# When is it too early to offer a sale?



## DiamondGrace (May 1, 2011)

In an effort to get new clients I am offering a sale to people who "Like" my business facebook page. I have tweeted about it to my followers but am getting no response. I put in an ending date to create a sense of urgency. Right now I only have 24 followers on twitter and 14 fans on facebook, so am I just offering a sale too soon and should I wait until I have more potential clients to have a sale?  Also, what should I expect for responses to ads? 1 in 100?

I hope its not the quality of my work: Diamond Grace Photography


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## AnthonyRyanPhoto (May 1, 2011)

We just opened up shop and we did the same thing, no response.


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## KmH (May 1, 2011)

What is the sale? 5% off won't generate much interest. Perhaps you could call it an "Introductory Discount" instead of a sale. You could then quote regular retail pricing that is then discounted ftrom.

Do you have any marketing education? A retail photography business is more about having  business and people skills, than it is about having photography skills, but good photography skills create 'buzz'.

The majority of your time will necessarily be spent on marketing, promotion, and sales.

Looking at you web site, your use of light is pretty poor, and none of your photos have 'pop'. Pop is good separation of the subject from the background, in so far as the subject of the photo has more visual weight, light wise, than the background.

I highly recommend changing to a lighter, more upbeat, web site background color.

The basic concept is described by the art world tenet: light advances, dark recedes. By using supplimental lighting we can make our subjects brighter (warmer, more visual weight) and the background darker (cooler, less visual weight). 

Color theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The distinction between _warm_ and _cool_ colors has been important since at least the late 18th century but is generally not remarked in modern color science or colorimetry. The contrast seems related to the observed contrast in landscape light, between the "warm" colors associated with daylight or sunset and the "cool" colors associated with a gray or overcast day. Warm colors are often said to be hues from red through yellow, browns and tans included; cool colors are often said to be the hues from blue green through blue violet, most grays included. There is historical disagreement about the colors that anchor the polarity, but 19th century sources put the peak contrast between red orange and greenish blue. This concept is related to the color temperature of "visible light", an important consideration in photography, television and desktop publishing. The determination of whether a color appears warm or cool is relative. Any color can be made to appear warm or cool by its context with other colors.
Color theory has ascribed perceptual and psychological effects to this contrast. *Warm colors are said to advance* or appear more active in a painting, *while cool colors tend to recede*; used in interior design or fashion, warm colors are said to arouse or stimulate the viewer, while cool colors calm and relax. Most of these effects, to the extent they are real, can be attributed to the higher saturation and lighter value of warm pigments in contrast to cool pigments. Thus, brown is a dark, unsaturated warm color that few people think of as visually active or psychologically arousing.


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## Bitter Jeweler (May 1, 2011)

I just don't see Facebook fan pages as being "the" thing for marketing. It's going to take a LOT more than that to generate business. Word of mouth referal is a slow but sure method, but the quality has to be there. I would assume most of your fans have been customers already. If you are that new, how much repeat business can you expect? Are 100% of your fans local? What percentage is?
Yes a fanpage has it's place. It can be treated as a quickly updatable portfolio to augment your website. Regular, but not annoyingly so, posting helps keep your name on the tongues of fans that may refer you to friends. It is a tool, but you need to do SO much more. Photography is a luxury business, which adds to potentially slow growth of a new business.


OP, your website screams amatuer. I am not exactly sure what you do. You offer everything. "fine art prints" to portraits, to cows, to wildlife, to engagement, to pets...


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## AnthonyRyanPhoto (May 1, 2011)

I am curious, some of you who have been in business for a long time, how did you get started?


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## AUG19 (May 1, 2011)

DiamondGrace said:


> Also, what should I expect for responses to ads? 1 in 100?


 It's slightly different focus but have a read of this discussion..

Research/Metrics - Print Advertising Response Rates/Benchmarks : MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange


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## Bitter Jeweler (May 1, 2011)

I don't have a photography business. But, I feel the principals are the same. I have worked in my field for over 20 years, and little did I know, my name was tied to quality. So, when I started my own business, word got around. Quickly. I do have to say, this is for my wholesale work for retail stores. Getting my own retail customers, has started the word of mouth ball rolling, garning more retail sales. I am now in the process of Branding myself, launching a website, and very pointed advertising. I am dropping a quite a bit of cash for this. It is very important to me to look very professional. So I went to professionals rather than doing everything myself. My growth has been quick. This is because I am experienced in my field, and the quality is there.

For a new business, that is very green in the field, you have a long road ahead of you. It is not going to happen overnight. A large percentage of your customers are going to come from other happy customers. You will have to put quite a bit of time, money and effort, for little return "now", but in the long run it will grow. Word of mouth is slow. You need to find unique free opportunities to market yourself, such as charity silent auctions. As a local small business, the internet isn't where you should put the most of your attention. You need to network in your communities. 

My situation is different from what I see here every day. I spent 20 years honing my craft. I never thought, right after getting out of school, that I should open my own jewelery business.
I don't know if this was helpful, or just babble.


If I was looking for a phtographer, and came across the OP's website, I would just move along.


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## AnthonyRyanPhoto (May 1, 2011)

I do believe that when first starting out you need to establish yourself in your community.  As WOM business grows, people will begin to "shop" your website.  I think a solid website says a lot about your company, if the people do not know you, that is the first impression they get.


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## AUG19 (May 1, 2011)

I like the post.  Helpful!! not babble :thumbup:



Bitter Jeweler said:


> I don't have a photography business. But, I feel the principals are the same. I have worked in my field for over 20 years, and little did I know, my name was tied to quality. So, when I started my own business, word got around. Quickly. I do have to say, this is for my wholesale work for retail stores. Getting my own retail customers, has started the word of mouth ball rolling, garning more retail sales. I am now in the process of Branding myself, launching a website, and very pointed advertising. I am dropping a quite a bit of cash for this. It is very important to me to look very professional. So I went to professionals rather than doing everything myself. My growth has been quick. This is because I am experienced in my field, and the quality is there.
> 
> For a new business, that is very green in the field, you have a long road ahead of you. It is not going to happen overnight. A large percentage of your customers are going to come from other happy customers. You will have to put quite a bit of time, money and effort, for little return "now", but in the long run it will grow. Word of mouth is slow. You need to find unique free opportunities to market yourself, such as charity silent auctions. As a local small business, the internet isn't where you should put the most of your attention. You need to network in your communities.
> 
> ...


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## g-fi (May 1, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> OP, your website screams amatuer. I am not  exactly sure what you do. You offer everything. "fine art prints" to  portraits, to cows, to wildlife, to engagement, to  pets...



x2. Your website didn't really draw me in or give me any idea of what to expect. Facebook and Twitter are great tools when used properly, but unless you have a huge fan/customer base to draw on, I don't see being able to capitalize on sales marketing through it. 

How do you normally gain customers? If you're looking for a free way to get more customers, I think that there are more effective ways to do it than through Facebook. If you're spending money on Facebook ads, there are better ways to spend that money locally to bring in business.


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## Bitter Jeweler (May 1, 2011)

AnthonyRyanPhoto said:


> I do believe that when first starting out you need to establish yourself in your community. As WOM business grows, people will begin to "shop" your website. I think a solid website says a lot about your company, if the people do not know you, that is the first impression they get.


 
I am glad you found my babble helpful.

Your quote is something I forgot...that the website is the landing place for all the networking and business card, flyer handing out marketing you do. That's the position I am in right now. I don't want to start advertising till everything is in place. Unfortunately it costs a lot pretty much all at once for me, because I am a brick-n-mortar. Re-branding, proper signage, expanding working space and a more pleasing expanded comfortable showroom, website...

So, like you said, that's where your website, and facebook, come into play. You need to get out and market yourself.


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## UUilliam (May 1, 2011)

Well...  I checked your website and I noticed;

on the main page you have a blurry recoloured photograph of some women then you have an underexposed photograph of a cat.

I then decided to give you the benefit of the doubt, checked the portraits to be greeted with another slow slideshow with no way to flick through images quickly.  I closed your website after 30 seconds of browsing it.

I have just re-checked it and noticed that if you click a side of the current photograph, you can go to the next image... but... this is not obvious, I only knew to look / try it from previous experience.
I would advice against using that sort of gallery, also, the font you use in the logo and navigation suggests amatuer.

Sorry to be so harsh but... I am just trying to help you out!

P.s. offering all those services is not good either...

It screams desperation.
instead, split it into categories like;

Editing

Photography

Stock photos

Printing

Contact

Login

That would already look neater.

then you can add other bits inside there, since then you know what the client is looking for by that time.


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## AUG19 (May 1, 2011)

I have a twitter account that is unused yet continues to occasionally gain followers (real people that aren't selling anything). Why that is I have no idea. Your 38 isn't a meaningfully large enough sample to use as a yardstick. IMO the strongest product you offer is the colorizations. The pricing/deal of the 2 hour/60 shot portraiture seems way too cheap and extensive.


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## CCericola (May 1, 2011)

3% return on a campaign is considered successful.


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## DiamondGrace (May 4, 2011)

I was thinking of changing the color to something brighter so I'm with you, with that.

The special offer was 20%. I thought "Introductory offer" sounds too, I have no clue what I'm doing I just have a point and shoot. I don't.


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## DiamondGrace (May 4, 2011)

CCericola said:


> 3% return on a campaign is considered successful.



Thank you very much for that direct answer.


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## DiamondGrace (May 4, 2011)

AUG19 said:


> I have a twitter account that is unused yet continues to occasionally gain followers (real people that aren't selling anything). Why that is I have no idea. Your 38 isn't a meaningfully large enough sample to use as a yardstick. IMO the strongest product you offer is the colorizations. The pricing/deal of the 2 hour/60 shot portraiture seems way too cheap and extensive.



Unfortunately, that is the local going rate, and not the bottom either :/ . I priced by the local quality I matched.  Do you think 60 shots is too many? Would lowering it be more enticing? I can't quite wrap my head around why a lower quantity is better.  Thank you for your reply.


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## AUG19 (May 4, 2011)

Are you approaching this more as an hobby artist networking through friends rather than trying to move full-on into commercial photography? I can relate to it as a sort of extension of your social circles. I'm getting that impression.



DiamondGrace said:


> I have no clue what I'm doing I just have a point and shoot. I don't.


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## DiamondGrace (May 4, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> OP, your website screams amatuer. I am not exactly sure what you do. You offer everything. "fine art prints" to portraits, to cows, to wildlife, to engagement, to pets...



Sorry. I'll photograph anything. I don't have the luxury to limit myself yet.


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## AUG19 (May 4, 2011)

Which single aspect would you most enjoy concentrating on if you could?



DiamondGrace said:


> Bitter Jeweler said:
> 
> 
> > OP, your website screams amatuer. I am not exactly sure what you do. You offer everything. "fine art prints" to portraits, to cows, to wildlife, to engagement, to pets...
> ...



Is it a question of limited budget rather than a lack of interest in the technical aspects of photography that means you use a point & shoot?


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## Bitter Jeweler (May 4, 2011)

DiamondGrace said:


> Bitter Jeweler said:
> 
> 
> > OP, your website screams amatuer. I am not exactly sure what you do. You offer everything. "fine art prints" to portraits, to cows, to wildlife, to engagement, to pets...
> ...


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## c.cloudwalker (May 4, 2011)

You have real potential. Some of your photos are really, really nice. As seen on a computer anyway.

But your website and your approach are not going to do you much good. Quite the opposite, imho.

You are all over the place (portraits, art, pets, colorization), repeating yourself (couple, friend and siblings are all the same), some prices don't make much sense to me (why would I want 60 photos of myself in one location?). None of this is going to help you sell because it is confusing to the average customer.

You need to tighten up the sails. Get rid of the not so good photos, you shouldn't have anything on the website but the very best. Get rid of some of your offerings. People and pet portraits would be good. Because your colorization work is very nice, I would do a second website under a different name for that  

If you really want to do art, learn about it. Art is not sold as a pick your size and finish type of thing. It is also sold in very limited editions of the same size. Your editions are unlimited. If you ever get into the art part seriously, this could come back to haunt you. Plus I didn't see anything really fascinating there.

But the main thing is: to make money, you need to spend money. The site is so slow I don't see too many people looking at it. Some bad english, some bad design, also don't help. Get a pro to do it. Bitter gave you a very good run down of what it is like to run a business. I know, I just opened a studio a few months ago. Re-read him.

But first of all, learn some more about photography. You have great potential but you need to focus. Your portraits have wedding shots in them. Not the same thing. Your pet portraits have a bunch of artsy shots in them. Not quite what the average pet portrait customer would want. Etc, etc.


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