So I stumbled across this article today by Trent Reznor (yes, that Trent Reznor) and it struck me that the same rules could apply to photography on the Internet. Let’s face it, for most of us this is just an expensive hobby – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you want more out of it, you’re going to have to build your fan base. So why not give away copies of your high-res images in exchange for an email address? People are getting what they want, and you’re building an extremely valuable database of people who are interested in your work. If you do it right, you can turn these interested fans into your 1,000 true fans.
Just make sure you don’t spam the folks who have actually decided to give you some info. Use a service like MailChimp to help manage your list…
Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.
7 responses so far ↓
I agree with a lot of what Trent has to say . We were one of the first to give away low res images for myspace pages and it was considered apostasy at the time. Now everyone does it.
Is this in a long term strategy that you do create a product that costs money and hope the fans pay? I have been considering this or only listing high res images for $1.00.
Is this in turn planning out workshops, books, showings, travel tours?
I have always wanted to plan out a trip to an interesting place and hope other photographers would join in. This might be a way to build that following. Great idea!
so Brett why dont you do it?????
I think that there is a lot of merit to that thought, specially after reading the new book Free. My biggest concern is what people do with that after you send it to them. Are they going to have it printed? If so will they have it printed in such a way that it truly represents the quality of your work?
I have had bad experiences with this and weddings. I shot a wedding for a friend and they got them printed at a kiosk down the street… not the way I present my work.
Ian,
Your comments are valid, and I am not sure that there’s a 100% fool-proof way of protecting yourself from those types of situations. The one thing that I would add is that giving away images from your photoblog is much different than allowing a client to print photos from a wedding you shot…Anyone care to add some suggestions?
Brett
[...] a few posts back now, I mentioned reading about Trent Reznor’s suggestion about giving away your work in order to build a fan-base with the hopes of parlaying (don’t you just love that word?) the [...]
Well. I still think it is a great idea to build a fan base. I just would pick a few of your images just for giving away along with.. some where in the photo.. manage to slip in semi-small text of your name in almost the same color of the area in your photo that you have chosen. That way your name is not standing out, but at the same time.. it is there!. I know a lot of people do not like to see large text on an image..(just from previous rumors I heard on what happen to mine) Example: FifiImages 2009).. they usually cut it off, crop it off ect.
Then frame it.. geez.. that burns me after they do that. That’s what concerns me when I give my work away, but I now text in my name as I said above. If I do come across my work on the net.. and they have downsized it, at least my name is still on the image. Hopefully the people that want your image have good taste to treat your work with respect.