Seeing samples and hearing examples of successful marketing pieces and campaigns can give you inspiration for your own marketing. See what past AN-NE Marketing Awards winners (from 2005-2008) did with their marketing:
BEST FAMILY & CHILDREN CAMPAIGN
David & Ally McKay - McKay Photography - El Dorado Hills, CA
Read about this winning campaign.
An invention by necessity. That’s what David and Ally McKay called their 2008 “Fusion Marketing” campaign. I’d say they work well under pressure—that campaign not only won them the 2008 Best Family & Children Campaign from the AN-NE Marketing Awards, it’s also responsible for 90 percent of their business.
BEST HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR CAMPAIGN
Barbara Barry - In-Vision Studio, Inc. - Pittsburgh, PA
Read about this winning campaign.
“Always put your best foot forward.” That’s the most important marketing aspect to Barbara and Stephen Barry of In-Vision Studio, Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pa. “We are judged by our marketing first. If we can show the customer we pay attention to details there, it translates into a level of caring and service that will be directed toward them later.”
Barbara and Stephen walked this talk in their own marketing last year, landing the AN-NE Marketing Award for Best High School Senior Campaign. In fact, that entry was In-Vision’s first real campaign for the senior market.
BEST IMAGE MARKETING CAMPAIGN 
Farrah Braniff - Farrah Braniff Photographs - Houston, TX
Read about this winning campaign.
“You are who you are,” Farrah Braniff says simply. Photographers always aim to capture the original, authentic self. But, she admits, it’s hard to translate your own identity into marketing pieces. Hard, but not impossible.
Previously, Braniff’s marketing, packaging, and website had a more formal and traditional feel. She knew that image wasn’t true to her or her photography’s style, so she began a major design rehaul with a website that won a 2007 AN-NE Marketing Award. More recently, she entered the rest of her new marketing pieces, winning the 2008 AN-NE Marketing Award for Best Image Marketing Campaign.
BEST INDIVIDUAL MARKETING PIECE & WINNER OF THE EMERGING PRO AWARD
David & Bonnye Barron - Barron & Barron Photography - League City, TX
Read the story behind this awe-inspiring price list.
Many photographers just want to go where their creativity takes them. But as you’ll see with our featured AN-NE Marketing Award winners, a plan can help you take that creativity to new levels. In fact, the plan and resulting entry by Barron & Barron Photography, owned by David and Bonnye Barron of Texas, took home the top prize in both of our new categories: Best Individual Marketing Piece and the 2008 Emerging Pro Award (awarded to a rising marketing star in business 5 years or less).
BEST ONLINE MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Wendy Rouleau - Portraits by Wendy - Buford, GA
Read about this winning email campaign.
Online forms of marketing have become increasingly popular. After all, many of your clients are online in various places, often making it ideal for your messages.
But that popularity can have its downside, as Wendy Rouleau of Portraits by Wendy admits. “Keeping everything updated is overwhelming!” she notes. “I think having all those options [to use in marketing] starts to dilute the power of any one format.”
The key is in understanding what your customers want and where they get their information. That perception helped Rouleau create an e-mail campaign that won her the Best Online Marketing Campaign in the 2008 AN-NE Marketing Awards. “What you can do is not the important thing,” she explains, speaking of all the options for getting the message out to clients. “What’s important is to consider the best tool for reaching your target client.”
BEST USE OF MULTIMEDIA
Beth Forester - Beth Forester Photography - Madison, WV
Read about this winning idea...using iTunes podcasts for high school senior clients.
Although almost everyone is now feeling the effects of a slowing economy, Beth Forester says her area of Madison, W.Va., seems to have been in a recession since the ‘40s. And yet, she’s going strong. What’s the secret to her business survival and marketing successes? It’s as simple (and complex) as knowing her target market…and the best ways to reach them. This knowledge helped the owner of Beth Forester Photography gain the 2008 AN-NE Marketing Award for Best Use of Multimedia with iTunes podcasts for seniors.
BEST WEBSITE
Melissa Miroslavich - Miroslavich Photography - Woodbury, MN
The familiarity between online and physical spaces is a subtle marketing ploy—it makes clients feel more at home. But establishing that connection with a website is easier to say than do! A website brings with it a host of additional considerations, as Melissa Miroslavich of Miroslavich Photography discovered.
BEST WEDDING CAMPAIGN
Christa Hoffarth - South Lake Tahoe, CA
Read about this winning campaign.
Christa Hoffarth is always trying to “mix things up.” But one thing she hasn’t changed is her success rate in marketing competitions. For the second year in a row, Hoffarth took top prize in the Best Wedding Campaign category for the 2008 AN-NE Marketing Awards.
Starting this year, each winner received a full-page Professional Photographer magazine article about their entry and their marketing methods. Those articles are reproduced here:
The 2006 AN-NE Award Winners balanced research and creativity in marketing pieces that proved successful with great bottom-line results. They did not take blind shots in the dark, hoping to reach someone. Instead, they took careful aim at their market, accepting nothing less than a bulls-eye. As Henry David Thoreau once said, “In the long run, men hit what they aim at.”
The annual AN-NE competition, open to PPA members only, recognizes outstanding ingenuity and effectiveness in real-world marketing endeavors.
JULIA WOODS: Best Family & Children Campaign
With a unique approach, Portrait Life’s Julia Woods, Cr.Photog., of Washington, IL,won the AN-NE Award in the Family & Children campaign category. Challenged to create marketing ideas for 3 new children’s sessions, Woods emphasized the experience in each: a custom baby album featuring 4 sessions and the parents’ written memories; a ViewMaster with favorite images for the 1-5 year olds; and an iPOD with a video montage of a preteen’s session. Woods even held a launch party to introduce clients to her new packages. Her materials and promotions generated the desired buzz, and increased sales across all three markets.
JULIA WOODS: Best Senior Campaign
Julia Woods also wanted to appeal to high school seniors’ tastes and show them how they could save money on their sessions. To find the right angle, she studied magazines designed for seniors and incorporated the “organic approach” of using brick walls and natural backgrounds. With this idea, the team designed their own backdrop for promotional images and regular sessions. In addition, Woods helped design the style for the pricing brochure, leading readers to open the brochure in a certain procession. Her focus on finding the right approach helped her win the AN-NE Award in the Senior campaign category.
KATHERINE HOLCOMBE: Best Wedding Campaign
Wedding campaign category winner Katherine Holcombe, ABI, of Peter Holcombe Photography in Lafayette, CO, knew she needed a strong marketing piece to push the studio onto the preferred photographers list of more wedding venues. Using their research on the wedding photography market, Holcombe created a piece that stood out: a brochure of basic information housed in an elegant tin, along with an informational DVD. Visibility at just one venue resulted in great success! For instance, one place moved them to the top of the preferred photographer list and contracted with them for another brochure, among other perks. Holcombe measured this campaign as having an 88% success rate.
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”~Stuart Henderson
SANDY PUC': Best Image Marketing Campaign
You don’t often imagine a shopping bag design working with newsletters and pricing brochures to send the same message. But that is why Sandy Puc’, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, ABI, of Expressions by Sandy Puc’ in Littleton, CO, cornered the AN-NE Award in the Image Marketing category. Together, she and her marketing department designed collateral material with a uniform style, branding them in the community and invoking emotional responses. By coordinating their boxes, bags, letterhead, note cards, pricelists, and newsletters, Puc’ strengthened the studio’s image as classy and upscale. And the fact that she spent so much attention on individual pieces—not just professional communication materials—bolsters the image of exceptional and gracious customer service. Her customers cannot wait to hear from her, proving that she hit her target…a bulls-eye.
SANDY PUC': Best Print Advertising
Sandy Puc’ also illustrates a perfect process for designing marketing around the intended audience: researching magazines to find the one that fits your demographics perfectly; compiling emotional images and content of the session you want to market; and placing those ads in the magazine. That is what Puc’ did to win the AN-NE in the Print Advertising category. When they researched the Buzz in the ‘burbs magazine, Puc’s team knew they had found their market. And with the carefully analyzed ad that featured the magic of childhood, Puc’ enticed parents to schedule appointments and capture the essence of their own children…like those in the ad.
DAVID DEJONGE: Best Promotional Campaign
David DeJonge of DeJonge Studio in Grand Rapids, MI, hoped that their promotional catalog would paint the studio as a leader and strengthen their brand name. To understand how to best portray their studio, DeJonge researched competitors’ literature, websites, brochures, and books and combined the best ideas. This time was well spent, for the catalog strengthened, retained, and expanded their existing client base. As a result of the thought put into each image and every section of text, DeJonge Studio both accomplished their purpose and won the AN-NE in the Promotional Campaign category. DeJonge is a great example of how research pays off in marketing.
LIANA LEHMAN: Best Web Site
Accommodation was the key component Liana Lehman of lianaPHOTOGRAPHY used in her three-part website. Aiming to reach her defined target audience and push destination wedding photography, Liana’s team created an online portfolio showcase to brand her unique photography and client experience (www.lianalehman.com); a site to host additional information, slideshows, and booking forms to sign up online (www.liana.tv); and a news blog to fuel word-of-mouth referrals (www.lianasbananas.com). Lehman won the AN-NE in the Website category for amazing design and uncommon success—she surpassed her booking and referral goals. She was even able to continue booking via the blog while the other sites were down! The research was intense, but the client response was well worth the effort.
DAVID MCKAY: Best Use of Mulitmedia
After one family shared their gratitude with him, David McKay, CPP, of McKay Photography in El Dorado Hills, CA knew it was time to build emotional connections with all his clients. Focused on understanding the stories behind three families’ portraits, McKay created a DVD that he used to help clients see their portraits as testaments to who they are as people and families. Given to every client, the DVD has become immensely successful, even fueling amazing referrals as clients share it with friends. The buzz created by this DVD helped McKay reach his marketing goal…and helped him win the AN-NE in the Mulitmedia category of the 2006 AN-NE Awards.
“Clients consistently tell us how [the DVD] has affected their thought process.” ~ David McKay
PAMELA BREDENKAMP: Web Site AN-NE Award
"Wowing Customers on the Web"
The world has, without a doubt, gone wireless. The average studio owner has a mile long to-do list that now includes regular meetings with both a graphic and Web designer. Marketing approaches are no exception. When Pamela Bredenkamp, of Signature Studio Creative Photography in St. Louis, Missouri took an Internet code class she learned an important lesson: She would pay someone to do it for her. The studio’s Web site (www.signaturestudio.com), took home the AN-NE Award in the Web site Category.
Goal: To showcase work and create interest in their services.
Target Audience: The Web site was geared toward brides. Portrait work was also featured to show the studio’s family portrait services.
Implementation: The studio’s Web site (www.signaturestudio.com), along with marketing pieces, stationary and packaging products was combined to create a uniform image for Signature Studio.
Results: The studio’s Web site has seen steady and significant increases in traffic thanks to its web log, e-newsletter request section and custom quote request form.
Final Word: E-xcellent!
WILLIAM BRANSON III: Direct Promotion AN-NE Award
"Sometimes direct is the only way to go"
The greatest benefit of a growing industry is the multitude of segments that seem to spring from it. The emergence of specialties has made it easier for those who want to master one aspect of the trade to do it and do it well. For William Branson III, of Durham, N.C. and winner of the AN-NE Award for the Direct Promotion, his work regally spoke for itself. His executive fine portraiture works line the halls of universities and colleges throughout North Carolina.
Goal: Introduce style and technique of portraiture to each institution.
Target Audience: Major colleges and universities in North Carolina.
Implementation: A promotional piece including a personalized letter, a list of previous clients and photos of framed portraits on card stock were packaged in a glossy black folder, complete with gold ribbon trim and sent as part of direct mail promotion.
Results: Executive portraiture sales increased significantly.
Final Words: Royal! From packaging to finished product this promotion promised – and delivered- portraiture fit for kings and queens.
VICKI TAUFER: Multimedia AN-NE Award
"The art of self-expression"
High school… a time of parties, proms and pep rallies. Over the years, high school memories become the ultimate reflection of who seniors are - and who they will become. Vicki Taufer, of V Gallery in Morton, Illinois had this in mind when she created her AN-NE Award winning "V Gallery Seniors 2005" promotional video. Winner in the competition's Multimedia category, the video is a slideshow of ultimate expression, created by and tailored specifically to the high school senior.
Goal: To impress clients with creativity and encourage them to book a session.
Implementation: The videos were shown at each new
consultation and played in the studio's front window.
Results: Almost every consultation resulted in a booking. The video created attention for the studio, with people standing outside the storefront window to watch.
PAMELA BREDENKAMP: Wedding Campaign AN-NE Award
"It's all about emotion"
After the cake and tossing of the bouquet, a couple relies on photos to capture the essence and emotion of one of the most important days of their lives. It is the job of the photographer to capture the miracles, moments and surprises of that day. When a photographer shows he or she can do this, it is a load off the hearts and minds of the bride and groom, and the once-in-a-lifetime moments are relived each time they look at their wedding pictures.
Pamela Bredenkamp, of Signature Studio Creative Photography in St. Louis, Missouri, understands the emotion involved in all aspects of a wedding. Her sharp eye and knack for capturing surprises in the midst of the magic gave her plenty to work with when she sat down to create her "Love Is" campaign, which won the 2005 AN-NE in the Wedding Campaign category.
Goal: To promote and develop new wedding business and establish new business relationships.
Implementation: Completed over a five week period, these beautiful
and emotional postcards catered specifically to vendors and clients.
The set of 12 postcards was divided (4 for vendors, 8 for clients) and mailed over an eight week period. Each card featured an image with an accompanying story. From brides preparing for their big day, to a grandfather walking the bride down the aisle, the cards tug at the heart strings.
Results: The studio's bookings increased 35% for 2006, with a current year increase of 30% since the campaign's start in August 2005
Final Word: Magnificent!
MARK MCCALL: Certified AN-NE Award
"It's not what you say, it's how you say it"
Most would agree it is not what you say, but how you say it. When creating a marketing campaign or message, knowing your audience is the rule of thumb. However, technology and its enhanced visual appeals have given marketers help- and heartache in some cases- when deciding how to reach clients. This month’s feature from Mark McCall of Mark McCall Photography in Lubbock, TX won the Certified AN-NE Award with a studio brochure on an interactive CD. Featuring beautiful images and music the presentation was more than a slide show and definitely not the same ole song and dance.
Goal: Show the photographer’s expertise and training, while creating market awareness with studio brochure on an interactive CD. Two packaging options were made for the project. The first, for bridal shows and “mass” handouts, featured light blue transparent casing with the CD visible through the front. The back of the case features three “in the moment” wedding shots. The standout shot: a brave bride whisking into the sunset with her groom-on a Harley. Long live the champagne!
The second packaging option, for mailings, is set in an elegant black mini portfolio with a CD and business card inside.
Target audience: Upscale brides in Lubbock, Texas.
Implementation: The CDs were given away at bridal shows, consultations and mailings. Images, pricelists and graphics are updated and changed every six months.
Results: The studio saw an increase in word of mouth referrals; Brides chose cheaper caterers and florists, allowing more money for the photographer.
The final word: Kudos! The time put into the research and development of the CD is evident here. The consistent updating of the CD is a reflection of the dedication and commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.
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