A little while ago, I did a small public relations photo for a yogurt product being given away. After the photo, the young lady gave me – you guessed it – a free sample of the yogurt. It was so delicious that I later bought two boxes of the stuff.
The purpose of a free sample is to eliminate all risk to the consumer. The customer has nothing to lose by trying a free product. There will never be any buyer’s remorse when it’s free. Not many folks are willing to take a chance on a product that they’ve never used. Why risk their time and money on the unknown?
Welcome the free sample.
Online, authors sometimes give away a chapter from their latest book; a movie distributor will release a couple of trailers or even some extended clips; an up-and-coming band might give away a song; designers sometimes give away a web-site template or some web graphics.
But what about an assignment photographer? How can you give away a sample of an assignment?
For example: What business wouldn’t like a free “portrait sample” of one of their executives? How many stores would enjoy a free “ad sample” done for one of their products?
Yes, a photographer’s online portfolio is supposed to act like a free sample by displaying examples of the photographer’s capabilities. But a portfolio shows only what was shot on previous assignments. It doesn’t show what that photographer could do for a new client.
(It’s important to note that a “free sample” should not be about offering the first assignment for free. Why would anyone pay, in the future, for something that’s being given away free today? Working for free devalues your service.)
A major risk to a client, when hiring a photographer with whom the client has no previous experience, is that the assignment may end up being a bad experience: missed deadline, missed pictures, bad pictures or any other disaster. In such a case, the client will have wasted their time and money, and maybe even their damaged their reputation.
So how does an assignment photographer give away a free sample and help reduce the risk to potential clients?
Easy.
Make the free sample not about the pictures but about the photographer. A free sample of the photographer.
The quality and character of a photographer’s web site, the personality between the lines of text on the site, and the helpfulness of any e-mail correspondence and phone calls, all combine to form a sample of the photographer.
Clients will sooner do business with someone they feel comfortable, someone they trust, and someone who seems to understand their photo needs, long before they’ll do business with someone who is only a name on a web site or business card.
Some may call this “branding” and this would mean that you are your brand. A brand is not so much a logo design, a stylish font or a particular set of colours but rather it’s a feeling or response that a customer has when they think of a company’s name.
For example, if someone mentions “Jane Doe Photographer”, Client A might respond with, “Reliable and easy to work with”; Client B might think, “Expensive but worth it”; and Client C might answer, “Shows up late for assignments and sometimes misses deadlines.”
Point is, your customers create your brand, not you. But you can, and must, give them hints and direction. Through a photographer’s web site and any other interactions, a potential client will formulate a first impression of that photographer’s brand.
A good first impression may lead to an assignment which will, hopefully, confirm and build the photographer’s brand.
Photographers have to be aware of the free sample that they are, knowingly or unknowingly, giving away. Is it delicious enough to create a first-time buyer or is it a confusing mix of signals that only makes people run from the risk?
