Marketing For Sports Photographers – Part 2

Yeah, I’m late. Very well aware of the fact that Thursday was last week. I haven’t lost interest in this topic yet. Story of my life but I have been busy. Part 2 of our marketing discussion is another one of those obvious things. Once again though, if your basic items aren’t met it won’t matter what the later discussions are about, you will not be able to sustain your business over the long run.

Todays Marketing Principle: Present your best work!

It never ceases to amaze me when I talk with organizations or to photographers, or see images purchased from photographers by friends the low level of quality in terms of the image capture. There have always been people in this industry that just don’t care as long as they are getting paid. That number has grown a great deal in the digital era. Talk about quality will no doubt lead to hurt feelings, but it certainly needs to be said.

If you are ordering Print As Is prints from this lab or any other you owe it to the customer that paid you to provide the highest quality image that you can.

This does involve things like sharpening your images, doing basic color and density corrections as well as cropping and centering your images. But more so than that you have to do your job at capture. I know, this seems like too basic stuff, but hang in there with me. This is clearly not an exhaustive list, but rethink everything that you do and start right here:

1. On picture day, either find a shady spot for outdoor shoots or provide proper strobes for indoor work. A mother hates to see her child squint with sun in their eyes, and she is no more happy with yellowy greens from poor indoor lighting.
2. Have a well organized area for parents to see product samples and to fill out order forms. For those that have been to one of my picture day shoots you noticed that outdoors I always use EZ-Up tents with lots of samples and room to write things down. The booth always has at least one person in it that is totally familiar with our products and services.
3. Provide order forms that are clear and to the point. Don’t clutter them with items that simply don’t matter. Ours are plain with no product samples at all. Just a name and a price. Our sample boards are clearly labeled so that any parent can skip in, look at the item that they are interested in and either buy it or not. Don’t confuse people by offering every item under the sun. Have a product group and then stick to it.
4. If you shoot with a digital camera you need to chimp (look at the monitor) for every single shot. Blinks or look aways should be a thing of the past. You should be able to totally eliminate re shoots for these events. It will do nothing but increase your first run satisfaction rate and also add to your image as a professional photographer.
5. Put a lot of thought in to your team shots in advance. Will you do tall guys in the front or in the back? Will you bring a bench or portable riser? How and where will you position coaches? What equipment do you want in the shot? Think these things through in advance and have a plan to quickly and efficiently position your groups and get the job done. There is nothing worse than seeing a photographer struggle with group shot placements.
6. Put a lot of thought into your individual posing as well. Position the kid so that the sun isn’t glaring in their eyes or your lens. Provide enough fill flash to light the face in the shadow of the bill of a cap. Decide with the group in advance if you will use a set pose or if you will allow the kids to decide for themselves.
7. Maintain your schedule! The teams will put you behind from time to time, but don’t fall behind on your own. If you have baseball teams scheduled in 5 minute intervals, be done in 5 minutes. If you can’t do 5 minutes then do 10, but be finished in 10 minutes unless the team holds you up. The worst thing that you can do is allow that parent to become angry with you because you kept them waiting for 5 or 10 extra minutes. They are very forgiving when it is another parent. They are rigid in their displeasure when you are the delay.

How about some basics for after picture day. In the old film days (and now with Lab Corrected work) you had someone sitting there to make sure that your exposures were good, the color was right and the image was cropped properly. In the Print As Is world that we live in today all of this responsibility falls back to the photographer. If you do your job properly in the field you will minimize your work in the computer, but you still have work to do.

1. Every single image should be inspected for proper color and density. Any image that falls out of the narrow range of acceptability should be corrected.
2. Every image should be sharpened and cropped for the appropriate print aspect ratio. In the ExpressDigital software it is a cinch to do both of these items from within the software very quickly. A base sharpening amount can be set to be applied on image import. Adjust your white balance and then start ordering your images. Assemble your order and then quickly run through everything just before sending to the lab.
3. Develop a system and a method for placing your orders and then train everyone that works for you to follow it. There is nothing worse on the photographers end than to submit 10 jobs 10 ways and have to find 10 ways to figure out what is in the box that you just opened. If you are using Darkroom (even the free Web Edition) will you combine all orders for one team into one order (as I do) or will you place individual orders for each child? Each has it’s own benefits, but which one will you use? Don’t lump two or more entire teams in to one order. Keep the job manageable and you will be much happier in the end. Get everyone in the habit of using the Edit & Proof mode in ExpressDigital to verify that there are no glaring mistakes in the order before it is sent. For Print As Is orders any remakes are at the cost of the photographer.
4. Include something that reminds the parent what they ordered. This can be a copy of the order form (my way) or if you are doing individual orders submitted through Labtricity you can use the order sheet. Put an end to phone calls with parents that can’t remember. Even though the order sheet for Labtricity orders isn’t the original, it is often reminder enough to keep the parent from having to call you in a defensive mode.
5. Decide on how you will package your orders and stick to it. Envelopes? Poly bags? What will it be. Become consistent in your presentation and don’t return orders sloppily.
6. Post the images for sale online and include a small reminder card that additional images can purchased online. Post the images for sale, use a password to protect the gallery if you need to (but only if you need to) and then market it to each parent directly when you deliver the order. Those with the best online sales are the ones that market the online aspect of their business. If you shoot a job it should be posted online and you should market that like it is your only source of income.
7. Contemplate adding a significant amount of borders to your work. No print sells like a custom print. If creating borders aren’t your thing, go and see our friends over at LimitLessBorders.com and have a look at what value providing custom product can bring to your business. Borders are one of the least expensive ways that you can customize your product but add significant value in the eye of the consumer.

So, there you have it. 14 positive steps to take to increase your image and appearance as a professional photographer. Everyone, even weekend warriors, that is charging money to provide an image owes it to the entire industry, the customer that bought the print and to themselves to deliver a professional product. As I have said before, any talk of marketing yourself to increase your business has to involve discussion about the product that you deliver and how you present that product and yourself. Later this week (Friday or Saturday. Whomever came up with this Thursday thing should be shot) we are going to start a 2 or 3 part series about specific methods that you can use to increase your visibility with league directors in the most cost effective ways possible. We will look at the following items in good detail:

• Marketing booklets
• Direct mail letters and how to get them opened at a phenomenal rate.
• Presentation boards for league meetings
• Letter writing and how not to talk yourself right out of contention
• Picture day sample boards and why you should use them
• Borders, borders, borders
• Software to deliver the goods

Technorati : Sports Marketing., Sports Photography

Powered by Zoundry