Monthly Archives: November 2011

How Portrait Studios Grow Profits

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Fact. Disk only photography coverage today for portraits and weddings may seem cheaper but in the long run of life and memories are very expensive and of little true value. A disk only coverage is really a disservice to the wedding couple and their families.

SB Atkins Photo ©2011

Family Photo

Reason. Disks of images are never shown again or even very much at first. Disks have a very low long-term archival stability. Additionally, ask around to find someone who can show you a Sony Beta video tape or for that matter, how many VHS tape players are still being used? CD’s are only a few years, if that long, away from non-use or existence.

People who think a disk is ok for today because they plan to get a wedding photo album or maybe some quality professional photo prints made are really fooling themselves. People’s natural tendencies are to procrastinate. The cheap disk will get lost in a drawer and be forgotten until it is to late to rescue the images locked inside and have an album or prints made. By the time someone finds the disk it will likely be to late.

These disks will be found someday by kids going through grandma’s old stuff. The kids will likely think this shiny circle is probably some kind of tree ornament. Some other lucky kids will find a book or box of photo prints showing mom, dad, grandma and grandpa at a wonderful old time party.

Now which set of kids will be your customers?

What are you allowing your customers to leave their kids?

If you don’t explain this to your customers everyone, you, them and most importantly their kids all loose.

Family events deserve professional photography and these memories deserve to be printed and preserved.

Professional photo printing and Wedding photo albums, the caring solutions to the disk only photography problem.

Holiday Profits Increase At Professional Portrait Studios

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Holiday gift giving, Christmas and Hanukkah  are nearing. These are Family Holidays full of memories past and those yet to be made. What better gift to give than the gift only you can give, your love in a family portrait.

Anyone can go the the mall and get a toaster or a tie. People buy these items for themselves all the time. Your loved one can not go to a store and buy your portrait.
Once you decide to have your portrait made avoid any urges or great ideas to ‘do it yourself’ or have a friend do it. Professional portrait artists, those with many years of experience, those who have fed their families from their skills as a portrait artist, have the ability to capture the love and spirit of your soul. This essence is what will connect with your loved ones when they receive your portrait gift. Just sitting in front of a camera on a tripod, letting the auto timer snap a series of cold images really doesn’t work. Been there, tried that, didn’t work. Here is when trying to save a little isn’t really a savings. The old saying, “you get what you pay for” applies in spades. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah
Hire a skilled professional portrait photographic artist who uses a top quality professional photo lab to produce your lasting family memories.
Professional photographers – This blog posting is written to your customers. This (love, emotion, portraits) is ‘The Message” you need to be sending to your customers. Feel free to copy, borrow or tweak this message to fit your style. The important part is to just communicate and remember, the message is love and emotions are best preserved and passed on with quality professional photo prints.
Holiday profits for the professional portrait photographer means more portrait sessions. Holiday profits for your customers means the lasting value they receive by preserving their family memories and love with your amazing portrait skills. Done correctly this is the classic win, win.

Stop Missing Profits – Improve Your Photo Studio Bottom Line

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Photo Dust JacketsWedding photo albums using custom collage designs are highly profitable. Most brides who only take your image disk statistically will never get professional photo prints or a photo album made. Those professional photographers who perpetuate the disk only business model are doing themselves and their customer a big disservice. Some photographers have had trouble selling albums and prints after the wedding because they have not presented the products correctly and possible they have priced these items to high. The photographer forgot that they had already been paid to shoot the event and deliver corrected files. In this situation, prints and albums would be priced to include only the labor and costs to produce these products, not the labor at the event.

If you are not selling enough books or prints you might try two things. Rethink your presentation of these items. Be sure to present these products showcasing the emotional  appeal and long term family memories value that they provide. Consider different pricing levels. Experiment with both items until you find the sweet spot.
When you show your photo books have 2 or 3 styles  to show and have a couple of options available. This makes your customers decision, “which style and options do they want” vs “do they want a book today or  later”. Photo dust jackets with a leather cover or a full  photo infused leatherette cover are two popular options. Presenting two sizes of books, “The Grande” (24×12) pano book or the “Deluxe” (20×10) book makes a good choice to offer.
Remember to test, experiment, ask questions of your  customers, keep speaking about the memories and emotional value of the products. You will improve your profits while providing your customers with treasured memories.

Picture Greeting Cards Preserve Family Memories

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Picture Greeting Cards make the perfect personal holiday time greeting. Whether it be Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas or New Years sending family and friends a holiday greeting that includes a family portrait makes your customers message more personal. These greeting cards are kept as heirlooms for years. Professional portrait photographers should be showing their customers photo cards. This is an opportunity to not only increase sales but to provide an appreciated service to your customers.
Custom picture greeting cards need not be expensive, they come in many sizes and styles in a wide range of prices. Photo cards can be printed using Kodak photographic paper or ink on professional printing presses. Pechman Imaging offers Kodak Photo Cards and two price ranges of press (ink) printed cards, Value Line Picture Greeting Cards and Press Cards.

Increase Family Portrait Sales

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Professional photographers can increase holiday family portrait sales by featuring portrait groupings instead of just a single wall portrait. The grouping ideally will have three individual portrait prints. These can be all one size or one larger and two smaller images. You can also have a large, medium and small group option where the entire grouping scales in size. These choices encourages your customer to begin considering size and display options vs whether to buy or not.

Knowing in advance where your customer is planning to display their family portrait will provide you with the information to make the best suggestions.

Once you have the prints and sizes selected you can naturally move to frame selection. Discounts or packages that include basic frames will encourage sales.

Don’t forget to suggest Holiday Greeting Cards. Pechman has several nice Photo Greeting Cards available this season featuring Kodak Metallic Photo Paper and the New Value Line Press Style Picture Greeting Cards.