Photography and Marketing

If you earn money from making photographs you need to market yourself. Watch this video to learn from a top professional corporate photographer how to go about it.

Neil Warner (61) is passionate about photography and marketing. And his credentials in both fields are second to none. Highly regarded by customers and competitors alike, Neil is president of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) and boasts an impressive list of photography prizes, clients and academic qualifications. He lives in Galway, Ireland. While Galway is a long way from the centre of Europe it is, as he says, "a part of Europe close to America" and why "I look to the New World for inspiration and to Europe for my background."

Neil's combined photographic and marketing skills first blossomed at school, where he ran the school camera club at a profit. Later he studied marketing and now says that 70 cents of every euro he earns can be put down to marketing. "It's useless having wonderful pictures in your drawer or filing cabinet if they're not working for you."

Neil describes how he researches his clients in depth in order to be able to meet their needs, which are often different to what they think they want! He gives advice on how to become an industry expert in the clients' field of business as well as on keeping ahead of the competition from younger colleagues. Take part in competitions for example. It keeps you alert to changing styles and techniques and it keeps you in touch with other professionals and art photographers.

Neil goes into the significance of our own web sites and what we can learn about the market from the number of clicks on different pages and images. In this way, for example, he discovered a huge demand by companies for 2-3 minute videos for their web sites. "We're in the new economy and we're not going back." He also advises us to show images on our web sites that match, in terms of time and cost, what we can do for clients. Otherwise the client will expect to get the same quality from you as the prize-winning gems that took weeks of effort to create.

Neil maintains that we should look to get four things from our studios: 1) a living, 2) security for a spouse or partner, 3) an education for the kids and 4) vacations and further education for ourselves. And the biggest compliment a client can give you is a fat cheque.

"Enjoy yourself," Neil ends by saying, "It's the best job in the world".

The interview with Neil Warner is interspersed with images he has made.