Recorded: Welcome to The ReWork with Alison Tyler. Jones, a podcast dedicated to inspiring portrait photographers to uniquely brand, profitably price, and confidently sell their best work. Alison has been doing just that for the last 15 years, and she’s proven that it’s possible to create unforgettable art and run a portrait business that supports your family and your dreams. All it takes is a little rework. Episodes will include interviews with experts from in and outside of the photo industry, mini-workshops and behind-the-scenes secrets that Alison uses in her portrait studio every single day. She will challenge your thinking and inspire your confidence to create a profitable, sustainable portrait business you love through continually refining and reworking your business. Let’s do the rework.
Allison Tyler Jones: Hi, friends. And welcome back to The ReWork. Today’s episode is all about how we can set ourselves apart from the masses of other photographers in our areas doing the same old thing. And today’s guest is Rick Trummer from Mid-South Color Lab, and we’re going to talk about introducing new products to your clients as a way to set yourself apart from the crowd. Rick has lots of experience in marketing. He’s run his own studio for 25 years, and he works for Mid-South Color Lab creating gorgeous work for their clients. So I’m really excited for you to jump in and listen to some specific actionable steps on how you can roll out new product to your clients, how to talk about it, how to market it, and how to set yourself apart from the masses once and for all. Let’s do it.
Allison Tyler Jones: Well, I’m really excited to have a brand new guest in the podcast studio today, Mr. Rick Trummer from Mid-South Color Lab. And Rick joins us today to help us ponder how we can set ourselves apart from the crowd in our business, in our portrait studio. And Mid-South Color Lab has definitely done this in the lab world by being not high volume. Rick, you could say more about that than I can, but you specialize in painted artwork, stripped canvases, and this new product that has a metal appearance, but that’s actually paper and is just amazing color rendition. You’re the only printer in the United States that is authorized to print the Hanemühle papers.
Rick Trummer: Yes, we’re certified to print Hanemühle paper, so absolutely correct. And thanks so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. Our focus has always been more on, instead of quantity, it’s been on quality. That’s what the lab is built around and just like a lot of the studios that are out there, they’re built on a quality type setting, and that’s where we match really well with. And our products do set that studio apart.
Rick Trummer: You’ve mentioned specifically the painter portraits, and that’s where we excel, being able to take a piece of artwork and by hand we actually go through. We move every pixel, and we actually come up with a style for each of the different lab partners we have, studio owners. We work with them. You’ll be working with the same artist all the time. We have a number of artists that work with the lab. We’ll actually match you up with an artist. And it starts with just getting that digital painting done. I know some people have tried using the filters that Photoshop tried to sell or some sort of plug-in from somewhere along the line, but that’s not really creating the kind of lasting effect that you’re going to be able to sell on a more personal level with each of your client bases.
Allison Tyler Jones: Let me just pause you for just one second.
Rick Trummer: Sure.
Allison Tyler Jones: Because I want to make sure that… I feel like we kind of jumped in and there might be people going, “What are they talking about painting? What do they even mean?”
Allison Tyler Jones: So what we mean about that is that there is a way on a canvas substrate to have an image that you create as a photographer, have it digitally altered so that it looks like it has been painted. They can do that digitally, a digital painting, but then you also can have applied oil on top of that. So you can do the digital painting, then it’s printed out, and then you can have oil applied on top of that so that it really has a beautiful painterly look to it.
Rick Trummer: That’s absolutely correct. So it starts with that digital rendition first, and we work with you to get the perfect look that you’re looking for. Once that’s approved, then we move to the printed canvas, like you said, and then it goes into the brush work or what we call the artwork department, where contour brush strokes are added to give it that more three-dimensional effect. And then to finalize that, we actually use oils and brush in oil highlights and actually create that end result that is so lasting. And a lot of the people that use this compare themselves to painters, not photographers. And so, that’s where they’re justifying the cost of what they’re selling it for. And it really does create a generational type product that is going to be handed down.
Allison Tyler Jones: When I was a child, so low many years ago, I’ve said before about how my mom loved portraits, and she kept our local portrait photographer in business. But she was very choosy about the products that she chose. The framing had to be just so, the actual portrait had to be just so, and what she did, and my grandmother also did this as well. With my grandmother, she had each of her children photographed at 2 years old, and it was just a headshot on a white background with a vignette, and then it was hand painted on fiber based paper by an artist, and those images look like they were done yesterday. And my mom is no longer with us. And then, the ones that my mom had done, same, but they were in a little different style because it was a different generation. So they didn’t have the headshot. Ours were full body.
Allison Tyler Jones: So when my mom passed, we were all able to walk into her home and take away with us our 2-year-old portrait, our baptism portrait, our wedding portrait. She had them done at these certain times, and they’re exquisite works of art. So they’re a photograph, but they have this applied painting to them. Obviously, this was before digital, so their digital painting wasn’t done, but that gives another layer to it.
Allison Tyler Jones: And so, I think that the thing that’s so interesting to me, Rick, about what you guys are doing is that there are so many photographers that are just coming to the realization of like, “Oh, wait, you can do finished product? It’s not just selling a bunch of files?”
Allison Tyler Jones: And so, what you’re doing is you’re taking like, “Okay, of course we’re doing finished product and we can do a print of a photograph. It can be on fine art paper, it can be on canvas, and it can also be this other thing.”
Allison Tyler Jones: And so, other photographers have done their own painting, but you have a lot of photographers that are like, “Look, I don’t want to paint. I don’t have the time to do it. I don’t want to learn to do it, but I have the vision of how I want it to look.”
Allison Tyler Jones: And so you can be that vendor for them. And so when they call you, let’s just use me as an example. If I call you and say, “Hey, Rick, I want my portraits to look exactly like Greg and Lisa Daniel.”
Allison Tyler Jones: You’re going to say to me, “Well, actually, no. Let’s not do that. Let’s develop something that’s unique to you,” which I think is amazing. And then you line me up with an actual artist and then I stay with that person and we learn together, and we develop a style all our own. Is that fair?
Rick Trummer: Yeah, it’s absolutely fair. We don’t want you to be a copy of someone else. We want you to have your own, distinct style. We have some people who literally just come to us and they’re looking. They might have a look, maybe they like the backgrounds from one style or how the brush work is done from a different style, and they’ll send me images. What we do is we actually work with you. My job is to work with the studio. I’ve owned a studio for 25 years, a very successful one. I’ve been in the industry for over 40 at this point, and my job is to work with these studios and be able to develop these products that are going to separate them from the masses that are out there.
Rick Trummer: And the painting portrait is part of that. We want you to have your own very unique style that you will be a destination studio. People will drive, because you are offering something that’s so unique and so different from the masses that are out there. And that’s what we want to do with you. We do have people that say, “Oh, we want it to look like Greg Daniel,” or, “We want it to look like William Branson or Heather the Painter.”
Rick Trummer: It’s a nice place to start, but we really want to work with you. And yes, you’re absolutely correct. You’re going to have one painter that you’re going to be working with on a continuous basis. So when we fit you with that specific painter, you will always have that same painter, and you’ll be working with them through me or with me or part of the conversation or not part of the conversation. I’m here for as much help as possible right through the end, even giving frame suggestions. I think that’s the difference is we’re going to be taking a look, and you have the experience that I’ve had helping you to create this unbelievable photographic opportunity that you’re not seeing in most of the studios.
Allison Tyler Jones: It’s a completely new product line really.
Rick Trummer: Yeah.
Allison Tyler Jones: For those who you’ve seen, because you see a lot of photographers, those who are being very successful with this, are there common traits that you see in those businesses, how they’re in your mind, especially with your experience owning a studio yourself? Are there some common traits that you feel like that our listeners could apply or emulate in those businesses that maybe other photographers are not doing?
Rick Trummer: That’s a great question. Yeah, absolutely. The common trait I think with all very successful studios is not to offer everything. It’s to select three, maybe four different lines that you offer and keep it simple for your clientele. I think what happens is, and this is where we have become successful as a lab, we do not do press printed. We don’t do trinkets. We don’t do all of that stuff. We know what we do really, really well. You had mentioned it when you introduced me. We do basically four really, really awesome things. Yes, we can print standard prints and get them out the door for you as well. However, the areas that we excel in are these kind of life-changing different products that will set your studio in a completely different path. And the highlight of that is the Painter Portrait Series that we’re doing. The stripped canvas is still done the old way from us.
Allison Tyler Jones: Okay, so explain that for people that have no idea what stripped canvas is.
Rick Trummer: Stripped canvas in its simple form is, basically it’s a photographic print. And then what we do is we peel the emulsion. Basically what happens on a piece of paper is you have something that goes through a machine, right? And the backing of that is what we call RC backing. It’s a backing that can handle a wet surface, and then you have the emulsion that’s on it.
Allison Tyler Jones: 25 points if you know what RC stands for, resin coated.
Rick Trummer: You got it. You got it.
Allison Tyler Jones: I’m just going to give myself 25 points.
Rick Trummer: Yes, you get it. And so, what we do is we actually peel the emulsion, the top layer, the printed version of that, away from that backing, and then we have some special methods of us making sure that only the emulsion is left. Normally, there’s a felt layer in there that you have to work with as well. So we take care of that. And then what we do is we mount it on canvas and then put it into a heat press. We have two different styles of canvas. We have what they call a fine canvas, which is a sanded down version of our standard canvas, and then we mount it onto canvas. By the way, anything that we do is guaranteed for life. I’ve never-
Allison Tyler Jones: Guaranteed for life.
Rick Trummer: I have never had this happen to me, but I can tell you this, if for some reason the canvas let’s say, is bubbling or pulling away, the paper from the canvas, we would replace that at no cost. Absolutely. I’ve never seen it happen just because of the way that we do things. But, anything that we… We want to make sure that you’re pleased with whatever you have. If you are unhappy with the product that you get, we’re going to reprint it for you, do whatever we have to do to make you a continuous basis customer. That’s our goal is customer service.
Allison Tyler Jones: Well, to me, that’s huge. Because I guarantee all of my work to my clients. So regardless, no matter what happens, if their kid throws a Nerf dart at it or whatever, I’m guaranteeing that work. And so, to know that you have a vendor that will back it up as well, if it fades or peels away or whatever, that it’s going to be covered, that’s awesome.
Allison Tyler Jones: Okay, so let me recap here because I also want to… So, you feel like that those that are doing it well and that are having success with this, and I think this applies to every business, but especially portrait photographers, is to not offer everything, to just pick a lane of, like you were saying, three or four products. And it makes it so much easier for your clients to decide what they want because you’re not like, “Okay, here’s 17 substrates and 35 frame…”
Allison Tyler Jones: It’s just too much. People can’t sustain that level of attention. And we’re supposed to be the experts to go away and figure out how our work is best presented to the world and how we want it to hang on the wall. And then working with a lab that specializes in primarily wall art, I think is great. So those who are doing it well are simplifying, keeping it simple. Any other traits that you see with your most successful clients?
Rick Trummer: Yeah, the other thing is consistency in their work, what they’re offering their client base.
Allison Tyler Jones: What do you mean by that, consistency in-
Rick Trummer: Well, I love when photographers have different styles that they have. It really is a great offering to be able to say, “Listen, we want you to come in and we want you to tell us what you want in your portrait setting. What kind of style are you looking for?” And to be able to jump into those different genres, I think, is important. But having also a consistency with what you’re exporting, what you’re photographing-
Allison Tyler Jones: It’s like a recognizable style?
Rick Trummer: Absolutely. Absolutely. So yes, you can make the jump from casual to a little bit more traditional or maybe more contemporary or whatever, but you have a style that is your own, and I think that’s-
Allison Tyler Jones: Or maybe you don’t make that jump, maybe you don’t offer it. Maybe you just pick a lane and get in it.
Rick Trummer: And get in it. Absolutely. And then, with the products you pick then, what you want is you want consistency in the end result. And I think all too often, I think studios have a much wider range of acceptance for their product than they should have. I’ll give you an example. I’ve got a call from a studio, and I’m not going to name any other different labs or whatever, but this has been a consistent issue. She said to me, “Rick, I’ve heard great things. Here’s where I’m having problems. I’m getting stuff back from my current lab, and it’s all over the place. One day, it’ll be warm, the next day it’ll be cool.”
Rick Trummer: And I said, “Well, are you handing that to your client base? Are you accepting that?” Here’s the line that she said. She said, “A lot of times if I call the lab, it’s my fault.” And I said, “Well, what do you mean it’s your fault? If you’re paying for let’s say color correction or whatever, and they’re not correcting it to your standard, that’s a problem.”
Rick Trummer: Well, the problem is, is that most labs have so many machines that they’re printing on that it’s impossible to see a consistency from each machine. Most labs offer what they call their four point guarantee, which means they’ll be within four points of absolute neutral. Well, the problem is, is what happens if one of their machines that’s printing the 11 by 14s or 16 by 20s is four points off blue, and the next machine is four points off yellow, you’re now eight points off. And what happens is most labs don’t look at the finished product. They already have the 16 by 20 or the smaller prints packed up first.
Allison Tyler Jones: Right.
Rick Trummer: They put them into a package, and they don’t look at what it looks like compared to the 16 by 20 or the large portrait piece or the canvas that they had made, and they just send it out to the studio. Now, if you’re a studio that literally is separating yourself from the competition, that is not something that you would accept. It’s something that you’re going to have to go back to the lab and say, “Listen, why doesn’t this look like this and can we have this redone?”
Allison Tyler Jones: I think the big problem with that, when I think for myself, for us, is that on a gallery wall that we’re creating for a client, we might have a canvas print, a fine art print, something that’s framed with glass, with that, whatever, but all of that needs to hang together and have consistency within that photo shoot, that session. But also, many of my clients come year after year, I want it to hang together over time, so not only this photo shoot that we did. So, if it’s not even the same colors in this photo shoot, there’s no way it’s going to hang together over a period of time. So that’s a really good point.
Rick Trummer: You just hit it on the head. That’s the reason why you have the same printer, and that we actually look at the canvases compared to the prints before they leave the labs. So our final inspection area, nothing gets packaged and out the door or in a box until the final inspection area takes a look at it. Does it take more time for an order to come through our lab? Absolutely. I’m not even going to try to justify trying to say, “We can get it out the door in a day,” or whatever. That’s not what we specialize in. It’s going to take longer to get through because quite simply, we’re much more picky.
Allison Tyler Jones: You’re taking more time?
Rick Trummer: Right, about what it looks like. We know that those files are exactly the same, and it’s our job to make sure that they’re printed and color corrected properly and that they match each other before they go out of our lab. So-
Allison Tyler Jones: Well, and what you’re talking about too is that is similar to wording that we use with our clients when they’re like, “Well, hold on a minute. I didn’t know that it could be this expensive.”
Allison Tyler Jones: And it’s like, “Well, we’re not just dumping a bunch of files into a Dropbox folder or to a Pixieset gallery. We’re actually printing it to perfection, even if it has to be reprinted multiple times, framing it to perfection, and then hanging it, installing it to perfection on your wall, and all of that is going to take longer.” So basically in my mind, what we’re doing, if you’re setting yourself apart, you’re setting yourself apart to your clients, but you have to backstop that all the way through with every vendor that you use, whether it’s your lab, whether it’s your framer, whether it’s your installer. It can’t just be coming out of your mouth. It actually has to be coming through in the product.
Rick Trummer: Absolutely. And that’s where we excel. The way that this business, this lab is built, is creating that consistency to separate your studio from the one next door, and that’s how we do it. Then, let’s add not only the team of people you’re working with at the lab, but the customer service person you’re working with. We have two customer service, I should say, account managers, myself and Dirk. We both have our own individual client base, and we’re on the phone with them on a continuous basis. We don’t treat you as a customer, we treat you as family. That’s really what it’s all about. I’m on the phone probably with at least 20 to 30 studios a day talking about any subject matter that they want to talk about. I’ve talked about sales, I’ve gone into marketing, I’ve gone into color management. These are all areas that I’m very, very strong in.
Allison Tyler Jones: Need to advise on?
Rick Trummer: Yeah. That I can help them with that. I literally am going through two brand new accounts this week, later this week, and I’m actually helping them calibrate their monitors. They’ve never done it. We don’t require it, but there are some of our studios that want to know more about that area.
Allison Tyler Jones: They want to do it.
Rick Trummer: Yeah, they want to do it, and they’ve never done it. And I’ve done it thousands of times with studios all over the world, really. So that’s part of the level of service that we have is that it’s the same person. My phone number is my cell. You can get ahold of me at night. You can get ahold of me on the weekends, all the-
Allison Tyler Jones: Rick, you might need some boundaries.
Rick Trummer: I know I keep saying that. I keep saying that and I don’t follow through. My wife says, “Why are you taking a call at 7:00 at night?” And I say-
Allison Tyler Jones: That’s not good. Nobody call Rick at 7:00 at night. That’s wrong. It’s wrong.
Rick Trummer: Well, keep in mind that 7:00 at night for me in California, that’s 5:00 PM.
Allison Tyler Jones: Well, they should be home. They should be home with their families and running businesses that are… They need to be running the business, not the business running them.
Rick Trummer: Yes, I get that, but there are some emergencies that I do get into. I’m just pointing that out. Yes, I don’t get very many of them, but I do get-
Allison Tyler Jones: I love it. I appreciate that, but be better.
Rick Trummer: Yes, be better.
Allison Tyler Jones: So simplifying the product line, consistency in style and of the work. What do you have to say about… Let’s just say that I for sure have some students that are really wanting to dip their toe into this painterly style. They want to roll out a product of this sort. But they’re like, “I have no idea how to market this or sell this. How do I talk about it?”
Allison Tyler Jones: Do you have any advice that you could give to those photographers that are wanting to start that? Obviously, where to start is to call you guys and get a product going and get with an artist and figure out what you want it to look like. But at some point, this is not a cheap situation. You have to charge appropriately for it or don’t do it actually, because if you’re just going to cut into your margin, it’s stupid. You need to charge appropriately. But those who are being successful with this, how are they selling it? How are they marketing it in your opinion? What’s the right way to do it or what’s a good way to do it?
Rick Trummer: Well, number one, you have to have a sample. You got to show it if you’re going to sell it. I think everybody can agree on that. I have a lot of people that I’ve talked with that never sold one, and they said, “Well, we can’t sell the painting.”
Rick Trummer: I said, “Well, you don’t even have one. I’ve never even done a sample for you.” So that would be number one. Get a sample. Even if it’s a small one, it’s better to have something than nothing because people need to see it, touch it, feel it.
Allison Tyler Jones: Touch it, yeah.
Rick Trummer: They have to see what it really, really looks like compared to what it looked originally. They have to be able to see the difference in that, so I can help with that.
Allison Tyler Jones: Okay, so that’s interesting, having the original image versus the finished painted product. I think that’s a great-
Rick Trummer: Absolutely. And I think a lot of studios from Sales 101 from going back to Chuck Lewis or whatever, you got the same image on the wall that’s in a 40 x 60 or whatever, and it goes down in size, and so that people can see what it looks like size-wise. We like to, from your three or four different lines that you have, have the same image printed on those different products as well, not different images, the same image, so that people can actually see what something might look like on each of those. If you have different images, it’s hard for them to make the leap of why they really need to be upgrading to a painter portrait as opposed to a stripped canvas or fine art paper, right?
Allison Tyler Jones: Mm-mm.
Rick Trummer: So have those samples in each of those areas. And then, I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not going to be an immediate thing. It’s not going to be something that you put out and everybody’s going to go, “Oh, my God, this is so awesome. I’ve got to have one of these.”
Rick Trummer: It’s going to be a slow process to get there, but far as the marketing is concerned, I would literally… If anybody’s using monthly magazines or newsletters or whatever they’re sending out to their clients or they have email blitzes or whatever that they’re doing for marketing, I would definitely have a piece that you just got, embed a video in there about opening that thing up and seeing what it looks like. I’ve got so many people do this, and it’s been so successful for them.
Rick Trummer: By the way, this is a small little thing I’m going to throw at you. Being in marketing, as long as I have been in working with this, people are 200, this is a staggering number, 252% more likely to open up an email that has a video embedded or attached. That is a staggering number. We are moving towards this field at a huge pace. Video is huge.
Allison Tyler Jones: Sure.
Rick Trummer: And so, use it to your advantage.
Allison Tyler Jones: Well, I think that unboxing and showing it really dramatically lit from the side, so you can see all that texture, it’s just beautiful. It’s a great way to do it.
Rick Trummer: Yeah, it works really, really well. And that is a great way to introduce it. And then, have a special out there that you’re going to be doing it, whether you discount it 5% or 10% or whatever, but have a special, pre-session if you’re getting a portrait done, a painting done or something. Or, maybe if you’re doing Facebook ads or whatever, maybe you throw out there, “I’m looking for the first 10 customers to try out this new line that we’re doing,” whatever, and you’re offering whatever you’re offering, the 10% off or the free sessions or whatever. You’ve got to get people talking about it.
Rick Trummer: I’m going to give you one huge tip here that I’ve been touting for a really, really long time, and that is once you find someone that loves this piece, whether it’s your first customer, 10th customer, whatever, give them five gift cards. Now, I’m preferencing this by saying, “Everybody’s going to say, why aren’t you giving them more?”
Rick Trummer: You give them five, okay, and put them on something plastic, something sustainable, not like on a business card stock or whatever. You want to make it special. But what you want to do is to have a special on there where you have maybe… What we did is we actually had student IDs because we did a lot of volume work at the studio besides high end work. But we had an actual bag tag maker they call them, or student ID maker. And what we used to do is print out five plastic cards. They look like credit cards. And what there was is we put some images of the family that you’re giving them to.
Rick Trummer: So if I came to your studio, you’re going to hand me these five cards that reward the person that’s bringing it in from a free, again, whatever you’re offering. We used to do a $500.00 credit, so that basically covered the portrait session plus a small print in our studio. And to the person that gave it out, you give them $250.00 Towards their next purchase with you. Now, the reason you only give them five is otherwise they’re throwing them out the door to everybody, and it’s a hit or miss. If you only give them five chances, they’re going to be very, very cautious on who they’re giving that to.
Rick Trummer: And I’ll tell you right now, when you’re launching something like this, that is a really great way to be able to get people in your door because you’re actually putting the image on these cards in the front. You’re making it really cool and special looking, and they’re talking, and they’re remembering that session that they had with you, because of the image that’s on the card on the top. And so, it really makes it special. And then you know who gave it to them. And then you can, of course, send a thank you note to that customer with that gift certificate towards their next purchase. And, we saw great success when I had the studio, great success doing this, and I’m giving this suggestion out to a lot of my customers, and they’re picking up on it, and it’s a good usage rate, upwards of 40%.
Allison Tyler Jones: Okay, I love that. So I want to recap that part. The first thing you said I think is very important. Whenever you’re rolling out a new product, and this is true of anything, nothing is an immediate thing. Unless it’s like, “Hi, we’re giving free portraits out today,” and then you’re just attracting people that are horrible. So no, we don’t want that.
Allison Tyler Jones: So it’s not an immediate thing. You have to show it. You have to have a sample. You have to show the old chestnut that we love, show what you’re going to sell. You have to talk about it and how you talk about it in this world is video. So that’s a video, reels on Instagram, the embedded video in email, whether it’s your monthly newsletter, that sort of thing. And then, you have to promote it. And so, depending on your philosophy of your business of how you want to promote, for me, I would not have a percentage off anything. I just don’t roll that way.
Rick Trummer: Right.
Allison Tyler Jones: For me, it’s either like, “You’re going to get this free thing or full price.” I’m free or full price. But I love that idea. So again, the reason I’m saying that is not to critique, but it’s to say, “Take what Rick is saying and run this through your own filter of how you do your promotions so that it’s consistent with how you market so that you’re not doing this new product and you’re marketing completely in a different way than you ever have before, and people are like, ‘Wait a minute, what is she even doing?'”
Allison Tyler Jones: So I think that’s a really good example of having… And then what you’re doing is you’re creating this work, and I think this is also a really good kind of a project for an artist project. So it’s like, “Okay, well, we’re rolling out a new product. We want to do an artist project, and we’d love to do these paintings of individual children,” for example.
Allison Tyler Jones: Then you do that for somebody. Of those people that you’re doing it for, you’re going to find a disciple in there. There’s going to be somebody, an evangelist, that is going to lose their mind over this product. And then you give them a way to brag about it and promote for you and reward them in some way for doing that, whether that’s giving them credit or thanking them or however you want to do that. So I think that’s so many good tips there that apply, whether it’s a painting or any other new product that you’re bringing into your business. I think those are just really good ways to do it.
Rick Trummer: Yeah, you hit it right on the head. The idea is to roll out whatever you’re doing. And of course, you’re absolutely correct. You’ve got to do what feels comfortable to your studio and be able to present it that way. My suggestions are just how we handled it, but everyone’s-
Allison Tyler Jones: Yeah, for sure.
Rick Trummer: … got to be. Everyone has to have their own… I don’t want to do that. You are so right. It is either free or full price. I love that philosophy, but not all studios work that way. So you have to be able to-
Allison Tyler Jones: But they’re working in that other way with a percentage off or whatever, it’s going to be consistent with all their other marketing, right?
Rick Trummer: Absolutely.
Allison Tyler Jones: So I just brought that up because so often, especially for newer photographers, they hear something, and we want to be successful, and so they just hear something and they’re like, “Okay, well Rick at Mid South Labs said I got to do it this way.” And so then they roll with it, and then maybe it didn’t work the way that they thought. So it’s like run it through your… Cogitate about that. Not too long, because you got to move forward. But have a reason behind what you’re doing.
Allison Tyler Jones: So just to recap and go back to the beginning, basically whenever we’re introducing something new, we want to make sure that we’re simplifying, we’re not overwhelming our clients with too many options. We do want to set ourselves apart from the crowd by having not only instantly recognizable work as our style, but being presented in ways that are interesting and compelling for our clients to have in their home. And then, getting some buzz going by recognizing this is not going to be an overnight thing, but just thinking…
Allison Tyler Jones: Because I think marketing is so multilayered. So it’s a post on Instagram, it’s a video, it’s an email. Even, to me, is texting my very best clients who I know are irrationally in love with their children, and we’ve done all different kinds of things for them. So say that Rick is that client. Then I’m just going to text Rick and say, “Rick, you have to see… Look at this video of this thing that just came in today that we just did for this client. Your boys would be darling in this,” and just show a video, a text to one client. Anybody can do that. That doesn’t require a MailChimp. It doesn’t require setting up some big marketing effort. It’s literally a one-to-one, letting a client know that you’re thinking of them, and, “Here’s something cool, and I think that you would like it,” and they probably will.
Rick Trummer: Absolutely. You hit it on the head. You have to be multifaceted in your marketing. You can’t just say, “I’m doing all Facebook, or I’m doing all social media,” or whatever. I even have people, again, not sure exactly what your philosophy is on this, but I have even some people going back to mail because-
Allison Tyler Jones: Oh, yeah, for sure. Well, I’m even thinking when you said the printed card thing, I’m like, “Okay, how about if when I get this sample, can do four little five by sevens of this for my client, and I can put it in a little mini frame and put it in a box so it’s super sexy, and they can hand that out,” or whatever.
Rick Trummer: Awesome.
Allison Tyler Jones: Something that’s even more, that’s even over the top and so special. Because again, these paintings are not going to be inexpensive. And so, you’re marketing those, direct mail, absolutely. I could totally see you get some sexy little box in the mail that’s got a black ribbon on it. Oh, my gosh, it’d be amazing.
Rick Trummer: Absolutely. And again, that was my last point. We were talking about the differences between these studios, and that was my last point. Don’t stick all of your eggs in one basket when you’re getting stuff out there. Use different methods. Don’t get stuck doing one thing, because I think what happens is all too often we get into that mindset of, “Oh, I got to get this out. I got to get this out.”
Rick Trummer: And I guess, one last thing with that, is that if you are doing this correctly, you are getting all of your marketing out there, create a timeline or a calendar to put everything on so that you get everything out in the proper timeframe. And Allison, I know you are on this for sure, because you’ve got to get stuff out. All too often, I’ve walked into a studio, and I’ve made visits to thousands of studios, but I’ve walked into a studio and they just spent 10 or $12,000.00 on a beautiful marketing piece that went out, but it was two months later than what it should have been, and they didn’t get the feedback that they should have gotten because they hit it at the wrong time. So, write everything down. I always say, “If you don’t write it down, it’s a dream. If you’re going to make it a goal, put it down on a piece of paper and make sure you follow that.”
Allison Tyler Jones: Yeah, get it on the calendar.
Rick Trummer: And that’s the last thing all those successful studios are doing, is they have all of those points that we talked about, and those are the difference makers. And we’re here to help you with that. I’m very informed in all of these areas. My studio was very successful for 25 years, and I got out, because it was the time to get out. I was getting into teaching and realized it wasn’t where my love was anymore. I loved teaching, and that’s when I got into the university. So it made sense at that time.
Allison Tyler Jones: Well, I think that you’ve given us so many good tips that I think people can take away regardless of where their next new thing is. We will link your contact information in the show notes, your cell phone number so that people can call you at 7:00 at night and make your wife mad, and they can get a hold of you if they want to pursue this painter portrait situation. But I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us today and help our listeners out with their businesses regardless of what they’re doing, because I think we just can all help each other make the industry better.
Rick Trummer: Well, I so appreciate you and what you’re doing and educating the masses out there. Just fantastic work. And yeah, just forward anybody that you believe that can need some help with what we’re doing, and we’ll be able to take care of them.
Allison Tyler Jones: Okay. Thank you so much, Rick. I appreciate you.
Rick Trummer: Thank you.
Recorded: You can find more great resources from Allison at DoTheReWork.com and on Instagram at Do.The.ReWork.
