T&J Alphabet Photography Pushes Success with Facebook

Think back to high school, what do you recall thinking about your classmates? “There’s the jock, wonder if he actually did his homework or did the teachers just pass him so he could play in Friday night’s game.” Or “There is miss know it all, wonder if any one will tell her she’s got toilet paper stuck to her shoe.” My ten-year reunion is in July and with all the social networking theses days I connected with some of my old classmates and find that their life path has taken them on quite a journey to places I never expected them to go.  One such classmate is Jessica Downing, who is now Jessica Allers. I have always admired Jessica, she’s very smart and one of the sweetest people. She has a joyous sprit that lights up the room with her laugh and smile.

            As of November 2010 Jessica and her best friend developed T&J Alphabet Photography. They developed the business as a way to be able to stay home with their kids and still make some money. They both love photography and crafts, and eventually developed signs they make from beautiful photographs that represent letters with in the English alphabet. They developed away to make theses beautiful works of art affordable and one way is to keep overhead cost low, which includes marketing.

             T&J Alphabet Photography utilizes social networking to get the word out about their business along side art and craft shows. They now have a couple local stores selling their art. Since December 2010 T&J Alphabet Photography has gained 138 likes on Facebook and many orders for their beautiful pieces. Their facebook site keeps their fans in the loop of what craft/art show they may be at and the latest letters they photographed, giving potential clients the ability to give their opinion on the pictures.

            The Facebook sight has definitely spiked an interest in me and I am now trying to decide which occasion to get what sign for whom. Like my mom’s wedding gift or for my dad’s father’s day gift, at $5 a letter I cannot go wrong.

            T&J Alphabet Photography has only been around for seven months I will be excited to see what they can do in five years.

Written by: Mandy S. Chenoweth, BFA owner of Focal Point Imaging www.focalpointimaging.org , and member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) www.ppa.com

FPI-blog Quality Survey

What impact has digital marketing made on the Photography industry?

Digital marketing has its’ positives and negatives for the photography filed. The digital world is ideal for the freedom of speech but is also almost impossible to police, so media is easily stolen.

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Portable Portfolio

It is a nascence to carry a bulky portfolio wherever an artist or photographer goes. It is also quite expensive to continually up date a printed portfolio. Using a website to and networking sites help photographers and other artist get their portfolios seen easily and allows them to keep up-to-date on their current works. Using the networking sties allows photographers to reach people that would other wise never seen their work, and in turn create opportunities they would never have considered before the digital age.

On The flip side however, many people see material on the Internet as free game and tended to take it for their own uses. Sure, the work is copyrighted and if the artist can actually track down who is taking their work they can sue for damages, but not every country has the same copyright laws and it’s expensive to go through all the legal procedures.

Easy access

The websites allow photographers to share the photographs with clients and have them pick-out their desired photos with little a nascence. Digital marketing also allows photographers to get current and up-to-date information on the latest products and techniques.

Photographers now have convent access to professional printers across the country and locally. This allows photographers and other artist to get the best possible products for their clients and photography needs.

Cheaper advertising

The World Wide Web has a multitude of access to thousands of possible cliental. The net working sites make it cheep and easy to come in contact and influence potential cliental. Unfortunately, it is also easy to be too casual with the networking and the lines between social and business become blurred.

More competition

With easy access and cheaper advertising there is also a much more competitive market. A photographer’s market is no longer the town they set-up shop in, but across the country. People are continuously pushing the envelope and if a photographer dose not stay-up with it and up to date, they become obsolete and lose business. Additionally photographers are also competing with the do it your-self types who use all the user-friendly sites like shutter fly.

Needless to say as great as digital marketing is, it has it’s own challenges photographers need to over come.