Give me your opinion on this please?

My opinion is that if you want to do worthwhile prospect research you actually have to research your prospects.

Not random people on a copywriting forum.

With zero actual experience in that department - I'd say the quality of photos - or how well will they be able to express that pure awesomeness of my product line.

1) Most of the marketing department heads I know will ask their contacts if they know anyone. Start building relationships and developing a campaign that puts you top of mind for when that question pops up.

Know anyone? Yeah, I hear this Adrian cat is pretty awesome...

2) Do you have any actual experience? Your portfolio readily available? You have a process in place for procuring and tracking samples? How do you deliver the images? Do you only shoot silos or context or do you do both? Are you planning on using location shoots or models? What kind of prices are you charging for what kind of rights/usage? What's the timeline? Do you have a studio? Do you use a stylist?

Those are all the things I can think of off the top of my head that my art director was concerned with when she inked the most recent photog deal. But then again, she knew these guys and their qualifications.

So that brings us back to point one.

Make sure you have an answer for everything in point 2. Then work on point 1 until people know you for all your answers to point 2 and they start calling you.

Two threads about essentially the same thing.

Hmmm...

Yo Adrian, post some of your work here. I'd love to see what you're really capable of - before commenting further.

Mark

P.S. Angie mentioned this in your other thread too. If you think your work is TV quality, you must have some awesome stuff in your portfolio. Give us a taste. Then we can talk about building out your positioning and funnel.

Think of it this way: Are you the first person who ever had this question? Faced this challenge?

Por supuesto que no, que el maniquí grande!

Of course not...

So look at the sites of product photographers in your niche. You are looking for the ones doing content marketing, not just photos or articles about how they did a shoot.

We are talking about customer-oriented content where they will take customer questions and answer them on their blog, in special reports, in FAQs, etc.

Here is a consumer example:
Tabletop Studio - Frequently asked questions about product photography

Here is a commercial example:
Denver Commercial Photography FAQ's

Keep this in mind. My quick investigation of this industry shows few photographers have websites designed to generate traffic. Yes, you need killer photos. But to get them to the site to see those photos, figure out the questions they have most, create a blog onsite that answers those questions (one question per blog post), and you can dominate your market niche in a very short time.

Not just a FAQ. Create a blog with robust information, advice, answers, tips, and tutorials. Look at what these guys are doing. It is not a product photographer, but a good example of a site built on answering questions.
http://digital-photography-school.com/

If you look at the content on most photographer sites, it's all about ME the photographer, not YOU the client.

Turn that around, drive traffic, increase sales and billing, and send me 35% of the gross profits first year.

Apologies for the delay. Turns out I wasn't subscribed to the thread and so I didn't see the updates.

Yes I've got a list of common questions I get asked, which are pretty much the same as what I can find on FAQ pages of other photog sites. I was trying to get a bit deeper with my prospects though. I have a pretty good idea at what concerns them:

- deadline being met
- image quality
- they want an easy life (don't want reshoots, phone calls and emails back and forth etc).


joe golfer - yes you're right, there are almost no photog sites that are benefit driven towards the prospect. You referred to putting in depth blog articles on the website like Marcus Sheridan AKA The Sales Lion took for his pool website.


Mark - here's some links to some pages for a printed portfio/testimonial book (they're low resolution so not as sharp as they would normally be).
Page 1
Page 2


Most commercial photography businesses (not wedding photographers etc) do produce good quality images. Sometimes my clients have told me things that annoy them about previous photography businesses (inconsistent product angles in images, taking too long, making the client jump through hoops)

I'm looking at an angle to offer better service and take away some of that stuff:
- No payment upfront - guaranteed results or don't pay.
- Guaranteed to meet client deadline.
- All communication answered in X hours.

No one markets any of this in my area.

Anyway, that's enough for now. I've subscribed to the thread now so I shouldn't miss any replies.

I would like to see their past pictures as many as possible. If i would like them i hire them

You may consider asking potential prospects personally. Keep notes during all sales calls, and use that information to refine your marketing.