Name: Steve Thornton
Country: US
Industry: Photography
Website: //www.stevethornton.com
Background
We’ve got stunning interview with Steve Thornton this week. Steve Thornton (//www.stevethornton.com) is a 25+ year veteran advertising photographer with a wide range of abilities and interests. Steve shoots a wide diversity of photographs from skin cream & feminine products to cowboys herding cattle out west. “I think of myself as a people photographer with the person being the main part of the photo, or as a prop to add a human element to the scene.”
Before using GroupMail, Steve had a problem keeping in touch with both his clients and models.
Problem Being Addressed: Communicating with Clients & Models
Steve says “Having many different customers is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that I do not shoot the same thing over and over. The curse is the ever present need for self-promotion and targeting promotions to those who want to see them.
A fashion client may not have an appreciation for my cowboy imagery. The same statement holds for a lifestyle client, a beauty client, an industrial client, an aircraft client etc. I have cowboy clients that don’t realize I shoot beauty, or an aircraft client that has no idea I shoot fashion.” As well as this, Steve also needs to keep in regular touch with the models he uses for his projects.
The Approach Taken: Using GroupMail
Because he has a very wide customer base, Steve finds that targeting his e-promos to a select group works very well. “I use GroupMail to categorize my clients into different Groups; I only then send beauty images to my beauty clients, cowboy promos to my cowboy clients, fashion promos to my fashion clients etc.”
Steve sends personalized text only e-mails with links to his promos. “Clients like to see that I’m not only good at delivering one photo, but a lot of great images from one short time frame. It shows if I shoot for them, they get many images they really want to use, which enhances my value to them.”
“While most of my heavy use is sending out promos to clients, I also send maps, directions, wardrobe requirements and hair & makeup needs to the models I may be shooting for a project. I sometimes have 15-30 models I have to communicate with for any given project. I use GroupMail to send a personalized letter to the models, which is much more efficient than calling all of them one at a time. This way they all get the same information, start time, address, basic directions, theme of the shoot, props & wardrobe to bring etc. with the feeling that I have taken the time to send them one at a time.”
The Bottom Line: Saves Steve both time & money.
“When I first started sending out e-promos I sent them out in groups of 50. When some lists have 6000 contacts this quickly became a nightmare. So I called a contact that built & maintained web sites who recommended GroupMail. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Instead of the confusing and slow process of 50 at a time, which took 2 days, the ability to shoot out 6000 in 30 minutes was… well it was stunning. I quite simply could not believe that this was possible… but it is!”
Steve Thornton is based in Atlanta, GA USA and travels within the USA & Internationally on average 150 days a year shooting assignments for clients and personal projects.
You may contact Steve via his web site (//www.stevethornton.com/), or you may e-mail him direct at: steve@stevethornton.com
