Guest Photographers

If you are with a group of wedding photographers and mention the term "Uncle Bob" you are almost certain to get at least a dozen stories about crazy guests with their cameras and what they did to get that great shot - and screw you out of it.  In the past 5 years I have seen everything and anything from these Uncle Bobs and I'm sure you have too.  What I hoped would be a dying fad much like spot coloring has actually gained more and more popularity as the years go by.  So what can you do to protect yourself from being Uncle Bob'd and from potential images they may ruin?

1.  The Contract.  Make sure that your contract not only states you are the only professional photographer hired for the day (personally I exclude photo booths from this clause as I do not offer them) but that you also cover yourself in case a guest ruins any photograph.

2.  The Wedding Day.  I've found the best way to nip Uncle Bobs in the bud is to approach them and be friendly.  Often they will approach you and assure you that they won't mess with you at all and promise to stay out of the way.  Once you are buds they tend to make sure to steer clear of you but it isn't always the case.  If they continue to be a problem, take the time - no matter what the excuse - to stop and educate them regarding your contract and about how they are compromising the couples photos.

3.  CYA.  During the wedding day if there are photographers that are being overly zealous with their cameras and nothing you do changes their behavior DOCUMENT IT!  Do not delete the images that they ruin but instead save them to a separate folder when editing.  Trust me.  I once had a bride get upset with coverage during her ceremony which I was limited with due to an abundance of guest photographers (10+).  Once I showed her the image my second shooter took of me surrounded and blocked in every direction by her guests, she apologized and understood why I was restricted during the ceremony.  Another time I had a particular moment a bride was looking for ruined by a guest photographer's flash, blowing the image completely out and was able to show her what happened and she understood why that moment was missing.  I can't stress this enough, don't delete images that they interfere with!

4.  Give a Little.   Sometimes there is just no way out of being Uncle Bob'd.  Last year I had a wedding where the brother of the groom was an up-and-coming photographer and I was informed by the Mother of the Groom to allow him to do whatever he wanted.  To maintain my creative freedom while trying to keep the MOG happy, I ultimately negotiated a deal to allow her son to photograph the couple/bridal party for 15 minutes the day of (he would put down the camera for the rest of the portrait session) and the reception at will so long as he didn't get between me and the couple.  I knew, from past experiences, that if he had his camera with him at the altar it would end badly so I fought for exclusive rights where it mattered most to me (the ceremony) and gave some leeway where I could work around him (portraits and reception).  In the end I think we were both content with the outcome and if I hadn't given them a little bit then I fear that he would have been everywhere and anywhere with his camera and I couldn't do much about it given his relationship and position in the wedding.

5.  Facebook.  Here's a new slant on the guest photographers.  They are so excited that they tag the couple in images and everyone's sharing these and changing their profile pictures over and when your images finally make their debut people aren't as excited and the reception is a bit lackluster.  Sadly there isn't a LOT you can do about this but make sure that you get your images out there first.  Even if you just edit one image from the wedding and pop it on Facebook the day after the wedding, it's a plus for you.  I don't typically address the problem if the guest photographer sticks to posting it to their personal page but I have sent kind emails to guests who post it on their business page.  Here's what that email looks like:

Dear Photographer:

It was really great to meet you at Bride & Groom's wedding!  It was such a fun day and I'm still smiling thinking of it.  Thank you for allowing me to do my job without getting in the way.

I noticed that you had tagged Bride & Groom in your photos and I'll admit I'm a bit nosy so I went to have a look.  The images are lovely and they are so lucky that you were there to capture extra moments for them, I'm sure they will be elated with them!  However, I would really appreciate it if you would put these images up on your personal page rather than your business page with your logo removed from them.  I know you are just getting your start in weddings and are super excited to have such a gorgeous wedding to show but it's actually a bit of a problem on my end.  So often brides will Google "such and such venue" or "such and such wedding colors" and will happen upon BOTH of our pages, resulting in confusion as to whom was the hired photographer.  This can - and in my case HAS - resulted in a Google-r inferring this means that one photographer stole from the other and makes her case known everywhere. Trust me when I say you never want to go through with this and I am not eager to repeat this.  I also request that these images remain off of your website.  This is to protect not only myself but you as well.   You are welcome to show them in a private setting to any potential client however. 

I hope that you understand my position on this!  

Thank you,
Photographer

 Have you been Uncle Bob'd?  What did you do that you think worked out to your advantage?  What do you think you could do better next time?  Have any advice?

Corey Ann is a wedding & lifestyle photographer from North Canton, OH. She is a mix of everything - fashionista, travel nut, deal hound, photo theft evangelist (she runs Photo Stealers) and geek rolled into one. She's had a website online since 1997 and a blog since 1999. When not plotting world domination or her next trip, she can be found reading one of the 100+ books she reads a year. Follow her on Twitter.

Will You Put My Proof Gallery Back Online?

Most clients are able to make decisions in a timely manner, but there will always be a client who does't make a decision before their proof gallery expires and ends up asking for extra time.  If you find yourself in this situation, here are a few different ways you can approach it:

1.  Set Ordering Deadline Expectations

If your photography agreement or contract did not state up front how long a gallery would be available, or a cost for extending gallery viewing and ordering beyond the contracted availability, you'll probably need to be gracious for the first extension or reopening of a gallery after it has expired.  This is when, in writing or over email, you will need to communicate exactly how long the gallery will be available to make their decision, and the cost to extend that timeframe if they cannot place their order or make their decision in a timely manner.

2.  Invite The Client To An Ordering Meeting

If the client is having a hard time making a decision, communicate that in order to view the images again, you will be happy to set up an in-person appointment, at which time you will be able to provide your expert opinion to make their ordering decision easier.  If the client is unavailable to meet in person, you could also schedule this arrangement over Skype and use Screen Sharing.  While the quality will not be as great for the client via screen sharing, you will be able to discern the better options and help make it less confusing for an indecisive client.

3.  Request An Ordering Deposit

If you clearly outlined that a gallery would only be available until a specified date and a client has chosen not to make a decision during that time, an alternative form of an extension fee is a deposit toward their order, which can be collected before making the images available again and applied once an order is placed, to cover any costs you might be incurring for hosting their images in an online ordering cart.

Obviously, the goal is to have clients who are happy with your service and product, while still setting appropriate expectations so that you aren't draining your resources and ability to serve clients in a timely fashion.  Do you have other ideas?  What works for you?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography in 2004 as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Photography Overhead Costs (or Why Photography is Expensive)

Over the weekend, I received an innocent question from a couple just starting to look for wedding photographers and perhaps you've received this question before as well:  "Why is photography SO expensive?"  I sympathized and agreed that photography is, in fact, quite expensive for the photographer providing the service as well.  Professional cameras and lenses are expensive and need to be replaced frequently, maintaining computers and post-production equipment is expensive, regular software upgrades are expensive, not to mention all of the costs of simply being in business.  In fact, because these costs are elusive to people who haven't run a business before, but who may own a camera, many beginning photographers don't even know they're pricing themselves out of a business simply because they are failing to account for their overhead costs.

To aid aspiring photographers and pricing skeptics, I've constructed a table of some basic overhead costs of running a photography business.  These are rough estimates, and many businesses have even more overhead expenses than this, but I wanted to provide a very basic outline of the monthly and annual costs of being in business as a photographer.  If you're an aspiring photographer, I'd encourage you to start a spreadsheet of your own to help you gain a more accurate look at your overhead costs, so that you can budget your future needs into your current pricing.

Please note, this does NOT include the expenses of a Salary or Health Insurance.  If you want to have a business that actually pays for your home, transportation, food and provides you with health insurance (rather than just a side business to supplement your income), we'll need to figure in those costs as well.  Health Insurance can range anywhere from $100/mo-$600/mo per person with a national average estimated to be around $185/mo.  Also, if we assume a salary of $36,500/yr (the national mean for photographers according to bls.gov) which is determined before self-employment taxes are taken, we would need to add $3,226 to the average monthly overhead expenses and $38,720 to the yearly overhead expenses. 

 

As with all things, every business is different and will have different expenses.  This is only meant to be one example and not a representation of what your expenses should be.  Definitely check out the comments to see what more photographers have to say!

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography in 2004 as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Hit & Miss Email Promotions

I just so happened to receive two 40% off email promotions on the same day from two different companies.  One was a hit and the other was a miss.  Let's see if you can figure out which was which:

Email Promo #1:

Here's what the email piece looked like in my inbox:

When I clicked the main image, where it says "SHOP NOW>", this is the landing page:

Email Promo #2

Here's what the email piece looked like in my inbox:

When I clicked the "Shop Now >>" button under the main image, this is the landing page:

Which was a hit and which was a miss for you?

 Email Promo #1:

• Email Headline Offer: "Ends Soon.  Shop our sale, in stores & online."
• Incentive to act now: "Extra 40% off Final Sale"
• Fine print: offer valid on purchase of final sale items in stores or online from 1/21/13 - 1/29/13 (4 day purchasing window from date email sent)
• Visual of items included in promo: N/A
• Click-through landing page: Same as email promo
• Promo redemption: Enter code at checkout
• Steps to redeeming promo: 4 clicks led to an item which was listed as "sold out".  Tried again with different item, 5 clicks to checkout.

Email Promo #2:

• Email Headline Offer: "40% Special Brownies for Your Valentine"
• Incentive to act now: "Weekend Special Offer for Valentine's Day"
• Fine print: offer only valid through 1/27/13 (2 day purchasing window from date email sent)
• Visual of items included in promo: Three items featured with clearly marked discounted pricing and shop now buttons
• Click-through landing page: Purchase page for individual item
• Promo redemption: Prices already adjusted on website to reflect promo
• Steps to redeeming promo: 3 clicks to checkout

 
For me, the obvious winner is Email Promo #2.  In order for an email promotion to be effective, useful, and actionable - it needs to have all the ingredients that make it easy for people to see:

• WHY they would want something (for Valentine's day and to take advantage of a special deal)
• WHO they are buying it for (brownie lovers)
• WHEN they need to decide (before tomorrow ends)
• WHAT they should buy (these specific brownies that are on sale and available right now)
• HOW to close the deal as quickly and easily as possible (with easy to find action buttons and short clicking process to check out)

The next time you decide to create a promotional email campaign for your business- make sure it's a hit by selling your work as clearly, easily, and efficiently as possible!

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography in 2004 as an independent small business.  She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems.  Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Annual Marketing Evaluation

For many small businesses, the end of the year is the last big push for revenue to close out the year.  If you've built a great marketing plan and stuck to it for most of the year, than you're probably reaping the rewards that come from staying in touch with your target audience and providing opportunities for them to take advantage of your products and services.  If you don't feel like you're ending the year on a high note, than it's time to take a critical look at your marketing efforts to find out what went right or wrong.

Just as you review your finances before you do taxes, you should also review your marketing before creating a stronger plan for the year ahead.  Here are some questions to help you critically evaluate your marketing efforts from the last year:

Direct Marketing:

1. What forms of direct marketing were used this year (email, mail, text, calls)?
2. How many clients and potential clients were added to email and/or mailing list this year?
3. How often was list informed of new products, sales, specials, or awards?
4. How was additional value provided to clients through mailings (tips, education, reviews)?
5. Where are potential clients able to subscribe or sign up for direct email/mail?
6. Which direct marketing efforts performed the best and worst based on the desired outcome?

Website Marketing:

1. How many visitors did the website receive daily/weekly/monthly/annually?
2. According to the stats, what are the most popular pages or posts on the website?
3. What are the website's search engine rankings for the business name and desired keywords?
4. What are the top ten actual search engine keywords driving traffic to the website?
5. What are the top ten inbound links referring traffic to the website?
6. How many inquiries were received through the website this year?
7. How many subscribers were added to website/blog RSS/reader feeds?
8. How frequently was the website updated with new products or information?

Social Media:

1. How many new subscribers were received on social media feeds? (Itemize each one: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or any other relevant and active social media outlets.)
2. How frequently were social media feeds being updated (itemize each one)?
3. How do the social media outlets rank based on most and least interaction with subscribers?
4. Which ten updates received the most attention (likes, retweets, views, click-throughs)?
5. Which social media platforms drive the most traffic to business website?

Affiliate/Partnership Marketing:

1. What types of affiliate/partner marketing were utilized this year (groupon, charity or gift donations, guest articles/interviews/features, link sharing, promotions for/with related businesses, directory listings, professional organization memberships, etc.)?
2. What is the approximate audience reach for each affiliate or partner?
3. How did partnerships rank based on most and least beneficial for reaching target audience?
4. Which efforts were most effective toward generating new leads?

Advertising:

1. What forms of advertising were utilized this year (blog ads, google ads, facebook ads, radio, TV, magazine ads, billboards, newsletter ads, brochures, postcards, etc.)?
2. What was the approximate audience reach for each advertisement?
3. Which ads resulted in the most measurable increase in traffic or leads?

Person to Person Marketing:

1. What networking events were attended?
2. What promotional events, trade shows, or markets did business participate in?
3. How many workshops, demonstrations, events, and/or presentations did business host?
4. How many new client and industry contacts were received from each event?
5. How many business cards and/or samples were given at each event?
6. What methods were most effective for capturing new lead information?
7. What percentage of new contacts turned into follow-up business?

Please note that this list is not to suggest that you should be engaged in all of these marketing efforts- the smartest strategy is to do what works best for your business and your target audience.  However, if you find that your current marketing strategies are not generating enough leads, than you may want to consider the other opportunities that you have to generate new leads and expand awareness of your brand.

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography in 2004 as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and smart solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.