How many thousands of photographers would like to be hired by an advertising agency or a brand to make their campaigns? I could ask the same question to production companies, stylists, hair & make-up artists and so on!!
When you see a campaign, looking at a catalogue, walking down the street, or waiting at the airport, you sometimes don’t understand why the Art Buyers, Marketing & Communication Managers of these campaigns didn’t hire you… When those same decision makers are most of the time the ones you sent your portfolios to! You called them a few times; they are always having a meeting. You sent them emails and emails, sometimes adding RE: in the subject to make them think they were already in contact with you…!! Well, you tried everything.
Everything…? Maybe not!
What you want is, to have your portfolio on the desk of these decision makers. For that, you have some options: either you are the son or daughter of a fashion brand’s owner, either you are dating the art buyer of an advertising agency, OR… you are listed in a directory dedicated to professionals of the fashion & advertising industry!!
When I started to work as a “production manager” (you never start being a manager but I didn’t know this at this time!) 10 years ago, I was like a lot of you, I couldn’t get in touch with my potential clients and I didn’t know how to do it properly (By the way, to get better results with your marketing emails, watch this video).
As I am French, I had heard about Le Book and I decided to buy a page in this “You have to be in” directory. So, I paid 2000 Euros, 9 years ago to get listed in Le Book. For this amount, I was in this beautiful catalogue designed by a super top stylist, designer or artist and I could see my page, advertising my production services, lost in the middle of Thousands of other pages. I was also listed on their website.
It has been my first and last experience as a client of Le book.
Few years after, I got contacted by Production Paradise to get listed in their directory. I did not pay that much attention to this directory. I was convinced it was not necessary. I was convinced it was better to contact directly the clients to sell my services.
I finally stopped to work for myself, and started to work for big production companies which were, and still are, listed in Production Paradise. Some of them are spending a lot of money every year and they get clients because of that. I was receiving calls from India, China and all over Europe! I realized the benefits of getting published in a directory.
Some photographers and production companies asked me which one was the best to get published in. The easy answer is:”Get listed in both directories!!”
Let’s see which one to pick if you have to decide between one of these two directories, Production Paradise or Le book.
Every year, Le book prints a wonderful catalogue/book where all the photographers, production companies, stylists, models agencies, illustrators, hair & make-up and so on are listed… Every year, people are impatient to discover the new design of Le book. It is sent to a few thousands of decision makers which are always happy to receive it and then stock it on a shelf.
Production Paradise doesn’t have any print catalogue, everything is online. Since the beginning, 10 years ago, they bet on the online way to communicate and showcase their members’ work.
We are almost in 2012, right? Who is still opening the yellow pages book to look for a phone number? Maybe my Grand-father is?! It is the same with Lebook, it is a nice object to have but sincerely, are you going to open it every time you want to look for a photographer or a production company?
Since 10 years, Production Paradise works exclusively on the online way. No print. They have developed since an efficient marketing online tool that improves its members’ natural positioning in Web referencing.
As Production Paradise, Le Book is also online. You can search for all kind of photographers, production companies and so on, but there is one problem!
What I remember of lebook.com, 9 years ago, is a website optimized for 800px x 600 px screen. Nowadays Le Book website still looks the same!
Why is it a problem? Well visually there is a little problem because what you want to showcase, are images! Better to show them bigger. Look at the 2 screen captures to compare:
The other problem is flash. People working for the fashion and advertising industry are mainly using Mac devices, Iphone, Ipad… Compare the 2 Ipad captures to compare the 2 sites.
You can have the confirmation that Production Paradise is a much more efficient website than Le Book comparing the Woorank report and Alexa Traffic Rank:
The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources, and is a combined measure of page views and users (reach). Alexa Traffic Rank for Production Paradise.com is around 125.000. Alexa Traffic Rank for Lebook.com is around 350.000. To give you an idea, Google is number 1 on Alexa Traffic Rank and Not Just Fashion.net around 800.000!
So, much more viewers on ProductionParadise.com than LeBook.com
The WooRank is a dynamic grade on a 100 points scale that represents your Internet Marketing Effectiveness at a given time. The algorithm is based on 50 criteria, including search engine data, website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others. The average WooRank is around 50.
As I told you above, the best is to get listed in both directories. There are too many competitors not to advertise!! Years ago, I made this mistake and I finally had to give up… If you can’t spend too much money and have to make a choice, I would recommend to get listed in a more efficient online directory, Production Paradise.
I would be pleased to read about your own experience with it. Feel free to leave a comment below. To visit these 2 directories, click on their names: Production Paradise and Le Book
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