AS SEEN IN
AS SEEN IN
A quick share from my travels last week. I dined at a quick pasta place in Portland, Oregon, a mecca of great design in my opinion. The restuarant I visited didn’t stop at a great logo and signage. They carried their quirky, old style brand through in their comment card and sign up card for their loyalty program.
Twice in the last week, I have had to change habits and it was so hard. First, I moved the dock on my desktop (I’m a mac user) from the bottom to the left because I kept accidentally opening programs. Do you know how many times I have gone to the bottom first? Then, we put a door from our kitchen to our new screened-in porch yet instinctively, I keep walking around to the outside the way we did before the door.
Many of you want to start something, do something, create something. Yet, you come up against resistance and much of the time, you are your biggest enemy. In Steven Pressfield’s new book, Do the Work, you will get a kick in the pants and hopefully, he will light a fire under you. It is easy to sit back and do the same thing day after day. You know that you have a dream. You know that you want to make a difference. You know that you want to make something and ship something.
Most small business owners we help aren’t getting the sale or even maximizing the sale because they sell wrong. Rather than focusing on the advantages of their products over the competition or the benefits to their customer for buying this product or service, they focus on the features of their products and services. For example, we have archival framing. We have the latest technology available! We build salt water swimming pools! That’s nice, but what’s in it for me as a customer?
Last year Sarah and I attended a conference and we met a man on a mission. Matthew’s mission: get today, May the Fourth (Be With You), known worldwide as Make a Promise Day. Creative, right? We remembered it!
As I talk to small business owners regardless of the industry they are in, one thing most seem to struggle with is understanding opportunity cost and how it controls your business’ growth. No, this isn’t a lesson on a confusing financial term. Stick with me.
While it can be frustrating, one of the best ways to build your database is one person at a time. Sure, you can rent mailing lists all day long but there is no emotional connection with you and the people on those lists. Conversely, when you get out in your community and meet people, you are building relationships and building a lifelong network filled with relationships. If you want more business, meet more people. Add them to your database and continue to build a relationship with them.
One of my least favorite words when it comes to marketing a small business is the word “try.” Stemming back to my advertising agency days, clients would come in and say “I tried this, and I tried that, and nothing worked.” We would always then ask exactly how they “tried.”
A key to building a strong brand is communicating to your clients why they should do business with you and not your competitors. What is it that makes you different from everyone else?
Do you pour your soul into photography sessions, only to see too little money come in from your time and effort? Do you routinely hear customers say your work is beautiful, yet they fail to follow up their praise by placing a sizable order? When they do place orders,...
The #1 concern almost every photographer has is…. “How do I get more clients?” And that’s a fair question! But there is more to growing a photography business than getting more clients. Here are 18 quick tips for growing a photography business today. Why 18? This year...
In less than a year, Kate Treick added $36,000 to her photography income. And she did it without taking on a part-time job or sacrificing time with her family. Kate Treick Photography, her boutique portrait photography business, was growing...but more slowly than she...
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