I was talking to PhotoKeith this past week who is a [very good] professional photographer about different ways to grow his business and we both realized just how much value there is in combining a traditional micro-marketing database driven marketing approach combined with Facebook and MySpace.

Professional service businesses face opportunities and threats from the explosion of online networks and businesses.

* For businesses that haven’t shifted to an online model (e.g. most personal services that require being in person), then social networks allow for a changing of the guard. Specifically, with an increased use of a social network or referral site, the opportunity to be the leader is a new one. Existing leaders may or may not be able to adapt. For professional services, the person really is the brand.

* The online arena is empowering more information, more tools and more ways to share. While this means that the market for certain services like the occasional photo shoot goes down because people can shoot and edit a picture with a lot of tools, really this just means that professionals need to identify more clearly where the value exists for services. Most people aren’t going to watch a video to learn to cut someone’s hair, so professionals are certain to continue to have a place in the market, but certain kinds of jobs in each profession are going away.

Online social networks are getting much more user friendly and as the ease of use of the platforming moves from early adopter to the majority, we’re going to see far more networkers leverage a new kinds of business model to grow business. Specifically, a database driven marketing model where the customer’s data is retained and the service provider uses technology to stay on top of needs and can recommend services as needed and get referrals for being very good.