Creative ways to get repeat business & referals...?

[Rozechik]

Hello everyone i'm new here and i love the forum so far, i'm really getting to the point in photography where i'm gradually getting gigs to cover events like birthdays, i did a fashion show not too long ago, helped cover my sister's wedding and I have a bridal shower booked as of this writing, most of which have been in response to some Craigslist ads and online promo.

I love doing events like these because i feel they're great ways to get some exposure for what I do but i also want to maximize on those opportunities instead of just being a one hit wonder with my clients. I typically offer; photo shoot, copyright free CD of all pics at the end of the even(s), and a bonus for them to choose about 50-75 pictures which I later package into a photo book for them. It's working well cause sometimes they want more than the agree upon pictures for their photo book which is a slight additional charge.

I'd like to know what else some of you all are doing to generate business or what else could you recommend I do to get the word out about what I'm doing. much appreciated. THANKS!

 

[tirediron]

Aside from perfect customer service (Be puntucal, be ready, be polite, etc..) Always give the client a little more than they asked for. For instance, on a family session, I normally include six images as part of the fee, BUT I always include at least one extra, and maybe some monochrome conversions, or something like that.

 

[KmH]

Essentially giving away all your rights to photos you produce (copyright free CD of all pics) is a huge, massive business mistake. With the wrong wording you could also be giving away any rights you have to use any of the images you make to promote yourself. If you haven't already, I highly recommend you consult with a qualified attorney to ensure you maintain effective legal control of your work product.
Check out this thread - http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-shop-talk/289352-unlimited-rights-what-does-mean.html

You need to put terms in your contract that place limits on what customers can and can't do with photos you have made that you allow them to use. Ultimately, copyright is the only work product you produce.

No doubt, you have to advertise and promote your business, which costs money. Successful photography business owners spend much more of their time doing business related tasks, than they spend time doing photography related tasks.

Business knowledge, like understanding the value of copyright and the circumstances when you need a legal release to use photos of people to promote yourself, and business skills like marketing, promotion, and salesmanship are often more important to a photography business than having photography skills.

 

[jake337]

I'll add that maybe if you want returns you could stop giving away the entire session on CD and instead sell prints. This way, when the customer wants more or reprints, they have to come through you and pay for them. If you give them a CD they will just print out however many they want.

 

[Rozechik]

Really great points guys @Tirediron i usually always make sure i'm as early as can be, my first paying gig i was 2 hrs. early lol. KMH also great point i don't say so much copyright free on the contracts but more like they'll just get a copy of all the pictures on CD after the event but i'll look more into your links. @Jake337 that's not a bad idea tho i also feel people would get the impression i'm somewhat running away with their photos. One concept could be (if there was an ultra quick way to do so) watermark all the photos taken and put those on a CD for them free and that way even if they printed them later that'll be free promo for me. Un-watermarked versions could THEN be printed exclusively from me at a fee.
If anyone knows a way to do this quickly please feel free to share, once again thanks and keep the suggestions coming.

 

[jake337]

Really great points guys @Tirediron i usually always make sure i'm as early as can be, my first paying gig i was 2 hrs. early lol. KMH also great point i don't say so much copyright free on the contracts but more like they'll just get a copy of all the pictures on CD after the event but i'll look more into your links. @Jake337 that's not a bad idea tho i also feel people would get the impression i'm somewhat running away with their photos. One concept could be (if there was an ultra quick way to do so) watermark all the photos taken and put those on a CD for them free and that way even if they printed them later that'll be free promo for me. Un-watermarked versions could THEN be printed exclusively from me at a fee.
If anyone knows a way to do this quickly please feel free to share, once again thanks and keep the suggestions coming.

How would you be running away with your photos? The client does not own them but is merely buying prints of your work from you.

 

[KmH]

Really great points guys @Tirediron i usually always make sure i'm as early as can be, my first paying gig i was 2 hrs. early lol. KMH also great point i don't say so much copyright free on the contracts but more like they'll just get a copy of all the pictures on CD after the event but i'll look more into your links. @Jake337 that's not a bad idea tho i also feel people would get the impression i'm somewhat running away with their photos. One concept could be (if there was an ultra quick way to do so) watermark all the photos taken and put those on a CD for them free and that way even if they printed them later that'll be free promo for me. Un-watermarked versions could THEN be printed exclusively from me at a fee.
If anyone knows a way to do this quickly please feel free to share, once again thanks and keep the suggestions coming.

1. Because you automatically own the copyrights, they are your photos, so you wouldn't be running away with their photos.

2. Free watermarked photos on a CD get you the worst kind of word-of-mouth promotion you can possible get. "Oh ya. Rosechik was the photographer that took those, and she gives them away for free." In other words it costs a ton more to give the CD's away, than any 'free promo' you might, or more likely won't, get.

One of the most difficult and least successful marketing tasks a business can take on is raising their prices.

If you want to make any money doing photography you need to sit down and consider some numbers.

A very well run self-employed retail business might earn about 20% profit. As retail business owner busineess acumen diminishes, so does the profit margin, and a retail business may not make any profit at all.

If you want to make a full time job of doing photography, some basic math shows that to have $30,000 a year in profits @ a 20% profit margin, your yearly gross sales revenue has to be $150,000 a year, which would require average gross sales of $12,500 each month of the year. ($30,000 divided by .20 = $150,000).

A photographer cannot shoot 7 days a week, 365 days a year. More realistic numbers are 3 shooting days a week, an average of 2 or 3 shooting sessions per shooting day, and 45 shooting weeks per year because retail photography is seasonal.

So, that is 135 shooting days per year time at an average of 2.75 daily sessions which gives us 372 total shooting sessions for the year.

$150,000 divided by 3725 sessions shows that you need an average sales total of $403 per session.

If you only manage a 17% profit margin, to have the same $30,000 yearly profit, gross sales revenue has to increase to $176,470 or $474 average sale per shoot.

If yearly gross sales stay at $150,000, @ 17%, yearly profit dwindles to $25,500, @ 15% - $22,500, at 12% - $18,000.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Really great points guys @Tirediron i usually always make sure i'm as early as can be, my first paying gig i was 2 hrs. early lol. KMH also great point i don't say so much copyright free on the contracts but more like they'll just get a copy of all the pictures on CD after the event but i'll look more into your links. @Jake337 that's not a bad idea tho i also feel people would get the impression i'm somewhat running away with their photos. One concept could be (if there was an ultra quick way to do so) watermark all the photos taken and put those on a CD for them free and that way even if they printed them later that'll be free promo for me. Un-watermarked versions could THEN be printed exclusively from me at a fee.
If anyone knows a way to do this quickly please feel free to share, once again thanks and keep the suggestions coming.

How would you be running away with your photos? The client does not own them but is merely buying prints of your work from you.

Exactly. Last year a long time, popular, local studio closed. They put an ad in the paper to let as many people as possible know, that if they had family photos and such done between these years, you could come and get the negatives, for free, or they would be thrown away.

I think that was a pretty awesome gesture, and goes against your "run away with them" idea. Unless of course your business doesn't last, and you aren't that responsible, or organized.

 

[KmH]

It seems negatives last a lot longer than digital files do.