Self-Promo Likes (and Pet Peeves)… From the People You’re Sending Them To (Part 1 of 3)
12 Dec
Just to drive everyone nuts, I’ve been talking to photo editors and creative directors about what sort of promos they like enough to keep. As you hopefully know, most of the print promos they receive go straight into the recycling bin (and most e-promos aren’t opened). What makes a promo stand out enough to get pinned up on the wall of chosen ones? What promos get forwarded to the other creatives? What turns people off?d
And why should this drive you nuts? Well, as with anything creative, it’s highly subjective. Ask 5 different people, get 5 different answers. That said, there are some common themes throughout. Everyone agrees that overly gimmicky promos can’t make up for mediocre images. There’s also some consensus that personal project images make the more interesting promos.
Over the next three days I’ll be posting creatives’ thoughts. Today’s installment is magazine photo editors. Tomorrow check back for opinions from the entertainment industry (record labels, TV and book publishers). Wednesday will feature ad agency creatives.
Today’s panel:
- Rebecca Crumley, Director of Photography, TheKnot.com and The Knot Magazine
- Sacha Lecca, Senior Photo Editor, Rolling Stone
- Brenda Milis, Director of Photography, Men’s Health
- Molly Roberts, Photography Editor, Smithsonian
- Allyson Torrisi, Director of Photography, Popular Mechanics
Rebecca Crumley, Director of Photography, The Knot
“I’ll peek at the promos as I walk from my mailbox to my desk. But honestly, 99% of the time, they go straight to the recycling bin. I’d rather see an updated blog to convey the current work. This way, I know a photographer is actively shooting, staying on top of their business, and get a better sense of his or her personality. I also work in a different manner than most photo editors; I’m seeking existing images from which we’ll produce editorial content. So this ties into taking time to send promos to creative professionals of relevance to your work and of applicable needs.”
Sacha Lecca, Senior Photo Editor, Rolling Stone
DSREPS late last year (i think) sent out a large oversized set of images by Deborah Schwartz’s amazing roster of talent (see pictures of the promo in action). It certainly made an impression getting such a large set of promos. My favorite in the bunch: Fucking Flies On My Wedding Day by Jason Nocito. www.dsreps.com | www.jasonnocito.com
Cole Barash is a photographer whose work I’ve been checking out for a few years. The promo card itself is very simple. Simply designed promos stand out to me where logos, slogans, unnecessary graphics on a promo card can distract. I was able to work with Cole this year when he shot surfer Clay Marzo for us, which was great. www.colebarash.com
Mark Murrmann’s day job is photo editor of Mother Jones magazine and he is also a talented photographer. We sort of got introduced recently and he sent me his card. His live music work is great. www.markmurrmann.com
Giant Artists very recently sent out a beautifully printed book showcasing the artists they represent. I’m a big fan of Giant Artists and their roster so this is an obvious keeper. www.giantartists.com
…speaking of printed books, pamphlets or zines, Phil Jackson, is a documentary photographer out of Philly largely shooting his fellow skaters, every once in a while puts out a small zine. www.philjacksonphoto.com
…also, just this week I got a booklet by Eric Kayne featuring his work on the band Arcade Fire (-ed. note of full disclosure: I produced this promo). I like the pics though some of the design elements take away from some of the shots. (ie the white vertical lines cutting into them.) (-ed. note: fair enough!) www.erickayne.com
Alex Lake/Stem Agency: I met with a rep from Stem Agency and this card was one of their leave behinds, a photo by Alex Lake of Florence Welsh of Florence and the Machine. It’s such a gorgeous image feeling more like a cinematic film still. www.stemagency.com
Brenda Milis, Director of Photography, Men’s Health
I very much like to get promos in the mail since I check each piece of mail every day. I am much more likely to miss emails: I may open an email and get a call or have someone walk into my office and completely forget about it, having never truly looked at it. That promo mailer, in contrast, is sitting right in front of me on my desk. I feel very strongly that not a lot of money needs to go into making a good, impactful photo promotion. I think it’s important to include more than one (and hopefully several) images in your promo, be that on one card or several pieces/cards. If it’s just one great shot I might not get as strong of a sense of your shooting style, your range, and in fact you may have just gotten lucky shooting one great image!
I am really turned off by overly clever, overly produced promos that I receive (and more about that in my discussion of promo 2, below). Please have the confidence in your images to let them speak for themselves. I don’t need to make a keychain out of your promos, nor a luggage tag for that matter. Also, I really want to be able to recycle your entire promo if and when I get rid of it. I don’t want a lot of plastics and doo dads that are bad for the environment and add to waste. Our industry is wasteful enough as it is.
1. Angie Smith
Was not aware of Angie’s work until I got this promo book which is in the form of a notebook. It’s lovely and clearly wasn’t inexpensive to produce. Redux reps her and produced the promo. If Angie had sent me a single card with 3 or 4 images on it, I would have been just as happy.
Designer: http://silasdilworth.com/
Printer: Paperchase.net
2. Joseph Escamilla
Wow — I almost never took the time to open this promo. It’s a good example of overdoing it: This came as a package in a clear plastic wrapping. It was hard to make out the images because of the stuff that was attached to the images themselves. The base of package was the anatomical head figure, mostly covered with what looked like key chain tags.
The promo card was part of the package as well. The star of this promo was the stuff included which basically obscured the images which I really quite like. Very intriguing and unique imagery of artifacts which we may be able to use for stories about medically-related topics, etc.
In sum, a very annoying promo that I’m glad I took the time to open and unpack in order to see the photos. I wish that the photographer had just sent me promo cards — would have been happier and he could have saved a lot of money.
Promo Specs:
The promo was a collaboration between Rachel Ma (helloraye.com) and Joseph, with prior identity and branding having been done by Owen Gee (nicelyobserved.com). Most of the components were straight out of office supply stores, all the printed material was done in small 500 print runs by uprinting.com. 5 4×6 4/4 offset postcards. And 100 8×10 digital prints. Everything else such as labels and personal notes were all done on his laser printer. Joseph created 100 promos and have mailed about 40.
3. Dorothy Hong
Dorothy Hong’s promo cards show an intimacy, a freshness, and youthfulness that is lovely and I’m looking for the right assignment for her. She sent me a packet with 3 cards, each one had one image on it.
Promo Specs:
Designer: Dorothy designed them herself with a template she created years ago, just dropping in new photos each time
Printer: overnightprints.com
Print run: 1,000 total (4 different photos, single sided 4×6 postcards, 250 each)
Distribution List: Mailed all 4 out in 1 envelope, to 250 people. So every envelope contained 4 separate, different photos.
4. Hollis Bennett
This is a simple tri-fold mailer promo with three images on the inside and his name, website, contact info on the back. Gorgeous, medium format pix—could use for travel, documentary. Simultaneously lovely (which makes me happy) and yet appropriate for a men’s mag (which makes me happy).
Promo Specs:
5,000+ emails 6 times a year through Agency Access
Designed by Hollis and printed by Nashville-based Jive! printers. Print run around 350 tri-fold cards.
Molly Roberts, Director of Photography, Smithsonian
I live with photographer promos surrounding me and keeping me company during my work day. I recently changed my wall and posted an image by Alex Masi. Prompted by his postcard to check out his work, I found out that he had photographed the Buddhas of Bamiyan earlier and was heading back to that area. This led to my assigning Alex for a feature in the December 2010 issue of Smithsonian.
Although I love having some of these postcards and prints around me, I also lament the waste as over 70 % probably end up in the recycling bin. I prefer digital mailers at this point for conservation purposes.
Allyson Torrisi, Director of Photography, Popular Mechanics
“I think the simpler the promo the better. I have a prejudice that the more elaborate the promo , the more it is to make up for talent. Great talent will stand out on a single postcard with two images. The goal is to drive me to your website to see your work. It is more important to to have great work. Invest your time and energy into test shots, collaborating with friends. Shoot a personal story, that tells me more about who you are than a vellum envelope.”
Contributor Bios
Rebecca Crumley is one of the industry’s leading experts in wedding photography and style. In her role as Weddings Photo Director at The Knot, she is responsible for producing hundreds of Real Wedding stories featured each year in The Knot Inc. media properties through managing thousands of wedding photography submissions. Her daily interaction with photography also predicts trend forecasting and industry insight.
Sacha Lecca is a Senior Photo Editor at Rolling Stone, with over 16 years’ experience in magazine publishing, including stints at Newsweek and CMP Media.
Brenda Milis began working with photography as an art historian, receiving her B.A. at UC Berkeley and studying photo history on fellowship in the graduate division of Northwestern University. Getting her start in photo editing at Jane magazine, Brenda eventually helped launch Style.com, then moved to Santa Fe, NM to work as a photo editor at Outside magazine. She is currently the Director of Photography at Men’s Health magazine. Shoots she has produced have won awards and been featured in American Photography, SPD and the PDN photo annual.
Molly Roberts has been working in the newspaper and magazine biz for 30 years. She is currently Photography Editor at Smithsonian Magazine.
For more inspiration, feedback and contradictory opinions about self promos, check out these resources:
Rob Haggart’s APhotoEditor.com archive is a treasure trove of self-promo write ups.
PDN hosts an annual self-promo contest. You can browse the winners galleries by year for lots of inspiration and some ideas for graphic designers and printers to contact (when that info is listed which it isn’t always…)
The No Plastic Sleeves blog is all about great promos and portfolios. Tons of inspiration.
Heather Morton used to feature cool videos showing promos she had received on her now-defunct (or is it just temporarily quiet… I hope it’s the latter) blog. Here’s a fun one showing some pretty huge promos.
Fantastic Blog topic -and well written with tons of fleshy bits!
Also, it’s literally perfect timing as I’ve been wondering about what approaches are most effective when self-promoting one’s own photography work.
Kudos!
Adam Glick
Austin, TX
great post, I have been thinking and writing about this a lot over the past year and one thing seems clear. email promos are over. other than that, i guess, it’s do something you love and get it out there. it is sort of refreshing in a way. although there is less work than 2008, all bets are off. one should really do what they want, with all the available technology, anything could happen. and it probably will.
http://www.lessismoreworrell.net/2010/10/print-promo-vs-email-blast.html
Thanks Jasmine for posting up this discussion on promos. I agree that it seems there is no magic bullet. Yes emailers are less and less effective, but I still think one needs to send them . Some people LIKE to receive them. Others HAVE to look at them because it is their job. Even though my opens and click-through rates are down, I still get additional traffic to my site and sometimes generate shows or lunch meetings from my emailers. I also do snail mail pieces and I feel the same about them as well. Some people love them and some people hate them. Every once and a while I’ll do a unique promo like these http://blog.johnearly.com/2009/07/22/self-promo-entry/ . Recently my new rep put together this awesome promo. http://bit.ly/gl6yt9 Great piece, although admittedly I got in on the tag end of this one but it got alot of good press, but at a high cost. Then there’s the social media front that some photographers are working as well, and that’s a whole different ballgame with the results even murkier than all the above. Just like advertisers never quite know how to sell most effectively to consumers, photographers will always be looking for the best ways to capture interest in their work.
First, thank you to Jasmine for opening up this forum. I think it’s a really great topic to tackle, since I know many truly talented photographers who are struggling with the question: “Photo Editors: how can we reach you?”
I work as a Photo Editor in the consumer magazine industry and receive the same flood of promotional materials (emails, cold calls, postcards, posters, packages, books, etc.) as do the photo editors listed above, and I have to say I’m increasingly disappointed in fellow photo editors who say they just discard promo cards without even taking the 0.5 seconds it takes to look at them.
At least 10-15% of OUR job as photo editors is to always be on the lookout for new and fresh talent. Throwing out 99% of these printed promo cards after barely looking at them? I don’t even know what to say to that.
I do try to honestly look at as much work as possible. If an email promo comes in from an unfamiliar name, I’ll make the effort to click on it. However, we have a very scrupulous spam filter, so many mass emails get blocked.
If I get a physical promo, I look at it (maybe not right away, but at least once a week). I like postcards the best – either in clear plastic sleeves so I don’t have to open an envelope to see an image, or naked. 8.5×11″ and under, so they’re easy to file. I don’t like posters because I don’t have the space for them, and if I fold them, I can’t see the entire image anyway.
Booklets (and other “extravagants”) are okay, but unnecessary and I recognize they’re expensive to produce. A tri-fold postcard with multiple images accomplishes the same goal and entices me to go to your site to see more…or better yet, TO CALL YOU IN!
nice write up. i guess there is truly no one good option for promos.
BTW…Angie Smith’s link is wrong. It takes you to a ANGELA SMITH, not Angie Smith. This is a great opportunity to promote Angie’s work but someone else is getting the attention.
Excellent article – thank you so much for sharing this!
@danny thanks for letting me know about Angie’s link. It’s fixed.
@john, I agree that e-promos are necessary even if the response rate isn’t what it used to be. I usually advise people to save them for the few times a year they actually have some news to report… like a new book or exhibition or personal project. Instead of just sending one image and a link to your site every month… that is just overkill.
Jasmine, Thanks so much for gathering the variety of responses. My 2011 budget is leaning more toward the personal touch and simple cards – I too am seeing the email promo open rates drop but it is still significant enough to keep as part of the myriad of ways to get the work and word out: social media, awards, shows, articles, portals. Maybe you will touch on this at some point but I’m curious to hear how the editors and buyers use and experience the growing number of portals. From Foundfolio to Altpick to Photoserve to the industry search portals (APA, ASMP) to the higher level Workbook and At-Edge to Wonderful Machine. Just keeping up with freshening galleries across a dozen portfolio portals is a lot of work.
Great topic, nice to see that PE’s seem to still be really attractedt o personal projects, and by simple campaigns focused on the imagery (less on whistles and bells). Very helpful. Looking forward to the future installments!
@kevin that’s a good idea for a future write up… there are so many great portals (and some that are so impossible to search that I wonder why anyone pays to be in them anymore) that it’s getting out of hand.
@sarina I love that people are feeling the ‘less is more’ vibe too. Doesn’t it seem that the promos with the bells and whistles tend to win the contests and get blogged about everywhere though?
It’s hard to know what works and what doesn’t–it’s great to hear feedback straight from the horses mouths.
Thanks for doing the research and sharing. I look forward to your next post.
A great post! Based on my impressions of the various PE responses, we creatives need to make sure we put ourselves out there in multiple channels, while making sure we stay “on topic”.
As an industry, we suffer from the same overwhelming clutter of information overload that every other industry is facing with regards to marketing.
Some potential clients are willing to open emails, some are more inclined to look at printed pieces and others can be best reached by networking.
We need to be doing it all effectively. Which means better planning on our part, more research and, above all, consistency.
Come to think of it, with the exception of a few new “channels”, not all that different than the days of yore!
Really great post, very helpful! Thanks!
Good stuff Jasmine, especially since these things are so difficult to track after they go out. Coincidentally, we first spoke after you received a promo from me….ha!
What you’re trying to do is peak the interest of the editor. For gosh sakes don’t send out boring pictures. Environmental portraits of businessmen are boring. Plus you need to focus who you’re sending them to.
I’m Photo Director for two magazines with a combined circulation over 2M. We don’t run environmental portraits of businessmen. I understand some magazines do. OTH, you don’t need to focus completely on what I DO publish. Make it interesting, make it great.
The best promo I ever received? A brown business size envelope with my name address, etc on front. Open it up and it’s a piece (literally) of lined notebook paper ripped out of the notebook with a website rubberstamped on it. It was impossible not to go to the website and check it out. Totally whacky website and it was great.
Think about a photo editor sitting at a desk with a ton of deadline work, mail and eMail. What’s going to standout and get his/her attention?
Good luck.
Hello Jasmine,
great information, nice to have a peek inside the receivers brain, thank you for sharing this, i’m looking forward to part 3.
Greetings from the Netherlands!
Really enjoyable post. I’m a art director and photographer, and the line that stood out most to me was Rebecca Crumley’s “I’d rather see an updated blog to convey the current work.” As much as I love and appreciate the art of the printed promo and don’t think its going to go away anytime soon, it seems to me that maintaining a timely blog/site is really the most relevant way to convey your vision/personality.
PS – Jasmine, thanks for all the awesome visuals, very inspiring!
Thanks for the great post. I think simplicity and consistency are more effective than fads and gimmicks, Unless you are the innovator.
Should have done this far earlier, but in case you want to see an example of what not to send to Men’s Health, you can see the actual promo piece on my blog.
http://www.josephescamilla.com/datalog/
Perhaps it is too much, but it’s not all the bells and whistles. It’s certainly not a lunchbox filled with diet cokes and cigars!
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/03/09/cool-photographer-promo-lands-serious-interest-from-clients/
In the end she looked at it, and checked out the site. That same promo landed me first meetings with several publications and agencies who said they loved it.
So to each their own.