard to take them from you. Keeping your copyrights will increase your income by providing more opportunities to resell your images at the appropriate time. But, the issue of copyright, business practices, and contracts doesn’t have to be an us versus them battle. Keep it simple.

Unless you photograph events, you should be using the per-image-pricing model. Your rates should be based on the value of each image, not your time. It is much easier for customers to justify a few hundred dollars per commercial image than $1,500 a day for the photographer's time. This model can easily be adjusted and applied to portraits and family photography. Each image has value; never give away a valuable CD full of images.

Don't forget to follow up.

Communicate regularly with past clients. They are the best referral sources you have, so make sure you collect e-mails and addresses. Don’t let them forget what a great experience they had working with you. Keep them up-to-date with you newest images. Give them the tools and the opportunity to refer you.

The best marketing campaign you can participate in is to regularly send hand-written thank-you notes. People like to be appreciated. Your appreciation is often rewarded with additional income.

What strategies will you employ to grow your photography income? What are you trying now? Willing to share so that can learn from each other? Post your thoughts below!

As I mentioned a few days back, I had the honor of meeting both David Hobby and Joe McNally during their Flash Bus stop in Boston. Thanks to Adorama – The Photography People, I was able to interview them both. If you haven't seen the interview with David Hobby yet, please check it out now.

Here is the one with Joe McNally:

This wasn't the first time I met Joe. I was one of his students at his Dobbs Ferry workshops (highly recommend it, by the way) in June 2009.

I have two of his books – The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes and The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters. His next book, Sketching Light, is due out soon and based on what he has just told me in the interview above, I just pre-ordered it.

If you have any of his books or you have attended Joe McNally's presentations in the past, please comment below.

Please thank Adorama again for making this interview possible. When they say they are the “Photography People,” I know they mean it. One way you can help Tiffinbox and yourself is by ordering all your photographic gear through them. Heck, if they are the go-to-store for Joe McNally's professional needs, why not for you?

*Yes there are affiliate links embedded in this blog post.