Ag / farming stock imagery is a large sub-category of the stock photo business. So much so, you might want to consider adding pieces to the library of images that you offer up to photo buyers.

Ag and farming imagery speaks on a lot of different levels. It’s technology heavy now, it’s big business, it’s Americana, it’s rural, it’s family, it can be green and organic (which is all the rage right now) and it can be profitable for the stock photographer.

If you’re looking for a few agencies to move images through, try these:

• ag stock usa
• farm stock photo
• county, farm & garden stock

Now I choose to continue to host my images on PhotoShelter, so I don’t use or endorse the above agencies but I do know that they get photo buyer traffic and might be an outlet for your ag / farm imagery — do your own due diligence and you should be fine.

Spent the past two nights on assignment in Central Cali shooting roller derby chicks.

And, in case you’re wondering, roller derby is all the rage right now across the country.

And no, roller derby is nothing like pro-wrestling. These chicks throw down — nothin’ fake about dropping your competition to their ass while flying around the oval rink on good ol’ fashion roller skates.

Is your CRM, MIA?

According to a recent CRM (Customer Relationship Management) magazine article:

“Despite a wealth of information on the topic and no shortage of professional services to ease the way, many businesses continue to struggle with adopting and using CRM capabilities.”

Regardless of the size of your digital content business you have to start thinking about a relationship management system if you haven’t already begun to do so.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate at first. In fact, start small with a simple yet powerful contact management app. I’ll talk about what works for me a little later.

CRM + Networking = More business

I would argue that customer relationship management and nurturing your network should go hand in hand.

If you’ve gone through the expense of gaining and wowing a new client (and gaining a new client is both a huge expense in time and marketing capital) you must have a system in place to manage this new relationship or face the possibility of having to spend the same amount of time, energy and marketing dollars getting that client back.

Definition

I realize the acronym CRM can mean a lot of things to different people. Even Customer Relationship Management can take on plenty of individual meanings.

Quite simply, CRM means to me taking care of every single professional relationship, period.

CRM magazine defines Customer Relationship Management as a “business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer loyalty.” What independent creative professional doesn’t want need that?

Companies spend millions streamlining their systems:

Story posted: February 11, 2008 - 1:19 pm EDT

Banbury, England—FranklinCovey, a productivity tools and training company, announced its PlanPlus Online planning and CRM application is now compatible with smartphones with a Web browser, including iPhones, BlackBerrys and Palm PDAs. The mobile application, developed jointly by FranklinCovey and COMPLETExRM, a Web-based CRM company, includes sales management and CRM features, as well as team scheduling capabilities.

Like I wrote earlier, your system doesn’t need to be huge, elaborate or expensive. Start small, but at least get it started.

Step one: a contact management app

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