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There are five ways to stand out in the marketplace: 

Price. If you compete on price you are asking for heartache and headaches. I guarantee it. Charge what YOU WANT, and find ways to justify it. Never stay stuck in the price war competition. It is very, very frustrating. Many photographers stay stuck and fail to work on other areas of photography to strengthen. I believe it often is a sign of deeper problems and self-image. I am not suggesting avoiding it altogether, but it should not be your prime focus.

Product. I've always felt that if you can make people look good and create great photos they will tolerate just about any kind of appalling behavior that would never be tolerated in other industries. If you are a great photographer why not be a great marketer too? And a good person. You will only have everything to gain by it and if you treat people badly, in time you are bound to pay a price. How exactly? Who knows? But why be a jerk? Likewise, if you are just an okay photographer, it will help you immensely if you are a memorable person. I know average photographers who earn good money and get a ton of business largely because they are likeable. This factor really helps in this business. If you take okay photographs you should be personable and likeable, and you should create a lot of excitement with your marketing and innovativeness.

Process. When you create systems that work, you become efficient. Use a system, do not take away from the system by letting employees change it or use their own discretion. A finely tuned operation will impress your clients and you will stand out.

Service. There is ample opportunity for every business to become excellent in the area of service. It's vital to create standards, and stick to them consistently. Use a process for the delivery of great service. One key area is training and training staff often. They need weekly reminders for every aspect of great service to be delivered. Most businesses suffer from apathy in this area, so if you decide to be unusual, and offer great service, you will stand out big time.

Marketing. Let's look at this one. Without a doubt the biggest marketing sin is being boring. You can have the greatest ad writing skills in the world but if your offers are boring you'll likely stumble and fail. You can have the greatest photographic talent in the world but if your offers, copy and promotions are boring you're doomed. Being boring in any way shape or form is considered marketing suicide. Maybe that's why so many businesses fail. They use boring, run-of-the-mill, seen-it-a-million-times, looks-like-everything-else out there marketing. I have no doubt that this is true and it is so often ignored by so many businesses it actually creates opportunity for those of us who decide to do something about it.

But first, let's look at the obvious question: Why do we fall into the habit of creating marketing suicide with boring promotions, boring ads, boring offers, boring copy etc...in the first place....? Simple. We are human beings. We like to copy each other and copy others who we think are successful. We take on the "monkey-see monkey-do" way of thinking. It probably has something to do with peer pressure and other social conditionings, fear of trying something new or radical, fear of ridicule....whatever it is, the pressure is great. There are probably many reasons and ways of explaining it, and since humans are basically lazy it only compounds the problem.

This is a behavior that makes no exception. It applies equally to all industries and is so common it can be considered the true cause of failure. It's what I like to call cannibalism. You see it everywhere. Everyone starts doing what everyone else is doing and we all start looking alike. What this ultimately amounts to is suicide because the marketing that results from cannibalism is so boring it has virtually no effect on the target group that we are trying to get into our studios.

 

Okay, so why don't we simply take the opposite approach and copy the successful models such as Starbucks and The Body Shop to name only a few. The rules they play by are simple, but they did something amazingly simple that we too can us in our own business. They didn't look at what all the other businesses in their industry are doing and duplicate. They didn't go to a coffee convention and notice what all the other coffee places were doing so they could use those same old and tired ideas. Did they? As a matter of fact they did the opposite. They simply innovated new and exciting ways to sell their boring coffee or boring soap products. Think about it. They succeed, many fail. Look any other industry. Pick any and you'll see the same behaviors over and over.

Wait for Rob’s PRO TIPS PART II in 1 week….