No, that’s not what it means.

WTF stands for…

Website (yours): It’s hard to get people to visit, but you’re in charge, it looks like you – you shape it, you own it.

Twitter: Millions hang out there, there are ways to get their attention – but it belongs to someone else.

Facebook: Same thing with bells on. Millions and millions of people. Awesome networking and sharing tools. But you’re not in charge, it doesn’t look like you’re in charge, and Mr Zuckerburg gets the Google Juice not you.

It’s essential to hang out with people in these public places, but invite them back to your place as well. Give them a chance to see what makes you different, and better, and authentic.

For example, every week Anna posts a client’s album on our blog, and mentions it on Facebook. People click through to our blog to check it out. Some of them click the Like button, some click through to our main site.

And it gets better if our client (or her client) links, likes and reposts as well.

Chances are you’re not trying to rule the world, just set up your own place as best it can be. Better to own your virtual castle, I reckon.

Cheers
Ian

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Simon Woolf is one of my favourite people. One of our longest-standing clients and quite possibly the most energetic person I know (if you don’t believe me check out his Facebook page). He sells beautiful landscapes from his shop in Wellington’s Cable Car Lane – access way to one of Wellington’s top tourist attractions. One day Simon saw a tourist photographing one of his landscapes through the display window, and posted about it on Facebook.

“I asked her for a look, and she stated, ‘It wasn’t a bad copy but was a little light’. I then told her I was the photographer, and she was being a bit naughty! Her reply was that at least half a dozen other people queueing for the Cable Car had done the same thing!”

It’s not my image, of course, but, after coming up relatively clean on a quick internal audit, I appreciate his indignation – knowing Simon I’m sure it was good-humoured – but I don’t really think there’s a problem, for two reasons:

1. He’s selling a relatively expensive product. If people are content with a photo of a photo (shot through glass) they’re not his customers. Just like those people who’re content with prints from your low-res web images. Nothing lost. And it says good things about the image!

2. In an online world there’s no choice but to put at least some of your images, in some form, in harm’s way. Call it paying it forward, or the price of online marketing. The people that don’t buy are still marketing for you. Even via a crappy home inkjet print they pass around with your watermark on it. The challenge is how to monetise what you’re giving away. Simon knows this, and practices it by the way.
I wrote this hoping he’ll comment

Cheers
Ian

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My two children are getting married, and In Part 1 I talked about how my eyes have been opened by the experience.

What would my kids get if they hired a “professional photographer” for $3500.00 or so? Generally the photographer’s time on the day, a DVD, no post work, often from someone who doesn’t know how to give a “wedding day experience” on top of everything else.

$3500 feels like too much money for that, but as I pointed out, the wholesale costs involved are too high to expect much more.

Prices like that encourage couples to go shopping with unrealistically low budgets for photography … but still often expecting everything under the sun.

And yet these are my kids getting married and I’m not trying to cut corners. I’m focused on how much they’ll miss out on.

How can we get across to consumers who want “everything under the sun” that their budgets are unrealistically low given the actual costs involved, and that the shoot and burn deals they end up settling for often aren’t a bargain at all?

People with unrealistic budgets have always been with us, as have photographers selling at unrealistic prices. There’s not much difference between “shoot and burn” and “selling the negatives” in the old days of film.

What’s new is the idea that this is a pathway to success. I agree with a comment on my previous post, that photographers are artists and should be paid for their talents, but when the penny drops that $3-4k is a helluva lot of money to pay someone for a day’s work, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on prices. Meantime, it’s hard to compete against, I know.

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Chaos theory has a metaphor for the way trivial occurrences can have significant consequences: it’s the butterfly effect.

We’re proud of Johannes’ post of that name in which he explains why he’s a Queensberry partisan. It’s about a serendipitous image that won him his first NZIPP Gold, caught Heather’s and my eyes … and led to a relationship that’s lasted eighteen years. So far. All because his tripod collapsed.

That relationship has been positive for us in so many ways, and we hope it’s been good for Johannes too.

One of the benefits has a really old name: word of mouth. Johannes has a great reputation with his peers and he tells them how good he thinks we are. The best marketing out there! And we’re very quick to reciprocate.

Word of mouth has a new name too, social media, and it’s changed everything.

Social media is systematised word of mouth. It’s like the butterfly effect in that any one of your posts, tweets, status updates and comments is a tiny event that separately or together can have a major impact on the future of your business. The same goes for the posts and comments that mention you!

As these messages percolate out to your friends, and the friends of friends become your friends, as you demonstrate what a great guy you are (hopefully!) so does your network, your reputation, your audience grow – one friend, advocate, potential customer at a time.

It is hard, slow work to build an authentic audience, and if it all feels too next year, too hard, too just not you, just stop, and see where that gets you. Actually I wouldn’t unless you have something really good to take its place. A Yellow Pages ad or a magazine ad probably doesn’t cut it any more.

Social media is a two-way street. Our I Own A Queensberry Facebook page is a tool for us all to jointly build our networks. We hope you join in!

Cheers, Ian

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Wedding and portrait photographers are lucky.  There is an automatic point of difference built into the core of our businesses – our photography. 

Other businesses selling books, bricks or ice-creams are dealing with the same commodities and therefore need to make their businesses about something other than the product, such as service, fast delivery or lifestyle branding.

We start out with a product that is already differentiated – and what do many of us do?

We try our hardest to look like other photographers. Why?

If we use the same actions, poses and website colours as our competitors, what is there to set us apart? Price.  Undercutting is a slippery slope; for a start, you have no idea if your competitors are profitable.  And how do you write a business plan for the year based on a decreasing and uncertain turnover?

So next time you shoot a wedding or a portrait, what could you do differently to improve your bottom line?

Best wishes,
Rebecca

Rebecca is a Londoner and you can see more of her beautiful work at rebeccalouise.com.

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Are you showing people what you want them to buy? I’ll bet you’re not.

This is important, and so simple…

Why does the “business you” want to sell albums? Because they’re a surefire way to create extra income from two scarce resources – your time and your wedding bookings.

I just got off skype from a photographer complaining because she can’t sell albums. Wants to … but can’t.

But look at her website, or almost any photographers’ website, and how many albums do you see?

Almost none.

How many photographers are showing what they (want to) sell?

Almost none.

So what’s the difference between them and the shoot-and-burn merchants?

Almost nothing … if all people can see is their websites.

In the good old days you wowed people with albums when they came into your studio. Now people check you out online instead, and it doesn’t work so well.

Show what you want to sell!

1. Post lots of album eye candy. Yes, some of our clients blog gorgeous album pics, but they’re few and far between.

2. Post lots of album slideshows too! It takes moments with Photojunction. Lots of people do this, but they keep them “out the back”, a tool for interacting with clients who’ve already bought – not up front where future clients can see what you do.

I can safely say that most people won’t mind you doing this, in fact they’ll love seeing themselves up in lights on your Blog, Facebook and Flickr. They’re social proof to future customers that lots of people, just like them, bought albums from you, and loved them.

Show people what you want them to buy!

But don’t tell your competitors.

Cheers, Ian

PS you can see our own efforts on our consumer blog and on Facebook. We’d love you to join in.

PSS Here’s the gold standard in “album eye candy”, Victoria and Richard’s Musée by Johannes.

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I couldn’t help myself … I just had to jump in on this one.

There are many reasons why photographers are coy on their pricing.

They want to keep their colleagues uninformed. They don’t want to frighten potential clients before they have had a chance to impress them with their own brand of personal charm, their list of awards, and the opportunity to brandish their Photoshop skills. They don’t feel confident in their own pricing.

We have two companies dealing with different budgets.

The less expensive brand has full disclosure on the website. 65-75% of people responding to the website are booking an appointment if we are available. 10% are asking for our prices (mainly photographers who can’t read … I’m kidding but you’d be surprised). 15% are trying to sell  us something and about 10% are asking about other things.

The more expensive site gets more comments but less bookings. The most common request is, ‘How much?’  This usually comes up well before ‘Are you available?’

I liked that both Heather and Anna said don’t waste your time telling them how good you are.

They are both right about their responses, and the choice depends on who you are talking to.

Some brides feel that you are hiding something if you are unable to answer their question. Others are looking for a ball park. Both want an honest answer.

With our premium brand we have two significant issues to address. Firstly people assume we will be out of their budget. Secondly they assume that we will be busy.

Stating our prices on our website could mean that we miss out on having the conversation that could lead to us picking up a booking. Stating our prices does let people overcome some of their own barriers. It is important that we have something that clients can like and afford so that the door is still open to us for a look in.

Cheers, Johannes.

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What to do with clients who just want to know your prices has been a conversation starter with photographers for as long as I can remember.

What’s interesting is how much things have changed.

How much have they changed? Completely!

In the bad old days people saw your yellow pages or magazine advert and phoned to ask “how much”.

The good news was you had them on the phone and you could have an intelligent and engaging conversation along the lines of Heather’s email.

The bad news was they probably knew nothing about you except what your ad said. So if they didn’t come in to see more, you were screwed.

Today they send you an email instead.

Today the bad news is that you don’t have them on the phone, so you can’t have that intelligent and engaged conversation.

But the good news is that if you’re playing the game right they know much, much, much, much more about you.

They know you take great pictures because they can see them on your website.

They’re pretty sure they’ll like you because they like the way you speak on your blog.

And they know you do pretty cool albums because they can see most of those on your blog too.

They know how well connected you are in your community and your industry because you’re up there on Google and Facebook and Twitter.

They can even see how much your customers love what you do for them – probably including people they know, because that’s how social media works.

For example here’s New Zealand photographer Nicola Inglis’ Facebook page, which I love. (It includes a couple of Queensberries I’m glad to say, one of which we featured on our own page.)

So the good news is that when they send that “prices please” email, chances are they really are interested, and they really do just want to know where you sit on the scale of Ford to Merc.

Cheers, Ian

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Our Resident Bride, Anna, says if people ask for the price, give ‘em the price.

I warned her people wouldn’t like her advice! No-one likes giving prices to people who don’t know what they mean. It’s like comparing a Ford and a Merc on the basis of cost.

That’s why we all love word of mouth, and people who come in and actually check out our gorgeous work and sumptuous products.

Anyway, Heather’s been talking with photographers for years about this, so I asked her what she thought.

She didn’t want to give out the prices either!

“That’s not an option,” I said, “The bride wants to know.”

So here’s Heather’s email:

Hi XXX,

Best wishes,
Heather

What I like about Heather’s email is it’s short, it’s friendly, it has no BS marketing words to put me off and it does give me some idea of her prices. It also explains why she can’t be more specific and invites the prospect to come in and talk about themselves.

If you like her approach you’d need to change the language so it sounds like you.

Cheers, Ian

PS I showed this email to Anna, who said, “That would frustrate me!” She’s the customer, so be warned. Tell us what you’d do…

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It used to be a phone call: “How much will you charge to shoot my wedding?” Now it’s more likely an email or text, and even shorter. You hate it anyway. How can you win if all people want to know is your price? We thought we’d ask our resident newly-wed how you should respond. – Ian

Speaking from my own experience, a newly engaged bride scours the internet for a photographer to capture her big day. If she likes your images and how you’ve presented yourself, she’ll send you an email enquiry.

Just remember that she has probably emailed a dozen other photographers – and what she really wants to know is what you can offer her and how it’s going to affect her bank balance. It’s fair enough to not publish prices on your website, but if a bride asks for them, it pays to be prepared.

So how do you reply to her enquiry?

Keep it short and sweet. It’s not going to add anything to go on about how great you are, it’s likely you’ve written this on your website anyway and when it comes down to it – this should be demonstrated in the quality of your photos.

Include a star image from your website in your email – it will potentially trigger the bride’s memory of your work.

Reply as soon as possible. This will get the ball rolling and let the bride know that you’re reliable.

Make it personal and address the bride by name. It immediately says ‘human’ and a “Congratulations on your engagement” is always welcome!

Keep the email tidy and attach a detailed but simply formatted PDF price list rather than writing the prices out in the email. Make sure your price list clearly breaks down what your potential clients are going to get for their money.

Let the bride contact you by a means she is comfortable with. Saying something like “would you like to arrange a time to meet?” leaving your contact details after you sign your name, puts the ball in the brides court and she can reply to the email or call if she likes.

Hope you like the suggestions.

Your Recent Bride,
Anna

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