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Finding Clients
Marilyn Sholin on Portrait Photography (posted March 2008)
By Maria Piscoo

Marilyn Sholin (www.marilynsholin.com) is truly an artist, combining photography of children and family portraits with Corel’s Painter software to create a mixture of vivid color and textures that are bold and soft at the same time. Her work is by private commission and she teaches classes at professional photography schools worldwide and is the author of photography books published by Amherst Media. Marilyn’s accolades include award winning photographs published in the PPA magazine, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) awards and she is the only artist approved by the Miami Children’s Museum to link to their website. Contributions from her photography brought in over $100,000  to the museum.In this article, Marilyn will talk about her business and marketing success.

            Maria Piscopo: How important is your style to giving you marketing “edge” in such a competitive market as children’s portraits?

Marilyn Sholin: I have always striven to be on the cutting edge of whatever market I entered. When I began professional children’s portraits, I researched the market and saw that around the country high key white backgrounds with props was very hot. In my market area, no one was doing that style. So I went after learning that style and made my "name" doing high key children’s portraits. I was the only game in town at that time. So for twenty five years I have always worked the same way, incorporating my personal style of portraiture into what is missing in my targeted markets. That is what has always given me the edge on the competition. Being not only the most original and innovative, but being first with a style and creating styles of my own. If they can't get it any where else but from me, then the clients must book me for their portraits.

MP: How did this style combining your portraits and the software evolve?

MS: Evolution of my paintings is a great journey. I went from admiring the "look" and having someone else do the painting in the beginning to realizing that my vision wasn't theirs and I had to learn how to do it myself. I took classes, private classes, got up two hours early every day so I could practice tutorials and study and paint.
One day I was trying out new ways of doing things and still searching for something that said "Marilyn" when I came upon what made me feel good, happy and expressed my own artwork in the strong colors and details of a painting. It took me a short time to learn ways to replicate it over and over and still have every painting be an original. I studied the art world and learned that, like great photographers, being able to create a look that says my name and can be duplicated is the way to success.

MP: Who are your clients?

MS: My main sales target has always been traditional photographic portraits. It still is, but now my clients know about my artwork though they can't always visualize their own portraits in that style. So I am usually booked to create photographs and when I sit with them and do the sales presentation, I show them my ideas for a painting. They usually buy at least one of the paintings. After they see themselves in my vision, they are very excited. But they always think of photographs as their first purchasing objective. I extend and expand the sale from there.

         MP: What has been your best marketing strategy?

        MS: Best marketing strategy is one I would never have believed years ago: give it away for free.  I studied successful local and international artists and actually even viewed their careers online to study them. I found that artists are failures when they keep their work to themselves. The only way to get artwork sold is for the public to see it. The best way to get to the market that can afford the prices is to get it seen by them. The fastest way to get the right client is to donate to a charity event where they must bid on the artwork (not a free door prize giveaway). This guarantees that the person bidding and paying already likes the style and wants to buy something. It immediately qualifies them not only as a buyer, but as someone who can afford my artwork.

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