Trash The Risk

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A Quebec woman last week drowned while being photographed in her bridal gown during a trash-the-dress photo shoot. A “trash the dress” is where a woman is photographed a few days, weeks, or months, after her wedding and she wears her bridal gown in a wet, dirty or otherwise unorthodox location. One would have thought that this fad disappeared after the 1970s but it became trendy again.

The family of the victim released a statement which seemed to place blame on the photographer:

These character traits made [the victim] very trusting in others. … One thing we are certain about is that [the victim] would have never put her life at risk. Her love for life, for her husband and for her family would never allow it.
(…)
She trusted [the photographer’s] recommendation for the location and felt safe enough to attend the photo shoot alone with the photographers. She followed their directions and put trust in their professionalism.

While no lawsuit against the photographer has been launched, (the funeral has yet to be held), one might guess where this is heading.
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Smaller Is Bigger

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It sometimes appears that smaller companies have bigger photo budgets than larger companies. Examples:

• The world’s second largest car manufacturer last month asked about covering its Toronto press conference. It was budgeting $250 for two hours of shooting, a couple hours of editing, and a disc full of images. The photos were to be used internally and for media handouts.

By comparison, a small publisher in Toronto, with a handful of employees, budgeted $750 to cover its 30-minute press conference. One photo was for a media handout and a handful of other photos were for internal use.

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Size Doesn’t Matter

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A potential customer asked why a business portrait would cost $500 when it’s only going to appear small on their website.

Up until the late 1990s, companies had no hesitation paying hundreds of dollars (or more) for a business portrait. Back then, the costs of publishing brochures, annual reports, and other print marketing materials were high, so a business portrait was just a small fraction of the overall expense.

Today, with every company having a website, the cost to publish has essentially become free. This zero-cost publishing has led some people to assume that photography should be equally inexpensive. The common question is: “Why should we pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for photos that cost nothing to publish?”
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It’s not the pictures

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If one photographer quotes $150 for a business portrait and another photographer quotes $800, which of them will win the customer’s business? Despite the obvious price difference, it’s not obvious which photographer the customer will choose.

There are two types of customer: the price shopper and the value buyer. Although it’s common for some folks to alternate between the two, for example: be a price shopper when buying groceries and be a value buyer when shopping for clothes.

Some people will always choose the low-price option. These customers are price shoppers and they care only about cost. What they pay is more important than what they get.

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Nothing Is Better

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Some photographers don’t understand the value of nothing.

Customer: I want to buy this $1,400 refrigerator. After you deliver it to my house and install it, I’ll pay you $200. How does that sound?

Store clerk: Our cost on that refrigerator is $800. If I accept your $200 then we’ll be losing $600 plus the expense of delivery and installation, and we won’t make any profit.

Customer: But isn’t $200 better than nothing?

Store clerk: Of course not. Forget it.

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Message Tailoring

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When marketing their photography services, professional photographers must recognize that business clients have different needs from retail customers.

For retail customers, those who purchase family portraits or wedding photos, the images themselves are the final product. But for business clients, photos serve as tools to achieve broader objectives, primarily to drive company revenue.

Retail customers make purchasing decisions based on a mix of emotions, whereas business clients are typically driven by one overriding emotion: fear. Fear of making a bad decision, fear of losing money, or fear of damaging their reputation in front of superiors.

For small businesses, where photographers interact directly with the owner, the goal is generally to help increase sales. In larger companies, the priorities can be more complex. While sales growth remains important, it may not always be the primary reason for hiring a photographer. For example, photos might be needed for public relations, communications, or brand positioning.
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Making Contact

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My web site offers three ways for prospective customers to contact me: telephone number, e-mail address, and a contact form.

I thought that most people would use the e-mail link. My assumption was that people would prefer and trust their own e-mail software more than a basic web-page contact form.

Over the past three years, 5% of potential customers used the telephone number, 30% used the e-mail address and 65% used the contact form.

Forms can capture not only the person’s name and e-mail address but also any other information you might need. However asking too many questions risks turning a simple contact form into an interrogation and frighten customers away.

Contact forms are easy to implement. Web hosts usually include CGI-based e-mail forms. Blog software either has contact forms built-in or there’s a free plugin available. There are a few third-party-hosted form services.

Contact forms do attract spammers and there are ways to minimize this nuisance. But any spam that does come through a contact form is far outweighed by the benefits of having such a form on your web site. I mention this because I’ve noticed that many photographers’ web sites don’t have a contact form.

 

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