I’m a bit embarassed to admit that I have never really done any promotion to speak of. I think the last time I did a promo mailer was about three years ago, just simple postcard. And worse, I haven’t even really had a printed portfolio for the last year and a half! I’ve been extremely fortunate to grow my business based on word of mouth, and the work I was doing and uploading to my website. I wouldn’t ever recommend this as a way to do business to any new photographer…. but sometimes it can be hard to implement the things you know into your own business practices. Over the last two, maybe even three years I’ve been so busy I haven’t had what I felt was enough time to really do promotion right, and whats more, I don’t think I could have even taken on anymore jobs even if the promotion worked! The about our business is that the busier you are, the less time you have to devote to getting new clients. Well, this month has been the first that I’ve had time to slow down a bit and really look at doing promotion.
I have also just signed up with a new agent, and she is very strict with her photographers about doing promotion.
First thing I needed, was to at least get some temporary materials in place to tide me over until I could do everything right. That meant a portfolio and a leave behind promo. I chose a blurb book because it was quick and easy. I used to use standard portfolios from House of Portfolios with acetate pages, then print out my images on an Epson printer. I never liked the quality of this presentation. I using matte paper but the process was just so slow and expensive. And in fashion, more than most other types of photography, the portfolio is constantly changing and it’s really hard to keep 8 portfolios updated. With blurb I just uploaded a pdf of the new layout and ordered the updated book.