News

Things I Learned from My Mother: Guide to a Successful Photography Business in the Digital Age

With Mara Blom Schantz, Cr.Photog.
June 7, 12pm ET
$39 for PPA Members
Click here to register

Or, attend this and all PPA webinars with an Online Learning Pass
A year of unlimited access to PPA webinars for just $149!
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NOTE: This webinar is free to anyone who has registered for the PPA Charities' Chicks Who Click conference.  If you are already registered for the conference, you do not need to register here. You will get a separate invite to this webinar.
 
More and more it seems that personal and meaningful contact is missing from this age of digital. But if you slow down and actually connect with your clients--actually meet and spend time with them--it can translate into both bigger sales and a personal gratification that will make your life more fulfilling.

Mara Blom Schantz, Cr.Photog., knows this for a fact. That's why she's sharing this webinar, based upon the life and business lessons she learned from her wonderful mother, Chloe Beeson Blom, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, a photographic innovator who died June 19, 2009.

From presentation and customer service to the art of the sale, preserving client relations and being an overall better person, this heartfelt, down-to-earth program will inspire and help you reconnect for success in your business and life.

About Mara Blom Schantz, Cr.Photog.

Mara owns and operates the successful studio, Artistic Impressions by Mara, in Phoenix, Ariz, and specializes in photographing children and families in black and white. She strives to create images that are emotionally evocative and connect with the viewer. In addition to speaking at both PPA and Arizona Professional Photographers Association events, she has taught PPA's Super Monday seminars as well as her own private seminars. Besides photographing and teaching, Mara loves to spend time with her family, practice yoga, surf, run and read. To view Mara's work and read more about her, please visit www.artisticimpressionsbymara.com.

*If you have registered for the 2010 Chicks Who Click conference you will get a special invitation email to participate in this webinar for free.

 

In each of the five years since PPA Charities named Operation Smile to be it's charitable partner, PPA members have increased their donations. For 2010 the PPACH Trustees have established a record-setting goal of $120,000 to be raised through activities in direct support of Operation Smile. This goal represents a $50,000 increase over the 2009 goal of $70,000! PPA Charities President Mary Fisk-Taylor explains: 

Join us at the FREE PPA Charities Celebration event at ImagingUSA on January 9, 2010 in Nashville! Here's the most recent list of items to be auctioned:

From the Work of Love to a Work of Art

Kindred Charms, of Houston Texas, has created a one-of-a-kind sterling silver bracelet (similar to the one shown above),which will feature four charms cast from the fingerprints of children who received the gift of life-changing surgery during a recent Operation Smile medical mission to Paraguay. PPA member Bert Behnke documented the mission and created the wax impressions from which the charms were cast. These fingerprints now represent the healing gift given through the generosity of PPA Charities participants: These simple symbols artfully personify the touches of gratitude from the children and their families whose lives have been healed, and a tag charm bears the PPA Charities identity. This exceptional bracelet was handcrafted in Texas, with love, by Greg Jensen and Carol Andrews of Kindred Charms.

Learn to "sell the experience" and help your own studio...as you help PPA Charities!

On November 8 - 10, Jed & Vicki Taufer are hosting their workshop, "Selling the Experience," at Haven, their educational facility in Morton, Illinois. This comprehensive workshop is tailored to each attendee and covers shooting, lighting, posing, marketing, sales, workflow, Adobe Photoshop techniques and more. Normally $1,499, this class is being both discounted and donated! You can attend for only $1,000, with $500 of that being given to PPA Charities. That's no typo--you both save $499 on the class and donate half of your tuition to charity.

This great deal came about thanks to Jed & Vicki, who led a great class in Texas that raised over $7,000 for PPA Charities. They wanted to continue to help, and you can join in, too.

Register at www.VgalleryHaven.com. Class size is limited--don't miss this opportunity to grow your business while helping PPA Charities with the work we do.
 

The evening of Saturday, January 9, 2010 will kick off Imaging USA in a big way, as PPA Charities hosts its fifth annual Celebration Event & Auction at the world-famous Gaylord Opryland Hotel. This year, the festivities will be free to all IUSA attendees! Here's the schedule: 

In each of the four years since PPA Charities named Operation Smile to be it's charitable partner, PPA members have increased their donations to the charity. This year, the PPACH trustees have set the ambitious goal of $70,000 to be raised through Family Portrait Month and other activities in direct support of Operation Smile. This goal represents a $20,000 increase over the 2008 donation of $50,000, but more importantly, it will make possible nearly 300 smiles repaired by the volunteer professionals of Operation Smile. Together PPA member trulys can make these miracles happen . . . one smile at a time. To learn how you can participate, click here.

The more than 1,100 students who attended the 2009 edition of the Texas School in May contributed over $17,000 to Operation Smile! This unprecedented donation was made possible by class instructors who showed an Operation Smile video to their classes and encouraged their students to buy as many smiles as they could, challenging other classes to exceed their totals. The clear and convincing winner was the class taught by Jed and Vicki Taufer, whose members donated an incredible $7,300 through individual contributions, an auction of merchandize and a donation of private classes offered by the instructors. At the urging of Texas School Director Don Dickson, an impromptu auction of donated vendor items on vendor night netted $1,900.  Best of all, many of the instructors and students vowed to come up with ways to increase donations next year. Sounds like a great new Texas School tradition has been born, and with a little luck it will spread to other affiliate schools.

Thanks to Texas School students, instructors and vendors, at least 70 children will receive new smiles from Operation Smile. Texas School Rocks!!

A special thanks to Jed and Vicki Taufer for their fund-raising creativity on behalf of Operation Smile!

How Will My Studio Benefit from Family Portrait Month?

Most successful studios employ one or more charitable marketing strategies in support of worthwhile causes. Why? Here are two of the top benefits:

• Personal satisfaction from giving your time and talent to those in need.
• Increased business profits/goodwill because many consumers simply prefer to shop with a business that gives back to the community.

Each year, Operation Smile awards a photographer from the highest grossing Family Portrait Month studio the opportunity to document an Operation Smile medical mission. Read about these life-changing experiences from past Family Portrait Month winners, and you see how important it is for photographers everywhere to support PPA Charities' effort to raise funds for Operation Smile. Read these stories by clicking here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To be eligible for the cash drawing and the Operation Smile mission, your donations must be received by December 15, 2009.

How Important is My Participation in Family Portrait Month?

Every $240 donation to Operation Smile makes it possible for another surgery to be performed by Operation Smile's volunteers. To date, PPA Charities' donations to Operation Smile have totaled over $150,000. That translates into hundreds of operations made possible because photographers did what they do best: create images for families to treasure.

Think of all the smiles these portraits made possible--in your hometown and throughout the world--and you'll know how important your efforts are!

Next: How Family Portrait Month Works

In developing Family Portrait Month as a high-profile charitable marketing promotion, PPA Charities' leadership has intentionally left it up to individual studios to decide how they wish to market and raise funds to benefit Operation Smile.

How can I participate?

Any PPA-member studio can participate in this promotion if they:

• Make a minimum donation of $25 to PPA Charities (an annual donation, payable each year that you choose to participate in the promotion).
• Contribute a minimum donation of $25 per session made during the national Family Portrait Month promotion.
  
  

What are the requirements?

The only requirement is those minimum $25 donations to PPA Charities for each family portrait session occurring during October. Otherwise, you are free to decide how much to contribute--an entire session fee, part of a session fee, a percentage of each sale, or a specified amount of $25 or more. If you choose, you can even accept donations for Operation Smile year-round, not just in October. 

Other options?

If you prefer, you can make a personal donation PPA Charities on behalf of Operation Smile. Remember that it takes only $240 to buy the gift of surgery for a deserving child. So ask yourself: How Many Smiles Can I Buy?

What information or help will I get?

Once registered as a participant (and your $25 minimum donation to PPA Charities is processed), you will receive helpful information and ideas, and your own information will be listed in several places.

• You will receive an e-mail that provides password-protected access to marketing tips, written resources, and downloads. On this site you will also find real-world information on how different photographers have used Family Portrait Month in their own marketing programs, and other ways in which they have contributed to Operation Smile.These online resources are for your inspiration and use.
• We ask that you check this site often to learn about additional promotional ideas and news items about PPA Charities, Family Portrait Month, and Operation Fee. By subscribing to our feed, you will be notified whenever no items are posted. To do so, click here.
• You also will receive PPA Charities  and Family Portrait Month news through a periodic PPACH newsletter and email blasts.
• Your studio's information will be listed on www.familyportraitmonth.com, on Family Portrait Month materials, and through Operation Smile's promotional materials and Website (www.operationsmile.com).
• As a participant in Family Portrait Month, you will have access to special offers made by industry vendors as they become available.
  
  

What are the important dates?

Remember that Family Portrait Month fund-raising activities can take place year-round and are not limited to October:

NOW!

• Start planning your 2009 Family Portrait Month marketing strategies.
• Download resources from the Marketing Ideas section.
• Order promotional materials so you can have handouts ASAP. You'll need them to encourage clients and prospects to book early.

ANYTIME

• Mention Family Portrait Month in upcoming newsletters or online studio entries.
• Put promotional cards in finished orders as a low-cost way to spread the word.

AUGUST

• Complete your media schedule, including direct mailings.

OCTOBER 1

• Start your Family Portrait Month sessions.

DECEMBER 1

• Final date to forward Operation Smile donations to PPA Charities.

How do I send in Operation Smile donations?
Your Family Portrait Month clients should make all payments directly to your business. Once each week, calculate how much you wish to contribute from each client's session. Write a check for that week's total contribution, making it payable to PPA Charities. PPA Charities will compile the funds for Operation Smile. Send it to:

PPA Charities
Attn: Bert Behnke
20600 S. Old Wolf Road
Mokena, IL 60448

NEXT: Family Portrait Month Marketing Ideas

We want to help you make the most out of your Family Portrait Month promotion. The resources in this section will help you do just that!

Here, you'll find a wealth of marketing tips, written resources, and real-world information on how specific photographers have used Family Portrait Month to benefit their marketing programs. To download items, you will be asked to log in with a password (received in an e-mail after your donation to PPA Charities is processed).

• General Info
  
• Marketing Webinars
• Marketing Ideas
• Other Marketing Resources

General Information

Marketing Webinars

Learn how to make the most out of PPA Charities' Family Portrait Month promotion from the these hour-long Webinars:

• Angela Weedon
• Terry Farmer

In addition to raising funds for Operation Smile, Laura used the promotion to introduce her upscale studio to consumers she might not see during the regular course of business. She added an intriguing twist to the month-long promotion by offering an October 31 Halloween shoot for only $75, which included 5-8 online proofs of each child in costume, from which parents could purchased finished prints. The fee went to Operation Smile and represented one-third of the studio's eventual donation.

To publicize this special event, Laura posted a flyer at a luncheonette and also added it to her Internet blog. To facilitate fulfillment of this special session, clients ordered their images online. Later her blog featured some of the charming images the promotion produced.

Charlene McKay Uses
Family Portrait Month to Introduce
Her New Studio

When veteran photographer Charlene McKay opened her new studio in El Dorado Hills, California in 2005, she decided to use Family Portrait Month to kick off her most aggressive promotion of the year. She began by creating 10,000 4x9 postcards that a local service delivered to each home in her small town for only 10 cents per home. She also participated in two different local business fairs and distributed the cards there as well. The promotional offer Charlene chose was: "Make any donation of $25 or more to PPA Charities' Operation Smile and receive a free session and a 16x20 print." Her plan was to upsell the 16x20 to a larger canvas and sell additional wall prints, gift portraits and frames. 

Charlene photographed 28 sessions for the month and had many clients donate more than the minimum $25, and only two did not upgrade. Most spent over $1,000, and her highest sale was $4,000. Best of all, the promotion allowed her to spread the word about her new business through a very low financial commitment that didn't cheapen her work. "By supporting a charity, it provided a reason for me to offer such a low price for a very valuable product," she said. "I think Operation Smile is a perfect fit as a charitable partner for photographers."

 

Sandy Puc' Gets an Early Start Through Her Studio Newsletter

Colorado photographer Sandy Puc' utilized early promotion of Family Portrait Month in her newsletters to generate community awareness. This motivated her clients to get in for their holiday portraits. She donated a portion of her session fees during the month of October.

Get More Marketing Ideas From "PPACH Pacesetters" by clicking here.

Marketing Resources

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