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Author Topic: Promoting your portfolio  (Read 5222 times)

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« on: September 18, 2008, 01:59 »
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Hi guys,
I am in the microstock industry for 3 months now.  :P I am getting some downloads with not so big portfolio (average about 50 photos), but I am trying to increase it around 200 pics until the end of the year.
I was wondering how do you promote your portfolios? I mean iStock has lightboxes, 123RF has Fave images, Dreamstime offers blogs. What else are you using to promote your ports to a wider group of potential buyers?

Any info will be highly appreciated.


« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2008, 07:50 »
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You don't need to promote your portfolio! It's all a waste of time.
Better spend your time on producing stuff that sells, and it will cream to the top all by itself!  8)

« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2008, 06:30 »
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You don't need to promote your portfolio! It's all a waste of time.
Better spend your time on producing stuff that sells, and it will cream to the top all by itself!  8)
TNX Gregor909!
I think little promotion would not be useless, but you are absolutely right that, if you pics are great they will be selling like crazy. :)

« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2008, 07:35 »
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I agree that you should concentrate the majority of your time on producing images to add to your portfolio.

However, I COMPLETELY disagree that you shouldn't promote it at all.

I promote my stock footage video portfolio like crazy and I have seen a HUGE return from my time investment on promoting it.

I started heavily promoting it 3 months ago and I have gone from zero referrals (and zero referral revenue) to over 40 referrals as of yesterday.  I've also had numerous sales directly attributed to my promotion efforts.

Again, your MAIN FOCUS should be on producing new images.  But if you're home all day (bad weather, bad hair, whatever) with little to do, spending some time promoting your work is not a waste of time.

As for methods...  It depends a lot on what your subjects are and what your target audience is.  For me, I actually paid $200 to do a mass mailing to 4000 television stations and small production companies in the U.S. and Canada.  Two weeks after my mailing I had $600 in sales (prior to my mailing, my best month was $90 in sales).  And I continue to see steady sales ever since.

« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2008, 08:11 »
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I was talking about microstock only! The microstock agencies do all the marketing. And they spend way more than a few hundred bucks.
The only thing you have to do is make sure you end up high in the search results, and the only way to do that is by producing stuff that sells!

« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2008, 09:11 »
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I was talking about microstock only! The microstock agencies do all the marketing. And they spend way more than a few hundred bucks.
The only thing you have to do is make sure you end up high in the search results, and the only way to do that is by producing stuff that sells!

Again, I mostly agree with you.  However, like I said I don't think it would hurt.  If my stuff were of sufficient quality, I would probably mail a custom postcard to the illustration departments for all of the top print media outlets on a monthly basis.  One good EL sale would probably cover the cost.

And Microstock agencies market THEMSELVES, not their contributors.  It's important for you to get YOUR images in front of buyers.  If your stuff is not showing up well in search engines (or sites are monkeying with their search formulas {grin}), doing your own marketing might help.

In your case, your portfolios are probably large enough and of outstanding enough quality that you don't need to bother.  But others like the OP are not in the same boat.

« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2008, 09:48 »
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Again, I mostly agree with you.  However, like I said I don't think it would hurt. 
I think it would. All the time you spend trying to promote your work, should better be spend on producing imagery. And I said "trying" because in the end it is Shutterstock who decides who gets in their lightbox, and it is Istock who decides who becomes image of the week etc etc etc.....
there is very little you can do to promote your work on microstock sites!

And Microstock agencies market THEMSELVES, not their contributors.
Ofcourse they do, they market their work!

It's important for you to get YOUR images in front of buyers.
That is correct. And the best way to do that is to produce imagery buyers want!

If your stuff is not showing up well in search engines..........
Then it's time to start working on improving your skills, to produce better quality.

In your case, your portfolios are probably large enough and of outstanding enough quality that you don't need to bother.  But others like the OP are not in the same boat.
Nope, just a tiny one. And Im still in the learning process to produce more quality.  :)


« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2008, 10:51 »
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I think it is a waste of time to promote your micro portfolio.

It is another different thing to promote referrals, something that can become very rewarding.


 

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