Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

HotHolly · **How's Business? -** 07-26-2008, 01:12 PM

Ebbing and flowing? Up? Down? This year has been running whacked for us. We are either overwhelmed or wondering where everyone went. We are usually slow right now and getting ready for fall weddings. This year Im swamped with sessions now.

Whats up with you guys? Just wondering if its Abilene or the economy is on hilter tilter. People are spending so strangely.

JohnT · 07-26-2008, 01:15 PM

A little slow at the moment, but it does give me time to work on new techniques and tweak old ones.

Shelby Lane · 07-26-2008, 01:33 PM

It has been a weird year. Right now I'm pretty busy, going into August, and usually this is a slower time. BUT, I spent late spring/early summer doing some marketing to make sure that we have enough business during the slow months, so that probably has something to do with it.

I am not sure what to expect for the holiday season.

HotHolly · 07-26-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelby Lane

I am not sure what to expect for the holiday season.

I've been wondering about that. I'm overloaded right now and want to turn people away, but things have been so feast or famine, its making me just shove them all in and deal with longer hours right now. I had a similar surge in Jan (which is usually dead for us) and it teetered out in April.

Weird year. Wondering if things will go back to normal after the election or if people will freak out more...thats gonna affect holiday spending. My clients seem to still have money, but are leery to part with it. Last year, I swear they were happy when they parted with it.

Shelby Lane · 07-26-2008, 01:51 PM

Yeah, this spring people were afraid to spend... even people who loved their portraits and had previously spent at or above our average. I am already booking some Sept/Oct appointments, but that doesn't mean that orders will be good. So I have been hitting the marketing pretty aggressively (notice all the blogging) so that if we have to make up the difference with a little more volume, then that's what we'll have to do. Orders have been absolutely on the mark this month though, so I have a positive outlook for the fall.

kdloftis · 07-26-2008, 10:12 PM

Things are up and down for us too. June was pretty quiet, but things have really picked up this month and next will be busy. Lots of maternity and newborn sessions lately, but the family sessions have been down. I think it's a combination of the economy and the heat. Everyone (with the exception of maternity and newborn clients) want to do their portraits outdoors, but don't want to do them in the heat. September/October can't get here soon enough.

blazinphotography · 07-27-2008, 10:35 AM

Shelby what kind of Marketing have you been doing to increase your bookings?

Shelby Lane · 12:41 PM

We've done a lot of stuff this spring to prepare for the fall, because I know from experience that promoting events with only a few weeks notice is not going to be as effective. So we've been working the marketing plan and adjusting as we go along.

One of the things we did was a Circle of Friends promotion, where clients sent the contact info for 25 of their friends who have not used us yet but who THEY think would be interested ("25 of your friends just like you who you think would love our work.") The existing clients got a complimentary session and an 8x10, but with a deadline (pre holiday rush) to get people in early. The 25 friends were offered a complimentary session and a 5x7 from their friend, expecting that maybe 1 out of each set would take us up on it. Again, with a deadline to book. We've added over 350 new local names to our database (we did have a few of the new contacts opt out), that are more pre-qualified than buying a mailing list because they have an in-person testimonial built in.

I do not expect to do a ton of the complimentary sessions, because of my price point and the time of year, but it has introduced me to a good number of potential new clients. That promo deadline was mid-July and we've booked seven sessions off of it. So far the three that we've photographed have spent just above our average, even with the gift print.

I also have a couple of partnerships going on, and we have some joint hs senior "events" planned for early fall (which I'd rather not talk about here till it's over, because this is a fairly public board). I've run three different specials, that were not discounted, but offered something that I don't normally offer in the studio for a limited time... so we've done press releases and email (and some printed) mailings for all those.

And then one of the most difficult strategies, because it takes some extra time and thought and planning every day, is that I am on a mission to blog at least four times a week, because that generates so much word of mouth. I have only been doing this for about a month, but it's driven site traffic way up and everyone who has called to book for the last couple of weeks has mentioned "well we've been following your blog...". So we'll give it a few more months to see how much power that really has. It seems to be helping with search engine optimization

because of all those keywords and the frequently updated content.

blazinphotography · 07-27-2008, 01:25 PM

Thank you for the information.

CaptainTom · 07-27-2008, 01:40 PM

I'm really slow right now. Have some last minute gigs, but slow until the fall.
I'm still fumbling through the marketing mazes and trying to figure out what works, etc.

A nice vacation in the virgin islands would be nice right now......

HotHolly · 07-27-2008, 01:52 PM

Utilizing WOM from past customers has worked best for us. Shelby has taken a more aggressive whack at it than I have. I'd be afraid more people would respond to a free session than I could keep up with. Maybe I should guess at dead time and offer it then. I keep hoping we'll have a steady stream. I hate feast or famine. It makes me nuts.

This year is just so far off from past years in terms of client flow, that I have no idea when the surge will stop.

HotHolly · 07-27-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

A nice vacation in the virgin islands would be nice right now......

I could use a vacation.

Shelby Lane · 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HotHolly

I'd be afraid more people would respond to a free session than I could keep up with.

For me, they know that they'll want more than the 5x7, and they've heard from their friends how much they can expect to spend.

So since summer is so hard to schedule anyway, I very much expected most people to "sit" on the offer, and that is what has happened. But you're right: I never would have offered this in October, because that is our busiest month. I won't give away sessions or prints from September to December.