Free Stuff: Marketing Tips
Family Christmas Business
Need family business for Christmas business? One that always worked for me was 1-8x10 and 2-5x7s for a price. What price? That is up to you. I've done it for as little as $29 and as much as $79. The more you charge, the less you will do. The less you charge the lower the average order will be. When we charged $69 - $79 we averaged about $350.
Start by mailing a letter describing the Christmas Special to your A- and B-rated clients. Do slide proofs, 30 minute sessions, one outfit (make sure you do a clothing conference). Photographically, do the whole family, just the children, Mom and Dad together, Mom and the children, Dad and the children. Just do two or three shots of everything except the whole family. The 8x10 and 2-5x7s are of the same pose, that way they need to BUY the other poses. Talk about wall portraits the whole time and have larger packages they can upgrade to.
Third-Party Promotions
Third-party promotions are one of the most powerful marketing and promotional tools. With them, you work with other businesses, their clients, and their referrals. Whether it is a children's clothing store offering a session and desk size (4x5) print to their clients that purchase $300 in clothing or a bridal store offering a bridal session with your studio with each gown sale, a third-party promotion can benefit you.
Contact the business you want to work with. You provide the photography at no cost to the business owner, but you get your name in front of their clients. The wording on the certificate should read, "Thank you for purchasing your engagement ring from Smith Jewelry. In appreciation we have arranged with Doug Box Photography to provide an engagement session and desk size print with our complements. Please call the studio for more information..."
Networking With Suppliers
Often times I think there is nothing new under the sun in this business and I "assume" that everyone knows the old tricks. But you know that saying about when you "assume" something. So here's a tip worth repeating.
After every wedding, I send or bring prints to all of the other suppliers from the wedding. I make images for the cake shop, the dress shop, the tuxedo store, the caterer, the country club or hotel, and even the bridal consultant. (Just an added secret that bridal consultants pull a lot a power and can book you weddings without any effort on your part. Well worth a bit of good P.R. directed their way.) When you distribute these prints not only are you providing these suppliers with something that they can use to benefit their business (hence making you the Good Guy...again) but it also spreads around your P.R. Your connection with a reputable outfit speaks volumes about your business. And an added note about those wedding consultants: It pays to make up a nice album for them to use that they have on hand to display your work. If the images reflect the weddings that they have helped put together, they will eagerly show it to all their prospective clients and thereby booking weddings for you without any effort on your part (except for putting together the book and updating it regularly). Could it get any easier? I am lucky to work with a great consultant: Thanks Dorothy.
Making Money with Christmas Cards...Finally
I realize that you're sweating it out here in early summer, but we would love to cool our heels by talking about Christmas Cards. Our frustration level with the low profit margin we made selling Christmas cards finally came to a head. And when I began figuring it out, I realized my formula wasn't adding up. If a client came into the studio and wanted to purchase 4x5 prints we would not sell them for $1.50 each. So why do we sell cards with prints for such a low price?
In addition, I don't want to do a session and only sell Christmas cards. So we initiated some changes and it begins with throwing away the retail price list that Stylart (or others) sends you. Then, establish a sliding price scale. We priced the cards with a four-to-five times markup and if the client then buys only Christmas cards, they pay the higher price. Then the more portraits they purchase (in dollar amount) the less the cards cost them. We either sell more portraits or make more money on the cards. In a strange way, the customer enjoys this because with a sizable portrait purchase, they get their cards at a discount price. Stylart makes a beautiful product but man cannot live by Christmas cards alone.
Increase Your Wedding Reprint Sales
Our wedding reprint sales have increased 32% over the last year. They also come in a more timely manner than ever before. I believe it is because of a simple technique we instituted recently. Also, we wanted to raise our wedding reprint prices. As an example: 8x10s were $22, we wanted to raise the price to $24 and we wanted to get reprint orders in a more timely manner, so we raised the price to $30 and give a 20% discount if reprint orders are placed within 60 days. It worked! Reprints come in faster. And the orders come in faster and larger. There is more excitement in 60 days than there is 8 months later. I wonder if this idea could also work with some of our portrait clients?
More Money from Every Wedding
Would you like to put more money in your pocket from weddings? One idea: A good way to raise your wedding prices without making drastic changes, is to add a "photography fee". You don't have to change your pricing style. If you have packages or a la carte, you can add a photography fee ("This package is $2500 plus a $400 photography fee."). That is what we did. $400 for the first photographer (me) and $200 for the second photographer. The 2nd photographer does the black & white detail and special moment images.
Just think, if you only add (or increase) your photography fee by $100 and you do 40 weddings a year, that is $4,000 - profit! If, like us you add $600 in fees and do 25 weddings, that is $15,000 extra profit! WOW!!! That was easy.
How to Tell Your Clients How Great you Are
The hardest thing to tell prospective clients is how great you are to work with. If you try to tell them, it sounds like you are bragging. The answer, don't you tell them, let your past clients do it. I hope you have saved all of those nice letters and notes past clients have sent you. Take those letters and an image or two for the session and put them in an Art Leather Mezzo album.
We place the note on one page and the photographs on the opposite page. That way your clients can "brag on you". Leave the book or books (have one for portraits and one for weddings) around the studio or on the table where clients sit to look at your albums or images.
If you don't have any letters, ask your clients to write you a note. Next time you get a compliment, ask if they will put it in writing so you can put it in your brag book.