Marketing Tips for 2010
Photographers – Welcome to a New Year and a New Decade!
The staff here at www.LifetimeInFocus.com hopes you had a wonderful holiday season and wishes everyone the best for the coming new year. While the economy has been less than kind to most of us, LIF did end the year up, with more registered photographers than last year and an increase in overall sales. It appears that many photographers embrace our concept of high quality, personalized service and lower costs to you with our approach of no monthly or annual fees. With our commission-only structure, you never get a bill from Lifetime In Focus.
The photographers that did the best were the ones that actively marketed their events. This certainly should come as no surprise. Here are some of the ways photographers have been marketing using LIF functions:
1. Obtain as many email addresses as possible before you turn the event "ON" for the public. When you turn your event on you will get a box that you can enter email addresses into. Those people will receive an email notice from LIF telling them that the event is ready to view along with a link to take them right into that event. Those addresses will be linked to that event and stored for you, accessible through your admin account.
2. Purchase Gift Certificates for your clients. There are two main ways that LIF gift certificates are being used (maybe you can come up with another great idea). First off, many photographers include prints with their contract. For example a photographer will say, "My contract price for shooting your wedding includes a hundred dollars in online credit towards prints". Then they will purchase a hundred dollar certificate or several smaller denomination certificates adding up to $100 that they email to the bride and groom. Not only does this enhance their contract offer but it encourages online sharing and purchasing of pictures, usually beyond the amount of the gift certificate. The second way photographers use gift certificates is to stimulate sales after the event is posted. Photographers buy a ten dollar certificate and email it as a follow up, which can easily be done from your admin area. Everyone has to spend that $10 and seldom do they stop at $10. The average print order this past year was over $85.
3. Use the email marketing function in your admin area to send follow up messages. Even people that don't purchase have to sign the guest book to view an event. All guest book sign-ins are saved so you can see who has been viewing or even invited to view the pictures as any emails set out for sharing are recorded and saved for you. Just click on the marketing icon in the event section of your admin area.
4. Encourage your clients to post their event on Facebook or Myspace. We have made that easy by having a direct link to Facebook and Myspace in each event.
5. Encourage clients to use the Share function in each event to invite friends and relatives to view their special event.
More Marketing Tips
1. Use passwords sparingly if ever on events. Only password-protect an event if the client expresses a concern. We often get requests from guests that have not been given a password or have forgotten a password. These requests have to be forwarded to the photographer as we cannot give out a password. Everyone has to sign in with their email address, but whenever possible, we have found it is best to try and keep events open to the public.
2. Use your page on the directory. Keep you website URL and contact info up to date. If they can't contact you easily they won't contact you at all. Use your Bio to sell yourself.
3. If you have a website, put a link to LIF on it. In your admin area under "My Account", there is a "Homepage Link Code" section where you will see two pieces of html script that you can copy and place on your website. One script is for a text only link and the other includes the LIF graphic logo. Either one will take visitors from your web site directly to your personal page on LIF with your events listed.
4. COMING SOON: NEW SERVICE! Make a clearly labeled Sample Event and keep it running on your personal page. This gives people an event to see your work. Also, people still have to sign in to view so you get a lead every time someone views your sample event. (If you happen to use passwords for most of your events, this is one you definitely should not use a password on.) Update this Sample event periodically and use the marketing email function in your admin area to invite people back to see your new work.
Hopefully, these tips will help you make more sales in 2010. Lifetime In Focus relies on you making sales to stay in business. Our commission-only approach only works if you are making money, too. Obviously there are many photographers who appreciate our approach of keeping costs down by having a simple, clean site, focused on marketing, showing off your work and making sales for you. We don't have a huge marketing budget, either, so you won't see us at WPPI or other trade shows this year; they just plain cost too much, and guess who ultimately pays the bill for that marketing; you do! You can help us keep our and your marketing costs down by using the LIF marketing tools, which really cost you only time, and by telling your friends about Lifetime In Focus. Active photographers are our lifeblood. We need you to make this work.
Thanks for a great year in 2009 and once again, best wishes for a super great 2010.
Roy McCutchen,
President, Boulder Pro Photo
www.boulderprophoto.com
Lifetime In Focus
www.lifetimeinfocus.com
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