Find Your Target Sale
Lesson 18 from: Building Your Photography Business for under $3,000Kathy Holcombe
Find Your Target Sale
Lesson 18 from: Building Your Photography Business for under $3,000Kathy Holcombe
Lessons
Class Introduction
06:45 2Create Your Business Plan
04:53 3Where to Invest Your Money?
27:44 4Where to Spend Your Time?
05:44 5How to be Profitable
08:58 6Write Your Personal Business Plan
16:16 7Business Plan Q & A
12:52 8Products: Overview
02:33What is Your Photography Style?
08:33 10What Products do You Want to Offer?
26:19 11Rules for Products
06:34 12Whats Involved in the Shoots for Your Products?
12:04 13How Will You Produce Your Products?
08:47 14Determine Your Pricing Strategy
06:05 15What to Charge for Your Products
18:19 16How to Use Markup Factors
07:37 17The Per Hour Sale
06:14 18Find Your Target Sale
08:25 19Pricing Strategy Q & A
22:24 20Develop a Sales Strategy
12:57 21In-person Sales Strategy
20:25 22Online Sales Strategy
23:11 23Mobile Sales Kits
18:09 24Identify Your Target Client
33:39 25Define Your Niche Market
16:10 26Develop Your Marketing Plan
14:27 27How to Increase Your Following
06:45 28Develop a Marketing Strategy
11:48 29Maximize Your Website
05:17 30What is The Purpose of Your Website?
09:33 31Website Essentials
14:13 32Website Tools to Create a Great Sale
11:58 33Online Selling Tools
11:30 34Online Shopping Cart
04:59 35Facebook Marketing Strategies & Materials
15:28 36Using Ads on Facebook
11:21 37Engagement on Facebook
08:22 38Instagram Marketing Strategies
15:27 39Define Your Brand
14:53 40Build a Solid Brand
14:46 41Maintain Your Brand through Publicity
10:39Lesson Info
Find Your Target Sale
Your target sale. We talked in the last segment about what you want to sell, which products you're gonna offer. Now, you have to go through, you have to fill in your chart for each one of those products in every size. You have to do your markup factor. You have to decide if you can bump it up or if you're gonna have to bump it down, if it's going to be competitive or demand-based pricing. And then, you're gonna decide how much profit you're gonna make on each product, okay? You guys with me so far? Once you do those things, then you have to pave your way to your target sale. You know roughly, based on the hours, what you have to bring in. Now, what do you have to sell to get there? If you just walk in and expect to sell $800 worth of stuff, but you don't even have $800 worth of stuff on your price list, that's a problem, right? So you need to have an easy path on your price list to drive your clients right where you want them to go, at that $800 level or whatever level that is for you ...
and your business. So, that's the how will you get there. So we've got the price calculator. Now, let's talk about the package calculator. If you are nervous about sales, a package can be your saving grace, okay? A package is the value meal of photography. (audience laughs) Okay, it's something that consumers are used to buying that way. It sometimes is free gift with purchase or however they package it and put it together. This is a way to drive your clients right where you want them to go. So this is how you play around with different packages to decide what you want to offer. You can have a package with a 16 by 20 and five 8 by 10s. Sound like something your clients would probably want? Maybe so. So if it takes eight hours to create that package, roughly, and you know that it costs $45, $50, so $45 for the 16 by 20, $50 for the 8 by 10, because we know they're $10 each, then that means this whole package costs you $95 to make. Okay? Then, you multiply it by three or five or whatever your markup factor is that you've chosen. This is the difference between the two. So that means you have to have a minimum price of $285, right here, by three. Minimum price of $300 for that package. $475 would be a better price for that package, okay? And maybe you think you can bump it up even more. Add another $100 to it and see what happens. If you were to have a package of $600, and you had a session fee, let's say, of $100, and then you sold the digital files from that package for another $100, voila, we have an $800 sale, okay? So you build your packages to get your client where you want them to go. So maybe you are starting out your business and you're giving away session fees for free so that you can get clients in the door and let them try out your services. All of a sudden, you're at a $700 target sale, because you don't have that $100 session fee, right? So what's another way that you can get there? Let's look at this. So maybe you want your client to have a beautiful custom frame, and so you find a place that will give you a great deal on custom framing nearby. Same amount of time. It costs you $160. And then, when you mark up here, you know you have a product somewhere between $800 and $1,300. This is where you need to charge it. But if you think about custom framing, does that add value to what you're doing? All of a sudden, you've got service, and your clients don't have to deal with custom framing, right? They can come to you and get it all, so it takes one step out. Custom service makes it more valuable. Could you charge somewhere between these two if you made their lives easier by framing it for them? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it works for your business. Maybe it doesn't, but it's another way to look at these things, okay? So then, you have your minimum price. You can finagle this number up, down. And so then, you write down your profit. So now, you have a way to think about driving your clients to your target sale. You could do it through packages. You could do it through add-ons. So maybe your client really wants that 16 by 20, and they want holiday cards, because that's why they came to you in the first place. So how much would the holiday cards add on to your sale? Maybe they can only get holiday cards if they purchase a wall art collection. Maybe it's only available as a bonus or something like that. There's all different kinds of ways that you can strategize to drive your client right where you want them to go. So here are a couple of things to think about for your products and your prices. Packages are for people that are looking for a deal. Okay, your value shoppers. Which is good. You can use a package to bump them up from an even smaller purchase. Instead of buying one 8 by 10, they might find value in your package and bump up to a $700 order. Your high-end buyer isn't motivated by that. Your high-end buyer is going to buy whatever they want, and they want custom, and they want good service. So you might have a whole different product offering by selling a la carte, for example. So we have two different ways that we work with clients depending on the clients. They can, of course, choose anything on our menu, but this is what I've observed our different buyers preferring. Our people that are really struggling to invest with us almost always get a package. It includes a framed piece and five 8 by 10s. Custom framed, regular print. It's mounted, it's laminated, it's beautiful. Our high end buyers opt for our wall art groups, so instead of buying one single large piece, they're buying a group of large pieces that hang together as a focal piece in the room for decor. Okay, and the way that that works is I get a tape measure. I measure their wall. I draft a custom product for them. I usually walk in knowing all of this, and I say, "Would you like this image here, "this image here, this image here?" And then, I add up the total number of pieces based on their size, and that's all a la carte. That's how our high end buyers prefer to buy, okay? Our buyers that have to have everything and can't say no to anything, that they love every single image that Peter captured, even if it's just a turn of the head this way to this way, those people love our albums. They've gotta have them, because they can't get rid of any images, okay? So you have to think of the different kinds of buyers that you have coming into your studio and give them an outlet to buy the way that they want to buy and still make the profit that you need to make for your business.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Amanda Beck
Kathy was a wonderful instructor. She was engaging and someone who was precise and incredibly helpful. We have a full time photography business and are always looking for new ways of running our business. Her information was insightful and forced us to have conversations about our business that we have haven't had in several years. She is fantastic and someone who has the information needed to help you start or expand your business. Thank you for a wonderful class!!
Chrissie
Thank you Kathy for yet again another very thought provoking class. You are such an inspiration, teaching us the right questions to ask ourselves so we too can be brilliant photographers / entrepreneurs. I was a fulltime RVer for seven years, traversing 44 states and seeing some of the most beautiful places on our planet. It gave me a great opportunity to meet some extraordinary people and to hone my photography skills. Now I have put down roots in Stapleton - Denver, CO and am soon to launch my own Family Lifestyle Photography business. Your course has definitely given me the courage to just charge ahead and go for it!
Jeph DeLorme
Another top notch production from the amazing team at Creative Live! Kathy Holcombe, aka FAMAGOGO did a great job of covering all the basics along with the associated costs involved in starting up a photography business. However, you don't need to be a beginner to get great info from this class, it's packed with ideas and tips that even an experienced pro can put to work and take to the bank literally the next day. I highly recommend this class.