HOW TO STAND UP TO BIG CORPORATE STOCK AGENCIES...
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The Great Equalizer
Can you compete with the large corporate stock agencies? Yes, you can become a monopoly.
"A monopoly?" you say. "Me, become a monopoly?"
My WEBSTER'S tells me a monopoly is a "commodity controlled by one party..." Translated to our stock photography industry on the World Wide Web, that means if you have very extensive photo coverage of one subject -- you have a mini-monopoly. When photobuyers are meeting a deadline and are up against a stone wall trying to locate a specific picture, you are the Knight on a White Horse when you can supply them with that highly specific photo. Monopolies already exist in stock photography. As an example, my friend Flip Schulke has a near-monopoly of photos of Martin Luther King Jr. When photobuyers need photos of the civil rights leader, guess who they turn to? You may already have an emerging monopoly of highly specialized photos: insects, daffodils, table tennis, giraffes, and so on.
HOW TO DO IT.
In the world of commerce, marketing people say, "Find a need and fill it." In the creative world, we say, "Determine what I love to photograph and find buyers who need that." In other words, if wild horses couldn't pull you away from your avid interest in some subject area, you have discovered where you can easily become a monopoly. Why? Because you don't have to worry about failing at it. You'll fail sometimes but you won't quit. If you really love what you're doing, you won't mind failing until you get it right. Begin now to ask yourself where your interest area(s) is (are). If it's animals, examine your photos. Do you lean toward certain animals? Domestic? Wild? North American? European? African? Asian? Be specific, because when photobuyers come calling, they will be looking for a specific animal (Abyssinian cat, dromedary camel, etc.), not animals in general. When photobuyers can target their search on the Internet, they will avoid large general stock photo agencies that probably won't have a broad selection in their interest area to choose from. They'll go to you with your highly specific file and up-to-date depth of coverage that gives a variety of choices. This approach results in you "automatically" developing an in-depth historical collection. Most commercial stock agencies (because of space and storage considerations) throw out-dated pictures away. You have the capability to save them, let them mature, and feature them later as historical photos.
And how do you know when you've achieved "monopoly" status? When you find your marketing posture has become a "them-coming-to-me" system. You may find you have three or four "monopolies." You can build your files in those areas.
HOW TO BE UNIQUE
Uniqueness is like beauty. Uniqueness can be in the eye of the beholder. What one photobuyer will consider unique, another will consider commonplace. From a marketing point of view, you can use this truism to your advantage, and position yourself and your photography to be considered unique.
Here's how. First of all, choose a vertical market to work in. The Law of Probability is not on your side if you try to be unique to the whole world. Choose an area you love working in: aviation, medicine, zoology, children, etc. Photograph only in the area(s) you choose. Resist the temptation to photograph in areas outside your specialties. You are now making your photography and yourself unique. You are building a monopoly.
Here's how "uniqueness" comes in. Let's say one of your specialties is zebras. Photobuyer "A" (who works out of Dublin, Ireland) is looking for pictures of World War II airplanes. He searches the Web for sites that feature planes, especially World War II vintage. Incidentally, he's not looking for pictures at this point; we all know what a World War II plane looks like. He's looking for names of photographers who have WWII aviation photos. Because your specialty is zebras, you are passed over. No sale.
Tomorrow, the same photobuyer "A" is looking for zebras. He is seeking someone with a large collection who has been in Africa within the last three years. Guess who he finds on the Web? Yesterday your pictures were not unique, today they are. You have become a very important resource to that photobuyer in Ireland who is willing to pay you $800 for a cover shot.
Once you understand this rationale, your marketing will surge forward.
WATCH OUT FOR TRITE
CAUTION: Even within a vertical market, don't fall into the trap of believing that if your photo is "cute" it is therefore unique. Many times a brilliant idea (e.g. a kitten hanging for dear life on a clothesline) will be copied and recopied in various styles, turning what might have been unique into something trite.
Here, then, are the elements: a.) choose a vertical market and shoot in a specialized area(s) b.) have a substantial collection in that specialty(s) for photobuyers to choose from, and c.) run, don’t walk. Put your specialties up on the Web so that buyers can find you. On the Web, you’ll be able to link your site to other like-minded areas on the Web.
Incidentally, linking your specialty on the old-fashioned, character-based Internet services wasn't fruitful in the past, because photo editors seldom, if ever, used Internet FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites for searching for photos. Now, in contrast, the speed of search on the Web (and its ease of use), is attracting photo editors and researchers.
Photobuyers, once they realize the search power of the Web, are going to be using it to find you. Editors don't look for pictures, they look for subject matter. If you have their subject matter, you are going to hook up with a buyer -- a relationship that may last a lifetime. -RE
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