Sending promotional letters

[Fireball]

I started my business a month ago and sent out over 100 promotional letters to all my fellow church members, co-workers from the past, friends in the community, etc. telling them of the portrait special I'm running this month. That was two weeks ago, and I have not gotten one phone call or e-mail. Getting pretty discouraged here and don't know what else I could do to build my business without going door-to-door, lol!

Is sending letters or postcards not a good idea?
Is the economy so bad that people aren't even willing to shell out a mere $50 for a photographer to come to them?
Or is it because it's the first of the year, right after Christmas (bills) and people are gearing up for taxes?

[jdickson01]

OMG! You started your business a month ago and you're already getting discouraged? The photo business is a long term objective, its a marathon not a sprint. I've been in business for years and I can tell you that advertising is a shot in the dark sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't. You have to keep at it at try different advertising avenues.

[Fireball]

Well that's what I need to know. What advertising venues work?

[CaptainTom]

Another example of going into business without knowing anything about the business. You may be the best photographer in town, but getting people to respond to you takes a lot of time and effort. If you got 5% return on your letters that would be incredible. Getting none is not unusual. It takes at least three mailings before people take you seriously ( there are classes and seminars all the time about marketing and business practices ).
Knocking on doors is not out of the question.

Why would I call you to do a portrait for $50 just because I got a letter ?
What is the call to action?
How do I know you are any good ?
I would expect that for $50 for a portrait I wouldn't get a very good photographer. Perception is reality.

Take some courses on marketing and business development. I hope you aren't starving because it takes a good while to build a business unless you open a McDonalds.

[Tom]

I hurt for a long time because I left my job to early when I started making money at photography. I actually had to pay my way as a photographer for quite a while by playing cards.

Your best form of advertising is word of mouth. Nothing else even comes close.

It takes a lot longer than you would expect to really settle yourself as a photographer.

[Fireball]

Well Tom, I do know a little bit about the business since I've been doing it part-time for the past 2-3 years. But that's why I'm on this board, to learn! You guys really need to learn to lighten up when it comes to us newbies instead of making us feel like idiots for asking a simple question, good grief!

All the letters I sent are people I know personally and who know my work and love it, thus the reason I've gone full-time. Just trying to get a feel for other means of getting the word out.

[BWangPhoto]

We are on our fourth mailing for seniors and have three more set to go out before May 1st. The rule of thumb is three times, but that doesn't give you much return. Our mailing start in August and end in May for seniors and we get good results from that. Direct mail only works if you do it consistently and to a very targeted market.

[CaptainTom]

Ok, I'll shut up.

[kayumangi]

Don't take it personally Charrie. The guys are just tired of reading and answering the same question over and over again. Some folks don't like repeating themselves, you know how it goes =)

If you do a search in these forum you'll get some very good tips.

If you have been at it for 2 to 3 yrs then you know that it's not easy, specially with friends and acquaintances. Heck, they will expect or in some cases even demand, that you photograph them for free.

Lastly, there are two schools of thought here:
- If you want to shoot within your own financial demographics then you go advertising or networking in places you'd go or read yourself.

- If you want to shoot for people more affluent than you, then you must find a way to get into their inner circle.

Thomas says it all, Word of Mouth is King!!!

[StevenGWebb]

Originally Posted by Fireball

I started my business a month ago and sent out over 100 promotional letters to all my fellow church members, co-workers from the past, friends in the community, etc. telling them of the portrait special I'm running this month. That was two weeks ago, and I have not gotten one phone call or e-mail. Getting pretty discouraged here and don't know what else I could do to build my business without going door-to-door, lol!

Is sending letters or postcards not a good idea?
Is the economy so bad that people aren't even willing to shell out a mere $50 for a photographer to come to them?
Or is it because it's the first of the year, right after Christmas (bills) and people are gearing up for taxes?

Direct mail is probably the poorest method of promotion. Check the stastistics. Its cheap, but its not the most effective. It takes huge numbers of mailings to convert just a few customers.

There are economic challenges. I think you're somehow trying to identify with the problem rather than take the opportunity and seize the challenge. "...aren't even willing to shell out a mere $50 for a photographer to come to them?" Words are powerful things. Don't think so? How about these words, "I love you" "You were right" "I'm sorry". What kind of people "shell out fifty bucks"? is that modest investment in a lifetime memory a "mere $50"? In actuality, that fifty dollars is highly important to you. Let it seem that it is far more valuable to your client and that your products and services exceed that precious amount. Your client is not ponying-up the sitting fee, he is making an investment in a valuable commodity, a memory.

Yes it is the first quarter. Yes most retail business slows. The Friday following Thanksgiving is called "Black Friday" not because something bad happened one time and it got the name. Retailers are in business from Jan 01till then running in the red [red ink denoting loss] and that day is the day which pushes them into profitability for the year. The profit making is that short period from Black Friday till Christmas Eve.

You are right. The end of January is percieved to be tax season. This always seemed dumb to me. The majority of retailers deal with wager earner employees who by and large have their taxes witheld all through the year. You'd think with all the advertisments in the spring for accepting IRS refund checks that most people over-pay all year long and get some back. Regardless, we're conditioned to be economically paralyzed from January when tax forms are sent out until sometime after April 15th.

There is no best time to launch a business venture. Any time has stratigic advantages and disadvantages. If your roll-out was a month ago, you missed the Christmas season. But buying trends run in predictable cycles. The next minor up swing is Valentines, but hurry the window on that closes pretty quick. Next up will be Easter followed closely by Mother's Day. Gear up for those right now before folks plans are set.

Generating business is not all about trying a promo then waiting to see it it worked. Its about constant promotion and having several things going all the time. Its also identifying your customer, knowing what the customer is due to purchase, and presenting your service and product at the right time. What kind of portraits are you trying to sell? It's pretty clear that you want to go to the client's home or business but what are your subjects? There are ways to calculate when certain subjects are ripe for prospecting.

Steven

[thedaddymike]

I'm not the smartest guy out there, but here we go.

What exactly did your ad say? Can you post up the actual ad?

To me, $50.00 is cheap, and when I think cheap, am I getting what I pay for? Does the 50 include prints, or is that just the session fee? I see ads on craigslist all the time for low priced photographers, and when I look at their website, I understand why, my 9 year old is better than them. So all I can say about that is, price your quality accordingly. Alot of people are on Craigslist, and the internet nowadays, thats good and bad! If alot of people see ads for $50 photographers, and alot of them suck, that sticks in peoples heads. You gotta serperate yourself from. Dont put yourself in that group.

100 mailers went out? Thats not alot. I know, from experience that when i check my mail, I trash all the junk and advertisements without even looking at them, and i don't think I am the only one that does that! So just think about this, if you sent out 100 maybe 90% of them went straight to the trash without even being opened/read? I don't know how you sent them out...were they in envelopes with handwritten/typed envelopes addressed directly to the person, or just loose?

Best advice I can say, is get in peoples face. You wont make it sitting at home mailing letters. Sell yourself, network with all the local business's. There are tons of ways to get your name out there, and what you do, you just have to be pro-active, and not doing it the lazy way.

And telling Tom to lighten up, everything he said was straight forward, blunt, and correct. From what I have read, he has ALOT of experience in this, and could of been VERY helpful.

[J Eddington]

It is all about what you say, no matter what method you use. Mailing to former clients and friends will increase your ROR, BUT as Tom said it will still be low. If it is mailing to a unknown list out expect to get 1-3% response. If it was to clients, then it may be in what you said (expect 5-10% response). If it was "oh gosh, I have a portrait special" but no call to action, no deadline. You won't get many calls.
You need a deadline, must call by a date within the next two weeks. It is something that you can only get during this time, etc.

(ROR=rate of response)

[J Eddington]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Well Tom, I do know a little bit about the business since I've been doing it part-time for the past 2-3 years. But that's why I'm on this board, to learn! You guys really need to learn to lighten up when it comes to us newbies instead of making us feel like idiots for asking a simple question, good grief!

All the letters I sent are people I know personally and who know my work and love it, thus the reason I've gone full-time. Just trying to get a feel for other means of getting the word out.

Do you know something about business or taking photographs? Business is about 90% of the job, it is all about marketing. You MUST know marketing. You can suck as a photographer, but be killer at marketing and make a ton of money. But if you are just a great photographer, with no marketing skills, you need to hire someone to help you or your chances of succeeding are not so good.

I spend HOURS a week doing research about MY community. Who is your target market. Where do they shop, what services do they use? What businesses can I help and can I promote, so they promote me. YOU are going to sell yourself first. Then people will want to business with YOU.

Tom just gave you facts. He was not hard on you.

[csa]

On a more positive note, well...sort of...Marius was right about family and friends expecting free or discounted photos. They may not even take you seriously at first, but eventually, hopefully, one of them will hear someone talk about needing a photographer and recommend you. Then another one... It takes time.
In the meanwhile, Janice is totally on target about knowing your target audience. Name them, know all the details, then decide how to reach them. But it will still take time.

[CaptainTom]

How many times have you told someone that their photo was great when it wasn't really all that much ?
Told a friend that they looked great when you really thought they could do better?
Told someone their baby was gorgeous when they look like every other baby?

Friends telling you your photography is great is not a good reason to start a photography business.

By asking the questions you are asking on TPF it indicates that you don't really understand the craft or technique of either photography or business.

I honestly think that trying to learn these things from scratch via a photography forum which is full of people who don't really know what they are doing ( my advice included ) is not the way to go.

Find a SUCCESSFUL photographer and apprentice for a while. Take business courses designed for entrepeneurs. Marketing classes for photographers. Learn what others are doing that is working.

I.E. in the many classes on marketing that I've attended, it is a constant mantra that you have to keep hammering the potential client with mailings if that is the route you take to advertise.

Being down because your first letter was not a cash cow tells me you have put the cart before the horse.

Now I'll really shut up and go away.