Social Media
This came to me from Mark Ippolito, via Facebook actually, lol. Great information about the changing landscape of communication
Posted in Commentary.
– August 28, 2009
A simple message to communicate
Here is a link to a very funny approach to communication
Posted in Commentary.
– June 4, 2009
Newsletter
I sent out my email newsletter today with a link here if you wish to subscribe. Off to my last business strategy class tonight. Makes me curious as I attend events, lectures, seminars, and read posts from others; what kind of strategy for your business are you implementing these days? Has your strategy changed in the last year? Are you working pro-actively or reactively in this economic climate? Are you tracking results?
I’d love comments
Posted in Business.
– May 13, 2009
Social Networks, Websites and Marketing
Tom Sheppard one of my mentors and professors explained this theory years ago and I still use this frequently. It states that
10% of your career and success will be based on your proficiency, your skills, knowledge and education.
30% of your career and success will be based on your image. How you present yourself, package yourself, extend your brand.
60% of your career and success is based on visibility and perception. How others can find you, and how they perceive you and your abilities.
I hated this when first presented with the concept. However, I have grown to appreciate and rely on this. Proficiency is required to open doors, a baseline for beginning. No one will take you seriously if you don’t have the skills to back it up in the long run. Image is critical. Are you excited, engaged, enthusiastic, or lethargic, cocky, or self absorbed. Do you talk about attention to detail but show up for meetings with an un-ironed shirt and bad breath? Your image must match your proficiency and communication. You have control over 40% total of your career and success. The remaining element is Visibility. How you show up, how others perceive you is 60% of your career and success. If the client, thinks you can do it, they’ll give to the assignment, if you’re trusted, valued, at the right place at the right time, hitting the target, referred to them, referenced, desired you will win the day. We can work hard on our skills and image, and in the end, influence to the best of our abilities, perception and visibility.
Therefore, how do we show up today? Is your image consistent from your marketing materials to your Facebook page, to your latest twitter post. Are your skills expanding, improving, refined? The days of portfolio showings, face to face meetings with prospective clients are more and more rare. How are the tools today presenting you?
To that end, I have heeded Tom’s advice once again. My new website is up. I’m excited and enthused. Now whats need is visibility and feedback. Please take a look, send comments and critiques. Heres the link; Ric Peterson Photography
Rob Haggart has A Photo Folio web site service. I highly recommend working with them if you are revising your web presence.
Thanks again Tom! All Good Wishes, Ric
Posted in Commentary.
– April 29, 2009
do we believe messages anymore?
Yesterday I met a US Bank stock broker Yung at lunch who commented; he was calling a client about his account the client didnt want to talk to him on the phone. Yung said to the person on the phone ” I’m not trying to sell you anything; I already have your money, I represent your financial holdings already”. Still the client said, no not interested.
I am copying a post by Seth Godin on his blog Poisoning the Well here today.
online casino
Judith comments on her frustration in joining a new website, “Sorry I do not provide passwords or birthdate. I would have like to have joined otherwise.” Obviously, there’s a trust problem here.
Frank won’t read the instructions that come in an email from a trusted company, because there’s always so much noise and clutter and legal garbage in the text that it doesn’t pay to read it anyway.
Tim is in a bad mood the moment he arrives at the airport, because every other time he’s been there, a marketer tries to rip him off, a security guard treats him like a criminal or an airline doesn’t keep its promises.
Sarah won’t give money to charity because the last two times she discovered that it was a false front for a high-overhead scam operation.
Emily got the three thousandth automated call giving her a second notice that her factory warranty had just expired… and she doesn’t have a car.
Marketers have spammed, lied, deceived, cluttered and ripped us off for so long, we’re sick of it.
Which means that even if you have a really good reason, no, you can’t call me on the phone. Which means that even if it’s really important, no, I’m not going to read the instructions. Which means that god forbid you try to email me something I didn’t ask for… you’re trashed. It’s so fashionable to be skeptical now that no one believes you if you attempt to do something for the right reasons.
Selfish short-sighted marketers ruined it for all of us. The only way out, I think, is for a few marketers to so overwhelm the market with long-term, generous marketing that we have no choice but to start paying attention again.
Posted in Marketing.
– April 3, 2009
Personal Work by Kat Dalager
Here’s a link to a Humble Monkey Production of Kat Dalager from Campbell Mithun talking about personal work in a portfolio
Kat Dalager Interview_Personal Work Question from Andrew Kamin on Vimeo.
Posted in General post.
– March 26, 2009
Photography Survey
This survey link came to me from fellow instructor and Photographer Ben Kerns.
How Photographers Are Launching Their Careers
How Photographers Are Launching Their Careers
March 13, 2009
By David Walker
View Charts
Nearly 200 photographers responded in February to PDN’s first survey of emerging photographers, providing us with a snapshot of how photographers are getting their training, how they are paying for it, and other information about how they are launching their careers.
Most of the respondents (62 percent) earned four-year college degrees in photography, and a significant proportion (38 percent) also spent time assisting part of their training. Most respondents (75 percent) went into debt to fund their educations, relying on their credit cards more than any other source of funding (including student loans). Some of those who borrowed went heavily into debt: the average amount borrowed to pay for schooling was $44,435.
Most respondents (74 percent) reported that they were able to establish themselves as working professionals (ie, working for their own clients, as opposed to assisting other photographers) within three years of finishing their formal education.
We solicited several hundred photographers who submitted portfolios for this year’s PDN 30 selection. Fifty-five percent listed fine art as a specialty. Among various professional goals, respondents expressed the strongest interest overall in exhibiting in museums and galleries, followed by selling prints of their work. They also expressed strong interest in shooting editorial work, but somewhat less interest in advertising work, and tepid interest at best in shooting stock.
Since completing their educations, nearly half of our survey respondents (48 percent) have attended workshops to sharpen their skills in various areas, particularly documentary and photojournalistic story telling, post production, and photo business management.
Respondents seem to think photo business management skills are their weak point. Two-thirds (66 percent) reported that they could benefit from more training in that area, followed by post-production training (44 percent) and training in technique such as lighting (28 percent).
A surprisingly high number of respondents (45 percent) have not participated in any portfolio reviews outside of school in the past two years. Another 35 percent said they have attended only one or two portfolio reviews.
But survey respondents say they are finding work in the field. Eighty-five percent are supporting themselves primarily through photo industry-related work, including assisting, photo editing, selling prints, and teaching. Slightly more than half (52 percent) say their primary means of support is freelance assignment work. Not surprisingly, respondents have found editorial assignments more plentiful than commercial assignments during the past year.
And yes, these emerging photographers are shooting assignments at no charge to some clients, presumably as a means of self-promotion, but not as often as you might think. About one in five shot for free more than three times for free last year, 1 in 4 report having done it only once or twice and slightly more than half (53 percent) said they shot no assignments for free in 2008.
The charts shown here flesh out some of our survey results in more detail.
Links referenced within this article
View Charts
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/slideshow/slideshow.jsp?slideshowId=123126
Find this article at:
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3idb01af9e3c9d353843df4e54f8a72625
Posted in Business.
– March 22, 2009
Seth Godin September 15th post
Perfect!
Posted by Seth Godin on September 15, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (4)
The hierarchy of success
I think it looks like this:
Attitude
Approach
Goals
Strategy
Tactics
Execution
We spend all our time on execution. Use this word instead of that one. This web host. That color. This material or that frequency of mailing.
Big news: No one ever succeeded because of execution tactics learned from a Dummies book.
Tactics tell you what to execute. They’re important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.
But what’s the point of a strategy if your goals aren’t clear, or contradict?
Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.
Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won’t work nearly as well.
As far as I’m concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What’s your bias in dealing with people and problems?
Some more questions:
How do you deal with failure?
When will you quit?
How do you treat competitors?
What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?
What’s it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?
What sort of decisions do you make when no one is looking?
Sure, you can start at the bottom by focusing on execution and credentials. Reading a typical blog (or going to a typical school for 16 years), it seems like that’s what you’re supposed to do. What a waste.
Isn’t it odd that these six questions are so important and yet we almost never talk or write about them?
If the top of the hierarchy is messed up, no amount of brilliant tactics or execution is going to help you at all.
Posted in Commentary.
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By rpetesea – September 16, 2009