Hello new member needing advice and guidance
 

Hello my name is Alison and I am a new member of this forum looking to discuss photography marketing and promotion. I look forward to hearing from like minded photographers. My specialist area is portrait photography of families and young ones as well as an interest in product and landscape photography. I come from an art and design background and based in Scotland.

Welcome to the forum, Alison.

Hello Alison, a very warm welcome to the forum.

Hi there Alison, welcome to WPF - enjoy the forum.

Looking for your thoughts and ideas new business venture
 

It is rather frustrating when you spend time canvassing your photography portfolio up and down the main street. Having got the names and addresses and phone numbers if 40 potential customers, next step, you book them into your diary. In the first 2.5 weeks of business I achieved 28 bookings. This number includes some previous customers.

The dilemma being, the day before the shoot the majority of people are rescheduling their appointment or choosing to ignore me.

I need my customers to want to book in because they don't want to miss the offer and high quality service. I certainly need to consider how to best target my customer base? Promotion, Promotion?

Lastly, I am not a snap photography and not in the position to want to offer free shoots. This is exactly what my main competitor is doing. I seek to position myself at the higher end of the market.

If anyone can give my food for thought it would be much appreciated. Living in a remote is of Scotland and a sole photographer, I thought the best way to learn is to join a forum and discuss my ideas.

Look forward to your feedback.

Regards

Alison

Alison,

When you say you got 28 bookings, and then these customers rescheduled, why do you think they did this? It seems ot me that these people had second thoughts and having thought it over, decided that the service you were offering wasn't right for them. I think you need to find out why this happened. Even if you think you're offering a high end product at a realistic cost, do your potential customers regard you as good value?

Duncan

The key questions to answer are what's causing them to cancel? Is there a way to hook them more firmly when they do book? Perhaps a deposit to confirm the appointment when booking - that might reduce the number of impulsive bookings, but on the other hand may also reduce the number of 'no-shows' and allow you to use your time productively rather than have wasted appointments.
My situation is probably different to yours - I am an amateur who gets commissions, rather than a professional who uses photography as a business, but at the moment I am exploring the idea of an exhibition as a fund-raiser for my local mountain rescue team, which would firstly raise some funds for something I am quite passionate about, and secondly get my name and images seen by a wider audience.

A warm welcome to you Alison.

It will be very interesting to see if the pros and semi-pros among our membership throw any light on this topic. They often appear very guarded on giving tips on how to break into this market and drum up business. Maybe you’re suffering from the economic downturn where many are cutting back on extravagant items. I know countless people now working a 4 day week and facing redundancy in a few months time including myself.

I am a hobby wildlife photographer who is out and about in the countryside. Many folk mistake me for a Pro when they spot the gear. In the course of conversations which strike up during our meeting often the topic of somebody who takes family or pet portraits comes up. You typically hear figures quoted of say £75 - £100 for the shoot including a few prints and extra prints in the order of £20 - £30 each. I have never heard anybody say they thought it was good value for money and it appears most declined the offer.

I believe the secret to success is having the right network of contacts who can feed you the work. For example a photographic studio that uses specialist freelance photographers to cover a wide range of subjects. Pros are often seen hanging around local camera shops keeping their ear to the ground and hopefully pick-up some contacts of business.

You often hear the term what is your USP (unique selling point) which brings to mind a photographer’s studio I saw in Bergen Norway. The guy was using large plate camera to make very large canvas portrait prints (at least 3 to 4 square metres) which must of been very expensive but he must of had a market to supply.

To make a living it is not uncommon for your work to be not exactly what you wanted to do or planned. It is a case of getting the needle in the vein where the money is.

Hi Alison,
Marketing; where to pitch yourself?
There is a proven train of thought in many aspects of business whereby instead of being competitively priced you dramatically inflate your prices; not double, probably quadruple that of your competition.
Think of it yourself; you see an item that's quadruple the price of the next similar thing on the shelf & you think 'that must be good'. It also then has a 'snob' value; becomes almost 'designer'.
You sound confident in your photographic abilities; would it be worth trying this approach? You'd be able to spend more time per customer therefore portraying a better more personalised service & you'd make more profit which you could invest in better gear than your competitors.
I'm not saying this is the way you should go; it's just a different perspective.
Hope it helps,
Al.

I guess that if you've gone out looking for business that some have booked because it sounded good but after giving it more thought have decided that they don't want to spend money on it. It's also possible that people have found it hard to say no when approached so have backed out later.

I'm trying to establish a small studio business at the moment and am currently offering free studio sessions. By not charging a sitting fee I'm finding it's quite easy to convince people to come in for a shoot. Then it's a matter of doing a good enough job in the studio so they want to spend money on prints. Sure it's a risk and I've had some shoots that have not made me much money, while others have been productive (including at least one that would not have happened if I'd charged a sitting fee). My hope is that the prints will end up on walls and my business will grow by word of mouth... it's not a fast build but it does work. The first shoot I did in my studio didn't make much money as only a few prints were ordered, but I've found out since that the client was very happy and has told others about me - so far this one shoot has led to two more studio shoots and two events (the first of which has led to more studio shoots).

I guess what I'm saying is that for me at this time it's all about establishing a client base and building a portfolio, not charging a sitting fee is helping me to do this. While you may not want to do free sittings it may be worth considering doing it as an introductory offer?

Hi Alison, I would echo Al's thoughts as an approach worth considering. And I would also endorse your idea of exhibitions. Raising funds for the local Mountain Rescue Team would go a long way to getting your name known. If you do that, ensure you have plenty of cards about the place, and you could also follow it up with a photo documentary about the team in the local press to help their fundraising efforts. I think that half the battle is to make your name as well known as possible. I also think that non-refundable deposits, taken with the booking would help. I like the photos you have posted so far but would like to see them larger.

Thanking you all for your helpful replies
 

Thanks to you all. Your comments are very interesting food for thought. It makes me think about my market segment. The majority of the town where I live covers the majority of working class people. However, there is also a smaller minority of more affluent people. I may need to target them.

I am thinking about promotions I can use to entice people through the door?

I certainly like the idea of having an exhibition to get your name known. I also like the idea of quadrupling my prices. I'm not sure however in the economic downturn even the most affluent will pay for such luxury items.

Thanks again to everyone.

Regards

Alison

P.S. I have posted up a few images on the gallery space of the forum.

Message for Yelvertoft
 

Sorry if I am not posting photos in the correct place. I am new to forums of any kind and I have been having difficulties navigating around the site. I will read the guidelines as instructed. I am sure it will not be long before I am fully clued up.

Alison

Duplicate threads merged.

Note to all: Cross posting duplicate threads is not advisable, it makes things very difficult to manage.

Hello Alison, yes, you're posting in the right place. But could you please observe the limit (stated in big text at the top of the gallery front page) to no more than 4 pictures in any single 24 hour period.

Don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of things. You've got an interesting discussion going on here, glad you joined.

Would be interested to see what lesleyr and Saphire have ot say on this subject. Lesley does this kind of work currently and Chrisitne (Saphire) used to in the past.

Duncan

Hi again Alison, another source - if you have a Higher Education Establishment near by then Graduation Photographs can be a good source,

How are you presenting your portfolio to prospective clients? Individual photos, in plastic wallets in ring binder, or in bound volume? Do you have a website that potential clients can browse? My experience (as a customer, not photographer) is that the higher the standard of presentation, the greater the chance of a sale.