Photographic Press Exposure

PHOTOGRAPHER OPENS PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO!

Not much of a story really is it? But after a little bit of help on the PR front, I found myself in three papers, one magazine and on one radio show, in the space of two weeks.

With all the recent activity around my studio opening, I figured it would be a good idea to invite selected members of the press along to party. By way of introduction I sent out a handful of press releases so that, when my invites arrived, people had a bit of background to who I was and what I was up to.

It was my first real foray into the world of PR and I approached the wonderful Vivienne Bailey at Vital who helped me construct a journo-friendly story that would hopefully translate to something people would actually want to read. I’d have never have thought to pull out the aspects of my story that she did and her help in structuring the content and advising what to send to whom has proved invaluable.

So off I sent my little press release, along with one of my favourite images of my early practice model, Lisa and a pic of me taken by Ewan at his wife’s recent bump shoot.

The best response by far was from the Sunday Mercury who immediately contacted me to find out more. I had a 20 minute phone interview with journalist Zoe Chamberlain, and, at her request, sent more images and put her in touch with one of my past boudoir clients who gave a great account of her experience.

OK, it was ever so slightly sexed up, but I guess that’s how it works.

The local papers in Warwickshire also picked up on the story. The Leamington Courier ran the story in their business section…

…and our local freesheet, the Observer covered the story with a suitably salacious intro.

It was the Observer piece that got me noticed by BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, who called on the Monday and asked me to go into the studio that Wednesday. Having never done live radio before, it’s fair to say I was a bit nervous of fluffing it all up, but the reaction to my work by presenter Mollie Green was so fantastic and she really put me at ease.

Turned out OK, I think.

On the glossy side of things I’m also in this month’s Save the Date wedding magazine, which is a publication I have previously advertised in. I get several advertising sales calls a day, but when Abbi and Lydia first contacted me after some of my work for Bijou Woo appeared in their pages, they  never gave me the pushy sales patter. Save the Date is relatively new, really nicely put together and is distributed through John Lewis across the East Midlands, so I thought I’d give them a whirl.

They gave me such a lovely write-up and following my last blog entry, even made me their Supplier of the Week.

It’s nice to be getting a bit of exposure as my business moves into a new phase and it does seem to be reflected in the Google stats.

There were also a couple of local lifestyle-y magazines that couldn’t make my launch event and have asked for some images from the night. So we’ll see what happens with that.

If I get anymore coverage I’ll post it here on my online scrapbook, but enough of the navel gazing for now. I have proper work to do.

RS x