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Thread: Advertising experiences

  1. #1

    Advertising experiences

    Any landscape photographers with experience advertising here would be helpful. Any Do's and Don'ts. Blackbook.com? Magazine ads? Designer Resources?
    Thanks,

  2. #2

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Westminster, MD
    Posts
    1,653

    Re: Advertising experiences

    What is your market? If it's galleries, best to ask a number of gallery owners what they think that works for reaching them. If it's direct sales, you'll need to create a mailing list of buyers for direct mail. If it is commercial work you are after, again a mailing list for direct e-mail and snail mail promotions.

    Whatever you do, it is best to direct buyers to your web site, so your advertising needs to include include your URL.

    Also joining various forums, such as Facebook, etc., can add internet links to drive business to your website.

    Magazine ads is a very shotgun approach. Anything that can be more like a rifle is better. There are list serves, such a Adbase and Agency Access, that sell lists of buyers. Adbase has a good selection of museum and galleries. Don't know if Agency Access does the same. Their lists allow you to create e-mail campaigns, as well as the traditional mailing labels for postcard promos.
    When I grow up, I want to be a photographer.

    http://www.walterpcalahan.com/Photography/index.html

  3. #3

    Re: Advertising experiences

    Gracias Walter,

    I would love to find connections with hospitality designers, vacationers of the mid appalachains, and new log home owners

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Posts
    9,487

    Re: Advertising experiences

    Network within the architecture and development communities, such as Timberframing trade shows and the like. The golf industry is always buying landscape shots, albeit of gold course...

    The irony is that the best market for environmentally-concerned landscape photographers is usually the least concerned industry - land developers.

  5. #5

    Join Date
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    626

    Re: Advertising experiences

    Yeah, magazine ads are a shotgu...wait, what? Shotgun approach? If you place an ad as a seller of a good in which the readers are the main people who buy your goods, it's not a shotgun approach, it's a very targeted approach, dependent upon what niche you're trying to reach. If you have a new tell-all book about politics, you'd advertise in a magazine that reaches people interested in politics. If you're selling photography to collectors, you'd advertise in a magazine that reaches photography collectors.

    There are three options for that:

    B&W Magazine (www.bandwmag.com)
    photograph (http://www.photography-guide.com/p_about_frame.html)
    Focus (www.focusmag.info)

    If you're trying to sell to photographers, there are about a billion and one photography magazines out there. It all depends upon the product you're trying to sell and who you're trying to sell it to.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Montana
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    Re: Advertising experiences

    David,

    I am sure he said: "I would love to find connections with hospitality designers, vacationers of the mid Appalachians, and new log home owners"

    They normally are not collectors, but builders, hotels, and Log home owners.

    I have worked a whole bunch in this market, and they are not collectors, they are normally people looking to decorate their hotels, motels, B&B'S recreational properties, and sometime real estate companies, it can be lucrative, especially if you hook into a large hotel chain that wants to buy 1000 copies of your images to decorate their rooms..

    I would recommend contacting your local building association, MLS service, B&B association, Log Home Builders, Resort Destinations properties, etc.

    There is always a market to sell to if your innovative and such, put together a nicely done CD, and send it out to the various groups with an introduction letter. Which is how I started out in this market and you will be pleasantly surprised at who will respond. I have also sold quite a few prints, to people who have visited properties as my name was listed as the photographer, and they like what they saw in the rental property enough to contact me to see what else I had to offer to help them remember their special time at that particular place.

    Dave

  7. #7

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    Re: Advertising experiences

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Parker View Post
    David,

    I am sure he said: "I would love to find connections with hospitality designers, vacationers of the mid Appalachians, and new log home owners"

    They normally are not collectors, but builders, hotels, and Log home owners.

    I have worked a whole bunch in this market, and they are not collectors, they are normally people looking to decorate their hotels, motels, B&B'S recreational properties, and sometime real estate companies, it can be lucrative, especially if you hook into a large hotel chain that wants to buy 1000 copies of your images to decorate their rooms..

    I would recommend contacting your local building association, MLS service, B&B association, Log Home Builders, Resort Destinations properties, etc.

    There is always a market to sell to if your innovative and such, put together a nicely done CD, and send it out to the various groups with an introduction letter. Which is how I started out in this market and you will be pleasantly surprised at who will respond. I have also sold quite a few prints, to people who have visited properties as my name was listed as the photographer, and they like what they saw in the rental property enough to contact me to see what else I had to offer to help them remember their special time at that particular place.

    Dave
    Ah, yes. Saw that e-mail after my post.

  8. #8

    Re: Advertising experiences

    A bit can depend upon whether you are interested in photography as a service, or commercial enterprise, or if you just want to sell framed prints. WorkBook, BlackBook, and AltPick all have fine art sections, or even specialized categorization under the realm of landscape. This can consist of an on-line portfolio, with a link back to your website.

    Commercial work can pay substantially better than fine art framed print sales. There is less of a risk/reward in commercial work when advertising, compared with a highly speculative aspect of direct print sales. Stock photography is another direction from these.

    The list services can be quite useful, though you will need to craft a campaign to attract interest. You should have mail-out portfolios ready too, since some will want that instead of simply reviewing your work through your website.

    Definitely magazine ads, or even source books, are much less targeted than direct mailings. However, being in the right source book (or on-line version of one) for which your expected target audience frequents, does increase your exposure in a positive way. Just be aware that such listings might get no notice at all in the first one to three years. AdBase would give a much more direct approach, as long as you have all the other pieces in place.

    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat
    A G Studio

  9. #9

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    Re: Advertising experiences

    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon Moat View Post
    Definitely magazine ads, or even source books, are much less targeted than direct mailings.
    I absolutely must disagree with this statement. Do you know how much junk mail I get every day? With a magazine, I'm paying to read that product, thus am already interested in what the editorial content has to say, most likely because I have an interest or hobby based around what the magazine's editorial content is. Direct mail may have targeted lists, but it's much, much less effective unless people are expecting your direct mail like a gallery has a book where people put their names and addresses to receive updates on the gallery.... otherwise they're quite likely to throw out your unsolicited advertising message.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    Re: Advertising experiences

    Quote Originally Posted by FocusMag View Post
    I absolutely must disagree with this statement. Do you know how much junk mail I get every day? With a magazine, I'm paying to read that product, thus am already interested in what the editorial content has to say, most likely because I have an interest or hobby based around what the magazine's editorial content is. Direct mail may have targeted lists, but it's much, much less effective unless people are expecting your direct mail like a gallery has a book where people put their names and addresses to receive updates on the gallery.... otherwise they're quite likely to throw out your unsolicited advertising message.
    The fact that you receive so much of it should indicate to you just how very successful direct mail is...

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