Albums to differentiate

June 30th, 2009 in Marketing by Ian Baugh

Tags: Albums, Clients, Differentiate, Feedback, Press Books, Products

Press books – I agree with everything you say. At Focus I had a great conversation with Danny who suggested that ‘everyone’ did digital, ie it was commonplace with suppliers but that Duos were the really unique albums. I agree. Aren’t QBY digital albums really just a fancier, more expensive press-book? Again, that’s not meant to be insulting, I’m just trying to add to the conversation. FWIW, I’ve stopped offering digital albums (other than mini copies) and will move to a Duo only offering for next season.

No offence taken. I love our digital albums, and so do many of our clients. I believe ours are as good as they get and I don’t think either of us intends to belittle them. But as one of my favourite marketing books, Differentiate or Die, says, you can’t win on “quality”. On that basis Hyundai probably beats Alfa Romeo, but we all know it’s not that simple. Quality doesn’t differentiate. It’s necessary but not sufficient.

I’m not trying to talk you out of your decision but if I ran a studio I would probably include a digital album (flushmount for the visitors) and I would think seriously about press-books too. But I would not want them to define me.

I used to say in seminars, “If you can’t think of five things that differentiate you there is probably only one – price.”

Cheers, Ian

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Brand recognition

June 29th, 2009 in Marketing by Ian Baugh

1 Comment »

Tags: Brand, Clients, Differentiate, Feedback, Products, Promotion, Queensberry Connects

I got an email from Mark Miller today, and he’s happy for me to share it and comment.

I wanted to let you know how much I’ve been enjoying Queensberry Connects lately, specifically the posts about how QBY albums differentiate us as photographers from our competition and the idea that press-books are everywhere. I have a couple of comments/questions that I hope might add to the conversation:

1. QBY albums differentiate us as photographers – my clients love my (your) albums but they don’t know who Queensberry are (I tell them all about you ‘You’re the best in the World’ etc), but I don’t think they really care too much about the album brand. In the last 3 or 4 years I’ve only ever been asked once by a prospect if I use Queensberry albums. So my question is, “Should Queensberry be doing more to promote the brand with Brides?” Please understand, I’m not saying you should, I just wondered how that idea fitted into the ‘differentiation’ concept.

That’s a great thought and I’m glad you raised it, but I think I’ll pass…

OK, three comments

Name recognition isn’t vital, I guess. The key moment is when the prospect walks in, sees something awesome they’ve never seen before, and thinks, “Wow”.
Laphroaig, Hermes, Moleskine, Prada, Lexus, Apple, Mac (make-up) – I’m picking some of the brands Heather and I like – don’t just advertise to retailers, they advertise to us. To drive business to the retailers.
But the thought of an album company promoting to “the brides” makes a lot of photographers nervous. I guess it’s a (lack of) trust thing.