How many times a month should I do a contest?

[cherishedmoments8586]

How many photographers do contests where their client may recieve 10% off or more on their shoot? How many times a month should I do it where I don't really loose money but i'm not loosing clients either? Where do photographers get their pricing? I'm kinda new at the business aspect of it so i'm not sure how much to charge. I dont want to charge too much where clients wont come but at the same time I would like to make something of it and not loose money. I'm not stingy when it comes to money because I like having clients say I have good prices and they would refer me to their friends, but I would like to move up on my prices to be able to make a profit and build my business by buying props and advanced equitment. What do ya'll suggest?

 

[Malone]

There's a business forum here -

General Shop Talk

May get better responses there.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

My guess is that you are probably already losing money by not charging enough.

 

[DiskoJoe]

how many chances do you have of getting paid?

 

[cherishedmoments8586]

thanks

 

[Malone]

I dont want to charge too much where clients wont come but at the same time I would like to make something of it and not loose money. I'm not stingy when it comes to money because I like having clients say I have good prices and they would refer me to their friends..

Would you rather have referrals based on cheap prices? Or quality photos?

 

[KmH]

You can get free business advice and counseling from www.score.com and www.sba.gov

A written business plan is essential and the plan requires periodic updating, like at least every 6 months. http://www.bing.com/search?q=how+to+write+a+business+plan&src=ie9tr

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail

http://www.advantageinternational.c...sp?article_id=109&nav_cat_id=-1&nav_top_id=-1

Pricing is a function of your non-reimbursed business expenses (cost-of-doing-business - CODB) and your cost-of-goods-sold (COGS). My CODB/COGS is likely very different than yours making my pricing useless for you.

My experience is that people will not respond to any discount promotion that offers less than 20% off. I only do such a promotion in the 2 slow winter months Jan/Feb.

Substantially raising prices is one of the hardest marketing tasks a small business can undertake, because it usually means leaving current clients behind and building an entirely new client base.

It is so much easier to lower prices than to raise them, but most new to the business start way to low on their pricing because they have zero business acumen.

 

[cherishedmoments8586]

Thank you for your feedback. Malone, I agree. I would rather be refered to new clients based on quality of the picture. Diskojoe, not very many because i'm just now starting to get more clients and they are mainly just friends thats why I always end up cutting myself short on the price. I want to learn to have a firm pricing sheet that I can go by. I just dont know where to start exactly.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I just dont know where to start exactly.

Write a business plan. That's exactly where you start. There is some good software out there to guide you through it and explains things. But it's hard, and you will have to do some research yourself. Having a plan is a huge key to your success.

 

[cherishedmoments8586]

Thank you Bitter Jeweler for your feedback.