Brian Mullins
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Upload & Sell: Off
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sjb103052 wrote:
Hey Brian. Can I ask about your practice of providing hi-res images on DVD/CD plus printing rights?
1. Do you get many requests for prints when you do this?
2. Doesn't giving up your IP (the files) cut into your potential profits?
There seems to be opposing camps on this issue. Can you share the rationale you took for this approach?
Thanks.
Those are excellent questions and I spent quite a bit of time contemplating them myself before adopting this approach. Let me explain my thinking behind it before I answer the questions.
For a 4 hour S&B @ $2000, I'm tapping into the lower/middle budget brides who want good quality photography, but are on a budget. When building your price list, you MUST take into consideration who your client will be as I have with the above example. As soon as you do this, many questions can be answered about what to include.
I do my own printing in house for anything 17x24 & smaller. I market my prints as high quality, long lasting pieces of art, not pictures. If a bride is on a tight budget, then they are not going to want to pay $10 for a 4x6 to get the actual photos they've already "paid" you to take. Right or wrong, that's the reality in this area. Raleigh has three prestigious universities within 30 minutes and is a very technically savvy area. You will be in the minority in this area by not offering the files and it will cost you business in the long run. Let's face it, we're in a digital, on-demand world and trying to hold true to the old, buy as you go with prints does not work anymore - at least in my area. So, getting back to the prints.. I offer these as high-end pieces that will hang on the walls for generations, because that's something the brides cannot get online. Using archival paper & inks is the realm of small printers and boutiques, not wal-marts or Costco. Let's be honest, from a business perspective, would you rather sell 100 4x6's with a small profit margin or 1 24x30?
When determining my pricing, I determined what I would "lose" in print sales by offering the files, and marked up the disc accordingly. I don't make large print sales but I've already received compensation so it's less work and when I do get print orders in, I can provide a superior product at a fair price, and it's additional revenue that wasn't being depended on.
So, to answer your questions:
1 - I average about $150 in after print sales per wedding, even with including the disc.
2 - No, because I am charging accordingly for my images up front. If I "gave" away the CD, I would certainly be cutting into a potential revenue stream.
Again, this is just my take on it based on my local brides. I make it a point to ask everyone of my clients questions like this so I can get an accurate feel of the market. You'll see people say, alot, "Don't give away your images". That is certainly true and I would never "give" mine away.
Again, let me stress this is something I have fine tuned and, sorry, but I won't go into full detail on exactly how I market this. I will say that once you can understand who your client is, you can easily and logically tune your packages to maximize your revenue, minize your expenses and grow your business accordingly.
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