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Take advantage of the free marketing help that's available to you if you look. When I first produced the PHOTOLETTER back in 1976, a young lady who was a design teacher at a Philadelphia art school gave our newsletter to her class members as a project to redesign. The project was a good "real world" experience for her students, and the winning entry resulted in a make-over of our PHOTOLETTER and a year's subscription to the student. You can work this two-way street with you nearby vocational school, college, or university. You give them opportunity for work-a-day hands-on challenges, and they return material that you can sift through for helpful marketing information. For example, give a marketing class the task of answering the question, "I have many photos of rodeos, who would be interested in buying them?" Or, "How many stock photo agencies are there in: (you fill in the name of the cities or countries). For free how-to business advice, retired business men and women in your community are available through the country-wide volunteer organization, SCORE, organized by the Small Business Administration. Phone them to arrange for a free consultation. (800) 827-5722. |
"I think I'll choose a Pepsi," the lady says in front of the vending machine.
Out comes the soft drink can of her choice.
Vertical marketing works much in the same way. She makes a choice based on preference and makes payment for it. If you were to open the interior of the machine, you would find that the soft drink cans are all lined up in a vertical row. All soft drinks of one selection are slotted into one vertical column, ready for dispensing.
There's no cross over. The cans must be lined up in the same dispensing vertical row, or they will deliver a wrong selection to the customer.
If you were the serviceman and haphazardly placed the cans in the machine in random positions, the results would be chaotic.
Most beginning photo illustrators make the mistake of building a stock file in random fashion with no central marketing theme. Their picture-taking choices are "all across the board".
Because a photobuyer's publication appeals to a vertical market (gardeners, pilots, medical technicians, teachers, etc.) photobuyers turn to vendors who can supply them pictures within those specialties. They can't afford to waste time on a vendor (you) that does not supply the product in the vertical market they need.
If the customer at the vending machine is mistakenly served up a soft drink not of their choice, they become irritated and pound on the machine and demand a return of their money. "This is not what I wanted!"
The soft drink they mistakenly received may be of excellent taste and quality, but it doesn't fit their needs. This may help to explain your disappointment when a photobuyer rejects your excellent submission of pictures. They may be of high quality but you are vending them to the wrong buyer.
Stay within the vertical markets that you enjoy photographing in. At this moment, buyers are searching for you. Don't waste film and time on picture-taking that doesn't fit into your vertical markets.
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