Marketing for Photographers.
Lessons from 52 valuable marketing books
(without having to read a single one).
Each week, one short video and a one-page summary that offers three clear action-steps.
That’s it!
Every week, simply:
1. Watch the video.
2. Read the summary of key points.
3. Apply the action-steps.
Learn the foundations of marketing one week at a time.
Two Learning Styles
Some photographers jump in, feet first, without a plan. They take action fast. They make expensive decisions without the knowledge to avoid mistakes.
Other photographers research everything in great detail. They read, study, prepare, and never quite launch. All that knowledge does not get applied. They’re still waiting for the perfect moment.
Recognize yourself in either of these?
I have experienced both.
I jumped in to a studio without a plan.
It was expensive.
After closing my studio, I spent two years carefully reading more than 100 books on marketing.
The extremes did not work.
So I built something in between.
52 marketing books for photographers, distilled into short weekly videos, summaries, and action-steps.
Purchase now.
See the first lesson.
It’s free for 6 days.
Cancel any time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Once Per Week?
Everything at once is how you end up doing nothing. One-per-week give you time to actually try action steps and absorb key ideas.
The goal isn’t to consume 52 lessons.
You have enough lists.
The goal is to build a marketing practice that works.
Long Answer:
I considered releasing everything at once. But, I had to be honest with myself. Looking at my own habits, when I purchased a course with dozens of videos, I either binged them all (and did not retain much knowledge) or I felt overwhelmed and did not watch any of them.
The weekly pace is not a limitation. It is an intentional decisions based on my years of experience in education and coaching.
Each lesson comes with three action steps.
If you get all 52 at once, most people will skip the steps and just consume. One per week creates a natural pause so you can actually apply what you learned before the next lesson arrives.
The real value is in the doing, not the memorization of jargon and some else’s specific system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Just Overviews?
Why not a comprehensive list of steps?
Because a single comprehensive roadmap assumes that every photography business is the same.
These lessons give you tools to build your own path, one that fits your business, your market, your personality.
Besides, the individual books each have their own comprehensive roadmaps. If you find a book that really speaks to you, links are available to help you find the book for purchase.
Long Answer:
I thought about doing exactly that. The problem is that a comprehensive list would be very long, make a lot of assumptons about you, your market, your specialty, your personality, and your starting point. What works for an actor headshot photographer in a big city is completely different from a portrait photographer in a small rural town.
The 100+ books that I read each had their own complete system. Many of the specifics in one book contradicted the specifics of another book. What they all shared, however, were core principles that successful businesses apply in their own way.
That’s what these lessons try to distill. Not a rigid checklist, but the knowledge and tools to make your own smart decisions for your specific situation. The weekly action-steps give you something concrete to work on. How you apply them is yours to figure out. It’s not a limitation. That personalization is how marketing actually works.
Frequently Asked Questions
To really get the point, do I have to read some of the books myself?
That depends on your learning style.
The lessons are designed to stand completely on their own. The books are there if a topic sparks your curiosity and you want to explore deeper.
Long Answer:
The point is to see the overview, to get an idea of the common themes among all of the books. Once you have a good sense of those common threads, understanding the concepts in any marketing books can become easier.
Each lesson is designed to give you everything you need to understand the concept and take action.
Think of the books as bonus material. If a particular lesson resonates with you; if it feels like it is written specificially for your situation, you can use the links to purchase the books separately. (or find it on your own). But, it’s never a requirement of the course.
Actionable steps are already in the lesson. The book just goes wider and deeper for those who are curious. Two very different things.
Can I Just Do The Research Myself?
If you want to skip the course,
and go right to the source,
you are welcome to read all 52 books,
make your own notes,
draw your own conclusions,
and forumulate your own plan.
Here is the full list of resources:
"Worth Every Penny" by Erin Verbeck and Sarah Petty — The foundational argument for why photographers should charge more and compete on value, not price.
"Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill — The mindset infrastructure that underlies every successful business, including a photography practice.
"How to Grow Your Small Business" by Donald Miller — A clear framework for organizing a photography business around what clients actually need, not what photographers want to offer.
"Make 'Em Beg to Buy From You" by Travis Sago — How to position a photography service so that demand pulls clients toward you rather than requiring you to chase them.
"Get Different" by Mike Michalowicz — Marketing strategies for standing out in a market where most photographers look and sound identical.
"Artpreneur" by Miriam Schulman — Built specifically for creative professionals who struggle to reconcile the business side of their work with the artistic side.
"The Photographer's Missing LinkedIn" by Jeff Brown — A tactical guide to using LinkedIn as a photographer, written for photographers specifically.
"The 1-Page Marketing Plan" by Allan Dib — A simple, complete marketing framework that forces clarity about who you are targeting, what you are offering, and how you will reach them.
"Profit First" by Mike Michalowicz — A cash management system that ensures a photography business actually generates profit rather than just revenue.
"One Million Followers" by Brendan Kane — The mechanics of building an audience on social platforms, including what actually drives growth versus what photographers assume drives growth.
"Platonic" by Marisa G Franco PhD — The psychology of building genuine professional relationships, which is the foundation of referral-based photography businesses.
"The Conversion Code" by Chris Smith — How to turn website visitors and inquiries into booked clients, with specific attention to the follow-up process most photographers neglect.
"The Infinite Game" by Simon Sinek — Why building a business for long-term sustainability requires a fundamentally different mindset than competing for short-term wins.
"Hook Point" by Brendan Kane — How to capture attention in the first three seconds of any marketing message, which determines whether anyone reads further.
"Lean Marketing" by Allan Dib — A stripped-down approach to marketing that prioritizes what actually moves clients to book over what feels productive but doesn't.
"The Pumpkin Plan" by Mike Michalowicz — strategy for identifying your best clients, eliminating the worst ones, and building a business around the work that actually sustains you.
"$100M Money Models" by Alex Hormozi — How to structure photography offerings and pricing so that the business model itself generates growth.
"Dotcom Secrets" by Russell Brunson — The underlying architecture of effective photography websites and sales funnels, stripped of the tech jargon.
"The Gap and The Gain" by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy - framework for measuring progress that sustains motivation through the long arc of building a photography business.
"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara — How extraordinary client experience becomes the most powerful marketing a photography business can generate.
"Rigging The Game" by Dan Nicholson — How to define success on your own terms and build a photography business around the life you want, not the other way around.
"Key Person of Influence" by Daniel Priestley — How to become the photographer who is sought out rather than the one who competes for every job.
"Marketing Made Simple" by Donald Miller — A practical companion to StoryBrand principles, focused on building a photography website and email strategy that actually converts.
"Disrupting LinkedIn" by Yakov Savitskiy — Specific tactics for using LinkedIn to reach the corporate and professional clients that most photographers want but few know how to attract.
"The Introvert's Edge to Networking" by Matthew Pollard — A networking system built for photographers who find self-promotion uncomfortable but understand it is necessary.
"10X is Easier Than 2X" by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy — Why bigger goals often require less effort than incremental ones, and how that applies to building a photography business.
"The Win Without Pitching Manifesto" by Blair Enns — A concise case for why photographers should position themselves as experts who are hired, not vendors who compete for jobs.
"Atomic Habits" by James Clear — The system underneath every sustainable marketing practice: small consistent actions compound over time.
"The 2-Hour Cocktail Party" by Nick Gray — A simple, repeatable method for building the kind of professional relationships that generate photography referrals.
"Selling Above and Below The Line" by William Miller — How to navigate the difference between the person who contacts you and the person who actually decides to book.
"The Next Conversation" by Jefferson Fisher — Communication strategies for handling the difficult conversations that every photography business eventually requires.
"Never Split The Difference" by Chris Voss — Negotiation principles from an FBI negotiator, applied to the conversations photographers have about price, scope, and difficult clients.
"Expert Secrets" by Russell Brunson — How to build authority and a following around your specific photography knowledge and point of view.
"They Ask, You Answer" by Marcus Sheridan — The principle behind building a photography website that answers the questions clients are already searching for.
"Marketing in the AI Era" by Yaniv Navot — How artificial intelligence is changing the marketing landscape and what photographers need to understand to stay relevant.
"How To Write Copy That Sells" by Ray Edwards — The mechanics of writing photography website copy, emails, and proposals that move clients from interest to booking.
"$100M Leads" by Alex Hormozi — How to generate a consistent flow of photography inquiries rather than relying on referrals and hoping the phone rings.
"The Small Big" by Steve J Martin — The small, specific changes to how photographers present and communicate their work that have an outsized effect on whether clients say yes
How to create the conditions where more clients want to book you than you have capacity to serve.
"Storyteller Tactics" by Pip Decks — A practical card-based system for structuring the stories photographers tell about their work, their clients, and their process.
"The First Meeting Differentiator" by Lee B Salz — How to use the initial client conversation to establish value and differentiate before price ever enters the discussion.
"Objections" by Jeb Blount — How to handle the hesitations and pushback that photographers encounter when clients are deciding whether to book.
Traffic Secrets" by Russell Brunson — How to find the clients who are already looking for a photographer like you and bring them to your website.
"The Guide to Going Viral" by Brendan Kane — The mechanics of content that spreads, and how photographers can apply those principles without compromising their brand.
"The First Minute" by Chris Fenning — How to open any professional conversation, email, or proposal in a way that immediately communicates value and respects the client's time.
LinkedIn Riches" by John Nemo — A direct approach to generating photography business through LinkedIn outreach and relationship building.
"Do It! Marketing" by David Newman — A practical, action-oriented marketing system for photographers who have read enough and need to start executing.
"$100M Offers" by Alex Hormozi — How to build photography packages and proposals that clients find so compelling that price becomes a secondary concern.
"Negotiation Made Simple" by John Lowry — A straightforward negotiation framework for photographers who need to protect their rates and scope without damaging client relationships.
"The Money Habit" by Mike Michalowicz — The financial discipline practices that keep a photography business solvent through the irregular income cycles of creative work.
"Entrepreneur Revolution" by Daniel Priestley — An argument for why photographers should think of themselves as entrepreneurs building assets, not freelancers trading time for money.
"PR Strategy Manifesto" by Mickie Kennedy — How photographers can generate press coverage and editorial attention without hiring a publicist.
"The Power of One More" by Ed Mylett — The performance and mindset principles behind sustaining the effort that building a photography business over time actually requires.
Don’t want to do all that reading?
Pay for the entire course now
52 weeks of learning
52 videos
52 summaries
52 sets of action steps (3 in each set)
$149