Making money! Co-work with make-up store?

agony · Dec 8, 2008

Greetings photography friends!! I live in sweden and in my city we have alot of make-up stores, with all these beautiful women getting there makeup done professionaly just for educational purposes.

How would you make profit out of this? i mean who doesn't want a photo when they are looking their best. Suggestions ? ideas? what do you think? How should one approach this make-up stores?

Thanks & Kind regards

PatrickHMS · Dec 8, 2008

Are these "shop" locations individual storefronts?

What are the regulations about your setting up a little area (maybe just a benck and an umbrella) out on the street (like artists and painters do) where you can get ladies done up by all the shops in that area to get you to take their photos.

Offer some kind of a referral fee for the shops to send their customers out to you. Something like your giving each shop some of your business cards with some little code on the back (to tell which shop you gave that card to), the shops can give out the cards, the customer gets a "discount" for the photos (that you can build into your price structure) when and only when they give the card back to you. Then you also know who sent the referral to you so you can do something for them.

In my business I give out a lot of $25 gift cards for Longhorn or Outback Steakhouses, and they more than pay for what is costs me to do it.

Just a thought...

Johnboy2978 · Dec 8, 2008

Would your target "customer" be the (1) lady who is getting her make up done, (2) the business itself, or (3) both? My first thought is that the customer would be more the salon itself and I would think they would be interested in seeing a before/after type of thing for marketing for their business. One problem with this of course, is the vanity of the female who is going there. I think it would be a hard sell to get a before shot of them, given that they are going there to look pretty and would not welcome the idea of getting a picture before the "mask", as it were, was applied, and without it, it would be hard to see what the salon is really capable of if that makes sense? In the second scenario, I'm not sure many women go there with the idea of "I'm going to get my makeup done and while I'm there, I think I'll have a portrait taken as well suitable from framing". The two just don't go together in my mind, perhaps b/c I'm male. I guess if you had the right self-confidant woman though, you could sell to both parties.

I don't know. Just thinking out loud. I actually had a similar idea when I got my last haircut, and went through the same mental process thinking of marketing to this audience.

TBAM · Dec 8, 2008

Just an idea:

Offer to create a catalogue of hair-styles for the Salons. Much like the fashion books that you read whilst you decide on the hair you want, however in this case, the photos would be from that hair studio giving the person getting their hair cut confidence in the salon's ability as well as precision over the cut that they intend to get.

It would be a lot of work and continuous, however as there are many salon's it could develop into quite an extensive and stable income to support branching out.

PatrickHMS · Dec 9, 2008

TBAM said:
Just an idea:

Offer to create a catalogue of hair-styles for the Salons. Much like the fashion books that you read whilst you decide on the hair you want, however in this case, the photos would be from that hair studio giving the person getting their hair cut confidence in the salon's ability as well as precision over the cut that they intend to get.

It would be a lot of work and continuous, however as there are many salon's it could develop into quite an extensive and stable income to support branching out.

NICE idea....

agony · Dec 9, 2008

TBAM: Yes very interesting idea! but i think most customers then would want some kind of compensation for being in that catalogue :/

Johnboy: I was thinking the customers getting their make-up to be my target, and very good idea there with "codes", in that way i could bring the store prints for free maby, as a thank you

what do you guys think about that? The only problem i see right now is that when they have gotten their makeup done, let's say they get my card from the store and think "a photo , yes that would be great.."...but: "..i don't have time now, wish i knew that before". If you understand what i mean?

how would one deal with that ?

TBAM · Dec 11, 2008

Agony:

Easy, get the store to offer a discount to any customers who agree to get their photo taken.

Salon's usually have busy days, as well as women's hair usually takes a long time to finish. Which means that organising times to attend the salon, should be easy to negotiate and plan around.

For example, here, Thursday nights are busy at Salon's due to late night shopping. They also have appointments. You could do a Salon each week, spending the night/day at the Salon with a "studio" set up. Move from Salon to Salon each week.

3 hours on a busy night should net you possibly 10+ customers to shoot. Which over the course of a period of time will give the salon advertising material as well as images to combine into a book that the customer can flick through prior to getting their hair done.