I am genuinely curious to find out why 90% of the wedding togs out there (by my uneducated estimate) call their services and products an 'investment'. Last time I checked a dictionary, for something to qualify as an investment, one has to expect a reasonable return - be it a profit, dividends, or some other appreciation in value, where 'value' is inter-subjective. Talking about wedding photography as an investment seems to like a stretch. Yes, memories are priceless, but that doesn't make them an investment.
How many things do you keep your entire life? For instance a wedding album. How many people say they are photographers and ruin someones wedding because they suck. So yes, invest in the pros and avoid a crappy photographer or crappy album.
As an accounting instructor, I'll take a shot here.
I don't use "investment" on my site, but one could easily argue that clients are purchasing a tangible asset when they pay your commission, be it a hard bound album or a DVD of images. Thus, we want them to view their purchase as an investment rather than an expense. An expense would more aptly represent an expenditure that cannot be recovered and will run out of benefits this year. For example, the gas you burned to get to a client. Lets not get to far into accounting theory, but it's basically a psychological twist to get clients to think they are investing into something, NOT just burning a bunch of cash in a day.
It is an investment because the final product appreciates in value (to the client) so much that it's priceless. Ask someone who's lost their wedding album to flood or fire how much they'd pay to get it back.
I'm still not convinced. Just because you hire a skilled mechanic and avoid the bad ones, it doesn't mean that you invested in any way. Plus, the first thing a crappy tog would say is that they're investment worthy.
The fact still remains, a good wedding album, or good photography is just as bad of an investment than a lavish honeymoon. They're both going to leave you with good memories, but they're going to hurt your bank account. And it's going to hurt all the same, whether you call it 'investment' or 'cost' or 'price'.
lightwelder wrote:
They're both going to leave you with good memories, but they're going to hurt your bank account. And it's going to hurt all the same, whether you call it 'investment' or 'cost' or 'price'.
It only "hurts" if you don't give a shit about your album or your wedding photos. And people that don't give a shit about good photography or a luxurious wedding album probably wouldn't think of it as an "investment" so in the end who cares? Call it whatever the hell you want.
I'm guessing you aren't a wedding photographer. If you are, you need to get out ASAP. This would be tantamount to the CEO of General Motors thinking cars were just clogging up the ozone and ruining the earth.
"Rates" sounds good to me. All I'm saying is that investing is tied to inter-subjective value. The fact that clients give a shit about good photography doesn't make it an investment. Lots of things have high subjective value without being an investment, precisely because no one else gives a shit about them.
Now how about switching back from 'collections' to 'packages'...
I actually agree that wedding photography is something to "invest" in, and does appreciate in value as the years go by. That said, using the term "investment" to point clients towards your rates page is super, super douchy, in my opinion.
I think people use it because they think it sounds classy. But to me it sounds really smarmy and fake. Like used car sales-speak...
I'll agree using "investment" as a site navigator is douchy, which is why I don't do it.
But I hope we all consider the product we deliver to be an asset to our clients, which is, by definition, an investment they are making. We don't just provide a service that gets consumed the day of, like the venue, cake, booze, and food.
And remember, nothing in the definition of investment requires positive growth in value...
1. It's going to cost you more than you might think it will
2. And you won't complain about that, because it's not a purchase, it's an investment
3. If you make the WRONG investment (hire the wrong peeps) you will be in the same boat as those who "invested" in Enron or Worldcom
4. Unlike an iphone or a 60" plasma screen your wedding photos will indeed increase in value for you and some people in your family every time you gain a new pound or lose a relative. So like we hope our investments, this one will grow.
that said a lot of millennials use the word in the same way you and I use "buy" for the most frivolous of things.
Jenilosu - I don't want to drag this too long, but by this logic, a Porsche is an investment because you don't consume it in a day. Instead, I submit that there are services that result in longer lasting enjoyment than others, but that doesn't make them investments.
Anyhoo, from Google:
in·vest·ment/inˈves(t)mənt/
Noun:
The action or process of investing money for profit or material result.
A thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future.
