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Archive 2016 · Selling Prints

  
 
DONIV
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Selling Prints


Hey Guys!...Curious to see if you guys have any tips on selling large prints. We deliver the HI-resolution files w/ printing rights and do not have a studio. (maybe that is the problem right there). We shoot about 40 weddings a year and really want to focus on up-selling prints.

Any tips?



Aug 11, 2016 at 10:05 AM
lilyphoto
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Selling Prints


Do you host your images on an event website with print purchasing enabled on the website?
I personally use collages.net but there are many out there. A little trick I do, is I gift my clients a print e-gift certificate as a "thank you". It costs me nothing, and they always purchase more prints than the $$ amount that's listed on the certificate, so I always get a profit.



Aug 11, 2016 at 10:45 AM
hardlyboring
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Selling Prints


Doesn't matter how you sell them...online, in person, etc. it is about the branding...
You need to educate and show people why they NEED the large print.
It has to be a need for them...not something extra, or something that is talked about after the fact, you need to convince potential clients that one reason they are hiring you is because of these must have large prints. What makes your prints the best? What do you do different that makes them a must have for people from the beginning? Those are the questions you need to answer with your branding and sales approach.

We wanted to sell large analog prints a while back but did not have the space to properly show them off so it was very hard to incorporate them into our branding scheme correctly. At this point we hardly focus on the large analog prints because it is to hard branding wise at this point.

However we do sell our large matted album to almost every client we have unless it is an elopement or something and the budget is lower. The matted album is basically the corner stone of our brand and is the "must have" item.

Selling the expensive items like albums or large prints is the same as Rolex selling watches or a car company like Tesla selling cars. Rolex people have to have a Rolex because it is a status symbol, a finely crafted timepiece, an heirloom item that is passed down to other family members, etc. Tesla people need a Tesla because it is the future of the automobile, it saves the environment, it uses cutting edge tech in a practical way, it is fast as hell but still allows the owner to be a conscious of his carbon footprint, etc.




Aug 11, 2016 at 11:03 AM
DONIV
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Selling Prints


lilyphoto: great tip....gonna try that!

Doug: thanks for getting my juices flowing....needed that!



Aug 11, 2016 at 05:47 PM
glort
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Selling Prints



WHY do you want to sell large prints?
Are they the best profit item you have?

I have only ever promoted Basic album covers because the profit I make from the prints the couple put in them is many times higher than the profit I make on fancy covers. Why burn the couples budget with fancy covers I make 10% on when I can sell them a basic cover I make a little more on but fill it with prints I'm making 500% or more on?

A fundamental think with selling wall prints is they have to understand how impressive they will look. In my experience the last thing many women want is a big picture of themselves on the wall. If you have no studio, how are you even going to show them how good a wall print will look?

the way I used to move them was have one done already when they came back to see their pictured. It would be mounted and laminated and just sitting in a very obvious corner when they walked in. I would say I wanted to use it as a display print on the wall, would that be OK with them? Rarely the thing didn't got out the door when they left. Sometimes they would leave it for me to have framed but most of the time they wanted to take it there and then to show family and friends and would take care of framing themselves.... again OK with my because little profit in that unlike the print.

I think you are going to have a hard time selling wall prints and my suggestion would be to look at other products you can add on.
Slide shows are great for me. I rarely sell them because I use them as value addeds but the desire to own is HUGE.

Real easy for you to put a sample show online and let them experience the benefits and generate the desire to won online than you have a hope of with a wall print.
Unlike prints you can do them in house which Is always easier than sending anything out, You don't have to wait for them to choose which print they want, no worries about labs and them stuffing up and I believe they would be far easier to promote. They can put them on their phone, laptop or computer, send them to friends and rels or put them on a site, play them on their 75" TV when friends and relies come over...... and I have found that's exactly what they do and they take the SS to show people and leave the album at home half the time.

Also been told many a time if they knew what the SS would be like they wouldn't have bothered with an album.

As mentioned, Albums may be another upsell product. I'd suggest the money is not in the sale of the covers but of the 20-40 prints to fill it.

Funny, not so long ago photographers threw hissy fits about giving people negs or digital files in case the client went and had a bad print made and ruined their reputation. Now they don't care because they don't want anything more to do with the client than they have to and doing prints is more effort!

I would suggest your "IN" with albums is that you can have the prints made in a professional lab that has the highest standards and only deals with pro shooters.
I notice many minilabs here now are all inkjet or thermal rather than silver prints so that would be another feature going to the already mentioned thing of handing the album down to their kids..... and other laughable ideals.

Maybe you could just offer a professional print bundle? Assign a points value to different size prints ie, 8x12 is 3 points, 5x7 is 2, 6x4=1 and then give them say 100 print points for the all up price of say $500. Again, push is as professional made hand inspected retouched silver halide archival prints made to last a lifetime or whatever.

I don't know why you decided on Wall prints but given you don't have a studio to start, I would suggest that there are very likely other products you can sell as add on's which will be much easier and effective for you to market in your situation and may likely yield better returns as well.

Have a look at what you can do, think about how you can market and promote it, how it fits with your products and services, it's desirability to the clients and how much PROFIT you can pull out of it.

The real beauty here is you are not limited to offering one product. You can offer wall prints, slide show, albums whatever and see which one flies and your CLIENTS want. Test market them. If you sell 20 wall prints and one slide show you can drop the SS. Likewise if it turns out you sell NO wall prints but 20 Album packages...
Maybe they will all sell equally and then you know you are really on the right track.

Rather than put all your eggs in one basket initially anyways, I'd offer a few different things and see which one the customers prefer to own.



Aug 11, 2016 at 07:04 PM





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