Author: Leslie Burns

Here’s a quick diversion, also in the creative vein (but much less time consuming than yesterday’s fun): can you guess the correct logo? How fast?

Hat tip to Jane G. (aka caffeinegoddess) for the link. You should check out her blog for many good things creative/advertising/design related.

Sometimes it’s a good thing to just “waste” time in some sort of creative play. I suggest Line Rider as a good toy to play with. Deceptively simple idea: draw the slope for the sledder to slide on. The results, however, can be spectacular.

Warning…addictive.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my quick, 4-question survey (request posted on ASMP Pro/Student and APAnet forums). The results are in. There were 100 respondents, so this is by no means extensive, but it’s probably a decent sample.

When asked how business in 2006 has been (total billings), 49% said they were up this year over 2005. 37% said they were down and 12% said it was about the same (note, total is not 100% because someone didn’t answer). The largest group was those who said they were up 26-50% over 2005 (17%), which sounds like good news to me. On the down side, 13% said they were down by more than 25% for the year. Ouch.

For October 2006 compared to 2005, 43% said they were up, 22% said “the same,” and 32% said “down.”

On the open-ended question about how the respondents thought the rest of the year would be, and why, the answers were mostly positive, with neutral next and then a few negatives. However, the negatives were highly negative. For example “all I hear is that budgets are low or non-existent” and “dizzzzmal [sic] at best. A lot of companies are going out of town” are two of the negative comments.

On the positive side, one photographer said s/he was expecting a $2 Million year (bravo!) and several others said that their marketing was paying off (ex. “We […] have repositioned ourselves in our markets, targeted new markets and are rebuilding a client base. This has been successful and we are growing steadily.”).

As for what kind of photographers responded, here’s the breakdown (note, multiple answers were possible):

Advertising   60%
Corporate    53%
Editorial     48%
Weddings/Event     18%
Other, please specify  27% (mostly architecture, portrait, and a coupe of fine arts people)

While there weren’t enough data to do hard interpretations, my general sense is that those who were working their marketing plans were correlated to those who had more positive results and/or outlooks. Whether this is because people with plans generally feel more in control of their businesses (and thus are more positive in attitude) or not, as I said, there’s no sure way of knowing.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!!

Seth Godin, on his blog, recently posted about how the idea of some action being labeled “just business” is a warning sign–that is, when someone does something mean or nasty or unethical and says “C’mon, it’s just business.” I completely agree with Seth (yes, again).

Every day we get to make choices about how we choose to run our businesses. There are those of us who choose to make a little less money now rather than shoot for tobacco or to give away full rights for little or nothing, but in doing so, those people are standing up for their beliefs. They are being ethical.

Yes, my ethics and your ethics may not be 100% the same. Maybe you don’t have a problem with tobacco ads but I do. That’s fine. Those are the fine points of individual ethics–everyone has her/his own code.

But the larger issues should have commonality. I think we can all say that killing someone to improve business is right out. But what about putting someone out of business by, say, undercutting their fees. Is that okay? I say no.

See, business, for small creative businesspeople especially, is life. Besides the intimate connection between one’s art and one’s soul, on a practical level, if a creative’s business fails, s/he could lose her/his home, pretty easily. Is putting a creative and her/his family out on the street, just so one can make a buck/pound/euro/loony, ever acceptable?

What if it happened to you? What if someone undercut your business by lowballing, or badmouthed you to clients, or took credit for work done by you, etc. How would you feel?

Would it be “just business” then?

ADBASE has become a member of the PLUS coalition. Good for them. Yes, they are joining a group that connects them with their target market, but they are also helping out a group which may change (some might say “save”) the photo industry. It’s a great pairing.

Regardless of whether you are an ADBASE user or not, supporting PLUS is a great idea. Check ’em out (both of them) at PhotoExpo.

What a great trip! The people in the twin cities are absolutely lovely, kind, smart, and funny. At least the creatives I met there were. The fine leaders of ASMP-MSP can definitely hold their heads up–they run their organization’s events well and made me feel comfortable and appreciated. I’ll be recommending to some of my speaker friends that they consider speaking for that group. No question.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to be there, including the sponsors (ADBASE, AsukaBook, Livebooks, Workbook, Minnesota Creative Source) and all the volunteers who helped out.
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The travel was fantastic as well. For those of you who do not know this about me, I don’t fly. Yes, that makes me a loon, but there’s never been any doubt about that. I took the train to Minneapolis-St. Paul…make that several trains.

I may be a loon, but I’m not alone in my preference to travel by train. I spoke with many fellow passengers and I did not meet a single person who also did not fly. Instead, several people said they chose the train because it was a much more pleasant way to travel. You don’t get strip-searched, you do get fed, and the service is great. Yes, it is slower and it’s not cheap, but you arrive at your destination relaxed and feeling energized, not stressed and compressed.

So what does this have to do with your business? Think about it. Airlines keep cutting back on service and struggle to stay afloat while Amtrak adds services to their existing trains and sees their revenue increase. In fact, they saw their greatest revenue increase in FY 2006–up almost 11%!

It’s not about being the cheapest or even the fastest–it’s about serving your clients. Figure out what their needs and wants are and cater to them. Don’t lower your prices, raise them, but make sure to give your clients great service for their money (and a great product too, of course).

Howdy from Minneapolis! My arrival here (I’m speaking tonight for ASMP-MSP) brought to mind something marketing-related (but then again, almost everything does that, in m head).

When was the last time you got something for free, really free? And when you did get it, did you value it? Not did you appreciate the gesture–did you value the object given for free? Probably not.

These days there are lots of things being called “free” that aren’t. For example, some condos are now offering “free” vacations or cars if you buy a condo. Those items aren’t free. You are paying for them, amortized over the life of your loan. But they look like their free. They are, in fact, no gift.

My “free” cookie I got when I checked in to my hotel here in Minneapolis? Or the shampoos, etc.? It’s all figured into the hotel’s CODB for each guest–you can bet on it. Not free.

But even as “free” to me, do I value the cookie or the shampoo? Nope. Nice to have, but they add nothing to my trip. The fact that I have to sit in the lobby to get “free” wireless internet (or pay $9 to get wired in the room) completely wipes out the “warm-fuzzies” I got from those so-called “freebies.”

If you’re going to offer something “free,” figure it into your CODB and make it something your clients will value. Don’t go broke or reduce the value of your services by doing freebies–“give” in other ways like really cool tshirts or something.

And, importantly, make sure that you don’t wipe out the effectiveness of a “free” gesture by doing something to frustrate/annoy your clients…like not offering free wireless.

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Another note about my travel–I may not have internet access at all from 10/25-28. If you email me in that time, or post a comment (they are moderated for spam), don’t expect anything in reply until after that.

Two things (posting from Portland en route to Minneapolis)…
First off, I did my good deed for the industry on the train Thursday. I met an amateur photographer who had started to get some of his images used commercially. I gave him my card, told him a bit about copyright and the evils of giving usage away, and suggested he read the Manuals on my site. He seemed like a very decent person who, I bet, will join the ranks of those who protect their rights.

Secondly, another good deed of sorts. This time from the Boy Scouts–a copyright “activity badge.” Now if they could just get past the anti-gay thing…

Thursday morning, bright and early, I’ll be getting on the first of a series of trains, taking me to Minneapolis (and back, of course). I’m headed there to give my New Treatments for PMS (Panic Marketing Syndrome) presentation to the ASMP-MSP chapter, and to do individual consultations, of course.

One of the great things about taking the train is also one of the drawbacks–no internet. So, my postings will be few and far between, while I’m out of town. In fact, there are places where cell phones don’t even work. But the trade-offs are worth it.

There is something about slowing down, about watching the scenery pass, and about talking with people who have nothing more in common with you than being on a train, that gets the little grey cells moving. I find I get some of my best ideas while traveling via train.

And, at the very least, there is no body cavity search required before boarding.

So, if you’re in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, come see me on the 23rd (and why not book a consultation for the 24th–call me at 619.961.5882 for that). For the rest of you, why not take some time for yourself and have a nice think. Maybe you’ll come up with a great promo idea or figure out a new creative project to pursue that’ll change your life.

There’s an online comic called “What the Duck” that’s all about a photographer-duck. Way-funny for those of us in the biz.

Nods to David Friedman who posted about this on the PDN forums.