Day six of Vendor Week!

Welcome to day six of vendor week!

Today we are welcoming The Album Cafe.
Hi, I’m Brandi!  I am the owner and principal designer at The Album Cafe, and I’ve been a professional graphic designer working in the design/photography industry for over 10 years.  The Album Cafe is quickly approaching its 6th year in business, and we’re still having a blast creating gorgeous, timeless, easy-to-use designs for photographers.

Have you ever wished it was faster and easier to add your images to templates?  Our team is so very excited to announce the new (totally free) IMAGE LOADER tool for Photoshop that automatically resizes and inserts your images into our templates for you!  This really is an amazing tool that is changing the way photographers work – there is no faster way to add images to a Photoshop template.  Stop by, grab some freebies and try the Image Loader today!!

***We’re also excited to give away our most popular Marketing Set – the “Pure” Set.  

The set includes beautifully predesigned, easy to customize templates for:  

•  Letterhead

•  Envelope

•  5x7 Gift Certificate

•  5x5 Trifold Brochure

•  5x5 Trifold Digital Delivery Brochure with CD Label Design

•  Blog Header

•  5x5 Trifold Product Pricing Brochure

•  Business Card

•  5x7 Postcard with (2) Backs (one for mailing, one for handing out)

•  Packaging Sticker

•  Referral Card Design with 5x5 Display Card

•  2x7 Folded Appointment Card

•  4 x 5.5 Folded Thank You Card

Also, Savvy readers can take 30% off any Album Cafe order until October 15th, 2013 – just use the code Savvy30 at checkout. 

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below...we will choose a winner on October 3rd at 8am EST...good luck!!

Become a fan of Album Cafe on Facebook.

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the winner of the Fairy Tale Actions Set is...

The winner of the Fairy Tale Action set from The Shoppe is Michela Wipf...comment number 1! Email us to claim your prize!  Congrats!! 

Vendor week day five

Welcome back to vendor week! Hope you are having a great Monday morning!

Today we are welcoming The Shoppe Designs and Actions!

The Shoppe Designs and Actions
Become a fan on Facebook here.

How many years have you been in business - 
5 years

How did you decide to start this business?
With experience in both professional design and photography and when deciding to move across the country I needed to start something that I could do anywhere! The Shoppe was a perfect fit for my entrepreneurial obsessions and love of design, innovation, and the photography business!

Where are you located?
Our studio is in Franklin, TN just outside Nashville.

Favorite product you offer?
Actions! Our Memento Set is probably my favorite, but Nostalgia was the first and still our most popular! I do also love our marketing sets and logos. It makes it so easy for new photographers to get a professional look and brand for a great price. A cohesive brand is so important to stand out!

Do you run your business alone...or an entire team?
There are three of us here in our studio office. Emily is our talented full time designer, Janell is our our marketing, account manager, and admin extraordinaire, and I, Meghan, do art direction, marketing and business development, and you know whatever else us business owners have to do!

What's your mission for your business?
 To provide unique designs and quality that comes from professional designers to photographers making it easier for them to run and market their business.

Do you work at home in PJs or in an office?
We work in a dedicated studio office space on my property but separate from the house. Allows me to have easy access to my little girl :) I try not to wear PJs but it is tempting! I do love PJs...

Favorite part of running your business?
We love to come up with new ideas, new products and our snarky Shoppe Satire posters we put out each week. We have to be careful not to spit out our coffee during those brainstorming sessions here on Fridays.


***The sweet girls from The Shoppe will give away one Fairytale Actions Set to a lucky Savvy reader!! 
$85 value
To enter, leave a comment below telling us your favorite product from The Shoppe. The winner will be chosen tomorrow morning (October 1st) at 8am EST and announced shortly after...good luck!! 

Vendor week day four

Welcome to day four of vendor week! We will continue vendor week until October 4th...check back next week for more great vendor interviews and deals!

Today we are welcoming Magazine Mama to the Savvy blog!

Business Name: Magazine Mama

Facebook Address:  http://www.facebook.com/mymagazinemama


Tell us how you came up with the idea for Magazine Mama?
 ~The idea for Magazine Mama came when I decided to combine two of my favorite things - magazine publishing and photography!  

What's your favorite product you offer?
 ~My favorite product is our Basic Digital Photography for Kids Curriculum.  

What's your mission for this business?
 ~The mission of Magazine Mama is to help photographers “turn pages to profit” with customizable studio marketing templates and photography curriculums. 

Do you work from home or from your studio?
 ~I work mostly at my home office but can be found in the studio sometimes too!

What's your favorite part of running a business?
 ~My favorite part of running this business is all the talented and creative photographers I get to meet along the way.  

***

We are giving away our favorite product to one lucky winner~  one Basic Digital Photography for Kids Curriculum Bundle...here's where to enter... Giveaway at Magazine Mama. (don't enter here...you must enter at the Magazine Mama site)

***You can also get 30% off your order at Magazine Mama using discount code savvy.

The winner of the gift card from Kotori is...

Congratulations to Lorena Photography!! You are the lucky winner of the giveaway from our friends at Kotori Photo Jewelry. Email us at thesavvyphotographer@gmail.com to claim your price.
Thank you to all those who entered! And a big thanks to Kotori Photo Jewelry!

Vendor Week on the Savvy Blog...day two

Welcome Tonya from Kotori Photo Jewelry to vendor week here at the Savvy!

We love Kotori jewelry...and we love the sweet girl who created this amazing line...come meet Tonya (we think you'll like her too!)

Business Name: Kotori Photo Jewelry

Website: www.MyKotori.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mykotori

How Did I Decide to Start My Business: 

I first became interested in the idea of photo jewelry after having my own children and remembering how much I had loved the photo pieces my own mother had when I was a child. Unfortunately, those pieces had yellowed and faded, so I set out to find a way to create heirloom quality photo jewelry that would never fade or yellow. Years of experimenting and practice have lead us to where our line is now. Fun and trendy photo jewelry printed on archival paper that will not fade and a coating that will never yellow.

What's the Mission for My Business: 

I began selling retail and did quite well selling to the general public as well as photographers. All of that changed, though, after working at a photographer workshop with Kimberly Wylie & Laura Novak. I went and listened, really listened, to what photographers were telling me about the business and how they wanted to use photo jewelry to market themselves. They told me horror stories of bad customer service and that they were tired of using vendors who sold retail. I was inspired. I left the conference and changed the whole direction of my company. No more retail. We started focusing exclusively on photographers. We listened. We made policy changes, we created programs based of photographer input. Everything we create or do is designed to meet the needs of photographers, and that makes a huge difference in how our company is run. 

Do You Run Your Business Alone:

 Thankfully no. Not only do I get to be married to the most amazing man, I also get to work with him too. My husband, John, joined Kotori in the fall of 2010 so we are truly now a family business. We work side by side every day. We also have several employees who are part of our Kotori family. One of our requirements to work at Kotori is that you have to have a good sense of humor, so we laugh a lot.

Favorite Part About Running My Business: 

Meeting with photographers and hearing feedback. Some of our best ideas come from our customers! We love being a part of the photographic industry - going to shows like Imaging is like a big class reunion. We look forward to it every year!

Favorite Product: 

I'm really excited about our brand new Client Gift Concierge Program. We know how crazy the fall get (trust us, we are in the same boat!) so we wanted to come up with a very simple way for photographers to gift their clients without all the stress and hard work. We do everything from creating personalized cards for the boxes to shipping directly to your clients (for FREE!). You end up with a happy customer AND a great marketing tool. For a more detailed explanation of the Client Gift Concierge Program, watch the video here. 

We'd love to give one lucky Savvy reader a $50 gift certificate good for anything in the store! (www.MyKotori.com) 

How to enter~

**Leave a comment below and let us know your favorite product from Kotori...we love hearing what you love! That's all you need to do to enter...leave a comment and you're entered. The giveaway ends tomorrow (September 25) at 8am EST. So hurry and leave your comment to win a $50 gift certificate from Kotori! 

Do you need a vacation?

The Radisson has chosen their 50 favorite bloggers to give away 50 rooms in 50 days...celebrating their 50 year anniversary! And we are thrilled to be chosen as a top 50 blogger! 

So...do you need a vacation? Or maybe a mini getaway...enter and you could win a free night voucher, valid for one free night, standard room, double occupancy at any North American Radisson Blu or Radisson hotel of the your choice. 
*The voucher expires one year after date of issue. 

Feel free to visit this tab daily to find out who the next blogger is! You can enter to win on each blog for the 50 days! “50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Rooms” will run through December 10, 2012. They announce the next top 50 blog each day at 10am EST. 

Good luck and I hope you all enter. Did I mention they have a Radisson in Orlando? (yep...at Disney world)
And they have one in New York...Radisson Martinique on Broadway!  

Enter here...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday madness...

It's a manic Monday here...I had my day all planned...a day full of work and catching up on emails...and my day started with a 6 year old visitor to my bed at 3am with those dreaded words, "I have to throw up". Oh the joys of motherhood. And to top that off, my 14 year old has hurt his back somehow this morning and is in crazy pain...so there's my day! 

I wanted to share some of the fun things going on around the photography world that you don't want to miss out on...too many good things and too many great giveaways!

First, did you see the Ultimate Photographers Giveaway? 

The prize package is amazing...someone will be a very happy person! You can enter here on the blog of the sweet and fabulous camera bag designer, Kelly from Kelly Moore Bags. 

***

Next, check out this great contest from Birdesign.

Here's where to enter... Birdesign on Facebook. 

And I'm in love with their new iphone templates...love these so much! 

You can purchase those here. 

***

Have you seen the Ornament Clusters from Kotori? Love these!! What a great client gift! 

Kotori has also just announced their new rewards program...you can earn free jewelry! We love Kotori and the sweet people behind it! 

***

Sticky albums is giving away one of  Apple’s highly anticipated new tablet, or if you prefer you can take the cash equivalent instead. The lucky winner will also win a free 12 months of StickyAlbums Pro Membership as the icing on the cake.

Create a custom mobile app for each of your customers, and show them off on a new iPad. The perfect combination to jump start your word-of-mouth marketing campaign this holiday season. Visit Sticky Albums here. 

Giveaway from Sticky Album!

StickyAlbum.com  provides pro-photographers the tools to create clean, professional digital photo albums, and then deliver them to your clients’ iPhones and iPads. Your clients can view their albums and then share them easily with family and friends.

Grow your sales & referrals with this hot new product that also happens to be the perfect marketing tool.  Your clients will love showing off their very own custom app to all of their friends and family, and in doing so are spreading the most valuable marketing there is: word of mouth.

With unlimited albums, you have the flexibility to set the perfect price point for each client.  You can position StickyAlbums:

• as a premium ad-on.

• as an exclusive part of packages.

• or as a value-added giveaway.

StickyAlbums were designed with the iPad and iPhone in mind, and allow your clients to save their albums to their iOS devices, complete with home-screen icons, so they work just like any other App. 

Because we know the value of word-of-mouth, StickyAlbums were designed from the ground up to be branded with your information, so that every “oooh”, every “ahhh”, and every share has the potential to grow your business.  Sign up for a free trial then you can build your own StickyAlbum and put your clients to work for you – marketing your business – today.

Right now you can save $30 with the coupon code: Savvy

Hurry this deal ends on March 26th at midnight CST.


To enter, see below.

It's a Giveaway from Kotori Photo Jewelry~

***update~ the winner of the giveaway is Melissa Ives...comment number 45...Congratulations Melissa!

............

We are so excited about the launch of the new fashion line from Kotori! It offers some of our favorite pieces to date... they're trendy, stylish, and thanks to the new metals and finishes, many are half the cost of their sterling pieces.

We think you'll find some new favorites of your own in the new line, and we hope it will open up more opportunities for you to sell photo jewelry to all your clients.

To celebrate to launch of the new fashion line from Kotori, we are hosting a Kotori giveaway! 
 One lucky winner will win the NEW Fashion Studio Package AND the Sterling Studio Package... a total prize valued at $170.

The Fashion package includes 3 of the new pieces ($75 value) and the Sterling Package includes 2 sterling pieces ($95 value). 


Check out their catalog online here.


To enter the giveaway, here's what you need to do...

• "Like" Kotori on facebook 
• "Like" our new deal site  the Daily Savvy Steal on facebook.
• and spread the word about the giveaway!

Come back here and leave a comment letting us know you liked the two facebook pages and spread a little gossip...then you are entered! Pretty simple ways to enter...you might just be the lucky winner! 
The giveaway ends on Sunday (September 25th) at midnight...and the winner will be announced Monday morning (September 26th).


**comments will not show up right away...all comments must be moderated first...and since I'm all the way in Japan, the time difference makes it difficult for me to moderate them during your daytime simply because it's our night time.  Please be patient...they will show up sooner or later.


GOOD LUCK!

giveaway day from Photographer Cafe

Photographer Cafe offers both up-and-coming and seasoned photographers an inspirational blog, an active facebook page, and a shop filled with beautiful, practical products and templates.  They have recently released several new products, including the incredibly versatile Sassy album, the lovely Sweet Dreams newborn announcements, and the chic Fleur Collection, featuring a huge array of business and marketing templates, along with coordinating albums, image boxes, and more.

We can't blame you if you want and need it all!  In fact, we are here to help!  Enter for the chance to win a $150 shopping spree from Photographer Cafe.  A $150 shop credit would go a long way toward helping you present a stylish, polished image that will impress your existing clients and will attract new clients.

To win, complete one or both of the following for one entry each.

1. Visit Photographer Cafe and browse through their shop.  Come back here and leave a comment below telling how you would spend $150.

2. Follow Photographer Cafe on Twitter and tweet: "Visit http://www.thesavvyphotographer.com to win a $150 shopping spree from @PhotogCafe."  

Report back here by leaving a comment below.

Contest ends Thursday, July 21st at midnight and we will announce the lucky winner on Friday morning...good luck!

giveaway day from Loktah

Today is giveaway day...

and we are thrilled to tell you about the wonderful goodies three lucky readers will win! 

Our featured sponsor is Loktah~ they specialize in high end packaging and fine art albums made from natural resources and green materials found around the world. 

Visit their site here...you will love their products! 

Next...come back here to enter the giveaway. Three winners...lots of goodies to win. 

Take a look at what's up for grabs.

Prize One:  One 10x10 Fine Art Album Of Choice, 10 DVD/CD Cases Of Choice, 3 Portfolio Folders Of Choice from Loktah ($450 value).  

Prize Two:  10 DVD/CD Cases Of Choice, 3 Portfolio Folders Of Choice,2 Photo-Folios Of Choice from Loktah ($220 value)

Prize Three:  5 DVD/CD Cases Of Choice from Loktah ($75 value). 

Don't you love them all!

I know your thinking that you never win...but it doesn't hurt to try! Who knows...it might be your lucky day. 

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment...let us know anything you wanna say...say a little, say a lot...just leave a comment and you are entered...now that's easy.

We'd love for you to spread the word about the giveaway...and spread the word about the Savvy blog and Loktah..we love all that gossip! Tell your friends your forum buddies if you will. Everyone deserves to know about something good going on...share the LOVE.

The contest ends Friday night at midnight...the lucky winners will be announced here Saturday morning!

Good Luck!

Now I'm off to play a game of Rummicub with my boys...this game has become quite a hit in our house this summer.

Don't forget to visit Loktah!

I had to share an image of the new ipad bags from Loktah. Just lovely~