Special Edition


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or the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), the worldwide pandemic meant there was a real


risk of losing members who were losing their livelihood. It was quickly evident that amid an almost overnight cancellation of events—small and large, from weddings to national conferences—a paid membership in an association might not be considered an essential spend. CEO David Trust says it was easy to imagine a scenario where PPA would lose one-third to one-half of its 25,000 worldwide members. Immediately, before much of the United States went into lockdown mode, PPA began to strategize and implement a remote working environment that would put them ahead of the curve and have their dedicated staff safely in place and working from home to focus on helping their members. Their immediate priority became communicating with their volunteer Board of Directors, their employees, and delivering on what members said they needed in this time of crisis. To learn what those needs were, PPA immediately began asking the members, and they intently and emphatically listened. “Professional photographers are the smallest of small businesses. Once the shelter- in-place orders became widespread, we knew our members’ businesses would be dead in the water,” Trust says. “Our first focus had to be centered on helping them get through this crisis. There was no track record of anything like this happening in our lifetimes, so we were going to be writing a new playbook.”


CEO David Trust says it was easy to imagine a scenario where PPA would lose one-third to one-half of its 25,000 worldwide members.


Photographers, both members and non-


members, were desperate for information in the days and weeks following what was essentially a worldwide lockdown. That meant that although traditional membership recruiting might not be advisable in that moment, an entirely new messaging pipeline opened up. To meet the needs of the photography community, PPA opened all of its online education to everyone, which includes more than 1,100 on-demand educational classes that teach everything from posing, lighting, and composition to business, marketing, and building entrepreneurial muscle. That decision got worldwide attention. “Within a week, we had more than


40,000 new free accounts created in our system from 196 countries,” Trust says. “The message was simple: Don’t just sit there eating snacks and binge-watching shows. Use this precious time to brush up on your photographic and entrepreneurial skills so that when we emerge on the other side, and we will emerge on the other side, you are ready to hit the ground running.”


“Our first focus had to be centered on helping them get through this crisis. There was no track record of anything like this happening in our lifetimes, so we were going to be writing a new playbook.”


The team at PPA also created a series


of webinars and Facebook Live broadcasts to help members understand the government assistance packages. Those on-the-spot relevant webinars will likely be a key marketing tool in the future since the team has seen how quickly they can be produced and how well they were received.


All the online educational content,


including webinars and government assistance tips, could easily be accessed via a newly created section of the PPA website called “In It Together.” The webpage is open to everyone and divided into four sections: news and announcements, government assistance, webinars, and education. “We wanted to make sure we are the


one-stop for all resources that have to do with COVID-19 and continue to drive home the concept that you are not alone,” Trust says. “We are standing by you every step of the way.” Before the government approved its


first stimulus package, Trust said the team at PPA figured that understanding it all would be a challenge. For that reason, one of their first moves was to build a resource page that was maintained with in-depth, up-to-date explanations of each part of the stimulus bill, with downloadable guides. PPA has even heard from businesses outside of the photography industry; they, too, were using the page to help navigate the government assistance requirements. “It just seemed natural that we would also


need to do some quick and easy webinars on how to deal with cancelled contracts, how to apply for government assistance, and what to work on while we have this time on our hands,” Trust says, believing that both the live webinars and recorded webinar video would be highly consumed content. “The webinars have been fairly unsophisticated, and we thought it was much more important to be timely than slick. I think that has created a sense of immediacy that our members have appreciated. Unlocking


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