Blog - Photography Business Institute

Brand Building- Is It Time For A Change?

It is such a large decision to choose a name. Yet, when something tragic happens like the BP oil spill, do you consider a name change? Check out this article in the Huffington Post.

Marketing Issues In Your Small Business

A few weeks ago I was in a cute downtown area and I saw this day spa. It seemed to have a lot of things going for it:

Great building (love the lights over the awning)
Great location
Good logo

All of these things are contributing to a strong brand in my opinion. Yet something was off.

Using Groupon to Drive Traffic to Your Small Business

This week I had a client of Photography Business Institute ask me if I recommend using Groupon to get new clients. For those of you who don’t know what Groupon is, it’s a way to get deep discounts from your favorite retailers by purchasing a coupon with a group of other people. For example, I was able to score a massage at 50% off from the Four Seasons by taking advantage of a Groupon discount. Good for me, right?

Small Business Blog: How To Set Yourself Apart

About six months ago, I read about a guy who had been wildly
successful in business. The secret to his success…following up. He was
so meticulous about following up that he’d go so far to send a Fed Ex
package to make sure they paid attention to his message (context
appropriate of course).

Small Business Blog: Failing Can Be Good

Failure is not an option. This has been our motto since starting The Joy of Marketing. It is hard enough running one successful business but when you add a second business, it gets that much crazier! A year ago, The Joy of Marketing grew to a point where I knew I needed to bring on a ringer to help me run it. It has been a year now since Erin joined my team and we recently sat down and reflected on our first year together. We made a list of all of our accomplishments – big and little.

Small Business Strategies – By Becky McCray

Recently I stumbled across a really smart lady, I’d like to introduce you to. Becky McCray writes a blog, Small Business Survival, for rural and small town business owners. Growing up in a small town of 4,000 myself, I’m partial to our small town business owner followers. They have to do so many things right that big city business owners can skate by without.

5 Ways To Opitimzie Your Small Business Blog

In yesterday’s blog post, I mentioned my struggle in justifying how much time to spend in our business’s social media efforts and certain forms of online marketing. We’ve all experienced the dark hole known as the internet. You know what I’m talking about. You start clicking on links from blogs or images your friends have posted on facebook and the next thing you know, it’s two hours later and no revenue has come in. That’s why I sought out education on the topic at the Online Marketing Summit this week.

5 Ways to Increase Your Small Business’s Google Rank

If you’re like me, everyday I have certain things on my to do list: writing on the blog, facebooking, and tweeting. While it’s fun and often easy (although blog posts take more time), I struggle with understanding if it really helps our business’s bottom line. And how much time and investment should small business owners put toward these social media tools?

A second set of eyes

After a long day of meetings, Sarah and I dropped by a cute wine bar to grab a drink and dinner. We’re all for small businesses using e-newsletters to keep in touch with their customers, but make sure you have an extra set of eyes proof everything before it goes to print! Notice the typo?

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Small Business Strategies- How to Categorize Your Database

When you know every person in your database intimately, your job as a marketer becomes pretty darn easy. But the question we always get asked is: How do I categorize the people in my database? Our answer: As many ways as you can. Your database can be divided into...

Small Business Strategies- 4 Rules to Live By

To stay on top, your small business has to grow and mature; it has to remain consistent and reliable while continuously surprising customers and exceeding their expectations. That doesn’t mean you need to focus on franchising, add a ton of overhead, and become a big...

Profitable Marketing Strategies: Giving Extra Love to Your Best Clients

Everyone has those special clients; the ones that love you, rave over you, and come back over and over again. I know in my photography studio we have a few favorites and during the year we try to go above and beyond for them! Do you categorize your clients? If not,...