Despite it being a short month, February is a great month for connections. With January’s vacationers back at work, our producers continued to make contact with creatives and art buyers, building on January’s momentum.
Julia continued slaying brand outreach with a total of 352 outreach attempts and 27 connections. Almost all of Julia’s connections came from the follow-up email that she typically sends 2-3 days after the initial outreach call and/or email. Due to scheduling conflicts around the Winter Olympics, Julia made plans to follow up with several contacts in March. This included calls with the Head of Creative Production at Brooks Running and Sr. Photo Editor at CNN.com.
One notable reply came from Caroline Kallman Joffe, Marketing Director at Govberg Jewelers:
Hi Julia, Thanks so much for reaching out. I have shared this with my team and should the need arise we appreciate having a good resource on file.
In addition to the email connections, Julia had a phone call with Sophie Newbold, Creative Director at Tuckernuck, and discussed how she works with photographers as well as what resources they have internally. Julia also spoke with Gina DiAnna, Marketing Director at Archer & Buchanan. She gave her a rundown of Wonderful Machine and how we work with brands. She was pleased to learn about our directory of photographers as well as having a local production resource.
Lastly, Julia ended the month with a call with Darrell Green, CEO of Fever Magazine. Julia does not typically handle publication outreach but another colleague asked her to join in on the call since Darrell had mentioned he was interested in our production capabilities as well. Darrell gave a lot of great insight about the magazine and also mentioned how he has a strong need for editorial photographers throughout the U.S. We left the call with another great connection and the prospect of a few projects in the near future.
Matt continued to reach out to contacts in New York City to set up Wonderful Machine portfolio events, making 94 calls, sending 124 emails, and making 13 connections. Trying to coordinate times in the demanding schedules of clients is always a challenge, but Matt confirmed two portfolio events in February and scheduled four for March. He also set up three capabilities phone calls with clients.
Claire reached out to 440 contacts in February, making 31 connections, and adding 10 new companies and 11 new prospects to our database. Focusing largely on contacts that have never had any interaction with us, she was able to connect them with our directory of photographers to meet any current or upcoming needs. One creative director in Austria said it was perfect timing – they were looking for a photographer who could photograph a grocery story in a realistic style and Claire was able to provide him with a selection of photographers in his area to choose from.
Sankha continued his research as expected, evaluating 89 agencies, 22 publications, and 18 brands. He added 118 new points of contact across these companies and also found 103 additional contacts for companies already within our database. Other responsibilities included handling the email lists and updating contact information. In addition, he has been training the newest members of the research team, Rachel and Brey Ann, and expects great things from both of them!
Further Reading:
Expert Advice: Online Photography Directories
Case Studies: Branding Overhaul: A Fresh Start for Kat Schleicher
Expert Advice: Email Marketing Services for Photographers
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