When starting a photography business, there are usually some doubts or questions that come up. I know that wanting to stand out from the crowd is troublesome because everyone is a photographer these days. It’s easy, when starting a photography small business, to struggle with the idea of setting yourself apart from all the other photographers (aka your competition).   Nothing will do more good than getting out and taking the pictures.  Getting out and taking the pictures is what gets your comfortable and allows your style to emerge.  And I am not talking about the use of Photoshop or Lightroom Actions.

But.

This post is going to take a different spin to set your photography services apart from others.  Hopefully anyways! I also view this a possible way to market your photography.
What the hell am I talking about? I know. I know. Wait for it….

ANIMOTO!

If you’re wondering, “What is Animoto???” Don’t worry.
I talked about how Animoto Killed the Slideshow in a past article, but the guys at Anitmoto have just realeasd a fierce new feature that’s got me very very interested.   They just released the ability to incorporate video footage into your video.  Oddly enough, right after my girlfriends uncle Ben has shown me a way to do it myself.  The amazing thing about this ability is that you don’t have to fuss around with any crazy video editing software.  Upload the shoft video clip and you can incorporate it into the video and break up some of the stills.    I think istockphoto is going to be happy about this feature as well! Istock has got a lot of video footage in their database already!

You might be saying that your a photographer so what does video have to do with anything?

Video is changing the game. You don’t need to be a pro videographer, although I’ve seen some amazing work coming out of the recent DSLR’s that offer video capabilities.  3-5 seconds of video can add so much depth to your slideshow or to your work in general.

Show this to a client, and tell me they would not be blown away?

If a client had the option to go with a photographer that offers a slideshow like this in their package versus a photographer that doesn’t, what do you think might happen? Assuming that both photographers are similar in style, cost and skill.  One photographer would stand out. I am pretty pumped that I currently have my iphone 3Gs and it can shoot shot videos.  In the future it makes me more excited for a DSLR to shoot high quality video footage.

A Marketing Product and a Sales Product

I did a quick edit of my Newsletter Video to encourage people to sign up for the e-mail list. I included a short clip right at the beginning that I think helps to show that this is a broadcast message. In a sense I viewed it as a way to market my e-mail list. I posted it up on You Tube.

I also created a new video, and it took pretty much no time at all. I had litterally a couple minutes before I had to run out the door. I uploaded everything and came back to it to select the music. These examples are probably really quick and using a few of the stock clips that Animoto provides.

The Animoto Blog has a few more examples – 1 skateboarding vid! There are photographer’s taking advantage of it in their packages they offer clients for portaits. Your clients then go and share the video on Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube and do the marketing for you.

If you havn’t checked out Animoto, or you were on the fence, it’s time to hop down and get on this train. This is a great way to feel like you provide something remarkable to people.

This is the part in the post that you now go and check out Animoto and sign up.
I also suggest doing a bluesky activity to try and think of many ways to incorporate this service into your work for clients and for your own marketing plan. Animoto touches on all aspects for your business – Photography, Kickass, Marketing, and Social Media.

Please leave your comments about what you think of this new tool available and ways you could see it benefitting your business. Or if you’re already using it, how has it benefitted so far?