how to market a photographer?

[bwana devil]

my dad just retired last year as a photography professor and has relocated where i live to be closer to his grandkids.

he wants to sell his work now which is something he hasnt ever done. he has great work but there is zero marketing ability behind this (well almost zero).

he has a website which is comprised of only his photos. from reading the threads here the last few weeks i told him it would be a good idea to write some articles on "how tos" and sprinkle it w/ key words to attract customers. is this the best way? si there something better he should focus on?

he's starting to network in the area by selling at local art shows/festivals. does anyone have any experience marketing art?

i want him to start thinking about marketing global, rather than local - although i understand the importance of the local niche.

[BradleyT]

There must be some sites out there that allow you to sell photographs either for a flat fee or for a small commission. Do sites like Getty Images buy photos?

Have him write some articles about photography basics and some advanced techniques that he knows. Also, find a bunch of photography blogs and trade links with them. Sign him up for photography message boards that allow links in signatures. Give him a name like The_Professor and I'm sure he'll get a lot of clicks on his sig if he gives good forum advice. Even though the clicks are from other photographers, say they get asked for some bird photos but don't specialize in that however they could refer them to your dad who does specialize in birds (or whatever).

Seems like a pretty easy niche to start networking in.

[Lucky]

Make sure people can order off site. Start an affiliate program. Give affiliates promo codes and promo links with which to get people to site to order. When they order, affiliate gets pct. You can also do subaffiliates if you like, depending on how much dad has to sell. Place on ad on craiglist seeking these people, may slightly violate terms of service, but if you're gonna make an omelette, gotta break a few eggs.

[Eihli]

Put ads in the paper and yellow pages offering wedding/party/etc photography. It sounds like he's more of an artsy photographer but I would think this can make more immediate money and would get a name out there to start networking from.

[bwana devil]

blogs are a good idea. ill have to get him involved in those.

and for some reason, i never even thought of ebay. that has some great potential. after checking out the site today, it doesnt look like anyone bids on people's photographs there. ill have to do some more research.

as far as event photography, he wouldnt have any interest in that. he used to do that to pay the bills when he was young and i think he hated it then.

thanks for all the ideas.

[Colt McCoy]

He could turn some of his pictures into greeting cards, or even publish them as calendars and sell them in local shops. He could create video slideshows o his pictures and post them to youtube with his website at the bottom.