When I traveled with David Jay he would always talk about how to “Empower Evangelism”, how to create word of mouth and “word of mouse”.
What is it about you or your company that would make anyone want to talk about you? Or like Jeff Jochum says “What makes you YOUnique in the industry?”
Is it WHAT you do?
A new photographer might say, I’m unique because I’m a “PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER”. (The word “PROFESSIONAL” is usually added just after the camera is pulled out of the box, some wait until they snap their first picture.) Saying that you are a “PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER” works until you want to make money because you soon realize that this isn’t enough to be unique with over 200,000 listed “PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS” in the U.S. alone .
Maybe it’s HOW you do it?
Photographers who want to make money realize that it’s more than calling yourself a “PROFESSIONAL”. Go to Google and do a search for wedding photographers. If you start reading the “ABOUT US” pages you will find that most state WHAT they do, and then move into HOW they do it… below are a few examples I found.
1. Sarah’s photography combines technical proficiency, patience, intuition, and her unique artistic sensibilities.
2. We have fun taking pictures…
3. Dustin is passionate about life and strives to capture the beauty of life’s most important moments in an enduring way
4. We go beyond the tired conventions, norms and overdone trends to create a timeless collection of images which celebrate your individuality and the feelings you share with those you love.
It’s semantics, because when you break it down they’re all saying the same thing, “we capture real moments with our unique style” and that’s great, but doesn’t every photographer do that?
Sadly this is where most photographers stop, they answer WHAT and HOW but never really understand WHY they do what they do.
Could it be WHY you do what you do?
Watching a recent TED Talk by Simon Sinek got me to ask the question WHY?
Why do I do what I do, and why should people care?
“Why you do what you do is your brand, it’s who you are as an individual and as a company.”
100% of all photographers know WHAT they do and most even know HOW they do it, but very few know WHY they do it.
In his TED Talk Simon Sinek talks about how people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it. He says “the goal is not to do business with people who want what you have; the goal of business is to do business with people who believe what you believe”, this empowers evangelism.
Simon goes on to talk about Martin Luther King “In the summer of 1963 250,000 people showed up to hear Dr King speak, they sent out no invitations and there was no website to check the date, how do you do that? Dr. King wasn’t the only man to suffer in a pre-civil rights America, in fact some of his ideas were bad, but he gad a gift. He didn’t go around telling people what needed to change in America, he went around and told people what he believed, and people who believed what he believed took his cause and made it their own and they told people, and low and behold 250,000 people showed up on the right day at the right time to hear him speak. How many of them showed up for him? ZERO! They showed up for themselves, it’s what they believed about America that got them to travel in a bus for 8 hours to stand in the sun in the middle of August. It’s what THEY believed!”
WHY makes you “YOUnique”! WHY empowers evangelism!
PR
