By the value

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Of course the list of prices in the previous post, By the pound, is meaningless. No one sells a house by the pound, no one buys a car by the pound.

A house is priced on the subjective value of its location, the quality of design and workmanship that went into the house and the cost to build.

A car is priced on the subjective value of its brand, the quality of design and workmanship that went into the car and the cost to build.

Yet some people expect photographers to price their services by the hour or by the picture rather than by the value of the photography plus the quality of workmanship and the cost of production.

When some businesses search for a corporate photographer, why do they shop price first, value second? The only products sold by weight or volume are commodities like fruit, vegetables and gasoline. Almost everything else is sold by value.

A can of Campbell’s vegetable soup is 99¢ while the “no name” brand of vegetable soup is 60¢. Which soup would you buy?

After tasting the thin, watery, no name soup, you’d either go back to the higher-priced soup because it has more value, (i.e. better taste and more enjoyable), or you’d lower your standards and stay with the cheaper product to save money.

It’s the same deal with photography. A business has to decide whether to lower its standards and use cheap photography, or go with higher-priced professional photography because of its higher value.

 

By The Pound

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Just for comparison sake, here’s the approximate cost per pound, (Canadian dollars, taxes not included), of a few items:

Nikon D3X camera: $2,828

Apple iPhone (base model): $2,200

Nikon D3S camera: $1,818

Nikon 24mm f1.4 lens: $1,527

Nikon 300mm F2.8 lens: $869

Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 lens: $847

Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens: $622

MacBook Pro 15″ laptop (base model): $330

Mac Pro desktop computer (base model): $75

Think Tank Airport Security roller case: $38

Porsche Boxster (base model): $18

House in Toronto: $1.06 (1600 sq ft., freestanding, single-storey brick house including foundation. Assuming $340,000 and 320,000 lbs )

House in Toronto: $0.71 (2200 sq ft., freestanding, two-storey brick house including foundation. Assuming $425,000 and 600,000 lbs.)

 

Don’t even mention the cost of medium format cameras and digital backs:

Phase One 645DF camera + P45 back + 80mm lens: $5,206 per pound

F-35 Lightning II fighter jet: $4,780 per pound

 

Now do you have to ask why photographers charge so much?

 

Hiring for dummies

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There are many staff jobs available for editors and writers but none for photographers. 

Well, almost none.

The only photo jobs are those for department store portrait studios, baby photographers and school photographers. These three are always looking for photographers which tends to indicate the quality of these jobs.

• There’s a new business magazine about to start up in Toronto. It has full-time paid job opportunities for editors, writers, designers and web people. What’s missing? Photographers.
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Annual Report Mistake

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Earlier this year, the director of communications of a Toronto corporation requested a photo quote for a dozen business portraits for its upcoming annual report. The organization needed a portrait of its CEO and each board member. I sent a quote for the photography but never got the job.
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How to shoot yourself in the foot

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Here’s the best way for a company to mess up its public relations, mangle what’s left of its brand value and kill off any future credibility. (I’ll give you a hint: cut corners and go cheap on photography.)

As everyone knows, BP is in the midst of the worst oil spill in US history. As part of its attempt at public relations, and to salvage its brand, BP is trying to keep the public informed of its ongoing cleanup operations. Note that BP doesn’t call it an “oil spill” but rather an “oil well incident”.

What did BP do? It released doctored photos to the public, pictures that have been amateurishly altered to show BP in a better light. BP’s very weak mea culpa here.

The joke was that “BP” stood for “Broken Pipe”. It nows appears that it stands for “Bad Photoshopping”.
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Dumb or dumber

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There are two ways to sell your products or services:

Option A: Make your customers smarter. Let them know how and why you do what you do. Educate them on what to look for and what to avoid. Help them know what’s possible, what questions to ask and what to expect. Smart customers are informed customers who, in turn, are good customers.

Option B: Make your customers dumber. Don’t let them know about your products or services. Don’t tell them about variables, options or warranties. Don’t give them choices. Dumb customers are helpless customers who, in turn, are good customers because they will always run to you for help.

Option B is the easiest and that’s why many businesses do it. You could choose this option and be successful, but only until a competitor decides to go with Option A. When this happens, Option B is no longer an option.

Free and worth every cent

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Everyone loves free because there’s no risk involved. If a free item is unsatisfactory, throwing it out can be done without hesitation or regret.

It’s free and priced to sell.

Free means you don’t have to make any judgments or decisions. When it comes to free or cheap photography, the low price becomes the most important feature. Good photography? Poor photography? Who cares because it’s free!

I wouldn’t buy anything that I have to pay for.

But viewers of photography don’t care what it cost. They care only about the quality of what they see. There’s a big disconnect between a business that tries to get free or cheap photography and its customers who want good photography.

I wouldn’t pay for anything unless it’s free.

People always assign a value to the things they buy. If something is received for free, they assign a value of $0. For example, if someone loses their $75 sunglasses, they’ll moan, “Oh no, I’ve lost my $75 sunglasses!” But if they lose a free or cheap pair of sunglasses, that person will say, “It doesn’t matter, I got them for free.” The cheap sunglasses are disposable and not worth any effort.

For the photographer who does cheap or free photography: is your work disposable and not worth the effort?

For the business that tries to get cheap or free pictures: is your business image disposable and not worth the effort?

 

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