Sneaky Marketing with Photos
October 31, 2009 | By
Occasionally I am going to write about how to do some sneaky marketing. I know that's what you want to hear about because so few are willing to give this advice to you for free. This is one of those occasions where we break out our monocle, devious mustache, top hat and cape and get to the business of the sneaky-sneaky. The method I'm covering today is how to become mediagenic (media + photogenic), or, how to use photographs to spin some free advertising and jump your street cred up a few notches.
Be forewarned, the following article is long, candid and shameless, and is not for the faint of marketing heart.
The Plan
Every good scheme has a plan, and the goal here is to get photographs that will be considered "newsworthy" for local magazines, blogs, and newspapers. When these photos get out in the public, they translate to clients and prospects that your business impacts others professionally.
Why local? I want to conquer the world!
We start local so we can build up our reputations, or "street cred". The more street cred you have, the more likely people are going to turn you into the go-to person for information, purchases, etc,. The key here is to start with small publications and work your way up. Most of the craft world's biggest personalities started small so you're no exception.
Keep a camera on hand for any spontaneous opportunities that arise. This includes seminars, classes you attend/teach, or when you participate in a community or charity event or donate items to a worthy cause. A good rule to keep in mind is that if the event is worthy of going in a scrapbook, you should be taking photos.
Put on Your Research Hat
Here is where we start examining guerrilla style tactics of achieving photo ops. Try to stay as relevant to your industry as possible, or within reason. (Now would be the time to put on your monocle and mustache-- we’re going deep into sneaky territory because most successful people got to the top by riding a few coattails in the beginning, and this is walking along that fine line).
Start looking online and in local/regional publications for public events that will be including famous or notable personalities (referred to hereafter as our photo op victims).
Colleges are the first place you should look, followed by arts & cultural centers, book signings, and don’t forget to look at trade shows and their itineraries. Political figures are also excellent subjects to get you in the paper.
If it is an election year, try to get photos with candidates on all sides so after the election you can submit your photo taken with the winner to the paper. (Hey, don’t give me that look, I told you this was going to be shameless) Schedule all appropriate appearances in your datebook and move forward with your plan of action.
Dress for the Occasion
It is pertinent that this be the most important thing you pay attention to. Always dress to impress, and dress appropriately for your venue. If it is a business-style engagement, dress in business attire. If it is an informal, jeans and t-shirt event, go with dressy casual, khakis and a nice sweater or blouse with appropriate accessories will suffice. Your goal here is to look like you belong there.
A good example to note is if you walk into a political rally dressed in anything but suitable attire you’re not only going to get booted out, you’re probably going to get detained to make sure you aren’t a security threat, and put on a federal watch list. Okay, I know that was extreme and likely to never happen, but you get my point--- Unsuitable is anything that can be construed as radical. The Birkenstocks and tie dye are best left at home, no politician will take a photo with you if it makes them look as if they’re “picking a side” or associating themselves with any subgroup because that makes them a target for the opposition.
Strive to look as “normal” as possible, even if it goes against your grain. We want the victims of our photo op to look as comfortable with us as possible, because that implies that we are chummy with each other, and that gets us brownie points in the street cred department.
Bring Your "Plus One"
This is where a good guerrilla BFF comes in. You know the person in your life that’d not only walk through fire with you; they’d be the one leading the charge? This person’s skills of backing you up will be of great importance when you get to your event, because they’re going to be your personal paparazzi, and you need to be able to work as a team to maximize your photo opportunities. If that BFF is a photographer, even better, but if they’re not, a little research on the web and some practice at home to familiarize them with the camera, and picture proportions like head room will suffice.
Your BFF needs to be like a cheetah, stalking alongside you, and must be prepared to shoot immediately after you walk to the victim and ask for the photo op. That means keep your batteries charged and have the lens cap already off.
You Asked for it
You need to be aware of when the best time for photo ops are, and you also need to be aware that you might go home without a photo with your victim.
The best opportunities for photo ops are immediately before or after the engagement. Sometimes the victim is displayed in a receiving line for well-wishers and photo ops, and other times there’s an open floor where you must be able to get close and gain your footing to ask for a photo. If the person is particularly popular, there will probably be some pushy people around, so you need to be prepared to silently stand your ground.
A simple and friendly dialogue that is to the point is, “Mr./Ms. (insert name here), my name is (insert your name here) and I’d like to thank you for coming tonight. Would you mind if we could get a picture with you?”
Whether you wish to include that you are a local business owner or not is up to you.
Strike a Pose, There’s nothing to it
You need to take some time at home to refine your pose. Everybody has that go-to pose for photographs, so you need to refine yours until it is perfect. You have about five seconds from the time you walk up to your photo op victim to ask for the photo to the click of the shutter, so you need to be like Zoolander and keep some "Le Tigre" or "Blue Steel" in your back pocket. Practice your posture and your poise, you want relaxed but not too comfortable. You also want to make sure your smile isn’t too “happy” or it will translate in print as a cracked out ferret.
A great pose is what I like to call the “shake n’ bake”. This pose entails extending your hand out to the victim for a handshake, turn to face the camera mid-shake and give your best “Betty Crocker” smile. Nine times out of ten, as you turn, the victim will feel compelled to cement the handshake with an embrace with their free hand (this is especially true if they’re politicians, they’re skilled in the shake n’ bake as well).
You’re in it to Spin it
So you’ve done everything listed above, and you still didn’t get your photo. No problem! Just get photographs of you before, after, and around the event to use on your website or blog and salvage some of the night. You might even get a photo that is good enough to still include in your press release. That, my friends, is what we call spin.
When you are spinning something of this nature, keep in mind you’re not lying or embellishing, you’re implying, which is a whole different thing. The goal here is to word things to imply the importance of your appearance in the photo. If you imply with enough frequency, it becomes truth. I know, it’s ridiculously, and devilishly simple, isn’t it? Take that, liberally conservative media!
When you get home, brighten up and crop your photograph so you and your victim are nice and visible, then type up a short release describing the persons in the photo, the event title, and date to send in with your photograph to the newspaper.
Here's an example: “Mary Jane Smith, owner of MJ Gourmet welcomes Senator What’s Her Face to the Summit for Cupcakeless Orphans on May 22nd, 2009.”
Don’t forget your power words. All your words need to be active, not passive. You absolutely need to write “greets”, “met with” or “welcomes” the victim, because it implies that you are involved and actively participating in the event, and not a bystander who just stumbled into the scene. It also highlights your business name, which is the whole point of going through all this trouble in the first place. Keeping these things in mind as you send in your release will be more apt to make sure your photo gets published (even more so if you had to drive to another town or city to get it).
Take even further advantage of your photo op and include a slideshow of “greatest moments” on your website or blog with all these photographs. Also, don’t forget that every event you attend could be an opportunity for photo promotion, so make sure you take pictures with your table or booth at all your shows. The more you show the public that you are impacting the world around you with your business, the more likely they are to choose you over your competitors.
Hopefully you have gathered some useful information from this article. I trust you will take these ideas and spin them into your own marketing prowess. Never underestimate any opportunity to work some sneaky-sneaky!
Image Credits:
CovetableCuriosities
VintageFitForStyle
SurrenderDorothy
ChristyDeKoning
Popstudio/BaoStudio
ButtonArcade
MountainBrookStore
Kelli is a mixed media artist and writer with a serious vintage hat and scarf addiction. Check out what she's up to on Twitter, or email her with your thoughts at HMNKelli@gmail.com
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