Take Technology Out of Your Brand!

IMAGE FROM STUDIODAILY.COM

As photographers, we are living in one of the most exciting times since the creation of the internet. In normal everyday life, we are always looking for the newest Getting Things Done app, better diet options, new processes, the list goes on and on. Within the last couple of years, as it relates to our photography industry, there have been so many things to be introduced on the internet that are aimed at helping us become better photographers…OR should I say business people? There are numerous video storage and streaming sites to house our hot promo videos, new processes and actions for Lightroom, Facebook and it’s many flavors, MySpace (if that’s still your thing), Forums…Forums…Forums… and oh yeah Forums, iPhone apps, BLOGS, and don’t even think I am going to forget to mention one of the biggest marketing tools to hit the internet and that is TWITTER and the 1,500 iPhone apps for it (ok, maybe not that many).

My point is this, all of what I mentioned above should be used as a tool and should not be used as a way to mask the nuts and bolts of our business which is PHOTOgraphy. Most of these “tools” have allowed us to really live in cyberspace with whatever persona we have chosen to create and that is totally COOL. But we have to continually think of our clients first. And in doing so, the photographs that we deliver should be of the highest quality and standards that we have set for ourselves.  When the smoke clears and you strip away all of the geekdom techy internet stuff from our business model, our photography should still be able to stand and hold it’s own. We should use technology to promote our brands, not to be our brands. I for one participate in blogging, twittering, Facebook etc but I have had to make sure that it is continually with a purpose and to make sure I spend just as much time or even more time working on my true passion which is photography.