Simple, Powerful and Overlooked •
Why is that we often neglect to do the simple things that, if done, would make our life and work so much easier?
Market Intelligence
It’s one of the simplest things we can do and it is at the core of good marketing and all we have to do is ask…
“How did you find me?”
Knowing how your clients find you is key to intelligent marketing for photographers—or any other business owners. If you don’t know then your future decisions on advertising will be as certain as rolling the dice; and who can afford to take that gamble these days?
Once you ask be ready to take notes and ask a few more questions. Prospects can offer a good deal of “free” intelligence here without feeling threatened by “being sold”. This information will be of use to you even if they don’t become a client. Don’t be afraid to ask qualifying questions such as “which magazine article” as they may not remember exactly where they saw you and initially may even mention a media in which you did not appear.
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Take note of what type of client they ended up or ended up not being. Did their projects match your specialty? Match the caliber of prospects up with the media which referred them. You might find out that you’re not even in front of the market you desire.
Like most research; it’s not infallible. Some prospects may not remember where they saw you or may have been influenced by a previous exposure to your advertising which combined with the latest exposure caused them to contact you. Influence is cumulative so it’s best to think holistically when planning your advertising; find out who your customers are and what you would have to do to be in front of them multiple times using PR, direct mail & e-mail, print & online advertising, etc. as applicable.
Our sister-firm, Creativa, recently ran into a situation where a commercial photographer in a previous guide decided not to advertise in the latest issue.
Upon receiving the new guide a buyer queried “Is _________ in there again this year?”
“Not this time.”
“Oh, we hired them a few times from seeing them there.”
And wouldn’t you know it? They hired someone else from the new guide; ooops!
Do you always ask your prospects where they found you? Have you been surprised by their answers? What have you found? Leave a comment and let us know. Don’t forget to subscribe to be notified when we publish new articles.
Best wishes for your business!
—Robert skz Skrzynski [Bio]
