Marathon
Marathon Marketing Workshop: Dallas
June/04/2008
It's always fun to come to Texas, and the Dallas workshop was full of energetic photographers who really worked hard on completing their plans. I was tremendously impressed with the quality of the work they did, and I expect great to see a lot of progress for their studios in the months to come!
Next stop: Philadelphia . . . driving distance from my home. Yeah! In spite of gas prices, it will be great to skip the plane trip. Getting home from Dallas turned out to be quite an ordeal. More to come on that subject, as it was quite an adventure.
|
Marathon Marketing Workshop: Chicago
May/22/2008
The most
recent Marathon Marketing Workshop in Chicago was an
interesting mix of veteran photographers seeking to
rebrand their studios and newer photographers wanting
to get their businesses off to a good start.
One person who didn't get off to a good start was Marathon's Bill Camacho, who shortly after arriving in Chicago was forced to take a cab to the hospital because of a fever and other sudden-onset symptoms. Having worked and traveled with Bill for many years, I knew it would take a lot to send him to a hospital, and the docs there quickly determined that he had somehow contracted an infection that could have been life-threatening if he hadn't acted so quickly. So Bill ended up spending 7 hours being treated with antibiotics through and and an IV's. Trooper that he is, Bill, shown below, was back on his feet in time for the workshop, much to Mark Weber's and my relief and delight! Bill says his ER visit was much like an episode of the television show of the same name. Due to overcrowding, Bill was treated in the hallway along side of several other very colorful (and vocal) patients who were handcuffed to their gurneys, with police in attendance.
My favorite photo from this workshop is of Pam Bredenkamp, St. Louis, MO, who apparently was trying to earn some brownie points from instructor Mark Weber. Pam and Mark, who previously lived in St. Louis, are long-time friends.
After the class, Pam, who also attended my Guerrilla Management Workshop last year, joined with Mark and me and two of her fellow GM Workshop classmates, John Burdick and Jeff Lee, of nearby Hoffman Estates, IL. Bill wisely stayed in bed, but he missed a fun time, and we missed him.
Next stop on the Marketing Workshop schedule is Dallas, TX on June 2 and 3. There are a few seats left in this workshop, so click here for information.
One person who didn't get off to a good start was Marathon's Bill Camacho, who shortly after arriving in Chicago was forced to take a cab to the hospital because of a fever and other sudden-onset symptoms. Having worked and traveled with Bill for many years, I knew it would take a lot to send him to a hospital, and the docs there quickly determined that he had somehow contracted an infection that could have been life-threatening if he hadn't acted so quickly. So Bill ended up spending 7 hours being treated with antibiotics through and and an IV's. Trooper that he is, Bill, shown below, was back on his feet in time for the workshop, much to Mark Weber's and my relief and delight! Bill says his ER visit was much like an episode of the television show of the same name. Due to overcrowding, Bill was treated in the hallway along side of several other very colorful (and vocal) patients who were handcuffed to their gurneys, with police in attendance.
My favorite photo from this workshop is of Pam Bredenkamp, St. Louis, MO, who apparently was trying to earn some brownie points from instructor Mark Weber. Pam and Mark, who previously lived in St. Louis, are long-time friends.
After the class, Pam, who also attended my Guerrilla Management Workshop last year, joined with Mark and me and two of her fellow GM Workshop classmates, John Burdick and Jeff Lee, of nearby Hoffman Estates, IL. Bill wisely stayed in bed, but he missed a fun time, and we missed him.
Next stop on the Marketing Workshop schedule is Dallas, TX on June 2 and 3. There are a few seats left in this workshop, so click here for information.
Marathon Marketing Workshop: Orange County, CA
April/24/2008
What a treat it was to travel to sunny California for the April Strategic Marketing Workshop. The April weather was divine, especially for workshop staff members Mark Weber, Bill Camacho and myself, as we were pretty fed up with the dismal spring weather at home. Having lunch on the patio was a wonderful change of pace for us. We had a full house of students whom we kept busy doing their marketing planning, and we particularly enjoyed seeing those "light-bulb moments" of marketing insight that occurred during the work sessions.
The next workshop will take place in Chicago on May 13-14. For information on this and other future workshops, click here.
Marathon Marketing Workshop: Columbus, OH
March/27/2008
Another full
house for Marathon's Strategic Marketing Plan
Workshop in Columbus, Ohio this week! It is so
awesome to see photographers taking the marketing of
their businesses so seriously. Next stop . . . Orange
County, California. Click here for dates and
locations of future Workshops.
Marathon Marketing Workshop: Atlanta
March/14/2008
Congratulations to the
hard-working photographers who completed Marathon's
Strategic Marketing Plan Workshop in Atlanta this
week! Click here for dates and
locations of future Workshops.
Family Portrait Month Kits Are Ready!
July/19/2007
Just got word from Marathon that the 2007 Family Portrait Month Membership Kits are now ready to ship. The kits include the new Family Portrait Month Journal shown above. This year's promotion provides even more opportunities for marketing your family portraiture. New for 2007 is a series of promotional card templates generously designed and donated by several studio owners who were the top 2006 Family Portrait Month fundraisers. Now you can choose your favorite template, then add your own photographs and back copy through Marathon's automated m-Print direct-to-print service, and your promotional cards will be ready to ship within five business days.
Once you have paid the $39 registration fee, your business information will be added to FamilyPortraitMonth.com, the promotion's national website, which has a brand new look for 2007.
You also will be mailed a 2007 Membership Kit, which includes your Family Portrait Month Journal and a CD full of promotional items to assist your marketing efforts. One of the new CD items is a template for "Smile Cards," which Dallas photographer Angela Weedon sold in 2006 to benefit Operation Smile throughout the year, and which helped her to repeat as the year's top Family Portrait Month fundraiser.
Keep in mind that any studio collecting $500 or more for Operation Smile is eligible for a cash drawing of $500 to be held at the PPA Charities 2008 Celebration on Saturday evening, January 5, 2008 at ImagingUSA in Tampa, Florida. A highlight of this annual event, which is held on the eve of PPA's annual convention, will be the announcement of 2007's top studio fundraiser.
Every $240 donation to Operation Smile makes it possible for another surgery to be performed by OpSmile's volunteer medical staff. Last year's PPA Charities' donation to Operation Smile of $40,000 translates into 166 operations made possible because photographers did what they do best: create images for families to treasure. Think of all the smiles these portraits made possible—in your hometown and throughout the world—and you'll know how important your efforts can be!
Click here register for 2007's Family Portrait Month. Have your PPA membership number ready. If you are not a PPA member, click here for membership information. Join today to participate in this wonderful opportunity!
Using ProSelect for Album & Marathon Book Layouts
April/28/2007
Last July my
son and his long-time fiancee finally got married.
Although they had been together since college, the
decision tie the knot on PPA's first-ever cruise
event was very much a spur-of-the-moment decision. My
son Wes heard his dad and me talking about our going
on the cruise, and he figured this would be as good a
time and place as any to make it official. Jess
agreed, so on July 10, 2006, Wes and Jess were
married aboard ship, with family members and a bunch
of photographer friends in attendance.
We were extremely fortunate that award-winning wedding photographers Jamie Hayes and Mary Fisk-Taylor offered to cover the wedding. Their photos were awesome, but at first it was a daunting task for me to put an album together, as I hadn't built a wedding album in many, many years. Then I remembered that one of my SMS Clients, Parker Smith of Atlanta, had told me he uses ProSelect to create layouts that he outputs for albums. So Parker gave me some tips and I read ProSelect's handy user guide and discovered how easy it is to quickly design your own layouts, add the images, then output them through the software's production module. What really amazed me was that I negotiated the learning curve and had 44 pages completed within less than a day.
Since the bride and groom really didn't want a traditional album, I decided to try to upload the files to Marathon Press to create a hard-bound book from their new Premiere Editions series. Again, the process was incredibly easy, and less than two weeks later I received a 10x10 illustrated-cover hard-bound book for the bride and groom, 8x8 books for the parents, and several nice purse-size 5x5s. To learn more about Marathon Premiere Edition books, click here.
The entire process was so much fun and the books so attractive and inexpensive that I intend to start rounding up all of my family portraits and vacation images that are stuck in drawers, bulky albums, and who-knows-where else, and create a library of books that will take up so much less space and be fun for my family to enjoy.
We were extremely fortunate that award-winning wedding photographers Jamie Hayes and Mary Fisk-Taylor offered to cover the wedding. Their photos were awesome, but at first it was a daunting task for me to put an album together, as I hadn't built a wedding album in many, many years. Then I remembered that one of my SMS Clients, Parker Smith of Atlanta, had told me he uses ProSelect to create layouts that he outputs for albums. So Parker gave me some tips and I read ProSelect's handy user guide and discovered how easy it is to quickly design your own layouts, add the images, then output them through the software's production module. What really amazed me was that I negotiated the learning curve and had 44 pages completed within less than a day.
Since the bride and groom really didn't want a traditional album, I decided to try to upload the files to Marathon Press to create a hard-bound book from their new Premiere Editions series. Again, the process was incredibly easy, and less than two weeks later I received a 10x10 illustrated-cover hard-bound book for the bride and groom, 8x8 books for the parents, and several nice purse-size 5x5s. To learn more about Marathon Premiere Edition books, click here.
The entire process was so much fun and the books so attractive and inexpensive that I intend to start rounding up all of my family portraits and vacation images that are stuck in drawers, bulky albums, and who-knows-where else, and create a library of books that will take up so much less space and be fun for my family to enjoy.
Gift Cards Make Great Marketing Sense
April/09/2007
Since they
were introduced last fall, Gift Cards have become one
of Marathon's hottest products. No wonder. Holiday
sales of gift cards were off the chart. They just
make a lot of sense for consumers who want to buy
meaningful gifts for friends or family, but who
simply don't have time to prowl malls to find them.
Marathon's new Gift Cards are a wonderful value: only 25 cents each when you place a minimum order of $50 using your own design—or Marathon can do the design for you at an additional charge. Marathon also can create a complete direct mail package that includes the Gift Card with your choice of two different mailer styles. Click here for specifications and pricing.
Think about the potential impact on seniors, when you send them a Gift Card to spend on their senior portraits. These cards are really hard to throw away because they feel like real money!
Marathon's new Gift Cards are a wonderful value: only 25 cents each when you place a minimum order of $50 using your own design—or Marathon can do the design for you at an additional charge. Marathon also can create a complete direct mail package that includes the Gift Card with your choice of two different mailer styles. Click here for specifications and pricing.
Think about the potential impact on seniors, when you send them a Gift Card to spend on their senior portraits. These cards are really hard to throw away because they feel like real money!