Do what I say not what I do. lol

[zombiesniper]

Rivalry is good.

Tell your friend "Good luck!"

 

[CherylL]

Best of luck to you! Great idea on the conversation starter.

 

[zombiesniper]

Thank you.

 

[zombiesniper]

So I guess it's time for an update.

Total of 16 days broken over 8 weekends and how did I do?
Good and bad depending on how we look at it.

I kept and average engagement rate of about 8%
Of this 8% I could turn 1/10 into a sale resulting in a sale rate of 0.8%. Initially this seems low but that is about 1000% higher than any advertising could hope to do. This does mostly come down to P2P sales and the client being able to see the product in person.

The direct sales did about as well as I had anticipated. I did however do better on potential bookings for pet and portrait photography plus a few other jobs such as car/boat photos and a few product images for a local artist.
Because of this I can say that the sales of wildlife photography will never fly in a general market such as this. A more art focused market would surely provide a better clientele base.

I was told by many that I should have set up a small studio to shoot in. An acquaintance of mine had a booth and started doing exactly that. He had 2 clients the entire two months. Both pet photo's (Pets are not allowed in the building or he probably would have been swamped.) Most of the people would say things like "Not with my hair like this." or "I'd have to change then come back." which they never did.

Cost of the booth plus stock = $2000
Total revenue at the booth = $600
Bookings still to be totalled.

So it looks like we'll have to wait and see how many booking turn into paid shoots before I can give an overall assessment.

 

[tirediron]

Seems a pretty decent result overall!

 

[zombiesniper]

I think so as well.

The number of people that now have my card in there possession is about 100x what it was before

 

[Dave442]

Great to see you were able to generate some leads, I think this is more important than selling from the booth. While the big camera/lens was a good conversation starter, I think another idea would be a large print. As you noted, most foot traffic passed along but did not come in the booth - a mural size print of a couple of your great shots would be another conversation starter. At the rates you have it would be good to do it again next year.

 

[mrca]

You indicate that many of your cards are out there. I prefer to be pro active rather than re active waiting for them to call. Perhaps the next time have one large framed print, not an expensive frame job(I do my own printing, matting and framing) as a drawing and to sign up, they need to leave their names and contact information in case they win. Now, rather than your card ending up in the round file, you have a number of people to follow up with by phone. Generate one customer and it should pay for the give away.

 

[zombiesniper]

Good idea.

I had large prints on display as well.

I make take peoples info if it was a targeted artist market. At this market you'd be hard pressed to get anyone willing to put down their personal information. There are just too many "shady" booths allowed to operate.
I have been watching and logging the new people that have liked my facebook page since.

 

[mrca]

Great job tracking your success rate. Marketing and not being able to determine how well it is working can lead to expensive and long term non productive efforts. You are moving in the right direction. Now find another way to get your work out there. Perhaps, offer to restaurants for display for sale or nature stores. Might try picking your best shot, printing it as a 13x19 or 17x22 matting and framing it for the drawing. Folks like free and are often willing to enter drawings for something that good. Make sure you have signed the print and have some contact identification on the back of the framing. At worst, it gets your best work out there. Now if someone like a business that might buy more of your work for their walls wins, all the better.

 

[mrca]

Also, do you "look" like a wild life photographer when you are in your booth? Last year, partially as a political statement, I finally purchased something I always liked. If you are old enough to remember war correspondents in the 60's and 70's and what was worn on african safari's, the safari jacket with epaulets(capable of preventing camera straps from slipping off) a waist belt and large hip pockets as well as patch pockets with buttons. The hip pockets function as do the side pockets on my vest, left pocket for light trigger, right for meter and lens caps. Chest pockets for filters or color checker passport. I think wearing one would give you that "great white photo hunter" look. Mine has my website across the upper back and my logo and biz name over the left pocket. I'll bet it would separate you from other guys with wild life photos. Mine is manufactured in Africa, it's the real deal and is functional and a walking billboard at the same time.

 

[zombiesniper]

I won't play dress up.
The military made me do that for over 20 yrs. Never again. I wear what is practical for the situation. At the market I wore golf shirts and jeans.
If people expect me to look like Jack Hanna then they're to narrow minded to really appreciate art.
I don't ask painters to cut off an ear.

 

[mrca]

Zombie, you must find what works for you. Keep in mind all the incompetent photographers actually getting paid for their mediocre to down right crappy work. They are being selected not only on the quality of their work, but also on their image or personality. A photographer is not only selling paper or his images, he is selling himself. But it has to be genuine. Keep up the creative marketing. Try at least one new approach a month and continue your great tracking of results. As a fly fisherman we say, keep putting the fly in the water, ie keep putting those quarters in the slot machine. Eventually there will be a payoff.

 

[zombiesniper]

Thank you.

Just had a call from an artist today. We had talked at the market about shooting some of her painting so she could have them put onto T-shirts, mugs etc.
She's coming up this weekend with 4-6 paintings for me to work with. If all goes well, she could be a recurring customer.

 

[mrca]

Great job, keep putting those quarters in the slot machine. Every person you meet is a potential customer. A bit different than wildlife. As you start to find the niches that are yours, start thinking about your branding. Who are your ideal customers? Where do they hang out, what are their interests? Be sure to price so you are making a profit. A good rule of thumb is 3 times the cost of goods plus your time required x hourly rate for a home business. Knockem dead.