Academy of Photography
membership system launch
Academy of Photography is offering photographers around the world the chance to become a member of our community
- For passionate amateurs photographers willing just to have a good outlet for their passion, a place share ideas and knowledge or help other people
- For professional photographers seeking a better presence in the market and have an extra marketing tool to impress their clients
Background:
As a professional photographer, I have spent many hours with people coming to me directly in the attempt to find out if I am the right photographer for them. It is called the consultation process and this is your best chance to get new clients to purchase your product and services, in my case photography and video. after many years of experience I have noticed that a large percentage of them do not know and cannot differentiate between good and bad photography, as they do not have any interest in their normal lives. And this is normal as one should not expect everyone to be specialist in their own fields. It is like my going to buy a wine, I do not know anything about it, and I will ask for guidance from people who do know and I can trust. I usually never trust the salesmen directly in front of me, as his or her interest is getting me to open my wallet and close a deal on the spot.
I have a question for you:
- did you ever buy a product or service that you did not know anything about?
- would it influence your buying decision the advice from more knowledgeable friends
- did you ever come to buy something that you did not know anyone knowing anything about it?
- would you be relieved to find out that product and service won awards, is endorsed by specialist, have stars and logo of them with prizes and awards. If you do not have a clue about that, you might at least believe that someone tested and appreciated the product and that will influence your buying behaviour
- would you rather employ an accountant member of the accountant association in your country or just a freelance one, if you do not anything about any of them
One think I know us that I buy wine sometimes based on the number of star stickers on the bottle
Now, let;s talk facts. I have noticed a number of people are coming to me because I am a member of a local Bridal Industry Association which I had to pay a yearly membership fee and they allowed me to use their logo on my website and marketing material. I was amazed that helped with my sales, despite the fact that membership does not make me a better or worse photographer, but people do not see that. They see the membership, and they are more inclined to buy assuming that I must be good at this since I have an endoresment. I have other examples, were awards, membership plaques, certificates are playing their role in the minds of people trying to employ a photographer. And that is valid to any business in any type. The problem is that there are many business and associations which are more than happy to take your money and do not have any quality system of selection as the concept is commercially driven, and not quality. you might end up paying a lot of money for this and at the end of the day
I understand all of that and here is how I can help anyone out there trying to improve their chances to impress that percentage of people reacting positively to this kind of marketing, as it is a marketing tool at the end of the day
Academy of Photography membership will be earned and not paid. This will be a quality driven process and at the end you will be better off this way
The concept – being a member benefits
We are introducing a 3steps membership system and it will be earned by your contribution with articles written by you on any photography topic you are passionate about. So, you write an article about something that you love and want to share it with the world, send it to us, get it published and you will become a member. You can use the membership with the logos for your website, email newsletters, online profile, marketing tools. The membership will mean that you are a photographer connected to the community and your interest in this field is recognised. Our membership is only for people with quality skills and i will make sure of that. The membership will give you prestige in the photography community, weight, and you will be also rewarded with links to your website, traffic and attention from other members. This is a win-win situation for everyone and the idea about this is that there is no financial requirements here to prevent the real quality to get through. if you are a professional. having a logo on the website will attract more people and improve your chances to close business, as described above there are people out there reacting to that.
So in a nutshell you will gain a SILVER membership for 3 quality articles , GOLD for 5 articles, and PLATINUM for 10.
All the articles must be:
- photography related
- original written by you and a topic of your choice
- must include at least one lo res image with 450 pixels on the horizontal side
- at least 600 words words
- you can include links to your work or other references
Articles will not be accepted if:
- blurb, spam, and low quality text just to get a link
- affiliate programs acceptable only if the quality of the article can bring value to our readers
- no copy paste or duplicated content
How to start
send us your first article to contact[AT] academy-of-photography.com
(please retype the address directly into your emailing program using the @ symbol properly – this is to avoid spam for us )
The post Academy of Photography membership launch appeared first on Academy of Photography.