Steve Reganato is a fashion and portrait photographer based in New York. His images showcase his technical proficiency with lighting, and his flair for avant-garde fashion editorials (as well as catalog and e-commerce projects). Steve, a man of many talents, also does dreamy motion work on film. He came to Wonderful Machine interested in our Marketing Mentor service. I couldn’t wait to get started on this project with him.
I start all my services the same way. I look through the photographer’s site and Instagram account, taking notes on whatever stands out. Paying close attention to any changes that should be made, I also consider industries they’d be a good fit for. Then I read through their questionnaire, taking notes on anything I want to review during our initial call. I also look at any marketing collateral they’ve included. I thought Steve was a very talented photographer whose website was clear and compelling. It was effective at immediately letting the audience know what he was about (fashion and portrait photography). However I noted that it could use some updating.
Marketing Mentor involves coaching photographers on how to market themselves. I help them set their sights on reasonable goals and to create a sustainable process that they can implement on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. An important part of that marketing plan is to consider how their social media feeds factor in to their overall marketing effort. I also show them how to find the right company contacts to reach out to, how to handle the outreach process effectively, and how to start or maintain their marketing database. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when describing the support offered to photographers through the Marketing Mentor program.
Steve and I worked together on the Marketing Mentor project for 11 months. We spent a lot of time discussing the kind of work he wanted to be hired for, and how we could get him there.
One of Steve’s major challenges stemmed from his prior experience, primarily working under other photographers on assignments. As a result, he was not always able to show that work. So to beef up his portfolio with more of his own work, I suggested a few of self-assigned projects. We also spent a lot of time discussing how to update his portfolio to show clients what he can do.
Lastly, I worked with him on his email marketing, effectively crafting language for his mass email campaigns. This included good subject lines, and the importance of incorporating digital promo attachments.
Over the course of this project, we updated his website and created a consistent and frequent social media posting schedule. We also curated a list of 70 clients to begin with, and added another 30 to 50 companies for further research. I helped him learn how to find potential contacts to market to and we created a template email in MailChimp for him to use in his marketing campaigns. I think his site better reflects what he does now and shows off the high quality of his work. However, I think that the greatest achievement was that Steve gained confidence in his marketing abilities. In his own words, he says,
Things went great with Larry and I really enjoy working with him. His insight, advice, and dedication have been a huge help and an inspiration.
Further Reading
Expert Advice: Building a Functional Website
Expert Advice: Self-Assigned Projects
Expert Advice: Email Marketing for Photographers
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