How much are your images worth?
These are the takeaway notes to our webinar. You can view the webinar itself here.
Although we’ve had some great feedback, not everyone will agree with what we have to say … we just hope you find something to think about!
If you like what we have to say, please tell your friends and colleagues … and tell us what you think. You can comment here, or email us, or tweet us at @queensberrynz.
BTW, if you do find yourself agreeing with us, please don’t just take our word for it. if you do see something you like, try it, see what happens, modify to suit.
Cheers, Ian
How can anyone make money selling pictures?
Professional letter writers are extinct. Professional picture takers are endangered. Why? Because anyone can do it, and lots of people think they’re nearly as good as you.
And yet a few people make fortunes writing and taking pictures.
Queensberry is focused on people who want to build a long term career in professional photography. The hard fact is that many are called – because they love photography – but few have the staying power. Lots of people come, try, give up … and lots more take their place.
Strategies for success
As well as photography skills, you need people skills and business skills.
1. Stand out from the crowd, don’t join it. We believe there’s less competition, more profit, more satisfaction and more pride at the high end of the market … and it’s our job to help get you there.
2. Don’t just do what your competitors do (the odds are they won’t be round for long). Pick role models by all means (successful people!), but then work out how to be different to them. Because you’ll never be as good at being them as they are, and because…
3. There are only two ways to compete: differentiate or drop your prices (and you cannot win on price).
4. In social photography, the trick is to understand it’s not about the album, or the photography, or Photoshop – it’s about the people in the viewfinder: the people paying! Get to know your clients as individuals, find out what they want as individuals, give it to them (obvious, but strangely rare).
5. Maximise revenue per client (what matters most for most studios). You can only handle so many jobs, so you need to maximise your income from each one.
6. Focus on maximum perceived value for minimum actual cost. From a business point of view, that’s what albums are about. They can double your income and more on each job you do.
The Queensberry Rules:
Differentiation again…
1. Great presentation adds value to your photography.
2. Using the same albums as everyone else generally reduces value.
Three ways albums add to your bottom line
Profit, positioning, promotion:
1. Profit on the album sale and up-sell.
2. Positioning (albums are evidence of where you stand in the market, just like your website, studio, fliers, car, clothing etc).
3. Promotion/word of mouth: albums get out and about: your silent salesmen.
Bear in mind that these days a lot of positioning and promotion takes place on line: Blogs, Facebook etc.
When you choose sample albums, remember they define you.
What’s important may not be how much they cost, but how much value they add … even if you don’t sell as many as you’d like.
Remember, it’s a two-step sales process
1. Selling the booking (before the event).
2. Selling the photography (“the honeymoon period”).
Packages versus a la carte
Packages are a way to define what you offer and manage the sales negotiation (after all, prospects probably have no idea what you can do, or preconceived ideas defined by your budget competition, The Knot etc).
Packages provide opportunities to be generous (eg savings on your a la carte prices if they book a deal before the day) and still sell what you want – think McDonalds combos.
But your packages should still be flexible (the major perceived advantage of a la carte).
Sample album guidelines
Use your sample albums to illustrate your packages.
Show what you want to sell (eg “thin” albums won’t sell lots of pages).
Think twice about “greatest hits” albums, (hero shots from a number of weddings aren’t convincing, and not what you’re selling).
Good, Better, Best
Marketing 101: offer a range of packages over different price points: [not so] Good, Better and Best.
When they see them they say “Wow”, or it’s back to the drawing board.
Remember it’s not about products, it’s about price points. Match your samples to them.
Stuff that adds value to Better and Best
The secret is not to define your packages based solely on the album. Some suggestions for adding value to justify your price points – and to avoid selling the “crown jewels” (see below) too cheaply:
- • Shooting for a longer time
- • Shooting at more locations
- • Slide shows
- • Personal web site
- • A box of prints
- • Wall prints
- • Art prints
- • Art worked images
- • High-res files
- • Make optional extras standard (eg leather)
- • Offer tempting high-end products (eg Duo, Musée)
- • More images
- • More pages
- • Proof books
- • Press books
- • Parent albums
- • Copy albums
Value-add criteria
Some questions to ask when considering what might entice clients to upgrade:
Should lust-worthy options be unavailable or added extras or higher-priced in my Good package?
How long will they take me? (Eg ordering a copy album means checking a box in Photojunction; a slide show takes a few minutes; art-worked images might take hours or even days.)
How much cash will stay in my pocket? (Distinguish between contribution [to your bottom line] and mark-up: there’s no point insisting on a mark-up that means people don’t buy, especially if it doesn’t cost you much valuable time.)
Am I giving away the crown jewels (so they won’t want/need to upgrade)?
“Good”
Purpose: to get prospects who don’t know you in the door (they probably have no idea what you do or how much it costs).
Define the package carefully. They should be appealing, but not too appealing (because you don’t want to sell them!)
Stick to affordable options (more added extras).
“Better”
This is what you expect to sell, and need to sell … what you budgeted on.
(Do you know how much you need to charge to make budget?)
An obviously better deal, now they can see what you can do.
But don’t give away the crown jewels yet.
“Best”
They say “Wow”.
They want this, but it’s a stretch.
Most people will fall back on your “Better” package, which they had no idea existed until now. But now your “Better” price looks more attractive.
If they book “Best” they make your day, so you’re really generous.
If everyone books “Best”, you should consider redefining your packages (you’re probably leaving money on the table).
Always an up-sell
Get them while they’re hot – after they see their own photos.
This is an opportunity to sell extra pictures, extra pages, extra albums.
Pre-design in Photojunction makes it easy.
Set expectations
Be honest about how much they’re likely to spend (it’s not the sticker price on your “Good” package!)
If you’re pre-designing, find words that you’re comfortable with to say that this is what you’re going to do.
Your easiest sale?
People who’ve seen your work and know how much it costs. (Get it wrong, and this is also your hardest sale!)
Flexibility
“Of course you can”.
Always allow an upgrade path.
An album “credit” is better than an album (allows for up-selling, flexibility, price changes).
Extras
Think twice before giving them away. For example:
Photoshop: should what was impossible, and takes heaps of your time, be free?
Every woman knows leather costs extra.
Your biggest advantage
Musicians have to put their music up on line for everyone to enjoy, whether they pay or not.
You don’t have to release the photos until they’ve been paid for. Worth thinking about.
Moving up
Have a strategy for increasing your prices (see Best, above).
The real world
Try, modify, try again.
Respond to competition on your own terms.
Work out when it’s better to lose a booking than drop your prices.
More reading on Queensberry:
Our Knowledgebase (you’ll need to login).
The Marketing category of Queensberry Connects.
Thanks for watching (and reading). We appreciate your attention.
People who like this post would also like:
