It’s time to bust out the Santa Hat, crank up  “Jingle Bell Rock” and jump into the holiday groove because we just heard

the elves have started polishing the sleigh!

Remember most clients want their cards mailed by Thanksgiving. That means you’re working on an eight-week timetable between mid September and mid November to order samples, create holiday packages, schedule sittings and  orders placed! The holid ays are generally a highly profitable time of year for the industry. It makes sense to be prepared.

Pounds offers one of the most comprehensive selections of holiday greeting cards you’ll find anywhere. There’ s really something to suit every style and taste. Our design team has just added new options for cards and gift tags that you won’t want to miss.

Enhance your card orders with our holiday products and create memorable packages that will keep your customers talking! Gift Tags are an essential add-on and our Holiday Funpacks are

alw

ays a big hit. Holiday Wallet Magnets make absolutely terrific stocking stuffersand are a great client give away. One of the most exciting holiday products is our Pewter Ornament. This is a beautiful, memorable, personal item and it’s durable! Remind your clients that it’s a good idea to order several, so when they’re faced with an unexpected holiday guest they’ve always got a gift solution on hand!

Press Books and Metal Prints are extremely popular seasonal gifts. Contour Metal has just been released and is bound to be a runaway hit!  Be sure to look through our entire novelty line. You’ll find creative gift ideas and great stocking stuffers.

Our new leather line will make holiday shopping even easier with a wide range of products to suit everyone from grandma to the babysitter. If you have not seen these terrific leather items yet, order a sample today. You won’t believe how beautiful they are until you see them!

Pounds offers one stop shopping for your clients and everyone on their Christmas list. Why bother with long lines, crowded parking lots or spending hours online looking for the perfect present? Pounds can solve every gift need. Make this your best season yet, and make it easy on yourself with a little holiday help from Pounds!

Don’t forget the great thing about getting organized and on top of the season is that you’re able to take advantage of the Pounds Holiday Promo that runs until September 30th!

Michelle Seigerman is a mover and a shaker. While moving comes with the territory of being a military wife, shaking things up is what she does naturally. Seigerman, owner of Ages and Stages Photography, shook up her own life while living in England a few years ago.

“It began as a hobby,” Seigerman said. “After having my son I needed to do something for myself, something creative.” Living the military lifestyle, far away from home, families are constantly trying to keep in touch. Kids are growing up fast, away from relatives, and sending photos to loved ones back home becomes a priority.  Seigerman had an epiphany.

“It’s hard to afford things off base,” Seigerman said. “I’ve always loved photography and I thought it would be great to offer our troops an affordable option for family photos.” Working with military regulations means you have to be resourceful when it comes to marketing. “You can’t advertise on a military installation but you can set up as a vendor when thereare Bazaars on base,” she said. Seigerman went to work.

She created business cards, got on the Internet to figure out pricing and set up a package deal for her photographs. “ I set up a cute fall scene with a backdrop and thought maybe I’d get a few people. I ended up swamped the whole weekend!”

Seigerman was off and running.

Business was booming and she had a steady clientele. Of course the life of a military wife is always in transition and in 2009, the family moved again.  Seigerman is now shaking things up in San Antonio, Texas!

“There’s a lot more competition,” Seigerman said. However, a whole new world of marketing opportunities opened up because they were no longer living on a military base.  “I initially tried mailing out postcards and putting them at local businesses but did not get an overwhelming response,” she said. Next came an ad in a neighborhood mailer and a small response. Seigerman started thinking.  She’d joined Facebook in England but once back in America realized the value of social media as a great business marketing tool. “I’m a big fan of Groupon,” she said.  “So I did an ad with them and that really got my name out there. People responded right away.  Once you get a client base, word of mouth goes a long way.”

Seigerman also offers deals and discounts and holds contests. “People really respond to contests,” she said.   You always have to be thinking when you move around. It’s all working for Seigerman. “Business is right where I want it to be now,” she said.

Seigerman is always thinking about the next marketing plan but she has found balance in her life.

With two children and a full time career that may sound impossible but she has it figured out.  “I shoot when my kids are in school and I don’t work every weekend. We need family time.” Being a parent and a former teacher has actually helped Seigerman with her work. “I’ve got more patience,” she said. “I love children and that shows. I love the art and creativity of photography and capturing a family naturally. I shoot in a photojournalistic style and people respond to that, it’s the way we like to see ourselves.”

So what happens when duty calls the family to another destination ? “Have camera, will travel, “ Seigerman said. “That’s the way it’s got to be!”

Shooting weddings is a calling. It isn’t easy. You deal with hopes, dreams and raw emotions. Everyone has expectations. Not only does the passion and love have to be captured, so does the energy and spirit of each couple. Portland photographer Eric Holland and his team at Holland Studios have figured out how to capture it all and they do it exceptionally well.

POUNDS: What inspired Eric to become a wedding photographer?
HOLLAND STUDIOS: Eric loves to talk! He really gets to know people and what makes them tick. He has a unique ability to translate that into images that capture each couple and tell their story. In fact that is what we love the most about wedding photography. We’re storytellers.

POUNDS: There is a terrific energy to your images. You seem to be able to bridge the gap of what is “expected” by the parents and what is” desired” by the bride and groom.

HOLLAND STUDIOS: We encourage our clients to allow us to shoot their engagement session.  This allows us to build a relationship with them right from the beginning.  We shoot what we see but we also shoot what we feel. Of course we make sure to get the “expected” shots of faces and smiles and that builds trust for the parents.  Once a couple sees their engagement session photos, they fall in love with the images. That’s when they begin to trust us to capture their wedding day, their love story.

POUNDS: Tell us a little bit about your process.

HOLLAND STUDIOS: We schedule a details meeting with our clients before each wedding. We use two photographers for most of our weddings so we can cover every angle of the whole look and feel of the wedding. Holl and Studios has four photographers and each has a second shooter they like to work with. Listening is vital.

We go over the flow of the day and really listen. Then we’re able to hear what is most important and make that the focus of our job.  We understand our clients before the wedding so we exceed their expectations.

We’re able to combine our dream and style with their needs, make it work together and create a perfect, complete story.

POUNDS: How much does the location dictate your shots?
HOLLAND STUDIOS: Looking for light and angles drives us more than the location.  You can always find the “right” spot, even if the venue is not what you would think. We work at so many venues that we can switch from urban architecture to a vineyard in a day.

POUNDS: What is the best advice you can give a bride and groom
about being photographed ?
HOLLAND STUDIOS: Choose a photographer whose work you love and that you’ re comfortable with. If you are not comfortable and you don’t communicate with your photographer, it will show in the images.

POUNDS: Do you have a favorite wedding memory that stands out in your mind?
HOLLAND: Yes, an amazing story. This particular groom and bride were each recovering from marriages that did not last.  They hadn’t met one another yet. Both were in their homes on the same Sunday morning, watching the same program on television.  It was a wedding show that featured Eric as a vendor. They both decided if they were ever to marry again, they would hire Eric.  Well, of course they met, and fell in love. When they began talking about wedding plans they each had a “must have” photographer in mind and that was Eric!

POUNDS: What advice would you give a new wedding photographer, just beginning their career?
HOLLAND: Master your skills. Go to conventions and seminars. Join associations. Walk away from each event with a new idea that you can use to better yourself and your business. Once you’re established, give back to your profession.

Most of all do what you love and love what you do.

POUNDS: What inspires you?
HOLLAND STUDIOS: Our clients, new products, new camera gear, and the spirit of competition! Every day is a new day. Every new day brings the opportunity to see and create.

Facebook is a phenomenon. It has changed the way we communicate, the way we promote and the way we market. According to Chris Treadaway, author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day, Facebook has over 400 million worldwide users.

“Taken down to the local level, though, this means that Facebook might just already have more reach in the community than any other media outlet,” Treadaway said. “Facebook is trying to become the first place people visit when logging into their computers every morning.

The site that leads this battle carries the most online leverage.”

On April 21st, Facebook announced a web-wide “like” button that shares a user’s activity with a single click. It’s easy to see Facebook gaining even more ground with the new sharing and recommendation functionality.

What does this mean for the photography industry? It means if you are not using Facebook for marketing, you’re missing a huge potential client base.

Where do we get business? Networking, pure and simple. Word of mouth in the photography industry is everything. Bridal photographers know that one bride can lead to twenty more. The unmarried members of the bridal party are potential clients, but so are all of the other guests! They will all refer you; they will “network” you, and you’ ll stay busy! Whatever your specialty, the majority of business is derived from networking.

Think of Facebook as one big bridal party, one big sporting event or one big graduation ceremony. Everyone is talking. You want them to be talking about your photographs!

Facebook has to be the easiest marketing tool ever invented. It’s simple to create a fan page for your business. Upload a brief paragraph about your studio, then add beautiful photos, client testimonials and a link to your website. You’ll want to update Facebook more frequently than your blog. Don’t worry; updates take a lot less time than blogs! You can update daily or a couple of times a day. The great thing about using Facebook  as a marketing tool is  that you will receive an email every time someone comments on your page. Facebook basically reminds you to log in and comment back!
Facebook offers a readymade audience, and they are your local targeted demographic. Clients are already looking for you there, and they need to find

you there.

If you haven’t st arted a fan page for your studio yet, do it today. The impact and reach of Facebook is impossible to ignore.