Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan. Today on The Slanted Lens we’re going to dive into the marketing side of photography and videography. First impressions are so important in business. Whether it’s through a website, portfolio, or product, you want your clients to remember who you are and what you’re selling. We do that using Vistaprint. Let’s take a look and see what we can do.
Visual Marketing
Photographers and videographers sell the visual. Clients are not going to hire us without having first seen our work. They want it to fit their style, to sell their product, or to tell a particular story. Business cards are great for basic information, like a website and phone number. You can even fit a small image or two. But even better is getting your work in front of a client immediately. Enter the brochure. It’s a larger format than a business card, which means you can fit more information, and more examples of your work.
Communicate Who You Are
Here at The Slanted Lens we enjoy working with other companies- helping them to expand their reach through monthly sponsorships, lessons, and reviews. It’s important that we be able to communicate clearly and efficiently who we are, and how we work with them to help their business grow and earn new clients. When we come across a company that we think would be of interest to our followers, we approach them with a brochure we’ve put together to let them know how we can work together.
Working with Vistaprint
Vistaprint makes it so easy to design and order a customized brochure. You have the option to upload your own design, or work with one of theirs. We chose to design our own because Julene’s background is in graphic design. They have templates which help ensure your brochures will turn out just right every time. And if you have a question they have a phone number right on the website, in order to reach someone that can help you. I love it when companies make contacting customer service so easy.
Not only do they have pages of designs, they also have multiple sizes, folds, and several different options for paper- we chose 8.5×11, bi-fold, matte cardstock. They even sell the holders for if you want to have the brochures out for clients who come in to your studio, or if you have a display out somewhere.
Using Your Brochure
On the brochure we made using Vistaprint, we’ve included our logo, who we are, and what we do here on The Slanted Lens. We have our sponsorship options, along with a brief description of each, and pricing. We also added our website, phone number, and email address. We’ll typically talk to potential clients at trade shows. Having a brochure sets us apart from other companies that only leave a business card. The added information allows clients to remember what we can offer them, even after we’re not physically with them anymore. Using a brochure allows us to give them information we simply could not using only a business card.
Now, we use these to gain sponsors for The Slanted Lens, so we don’t include photos. However, for photography or videography you can easily include photos, package options, pricing, product information, and/or anything else you want your client to know. You could even make a “What to Wear for Your Session”, or otherwise informational brochure. A brochure would be the perfect way to let your client know what will happen after booking, or how to take care of new prints or canvases, or things they need to remember to bring to a shoot or filming. The possibilities are endless.
Follow-up with the Client
It is imperative that you get contact information from your client so that you can follow-up after you’ve left your brochure with them. As soon as I get home I enter their information into Infusionsoft. That way I always have it on hand and don’t have to worry about losing a card. A few days after meeting them I’ll reach out to them with an email, reminding them of who I am, and that I left them a brochure explaining how we work with businesses to help them reach more clients. I ask to set up a phone call so that we can talk over the phone and I can answer any questions they may have, or explore the products they think would be of use to my audience. They can have that brochure right there in front of them as we talk, which enables us to have a productive conversation where we’re all on the same page. Literally.
Brochures are a valuable tool to be able to quickly and efficiently provide your client or potential client with information. We use them here at The Slanted Lens to communicate with our future sponsors. So check out Vistaprint today and design and order your own. Then leave a comment to let me know how you’re using brochures in your business.
Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’.
-Jay P.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Vistaprint. The opinions and text are all mine.