Posts Tagged ‘Marketing Madness’

Bridal Ambassadors

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Do you have your Bridal Ambassadors lined up for 2010? You don’t? What’s a Bridal Ambassador? Well, in taking a cue from our friends who photograph high school seniors, an Ambassador is someone who talks up your talents and the wonderful experience they had working with you. Until recently it was tough to send your wedding clients out with your work because the only book they could show was their own large book. Today, with the ability to make quick and affordable, press printed, album clones, you can arm your clients with beautiful little books and send them to out sing your praises while showing off their own wedding images.

While you can wait and make a sample of your clients finished album months after their big day, we recommend that you create a highlights album, where you choose the images and get it made immediately after the wedding. This sample album will feature the images that are most important to you and your artistic vision. After your client’s wedding, we suggest that you have a small album template pre-made so that you can easily download one or two dozen images and order this special book within a few days of her wedding. With Zookbinders’ PhotoBooks and Soft Cover Press Books, you can have a high quality, small album back within a week. This book can cost you as little as $49 for soft cover book and $59 for a hard cover book.

You’ll also want to have referral cards made so that your client can hand them out to their friends and so that you can track who gave the referral. This card can be self printed or you can order them from a print house. You can personalize the card with an image by printing them yourself or ordering a sheet of wallet photos to adhere to the front of the card. You can imagine how excited your brides will be to be able to carry with them and show off a few of their wedding images so quickly after their wedding. With the right materials, they will be referring all of the brides-to-be they know. And for less than $100 per event, you can realize thousands of dollars in new business. Give it a try.

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Being Effective at a Trade Show, Bridal Show…ANY show!

Friday, January 8th, 2010

This is bridal show season. If you’re going to be exhibiting in any bridal shows this winter and spring, we of course want you to have the latest samples of your work in a fresh new Zook Book or PhotoBook, but there is a lot more you need to do to set yourself apart from the crowd when it comes to your booth and exhibit space. Check out the Marketing Essentials International Blog and their article about how to stand in the crowd out at your next bridal show. Have a great 2010!

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Shedding 1000 Pounds, Marketing and Pricing for Profit

Friday, December 11th, 2009

We’ve gotten quite a response to Mark Zucker’s article “Your Business Needs to Lose 1000 Pounds.” He first presented it at Pictage’s PartnerCon in November and we also sent it to all of our customers in our ZookNotes newsletter. MarksRemarksFall2009

Some people thought Mark was simply saying “drop your prices by $1000 because shoot and burn photographers are cheaper than you.” That’s not it at all. As most of you know, the digital age has changed the wedding photography business in many ways. Whether it’s Susan the soccer mom, Uncle Joe or Ashton Kutcher at the wedding with their DSLR, the public perception is that wedding photography is easy and cheap. And if your business is struggling because of this new competition, then you might want to look at offering a lower entry price point. This doesn’t just mean lower your prices, it means offer a smaller, bare bones, no frills package to get these price conscious brides in your door.

But then what do you do? Once you make contact with these brides you need to show them how your service, skills, products and value is so much better than that of those newbees. Wow them with your Unique Selling Points! You educate your prospects and market your talents, photographs, service and value. You answer the question, “Why I should hire you over the other photographer?”

But how much should you charge? Just as you shouldn’t arbitrarily lower your prices by $1000, you shouldn’t just set your prices without knowing your product and package costs. One of the best quick references to understanding pricing is Ann Monteith’s three part series of articles on the PPA magazine web site. Understanding this valuable information will help you set your prices correctly, know where your money is going and know where you can trim your packages without losing your profits.

So there you have it. With a little research and knowledge of how your business works, you will understand what you need to charge to be profitable and how you can trim your offerings be lean, efficient and survive in the digital age.

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Marketing Madness: 5 Ways to Keep Your Clients Coming Back

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

5 Ways to Keep Your Clients Coming Back

We all know that it is many times easier to grow your business with your current client base, who is already familiar and happy with your services, than to try to constantly bring in new business. When it comes to increasing sales from your current client base consider these following relatively low tech ideas to keep them coming back.

1. Deliver complimentary portrait session with your albums. What better way to bring a client back into the studio than to give them a free session. By placing a certificate in with their album, they’ll see this wonderful gift when they are most excited, when they get to relive their wedding day through your images.

2. Give referral cards to each of your clients. Satisfied clients are almost always willing to share your name with family and friends in need of your services. To keep you and your services top of mind, give your clients referral cards to promote your business. Offer them a $25 to $50 credit with your studio for each card that comes back.

3. Send cards. Once again, being top of mind is key to getting referrals and getting your clients back in the door. There is no easier way to get clients back than to let them know you are thinking of them with an anniversary, birthday or holiday card.

4. Say thank you with a personal note. An email might be OK for some people, but a hand written note will set you apart. Consider dropping a thank you note in your wedding client’s card box or sending a note out immediately after the wedding and after their order is picked up.

5. Keep gift certificates open ended. Why keep a client from using your gift card? Don’t set an expiration date on your gift cards. Special offers can have a deadline to increase traffic at particular times, but let your clients use their gift cards at any time they want to take advantage of your services.

Start these simple, loyalty building tasks today, and you’ll be on your way to increasing client traffic through your door from the people who trust and use you most.

Scott Patrick, Zookbinders Sales and Marketing Staff

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