Josh is the co-founder and graphic designer for Substratum Apparel, and Shannon is just darling!

Anna & I were excited to see a few of our prints win awards at WPPI. I was floored by the quality of work represented at the show. If you’re here at WPPI make sure you make it a priority to go and see all of the incredible work from photographers around the world.

At a dinner hosted by one off the best photo labs in the nation - Richard Photo lab, and some of the best photographers in the world.

Our Super Swanky Soiree at the Bellagio Suite thrown by Anna, Sarah France, and Lauren Hillary was a smash. It was awesome to see so many amazing photographers in the same place!

Image (and Images) is Everything: Michael & Anna Costa Photographers

By Margaret Lane

Marketing. Nearly every business needs to do it. Branding. It helps to support and reinforce marketing and all that you do to attract new business and maintain an image. New business. That's what you get when branding and marketing are focused and attract customers in your identified target market.

Identified target market? This is the highly defined set of consumers you want to work with. You researched and struggled to define this set, taking the time to understand their needs and motives, how they buy and what attracts their eye. Armed with this information, you aligned all of your marketing--website, collateral, advertising, business card, presentation albums, the look of your studio, even how you answer the phone--so that you'll be a hands down favorite.

Let the money roll in! Well, it's not always that easy, and it usually doesn't happen overnight, but when marketing hits the right buttons, you know you're doing something right. Michael and Anna Costa of Michael Costa Photography certainly went through their own customer discovery/identification exercises, and their wedding, portrait and fine art studio, based in Santa Barbara, CA, is on fire. If ever there was a team of photographers who really understand their clientele, it's the Costas. And by knowing and understanding their customers, the Costas have aligned a marketing and branding framework that guides all they do to attract and serve them well.

Meet the Costas The Costas, newlyweds themselves, are young, hip and creative. Anna's the voice of the company and is quick to offer thoughts about where their business has been and is heading. Michael has a thousand things to add too, but he's a bit more laid back than Anna, whose background in theatre and sales, plus a degree from the University of California Santa Barbara, makes public speaking and presentations a breeze. Michael graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. He's the core photographer for the business and shoots both film and digital. Anna shoots too--mostly digital. As the company grows, she'll become the primary digital shooter, allowing Michael focus time to increase his film work and perfect a fine art photo style. For the time being, their business is a two-person venture.

"In a lot of ways, we are just like our customers," says Anna. "We're comfortable working with young and hip couples in their 20s and 30s; they find it easy to relate to us due to the closeness in age and often times similar interests." Anna comments that nearly all their customers are from word-of-mouth referrals, so the bride and groom have a flavor for the Costa's personalities and work.

When connecting initially, the Costas prefer to meet at a local five-star resort. Appearance and dress are important, so the pair dress appropriately. "We try to make it feel like we are out on a double date. This sets the couple at ease and lets them see who we are and how we interact," says Anna. "Admittedly, being a husband-wife team gives us a different dynamic than other studios: Michael can connect with the guy and keep him engaged, and I can connect with the bride and the groom and be sure the bride loves the images."

Meet Their Marketing In business for just two years, the Costas were already doing well, but they hit things out of the ballpark when their third website design went up. Perhaps it was all they had absorbed in meeting with potential clients and booking new business. Surely the hours spent working the shoots and servicing the accounts helped align their thoughts for their revised look and feel. Michael talks a bit about the process of uncovering what their site needed to be: "Our first two designs were okay; we pretty much followed a standard look and feel like most wedding studios' websites. But about 12 months into business, we knew the look just wasn't quite right."

With more and more brides using the Internet to locate vendors, it became evident that not only did their site need to stand apart and put forth personality, but it also needed to provide the first impression for a potential client. It really needed to resonate with their target market. For a year, the Costas agonized over what this new design should be and how to translate all they had learned about their clientele. End result--a spare, ultra-clean look using design elements with dash and function. Don't look for a photo on the home page--they intentionally left one out. Images displayed on all other pages are complimentary in supporting the couple's overall impression. "We want it to feel like a customer is walking through our gallery. It's very forward-thinking in design," Anna explains.

"Something else customers love on our site is the video," comments Michael. "We wanted clients to be able to view us and our personalities before they met with us in person. We came up with the idea after seeing something similar on an unrelated website and thought, 'We have to do this!' It's been a great addition."

A year in the making, but the overhaul paid off. According to Anna, the company now fields twice as many inquiries and books twice the business. Even though 90 percent of their work comes through word of mouth, they're more visible than ever in the community. Aside from powerhouse Web pages, the Costas advertise strategically on local wedding and tourism sites and are putting more time into nurturing industry relationships. They do minimal print advertising through regional wedding publications. Even their collateral reflects the same clever design philosophy--a translucent plastic business card gets plenty of attention.

And their membership with WPPI has been a great thing for their business. "Networking at the convention has been key. We've made contact with other great photographers and have learned so much and grown through seeing what others are doing," notes Michael. "A new business goes through so many adjustments, and it really should never end. The only way to ensure that you will stay successful is to be constantly evolving."

Meet Their Customers Anna and Michael reason that half of their work is shot in Santa Barbara, with the balance on the road--often times in the Los Angeles area. About 10 percent of their clients are Santa Barbara natives. Their pricing is angled toward the upper points on the scale. Since a large proportion of their business comes from the destination bride, the importance of their website comes to mind again. "We provide as much detail about our work as possible so the couple can draw an accurate picture," says Michael. Initial touch points with potential clients come through the Web and/or telephone. "We have a fairly refined dialogue for when a bride calls the studio. If she's not visited our site, we'll direct her there first to take a look. If she's familiar with our work, we guide her through a series of questions. We like to get an idea of her budget--what's she's seen, where she's been and what she expects. And, depending on the direction of the conversation, we'll highlight up-sell options. We almost always wind down the conversation by asking the bride when she expects to make a decision. Then we set a time to meet."

At their in-person meeting, the Costas present one or two albums and talk more with the couple. Issues such as timing, budget and contract come up. Anna's usually the one to ask the question, "What percentage do we have in getting your business?" Their batting average is pretty high; they close about ninety percent.

Getting to Work More perfection and attention to detail come through as the Costas start working with their couple during the engagement photo session. It's a chance to further explore how the couple interacts with one another. Michael usually reaches for a Contax 645 with 80mm f/2.0 Carl Zeiss Lens or a Canon 1v for film shots. He prefers Fuji film, especially the 400H, 800Z, 1600Press and 100Acros, 400Neopan, and 1600Neopan.

Anna interacts with the couple and gets them relaxed and at ease so Michael can catch their natural smiles. She notes, "We love to shoot in Santa Barbara because there really isn't a bad location! When she has a camera in hand, it's a Canon EOS 5D, 20D or a 20D converted, plus Lexar Flash Cards.

After an afternoon of photographing the couple, the Costas head back to their in-home studio and begin editing with Photoshop CS2 (and CS3 when it comes out in spring). They'll retouch where needed and load selects to Pictage. "We've used Pictage from day one. We've avoided the hassles of doing prints, fulfilling orders and managing a lot of added backend work. Pictage is like a business partner for us," states Anna.

This same sensibility accompanies the Costas to the client's wedding day shoot. Both Anna and Michael work from the bride's "must list" of images to shoot, but spontaneity eventually takes over. Michael is continually looking for award-winning shots and portfolio pieces while covering important moments and detail shots. Anna focuses in on details and overall shots that she anticipates Michael may not have nabbed. Because Anna is a second shooter, she has the freedom to be very creative. While Michael is going for one thing, Anna can focus on another and voilà--two great shots are born! Anna's also the timekeeper, and makes certain that specific shots important to the bride are recorded.

An added feature their bride and groom love is the slideshow they upload and produce on the spot. This is displayed on their 17-inch Apple laptop.

An average wedding day shoot for the Costas is eight hours. In that time, they'll produce roughly 2500 images and edit down to 1000. Meticulous about their work, the Costas make sure the bride sees only retouched images uploaded to Pictage. They're willing to take that extra time to edit everything to perfection. All RAW image files are archived to an external hard drive and CDs. Film is scanned and saved the same way. Within two to three months, their bride can view and select the images for her album. A folder of each wedding's image files is saved on the desktop until the album and all activity for that wedding has subsided.

Meet the Blog Another key element that unites marketing and branding is their blog. The Costas use a blog to communicate important accomplishments of the business, such as non-wedding shoots, recent achievements, weddings, engagement shoots, etc. Blogs are gaining more and more traction with photographers, and this has become a powerful tool that really works for their hip and tech-savvy audience. "We started a blog so that our clients could see that we're constantly doing new things that will enhance how their wedding is shot," says Michael. "It's also a great extension of our website; photos that don't make it onto the site can be viewed on the blog."

The Costas look forward to building their business one step at a time and perfecting their craft. They plan to stay true to their clean-line designs and are always on the hunt for ways to better market to their chosen clientele. And they're interested in sharing their knowledge: they have plans for developing a sales DVD in 2007 that will help fellow wedding photographers. Visit www.michaelcostaphoto.com.

Margaret Lane is a freelance writer and amateur photographer. She has more than 15 years experience as a corporate communications professional for non-profit, photography and technology clients.

Anna & I visited my sister in Santa Clara and right around the corner from where she lives is the Winchester Mystery House. This is an amazing mansion in which the owner built continuously from the date she moved in until the date she died. She continued to make additions to her home in an effort to confuse the evil spirits she thought were haunting her due to the deaths her husbands rifle company caused. Read more about it here: http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/ Images Below

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