Here is a sign of the Time. Sandy Puc has a groupon.

[KenJulio]

Sandy - Thanks for joining and your input.

[BenE]

Originally Posted by SandyPuc1

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Marketing:
I am not sure I am a fan of the way they write the copy for these offers. They make it very whimsical and silly but they use words like photo, picture, snapshots and other cheesy descriptions. It makes me cringe like you would not believe.

Do they not allow the person to write their own copy? If not, do they give you an opportunity to make changes? I realize you have already stated you cringe at the text, but for some reason referring to a skilled professional photographer who has earned the association recognitions, as a "shutterbug", just seems too degrading, and not whimsical.

Sort of like comparing a Master Chef to someone who grills burgers at a fast food restaurant.

Quote from the Groupon page.

Experienced shutterbugs snap photos of infants at 3, 6 & 12 months.......

Perhaps they are referring to your staff photographers, but nevertheless...............?

...............................................
Speaking of Chefs, this Groupon ad does appear to be written by someone who knows a bit about the restaurant business, and the text comes across as professional.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/naan-sushi-3?c=dnb&p=6

Text from the page:
Naan Sushi Japanese Restaurant's skilled culinary artisans craft specialty sushi and upscale Japanese cuisine amid the restaurant's chic, modernistic décor. An array of fresh sushi and entrees populates Naan's dinner menu with rolls such as the Naan special, which seals a medley of crab, tuna, and salmon with asparagus and mango in a rice-paper wrapper ($19), and the TX Tornado, a spicy vortex of jalapeños, ..........

..................

My intention is not to be rude, nor mean spirited, but when we allow others to refer to us as shutterbugs, that is certainly something worth thinking about.

For professional photographers we have, "Experienced shutterbugs", but for the restaurant we have "skilled culinary artisans".

[brad]

Originally Posted by SandyPuc1

During the CEK tour we were asked multiple times about Groupon. Students would ask if it worked, how well it worked and what the final results were. Since I had never tried it, I had no answer. I would typically ask the audience if any one had success with the marketing strategy. Sometimes someone would stand up and rave about the success. They would state all kinds of fact and statistics saying how great it was. I would also have people get up and say how bad it was and that they lost lots of time and money.

My concern with their answers is that I did not know anything about who they were, their business model or what they needed to make to be successful. I have had my share of students rave about things like social media success only to find out that they have a full time spouse that provides all of their income and that they feel 3-4 session a month is A LOT.

I told the audience at one show that I would test the concept and report exactly what happened.

I suspected this might be the case, but didn't want to speak for you... I think at least one other speaker has done the same thing.. only in this case it was to run a Living Social special instead of Groupon.



And Ben - 50% is "standard" in the group couponing industry... Since our proceeds went to charity, we were able to get a slightly better deal for the Haunted House - we kept 60% - but it was still a very deep "charge."

[SandyPuc1]

Ben,

No we were not allowed to make text changes. I am guessing that the sushi one was written by someone that loves sushi.

I agree that the wording is terrible. I think Groupon feels that this style of writing enhances the "playful" feel of the ad.

Although I do not like the wording, I also know that a potential client would not be detracted from those words. Everyone understands them and if the image and offer is right, it works.

Don't worry about being rude or mean spirited...lol The title of this thread had my whole studio in stitches.

If me doing a groupon ad is a sign of the times...We are in big trouble!

Groupon is not bad. It is WHAT people offer that is bad. I have seen offers like

3 hour custom session, your choice of location. Over 300 images will be taken and you will receive 99 images on a disk for $99.00.

Now THAT is a scary offer.

[Rson]

Hey Sam, don't steal my Groupn deal. Glad I could make you all laugh. :)

[brad]

Originally Posted by SandyPuc1

I agree that the wording is terrible. I think Groupon feels that this style of writing enhances the "playful" feel of the ad.

I don't know about Groupon, but I was told as much by Living Social when I did the ad for our Haunted House last month... they wanted it to be playful and whimsical... and I'm thinking, its one of the most intense haunted houses in the country and you want to make it sound like its a playground for 4 year olds....

but no, they would not let us write any of the copy.. all I could do was correct facts, I could not change the copy itself.

[XtremePhoto]

Originally Posted by kenw

definitely a quick infusion of cash...

Not the way I understand Groupon it isn't. She won't see money from these sessions until AFTER the offer expires in June of 2012.

I just read this in the lastest RANGFINDER magazine and tend to agree with alot the author says about the type of client or brand erosion that will result from this type of Groupon deal.

Rangefinder - Groupon The Erosion of Our Industry

Who knows, but I will be watching to see how this turns out. Business I know, and I know that dealing with bargain shoppers never has a good outcome.

[brad]

Originally Posted by XtremePhoto

Not the way I understand Groupon it isn't. She won't see money from these sessions until AFTER the offer expires in June of 2012.

I do not think you are correct. The June 2012 date would be an expiration that Sam put on it.

Social couponing usually runs a deal for a day or two... and about 2 weeks after the deal runs, you get a check. One of the ways a vendor makes some of their losses back is that not everyone actually redeems it.

Our Haunted House deal, for instance.. our redemption rate to date is considerably less than 50% .. they still have a couple more weekends to use them, but we get paid for 100% of them even if only 50% of them are actually redeemed.

[BenE]

Originally Posted by XtremePhoto

Not the way I understand Groupon it isn't. She won't see money from these sessions until AFTER the offer expires in June of 2012.

I just read this in the lastest RANGFINDER magazine and tend to agree with alot the author says about the type of client or brand erosion that will result from this type of Groupon deal.

Rangefinder - Groupon The Erosion of Our Industry

Who knows, but I will be watching to see how this turns out. Business I know, and I know that dealing with bargain shoppers never has a good outcome.

Interesting article, and it does make some valid points about what type of customer will purchase the coupons, and if that is the type of customer that will benefit you in the long run.

After reading some of the comments, I am reminded of the many posts on the forum about how to make it in these times. A couple of things that keep coming to mind is all the people who have said to not go after the price shoppers, and not worry about photographers who do because the customers they get are not the ones "you" want anyway.