It’s not about what you know…

Or as a matter of fact, it’s not about who you know either. My photography mentor, David Loveall, taught me this simple concept from day one. It’s not about what you know, or who you know, it’s about who knows you. This simple phrase has left a lasting impact on me. It doesn’t matter if what creative field you are in (or even not in a creative field at all), it’s about working the contacts you know and making your name be heard. Essentially, it’s the basic key of Marketing. Getting your name out to important people so when the opportunity arises, they call on you.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around marketing for the last few days and really figure out what I need to do to get people to know me.  The first big step is looking at what your target market is or who you want it to be. Obviously, I’m skipping a few steps like coming up with a product (but I figure most of you have that figured out by now). As for the creative types, one of the sites that I’m looking at investing in is, Agency Access. They offer great ways to find the market you are looking for and then ways to get in touch with them (via mailers, email and other promotions).

But, that’s where the big question comes along. How am I going to reach my market? Well, in a recent conversation with a good friend of mine, Doug Levy, he told me about a great promotion that a Virginian Photographer, Casey Templeton, recently completed. It involved shipping out 300 custom boxes filled with basically “A Day in the Life” of Casey. The box included a lunch box which  was filled with items like a coffee mug, Diet Coke and 4″x 6″ portfolio photos. It’s a promotion project that cost $15,000 but will pay itself back very shortly. If you go and check out Casey’s 2010 Self Promo you’ll be able to see the positive responses he has received from art buyers and agencies.

© 2010 Casey Templeton

Marketing is all about getting noticed and making sure your in the front of your clients mind. Hopefully this gives you all some ideas for how to market yourself in a creative and unique way. I know after looking at Casey’s Promo, I’m already trying to figure out a creative way to get my name out. I think Casey says it perfectly in his blog post, “I knew in order to take my business to the next level, I needed to start marketing myself on a national level and more importantly, I had only one chance to make an awesome first impression.”

I hope we can all take steps forward to making awesome first impressions in the marketplace. Whether you are a photographer like me or a soon to be college graduate (which is also like me!), take the initiative to do something different and creative to stand out from everyone else. Design a unique resume or business cards. Come up with some idea that makes you stand out from everyone else out there. Even if you don’t get the job right away, you’re branding yourself and people will notice you and remember you and pass your name along.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 9:40 AM. It is filed under Blog and tagged with Business, Marketing, Photography, Self Promotion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.