Growing Pains: Marketing Strategy Tips from Sarah Petty

I have been collecting daily marketing tips from boutique studio photographer Sarah Petty since her company, "The Joy of Marketing," hosted the Master Photographers' Telesummit Marketing series last month. I thought I would pass them along to my followers and reread them myself to help the knowledge sink in. Here's your first tip. And look for more every Sunday here on my blog until we reach number 10!

1) CREATE A STRONG IDENTITY: One of the main reasons that small businesses, specifically photography businesses, aren't growing is that their identity lacks focus. Every successful business starts with a great logo and identity. If you're using more than one logo, it's counterproductive! You can't build a brand if you don't have a strong identity. And a strong identity starts with a great logo.


Listen to 5 tips for creating a great logo here.

Get Out There: My business logo, part 2

After giving it some thought, I've decided to hire a trusted colleague and amazing Photoshop guru to design my business logo -- Armando Martinez! I've blogged often about Martinez since I took two of his photoshop classes hosted through Illuminate Workshops and was convinced that I love the detail-oriented editing and processing of my photos nearly as much as I love taking them. Mando-matic, Martinez's creative photo retouching business just blows my mind every time I check out new before and after images on his site because looking at his work lets me know I've only barely scratched the surface with Photoshop, not to mention what I have yet to learn about Lightroom.

Last month, I talked about possibly having an online company such as logomojo create my logo. Then it hit me: why not work with someone I know who is infinitely talented and accessible right here in Denver?! I agreed with his assessment that while the projects on logomojo were indeed flashy, several of them seemed disconnected from the business. Here are sample's of Martinez's previous logos. Not only has Martinez been my instructor, but I've also photographed cityscapes with him before during an Illuminate Workshop monthly night shoot. I think he already has a good idea of who I am, and his willingness to find out more for the benefit of my business is great. And it's an investment that is long overdue.

Here's some examples of effective company logos:


Business logos can be:

Your business name and initials designed through a text font
An illustrative logo that is representative of your business
An abstract logo that will create a brand for your company

There are pros and cons to each. A hard to read font can render a business name with initials useless, while an abstract logo too far out in left field might just confuse potential clients. I've been studying logos where ever I see them, on sides of buildings, on delivery trucks and in advertisements. I think I would most like an illustrative logo that represents Picture Your World Photography do my market will have an immediate visual understanding of what my business is about. It provides more design freedom for Martinez.

Now that I've decided to work with him, the hard part begins. Martinez's homework assignment is pretty difficult. But if I can answer these questions, not only will it make it easier for him to create my logo, but it will give me a better understanding of who I am and what I want my business identity to be. Ask yourself these questions; what would your answers be? If you have a business plan, Martinez says some of the info could be found there:

1) Descriptions of the impression you would like from your logo.

2) List describing your business and what separates it from others or your specialties.

3) Samples of any logos you do like.

4) List of you competitors (websites are good)

Get the Job Done: New layouts for business website and blog

If you've taken the time to visit either my blog or my business website today, you will notice some drastic changes that have been made to accommodate my new logo designed by photographer and graphic artist Paul Martin. As a side note, if you need a business logo, I would highly recommend contacting Paul to purchase one of his custom designs. He had that logo ready for me in just a few hours!



I think the new look is clean, streamlined and modern. I can't tell you how hard it is for me to have a white background instead of a black one. I'm the kind of person who has seven pairs of black paints and 5 black shirts...even if other colors were available for me to choose from. But Paul's design as well as fellow photographer Jason Peckovitch's new layout inspired me to try something different. As tough as times are right now, I believe in the power of colors to affect our moods....ie, brighter colors can bring about happier emotions. I think the white offers a sense of something new, a blank slate to recreate the life (or business) that you want. I am still tweaking the page to look similar to my website by using the same color, fonts and coding. Look for more changes to come as I learn how to the CSS coding for them! If you are a Smug Mug member, look over this great thread to get tips on how to streamline the look of your blog and business site.

Long story short, after some long reasoning and most likely overthinking the issue as I'm prone to do, I finally decided to go wit the "no skin" logo version for all the reasons my most trusted allies explained. I think it's more prudent business decision for me right now to have the boudoir photography just be a service among others that I offer without bumping it up in prominence just yet. So far, I've only had four clients who have wanted those services, which is a good start, but definitely not enough interest for me to promote it yet over my general potraiture and weddings (which is the bulk of my paid sessions).




I also decided to move the boudoir gallery away from the family portraiture, as was suggested by photographer Mark Hayes. I think it fits there better because those galleries are all about the sexy and glamourous nature inherent in fashion and modeling. Plus, in order to beef up my boudoir gallery, several Model Mayhem members have contacted me asking for a chance to TFCD to improve their portfolios. If I can generate more interest in this type of photography, I will consider Mark's idea of creating a separate business simply for my boudoir and artistic nudes! Thanks for the suggestions Mark, as well as that cool idea for a new domain name for the boudoir site.

Have some suggestions for bettering the layout of the blog or my website? Please share and I welcome critiques!

Business Briefs: Help Me Choose My New LOGO!

Yippee! After several failed attempts to try to create my own business logo (have I mentioned how terrible I am at graphic design?), I think I finally got a winner!

Paul Martin, the "PM" of the AM/PM Photography duo, my photo colleague and graphic extraordinaire, has created two fabulous designs for me to choose as my official logo. Both of the logos play up the name of my company and my skills extremely well, I think. I love how Paul took the globe and used some of my favorite photos as the continents. I think it pops, grabs attention and will be memorable...everything a good logo should be.



But I need your help in making the decision. Here's the conundrum: "Skin or No Skin," that's the question. The first (shown above) is more general-use friendly in the sense that it doesn't showcase any of my boudoir and artistic nude photography. However, the second version features "Teri's Rose" as South America. I think the difference is very subtle.



I and Paul both worry that the image might offend some. I didn't used to worry about that kind of thing before until I got an email from a friend who said he was afraid to look through my site at work because of several artistic nude shots that appear on my website slide show. Since so many people make purchase decisions while they are at work, my friend worried that I might be hurting my business. I wasn't willing to remove the images that have produced my largest profit in individual artistic print sales, but I did move one several pages further into the slide show, making it less likely that casual viewers will come upon it.

And even more recently, I watched numerous attendees (namely female) at an exhibit shy away from one of my boudoir images as if they were ashamed to even been seen looking at it. Others (namely males) spoke about it as if it were some kind of guilty pleasure to be secretly enjoyed. It's hard for me to separate the fact that people's reactions to nudity or sensuality, especially in America, might have nothing to do with whether or not my images are good. Sex in this country is taboo. That's just the way it is. As long as that's the case, it's clear these type of photos are not going to be appropriate in every setting.



It probably sounds like I've already made up my mind NOT to use the logo with "the skin," but if that's the case, then why does it still bother me so much? I LOVE that photo of "Teri's Rose," and boudoir photography is definitely one of the things I want to continue to develop. I am torn, and I love the way Paul was able to place it inside the continent focusing on the rose. This is probably one of those kind of decisions where I might have to forgo my own personal tastes in lieu of what is more beneficial for my business, but if it's MY business and my choice, then any decision I make is right, right? RIGHT? Oh crap....someone please help me out!

This Weekend: Editing

This weekend, I am editing photos from Kim and Michael's engagement party as well as another set of images I took on Monday of college students modeling clothing with Auraria campus logos on them.

More sessions are getting booked, including my first maternity session scheduled for next Saturday and a neighbor's family portrait session for Christmas cards.

Also on Monday, I will be meeting with a graphic design artist about creating my business logo. It's taken far too long, but I finally decided that this had to be a priority and is an important step in the management of my business. Kelli Parker, a former Denver Post features graphic designer, is the owner of the KRP Creative design firm. I worked with Kelli on numerous page layouts for section front covers at the newspaper and I value her abilities. Wish me luck!

What Say You?: Creating a Business Logo

For the past few months, I've been trying to create a business logo for Picture Your World Photography. I've been struggling trying to find a way to quickly and easily show a full-service photography company. It's the reason why I chose the name "Picture Your World" instead of "Sheba Wheeler Photography" to create an all-encompassing brand that might one day feature more than digital photography, but include an entire roster of numerous photographers all shooting under my leadership. What can I say, I dream BIG!

While looking through the All Things Photography website, I was inspired by Nick Stubb's logo which features a picture viewing inside a camera's focus screen with the letters ATP written inside. That got me to thinking about a similar idea for my own logo. Since I shoot with a Canon 5D, I found a picture online displaying the back of the camera model. Then I just typed in the company name into the LCD screen. Now, I need your advice. What do you think about this as my logo? Please leave a comment. I'm not completely sold on the typeface yet, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to go oldschool Times New Roman or do some decorative script like I now have. What Say You?

If you think you can do better (and I KNOW you can because I am not graphically-designed oriented) how would you like to trade a photo session for a business logo?