Our modeling agency has been established for 13 years now which is located in a small city with no more than 400,000in population. With the market being in the condition that it is worldwide (Australia has certainly been hit hard as well), things have come to an almost complete halt.

We have exhausted our brains trying to find ways to cost effectively and most importantly creatively advertise and promote our modeling business. We are all left brain thinkers in the office and need help from the right brainers and experienced individuals.

I know the modeling industry is not your every day poster and hope you guys can shed some light.

We specialize in TV commercials, photographic, fashion parades and promotional modeling (no beer or nightclubs).

We also run finishing and modeling courses for aspiring models and schools interested in hiring us to teach a few workshops.

Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Chely

How about these:

have a contest and ask for ideas or people to audition for a free setting.

Get a booth at a show or festival and demo and hand out flyers

create some online videos to market your services

Just curious, do you have a website? Maybe I could take a look at it and give you some advice/ideas in that respect.

>Just curious, do you have a website? Maybe I could take a
>look at it and give you some advice/ideas in that respect.

We do have a website www.victoriasmodels.com.au however, this website is getting a whole new look (as it was not user friendly) and the new site will be up and running within the next week or so :)

Anyone is welcome to visit the current site for general information in regards to the agency. Please keep in mind though that an overhauled site will be up and running within the next couple of weeks.

Keep the ideas coming, ALL greatly appreciated and useful.

Cheers,
Chely

I went to your website and I am glad to hear it is being revamped. Not that it was that bad but it wasn't dynamic at all.

Anyway, I would suggest pushing your courses to a more wider audience. Research other industries that may have need of those types of courses. You may want to also target individuals who are going abroad for business meetings, etc. Also if AU has government agencies that deal with labor and training for displaced workers, I think they too would be a good entity to market the ccourses to.

Is there a way to present the courses as seminars open to the public. Seminar would be held monthly on a specific day and time. People would pay a small fee to attend. This concept is based on volume, in order to succeed you need to increase the number of attendees. Each attendee hopefully will tell someone about the course and so on and so on. You could offer a discount on the next seminar you hold on a different topic. You could do a series of seminars shaped around the current economic climate. People always need refreshers on how to have a good job interview, what to wear, what not to wear, etc.

How is the merchandise department doing? Are there more products you could be selling? Have you tried using CafePress.com?

Do you support any charities? You could sponsor one of their events or host an event with proceeds going to thhis charity.

I also thought of new service - media training for executives. This would be marketed to pubic relations departments or agencies.

All of these ideas will get your agency in front of different audiences who may not know of your company. Some of them also provide revenue from various sources.

I hope some of this works for your situation. Keep us informed of how it goes.

Lisa Douglas, Inklusion PR
New discounted PR packages priced from $500-$2,000
www.inklusionpr.com

Off the top of my head,

Maybe one of the reasons you're having difficulty is because you don't do "beer and nightclubs", there is a lot of exposure available there, even if you only have a short list of models who will participate in such events. They can be done quite classily without jeopardizing your firm's reputation.

How much further afield can you go. Mobility may be an option.

Have you sent anyone to "Top Model"? Do they have that there?

Also,

Is it possible to find a way to do "online" internet modelling for people using webcams maybe.

I hope these thoughts are of use.

Good luck to you.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

Hi Tina,

I appreciate your advice. We do not get involved with the beer and nightclub promotions because we have a strong presence in Junior and High schools. Because we live and work in a small city, word spreads out quickly and even if our involvement with any of the above promotions is classy, people will miss interpret.

As far as having one of our models participate on Australia's Next Top Model, I believe there has been a few and also a few have gone on to participate for Miss Australia.

Internet modeling? I do not think I have heard of this before, can you elaborate?

Thanks again Tina :D

>Hi Tina,
>
>As far as having one of our models participate on Australia's
>Next Top Model, I believe there has been a few and also a few
>have gone on to participate for Miss Australia.
>
>Internet modeling? I do not think I have heard of this before,
>can you elaborate?
>
>Thanks again Tina :D
>
>
Have you promoted the fact that several of your models has gone to being on "ANTM" as well as qualifing for Miss Austraila?

That kind of exposure is invaluable. Remeber to train the students and models to mention that the got their start or training with your company.

Lisa Douglas, Inklusion PR
New discounted PR packages priced from $500-$2,000
www.inklusionpr.com

Chely. I have 3 years of experience as a business owner and internet marketing.
To spread the word on your site, how about collaborating with relevant businesses online.
You can host reciprocal links, articles about each other, promote each others events, and maybe even sponsor an event together. I have successfully used all of these actions to promote various websites.

Also can you offer a free modeling class or something useful that would help you stand out from other modeling agencies?

Can you have a page on your site with articles such as "So you want to Model?", "The Ins and Outs of Professional Modeling.", "Tips for your first Photo shoot" or anything of use in the modeling world.

Best of Luck
Leah Oviedo
http:stylinsites.com

Hey There Chely!
I think I have got a great solution for you! I would love to talk to you and show you how to create business relationships that will have others referring people to you! I am available on skype username: qile.lakey Also you can email me anytime at qlakey@gmail.com
So many people don't understand the power of this. I WILL help you right away! Talk to you soon!

Qile Lakey
http://sendoutcards.com/therealtomorrow
http://www.soclink.com/therealtomorrow

Chely,
Here's a link to an article illustrating 32 ways to market your website: http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm It was written in 2006, but the info is still relevant today.

I would add to this list to use the power of Twitter and Facebook to market your business as well.


Best wishes,
Aurora
____________

www.innoventum.com/bizgrant.html - Discover how to obtain Free Government Grant Money.

Hello to all,

Victoria and I greatly appreciate all of the advice that has been given to us. Time is very important to everybody and you guys have been great.

Our website is still not up and hence we cannot implement any of the "strategies" that all of you have suggested.

Because we are located in a rather small city we are trying to come up with creative ways to attract business from bigger cities (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane). Promoting the website (once it is uploaded) will be a challenge.... More so with this whole recession deal things have REALLY slowed down :-(

Keep the ideas rolling! We need them :-)

Cheers,
Chely