Blog - Photography Business Institute

Marketing Ideas are What Happens in Vegas…

Oh my goodness. This week in Vegas has been amazing. There is not much to get you more fired up than a national industry convention. Erin and I have spent the week here in Vegas at WPPI meeting with SO many of our Cafe Joy members and having a blast. I gave FIVE presentations in 4 days. Whew. It is so much fun being here – not for the gambling – but to look at all of the amazing designs, logos and promotions. In a city where there is SO much money, it is wonderful to see how that money is spent to promote the different businesses. Every restaurant has a strong identity and theme.

Small Business Strategies: Enjoy a Free copy of Switch by Chip and Dan Heath

As you know, I’m a huge fan of Chip and Dan Heath. Dan emailed me over the weekend and let me know about a pretty cool opportunity to get a free copy of Switch, their latest book. Simply donate $20 to Teach for America and they’ll send you a copy of the book for free. Trust me, it’s well worth the read for any small business owner.

Grow Small Business: Cloning the Bright Spots

Yesterday I outlined two steps to finding the bright spots
in your business, as discussed by Chip and Dan Heath in Switch: How to Change Things When Change in Hard. The bright
spots are the key to changing your business, gaining more balance, clarity and
focus. Step one is to find the bright spots in your business (or in your life).
Then, step two is to analyze what it is that makes those bright spots
shine. Don’t just take them for
granted. Go under the hood, tinker around and uncover what it is that makes the
bright spots shine.

What’s Working Now in Your Small Business Strategies?

Does this sound familiar? You take one look at your to do list and you’re instantly overwhelmed. You have no idea where to start for the day, what small business strategies will work, let alone how to get to the biggest goals you’ve set for yourself as a small business owner. You know that you’re not where you want to be…yet. But you believe you can get there. You just don’t quite know how. You’ve experiencing some success, otherwise you wouldn’t stick with it. Yet you feel like every time you take a step forward, you inevitably take a few steps back.

Marketing Ideas: Share, Share, Share

We’re starting something a little new and wanted to give you the opportunity to jump in from the start. As we receive email feedback from you about how Cafe Joy has changed your business, we’ve decided we’d like to dig deeper into your stories. That’s why we’re scheduling 5 minute interviews with ANY Cafe Joy member who has a success story to share. We want to hear how you started, what your major obstacle or challenge was and how Cafe Joy helped you to overcome it.

Cafe Joy Members are Rockin’ with Cool Marketing Ideas

You’d be surprised at how much success you can have, just by approaching the right person with a cool idea. One of our members recently had one of her images appear on the Today Show! And it all began with a request to spec shoot a local celebrity….read on!

Positioning Yourself to Build Customer Relationships

To succeed as boutique business owners, we have to
create a lasting impression for our clients when they have an experience with
us. We must own a position in their minds if they are going to become lifelong
clients of our business. I talked several months ago in this blog about owning
a word in the minds of your customers and how important this is. The big brands
do this every day by investing millions of dollars on marketing. But their
audience of potential clients is much larger than yours.

A friend of mine recently shared this video of Coca Cola and an experience the

Marketing Ideas and Web Presence

Hi Joyfriends,

I just posted a BONUS interview in the resources section of the Pantry. For those of you who have Web site questions this interview is for you. I interviewed Jerad Hill, a web design guru and wedding photographer to get his take on what small businesses should be doing to get the most from their web presence. From search engine optimization to how to chose the right vendor to work with and more, check out this interview, available only to Cafe Joy members. Enjoy!

A giant thank you and 87 smiles

We can’t thank the photography community enough for their generosity during our Joy to the World Websummit. Collectively, we raised $21,000 for PPA Charities’ Operation Smile – enough to provide 87 smiles to children around the world in need. What an awesome feeling for the entire Photography Business Institute staff to present this check to PPA Charities at Imaging USA in Nashville.

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Taylor Swift Marketing Guru?

Now whether you like her music or not, we all know that Taylor Swift is a mega star. But being a great singer and drop-dead gorgeous is only part of the battle. There are SO many marketing decisions that go into creating a brand of this scale and what fascinates me is that many of these decisions have been made by a girl who was about 15 when she started making them. She passed over recording deals because the big labels wouldn’t let her sing the music she was passionate about. She oversees all of her design and positioning decisions.

Spend a Little and Make a Big Splash | Small Business Marketing Ideas

This week I was surprised. In a good way. I received two thoughtful gifts from people I have done business with in the past. The gifts were inexpensive. One was handmade and inspirational. The other was personal - tapping into a passion of mine showing how well the...

How to Hire Your Dream Team

In any growing business, there comes a time when you may need to add employees. And because so much rides on the people you choose to sell your products or carry out your services, we’ve put together these six steps for building a dream team, as described in our recent New York Times Best Seller, Worth Every Penny.