Get on the FastTrack with Dane Sanders

We had a blast with everyone who attended Dane Sander's FastTrack Workshop in Houston. Thanks to Christine Tremoulet for hosting the great group!

If you want to get clear on who you are as a photographer, join Dane Sanders for an intense workshop that will have more impact on your bottom line and professional satisfaction than any other investment you will make this year!

ShootQ will be on the road with Dane for hands-on training. Come join us in an upcoming city by clicking here to sign up!

As a ShootQ member, you'll receive 2 free months of ShootQ for attending Dane's Workshop. Plus, you'll receive a $75 discount off the workshop tuition by entering the promo code: shootq_workshop

Are you using ShootQ to keep track of email correspondence with clients?

ShootQ records email you send TO clients, but did you know it's easy to keep track of email you receive FROM clients?

No more cutting and pasting emails into "notes" on shoot records! Make your life easy by forwarding emails to ShootQ!

ShootQ gives you a unique email address to forward or carbon copy emails. 

1) You can find the general email address for shoots. Go to SETTINGS>INTEGRATIONS>EMAIL. 

2) Use the second email address on the page, under the header "Send Emails to Shoots"

3) Add this address to your computer's address book for quick forwarding of emails. Simply create a new contact with the name "ShootQ Shoots" and paste in the unique email address from the control panel.

4) When you forward an email to ShootQ, it will try to figure out which shoot the email belongs to. If it can't figure this out, it will send you an email asking for clarification! Pretty slick!

If you send an email to a client from your computer instead of ShootQ, simply CC (carbon copy) "ShootQ Shoots" email address, and it will get added to your email correspondence too!

NOTE: This feature is still in BETA. If you have any suggestions to make it better, please let us know!

Conversation with the Pros

This month's Rangefinder features LaCour & ShootQ community member Jessica Scheulfer in "Conversation with the Pros," Martha Blanchfield's outstanding article. Get honest, insightful feedback from 5 Top Photographers. Learn how they're surviving & thriving in today's market.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

Are you using mass email campaigns to get more business?

Start Spreading the News.

Sure, you're building a robust relationship database in ShootQ. But are you reaching out & connecting with your audience personally? Are you starting conversations that bring you business?

Mass Email Marketing Integration!

We're excited to announce that ShootQ is now more than your Studio Manager. It's also your Marketing Department!

Email communication is the name of the game these days. By using your Relationship Database in ShootQ, you can connect with thousands of people instantly. That means more people talking about you & your business!

Meet Mimi. She Makes Email Marketing Easy!

ShootQ partners with Mad Mimi to give you tools to create email marketing promotions.

Starting TODAY, you can:

• Quickly filter your Relationship Database using specific criteria.
• Create an "Audience" for your marketing promotions.
• Easily send your "Audience" over to Mad Mimi.
• Create email marketing promotions using Mad Mimi's refreshingly simple interface.
• Schedule & Send marketing promotions to your "Audiences."
• Track stats and monitor click-thrus from your marketing promotions.

Keep your Audiences updated about special events, new services, and other important information.Then, you will come to mind first when they need photography!

Give it a try!

1. Click on the "Business" tab, then on "Marketing."
   
2. Sign up for Mad Mimi!    
3. Sort your relationships database using specific filtering criteria.    
4. Export the list to create an audience in MadMimi, or download a CSV file for snail mail or other email marketing campaigns.   
5. Create a new promotion in MadMimi, and send. 
6. Presto! New Business! 

How are Videographers using ShootQ?

Are you a videographer hoping to grow your business & get organized? 

Meet Matt Davis from Life Stage Videography in North Carolina. 

As a regular contributer to the fantastic collaborative [IN]FOCUS, Matt shares how ShootQ serves as his virtual studio manager.

Matt says, "ShootQ has really helped us to not worry about the "business" side of things so we can focus more on editing and shooting. For some, it might be just the thing you needed to keep your sanity!"

HEAR HOW MATT USES SHOOTQ!

Is Your Website Contact Form Connected to ShootQ?

Connecting your Website's Contact Form to ShootQ makes managing Sales Leads Simple. One of the many advantages of ShootQ is that your "Leads" are all in one place. No more sticky notes or random emails to manage!

Here are 3 ways to connect your website contact form to ShootQ:

1. BASIC: Use the ShootQ-generated contact form. 

The easiest and most secure method of getting sales leads into ShootQ is to use the ShootQ-generated contact form. You can even customize the color scheme, branding and some of the language through the Settings Control Panel in ShootQ. 

Settings > Controls Panels > Public Image > Contact Form

To add the ShootQ-generated contact form to your website:

• Remove your existing contact form from your website.
• Get the web address of your ShootQ-generated contact form in the "Contact Form" Control Panel:

• Add an external link to your ShootQ-generated contact form. You may want to open this in a new window.

PRESTO! You're done.

2. ADVANCED: Many websites generate an email when a sales lead fills out your contact form. You can use ShootQ's inbound email system to record leads in ShootQ. 

• Use your unique email address for contact form emails. This address can be found under SETTINGS>CONTROL PANELS>INTEGRATIONS>EMAIL. 

• Add a "filter" on the server that handles your email. Using certain criteria, set it up to forward contact form emails to the unique address for your studio.
• The criteria for your contact form vary based on your website. For example, most contact form emails from BluDomain have the subject "New client inquiry." You can set up a filter that forwards all emails whose subject equals "New client inquiry." to your unique ShootQ email address. 
• ShootQ recommends that you send copies of contact form emails to yourself in addition to ShootQ. (Note: Some email servers do not allow you to set up filters.)

• Click here for a knowledgebase article with more detailed instructions.
• Click here for a wiki article from BigFolio on connecting contact forms to ShootQ.
• Note: BigFolio's wiki is slightly outdated. The instructions in Step 1 refer to ShootQ v1. Please use to the instructions above to find your v2 email address.

Guess what?! ShootQ's inbound email system also accepts leads generated from your ads on the Knot and Wedding Pages! You can set up filters on your email server to handle these emails too.

* Click here for a knowledgesbase article with more detailed instructions.

3. EXPERT: Use the ShootQ API to connect your custom website's contact form.

If you have a custom website, ask your web designer to link to the ShootQ-generated contact form. If you would like to have a contact form embedded into your custom website, then you can send your designer a link to our Integration API, which is http://app.shootq.com/api/. You will need to give your web designer your API Key and Brand Abbreviation, which you can find by going to: Settings > Control Panels > Integration

A Bryan Photo Workshop

We are thrilled to support Bryan Johnson's wonderful Workshop for photographers! Bryan and his team have created an inspiring brand in the Southeast and beyond. We're impressed by both their artistry and their business acumen. This was their first workshop, but we have no doubt they'll sell out many more in the future! Keep watching them – they are gifted leaders!