Heather Morton has a series of recent posts about promos. You NEED to be following this. Here is the latest one, the Honourable Mentions (note the Canadian spelling), but look at the submissions and read the comments. Note quality of images and of materials and design.
This is what your promos are up against! How does that cheap, quickie postcard you whipped together last week feel now? Think it has a chance of breaking through?
Promos take time, thought (concepts!), money, and a team to put together. You can’t make butter with a toothpick (a favorite Southernism) and you can’t make a great promo by yourself with your Mac and for minimal printing fees. These days you need to think video/multimedia/sound & fury along with fabulous images… and don’t forget campaign. All these pieces need to reach out and, as Douglas Adams might have written, slap the target upside the head with a lemony-fresh, tasty gold brick.
It’s time to rethink for many of you. Let go of whatever is keeping you from going for it. As I posted to my BAP Facebook page earlier today:
When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap. -Cynthia Heimel
I have to wonder if snail mail promos are still worth it. If a photographer sends out 5000 postcards the cost is $3500. A Tri-fold is going to run you about $5000. If you do this 4 times a year that is between $14,000 and $20,000.
It would be great to ask photographers who have, in the past, sent out lots and lots of printed promos to see what they are doing today? I wonder what Craig Cutler is doing. He used to have tons of promos.
Face to face meetings and driving traffic to your website would be the best solution to getting business without spending a ton! Now ignore what I am saying if you are getting 12 advertising jobs a month!
Agreed. Driving traffic to your web site is a very good solution.
Thing is, what does one actually do to drive traffic to one’s web site? (It’s not through email promos, that’s for sure).