Working Towards the Upturn
Part 17 on the business aspects of being a successful photographer by Ron
Pybus ma aswpp.
We have been through the depths of a recession, but the constant doom and
gloom now seems to have changed into signs of slight growth. Economists
predict that we are in a 'W' economy. We have fallen down the slope and are
coming up the other side, slowly, this will probably dip again, after
Christmas, but not as deep as last February, then it will rise again, quite
rapidly. The graph of this forms a 'W'– hence the W economy.
I am no financial expert, but my business seems to be picking up quite well
with more and more customers ordering far more than the basic packages and
several spending more than happened pre-recession.
My business strategy moved from just marketing family photographs to
marketing heritage, emotion and family values and it seems to be paying off.
I was fortunately ahead of the game and I lost little during the past year.
I was only about 5% down over the last 12 months. It was because I was
planning ahead that I was able to maintain this level of business and I am
now working on how to build the business even higher when the recession does
draw to a close.
I personally feel that April 2010 onwards will see the rapid growth that has
been projected. There is no doubt that we need to be planning our
development NOW not in March next year.
I have just formed a new link with a children’s softball play centre and
have a large display just inside the entrance where hundreds of families see
it every week. This is in addition to a similar display I have in the local
baby shop and in the high-street window of a financial adviser. Even though
I am based in a village with the studio alongside the house, I have a fairly
major presence in the town centre, coupled with an exclusivity deal in these
three locations.
I am working with the financial consultant on a joint marketing scheme in
the lead up to Christmas and with the softball centre on their party
promotions. We are in the process of revamping all the images in our studio
and have changed the images in our town centre exhibitions to show a more
emotional style. We normally change our images in each location every four
months and always change every picture, rather than just one or two, so as
the display has a major impact on regulars to the various premises.
We have also been changing our lighting set-up in the studio to give a
slightly different impact to our pictures. We have also been reviewing all
our equipment and come to the conclusion that we have no need to replace any
cameras, lights, flash triggers, memory cards or computers for at least 12
months.
In these times you have to be able to respond to change and we normally
uplift our prices each October 1st, but this year my lab informed me in July
that they were moving away from a set of package prices to a
price-per-print. Overnight this increased our costs by 34%. As his per print
prices go in steps based on the number of prints ordered, we are now
ensuring that we go just into a lower cost step. It works out far cheaper to
have up to six additional prints made to take you into a lower price range
even if you do not need the prints. These calculations come from sitting
down and saying, 'How can I make this work best for me?'
Last October, in the depths of the recession, we raised our prices slightly
but reduced the number of prints we offered in our initial package and the
majority of our customers accepted this. Following the change in the lab
prices we raised our prices by 10% in July. Not one person has commented on
the increase and we have actually sold more!
One thing that we have been doing is revamping our website. We have made it
quicker and are in the process of adding links, improving our keywords, etc.
I am not an expert in this field, but have gained help from Business Link in
the form of a free health check of my business and a free two-hour session
with a specialist website optimisation manager. I am now in the process of
persuading my website design company to make changes.
We are investigating a blog and also making the maximum use of the database
we hold. A few years ago we were content with name, address, telephone
number, but now we are seeking email addresses from our customers and in the
near future we will be producing a regular newsletter. It is hard work for
me as I hate working with computers, but a database is essential. It is
surprising where you can get help. I found a one-day course (including
lunch) on database management run by the local Community Council for a cost
of £25 and I am now setting up the database with a hope of launching on 1
November.
Being a photographer is not just about taking and selling photographs; you
are running a business and you need to spend time on the business aspects
and not just hope that it will run itself.
Training is important and although I have been in the business for many
years and a fully qualified manager, I still gain from training and
motivation. Our local solicitor has linked with Business Link to run a
series of evening courses with three or four speakers on a variety of
topics. Much of the information is not new, but it always acts as a spur to
take some action on a neglected area. I always come away with one gem and
always put it into practice within 72 hours. (Tom Peters, the 1980s'
American management guru, always said that there was a 72 hour window and
that following a course or conference, if you did not put into practice what
you had learned, you had wasted both your time and money on the course or
conference.
In my local area several 'Breakfast Clubs' have sprung up. Firstly there
were a couple of membership-plus-weekly-payment clubs which meet for
breakfast, but these have been overtaken by several venues offering a
monthly breakfast club, with no membership, a cost-price breakfast and a
speaker, subsidised either by the local Chamber of Commerce, Business Link
or a commercial sponsor. The last one I attended had over 60 local
businesses present and it had the advantage for me that the event was held
in the room where there were eight of my pictures on display. The business
centre was a new venture and a little off the mainstream routes, but I felt
that there may be potential. I took the risk and offered them eight pictures
for their room on the basis that if the centre took off, my images would be
seen by local businessmen. The place has taken off and it was simple to talk
over breakfast about my work when it was all around the room. The first
meeting resulted in one enquiry, which is currently being followed u.
I am already (I am writing this at the beginning of October) working on
Valentine and Easter Promotions. We are also revamping our photographer
training courses. It has been clear over the past couple of years that newer
photographers coming into the business do not want just to learn business
practice, but want help with lighting, posing, etc. There are lots of course
providers across the country providing training at a variety of levels but
we feel that we have found a niche of providing very practical, no-nonsense
courses at a reasonable price, which meet the needs of both the newcomer, or
the more experienced photographer who wants a boost.
Do you want to be motivated and do you want to be prepared for the growth
due in 2010 or are you just starting out? Ron runs a series of weekend or
weekday courses from his studio and training complex in the heart of
Wiltshire.
Contact him on 01225 774440 or
Ron@pybusstudios.co.uk.
