In November, Luka Cvetković and Antun Maričević joined the Client Outreach department. Along with the rest of the team, they added 298 companies and 1,255 people to our database, updated 1,374 companies and 2,385 people, and sent out over 807 emails to producers, creative directors, marketing managers, and photo editors around the world.
Last month, I spent time connecting with other producers and production companies throughout the US and abroad. I shared our capabilities and discussed possibilities to collaborate on projects, share our resources, as well as provide them with photographer and crew recommendations. Bryan Sheffield and I had calls with production groups in Mexico City, Atlanta, and Denver to discuss each other’s production abilities and explore opportunities to work together. Bryan and I also worked with a producer and an editorial publications director at World Wildlife Magazine to provide photographer/videographer research and recommendations for upcoming documentary projects in Pakistan and the Fiji islands.
In November, I worked on Client Companies. At the beginning of the month, I focused on Companies (Publications) and, later in the month, my focus was on Companies (Agencies). I reviewed their data records in our database and on our website, ensuring all information was up-to-date. Then I analyzed each profile carefully, deciding whether they were appropriate for our database or not. I looked at data for each company such as their employee count and found or confirmed a good contact at each company.
My current Client Outreach role is working on Brand People, focusing on those with the Star keyword, Marketing job titles, and Producers and/or those in production positions. In November, I coordinated a project in Chicago for Martin agency with photographer Lucy Hewett. I also coordinated a Ford project for GTB/VLMY&R with photographer Cynthia Lynn. Additionally, I recommended photographers for a couple of projects with Momentum and Edelman. Lastly, Andrew and I had a capabilities call with producer Callie Householder.
In November, we produced a shoot for New Balance with photographer Mary Beth Koeth. We also made photographer recommendations for a multi-photographer production for the brand Fortive. Additionally, we connected with Vi360 to discuss a capabilities presentation for Shell Oil and we met with ESPN to discuss ongoing creative needs.
Last month, my role was Verticals (Companies). This involved taking care of niche markets that are relevant to specific types of photographers. I built lists for Automotive: Car Parts that included 78 companies, Automotive: Truck Companies with 70 companies, Beverages: Liquor Brands that included 61 companies, and Chemical Companies with 45 companies. These Vertical lists are useful for photographers who specialize in Auto/Vehicles, Food/Drink, Still Life/Product, Corporate, Science/Technology, and Industrial photography.
During our outreach process, we recommend our photographers to clients based on their needs. Last month my role focussed on finding the right Clients to promote our member photographers to. I also had the pleasure of working closely with Marianne Lee to develop a Client list for one of our member photographers. This list build helped our photographer find the clients and the type of work that challenges him and pushes him forward in his career.
In November, my responsibility was to handle OOO (Out of Office) replies from Wonderful Machine’s biweekly newsletter. Whenever we receive an email response from someone on vacation, maternity leave, or who has left their company, it’s our job to update our database with the correct information. We review and verify all the details mentioned in the OOO emails, including the sender’s email address, name, phone number, address, website, job title, etc. We also check the profiles of any colleagues covering for the person while they’re away and we add them to our records if necessary.
My current Client Outreach role involves adding at least one valuable contact to each company within a given vertical market. I often seek out creative job titles such as Creative or Art Director. However, in certain verticals, it can be challenging to identify a relevant contact, especially when their field is not inherently commercial or photo-related. For instance, I recently had to add a valuable contact for each truck manufacturing company that we have in our database. But these kinds of companies typically lack a creative person on their team. In such cases, we typically target individuals from the public relations or communications sphere.
This past month I worked in the process of updating companies that are “Parents.” This means we look at corporations with multiple businesses under their care. Many things change when companies are bought, merged, or assimilated into larger corporations. My role is to keep up-to-date with these companies so that the industry contacts are not lost amid these changes. In my research, I found that the healthcare agency Fishawack had recently changed to Avalere Health. As a result, all contact records for each of their five locations needed to be updated. I also discovered that Condé Nast Italia was no longer publishing its Traveller magazine, so I updated the art directors to their new roles. Lastly, I was able to recommend a Wonderful Machine photographer based in Iceland to The Guardian and received a reply from their picture editor that they would check out our site.
In November, I continued progressing through Client Outreach, growing the company’s contacts with Brands worldwide. I also directly contacted publications to promote our member photographers. In addition to my outreach work, I completed four small consulting projects with photographers: two custom client list builds and two rounds of copywriting. This consulting fostered a deeper appreciation for our team members’ hard work updating our database. Our main goal is to assist photographers in growing their businesses and a major part of that process is current and insightful information. Thanks, team!
In the latter half of the month, I transitioned into the Client Outreach department, focusing on updating and maintaining our Client profiles. My primary responsibility involved locating the oldest Client profiles on our website and updating them both on our website and in our internal database. I’ve been carefully updating and improving Client profiles to make sure our information is up-to-date. My focus is on streamlining this process to better engage with Clients. Though I’ve just started in this role, I’m dedicated to making our Client Outreach more accurate and effective.
I had the chance to work in the Companies (Brands) role this month. It was my responsibility to review and update Client Brand companies. Initially, I filled in the employee count information gaps at every company by looking through their LinkedIn profiles. I updated their information in our database and determined whether they were strong prospects by taking a closer look at their LinkedIn page and website.
In November I began contacting Clients first-hand to promote our Wonderful Machine photographers, both in the world of publications and in the arena of agencies. My primary responsibilities began with researching and contacting contacts at Publications. Throughout the month, I sent over 130 emails to Clients at Publications promoting our member photographers. I promoted our photographers on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if the publication was in New York, I tried to recommend bigger-name photographers in other cities since New York is over-saturated with talent. And if the clients are smaller, more local-based publications, I would promote a local photographer.
The biggest challenge in the month was transitioning to focusing on People at Agencies. I sent over 66 emails to Clients at Agencies, promoting our Wonderful Machine photographers. Agencies are constantly changing, shifting, evolving, closing, and reopening with new names. It was very time-consuming to track down the Client contact, in most cases with a new job and a new title at a new company as well as to add all of these new companies to our database, then circling back to find a new contact to reach out at the old company. It was a double effort throughout with a steep learning curve that required patience, but a great glimpse into the world of Agencies. In the end, it was rewarding to feel that not only was I supporting our Wonderful Machine photographers, but also publications and agencies in search of great talent around the world.
Last month, I focused on handling clients who didn’t have associated companies (People Without Companies). It is crucial to ensure that all “Client People” are correctly connected to their client companies. This involves going through individuals who might have become unlinked due to job changes, including those who switched to freelance roles. Keeping these connections fresh is key to maintaining the accuracy of our data. After updating the links in these records, I reached out to clients via email, sharing comprehensive details about our services and suggesting a suitable member photographer based on their needs. Continuously evaluating how well these companies match our member photographers ensures we can provide them with the best opportunities.
In November, my focus was on updating People profiles as well as their corresponding Company profiles. I reviewed the data records, as well as all the links associated with these records, such as LinkedIn and Instagram, and updated all the relevant information. It is important that the People we have listed have a role that could potentially be useful to us when connecting them to our member photographers. This generally includes people in the Creative or Communications department. After updating all of the important information, I sent an email to the person in question to promote an appropriate member photographer to their company in hopes of a collaboration.
Have questions about how we promote our photographers? Check out our Membership page. Want to know how you can get the most out of your Wonderful Machine membership? Check out our Jumpstart page or just reach out!