In addition, I get several on-air interviews in which I’m free to mix in pro-
motional information with the low-down on the calendar shoots. During
some interviews, we have call-in contests where we give away glamour and
calendar sessions.
Often, we book more than just the winners. “I really wanted to win that
calendar,” Tonya said after narrowly losing the call-in contest. “I think it
would be so cool. I’d still like to book a session, even if I have to pay for it.”
I offered her 25 percent off as a consolation prize, and I’ve done glamour ses-
sions for her every year since. I’ve also entered two images of her in national
competitions, and they have earned merits each time.
The radio station calendar has been great exposure and every year it has
added to my reputation as theglamour studio in my area. It generates new
business relationships with the sponsors, and many of the calendar girls will
also become long-term clients who buy images, recommend my services, and
become a ready source of models.
Displays. Show off your work wherever and whenever you get the
chance. The displays that work best for my glamour work appear in malls, hair
salons, custom motorcycle shops, custom car shops, limousine companies,
and a few clubs. You can also look at your web site as a display, but since it’s
such a big one, we’ll give it its own classification.
Among the displays mentioned above, the mall location has the most traf-
fic. For several years, I was afraid to pay the kind of rent the mall office asked
for (it’s more than my mortgage!), but starting up the display has been one
of the best advertising and marketing moves I’ve ever made. It works so well
that I devote every January’s display to glamour
photography as a lead up to Valentine’s Day. For
the past five years, as soon as the holiday rush is
over, my staff and I pick out the coolest glamour
images, galleries, and montages, and devote the entire display to glamour
photography—a shrine to femininity. (For more on my Valentine’s Day spe-
cial, see pages 112–15.)
Be very careful what images you pick. Carefully examine the image’s mes-
sage. If in doubt, leave it out or save it for another venue. And be prepared—
you willget complaints—and the people complaining will always raise more
of a fuss than the people who appreciate your display. When this first hap-
pened to me, I was crushed. I considered my work really artistic. Yes, the
images were sexy, but that was the point. Yet, here I was being called a
pornographer, an exploiter of women!
One of the images that critics complained about was of a calendar girl, a
lead singer for a well-known local rock band (next page). Brooke was posed
in a black bikini, lying on a black plexiglass mirror and wrapped in chains—
something she does for her stage act.
“We’re getting too many complaints,” said Jan, the mall’s leasing man-
ager. “Can you take the girl in chains down?” I agreed; I value my relation-
ship with the mall management.MARKETING YOUR STUDIO 107Starting up the display has been one of the best
advertising and marketing moves I’ve ever made.