Boosting Sales and Extending Seasonality!

by Skip Cohen
  
​Many of you are going to feel it's too late for this idea to have an impact on sales this holiday season. Well, hear me out - because it's NOT!

Here's the background - going back to my Polaroid days, when the Spectra was introduced, the buzz words were continuity marketing. The Spectra was the first Polaroid to be introduced with a full line of accessories. And, just like the gear you own today, each piece of equipment you've added over the years has enhanced your loyalty and feelings about the brand you chose.

Well, here's an idea to build continuity marketing into your business - an 8x10 print box. It's over twenty years since Bambi Cantrell started the concept of an Image Box, then an Art Leather product. She'd use it to enhance a wedding album by taking blank mattes with her and having select members of the bride and groom's families and friends write something on them. She'd add the photographs later, making the collection of photographs incredibly special. 

The idea hasn't lost its effectiveness and today has even more potential. Here are a couple of examples: First, I went to make an appointment for the annual shots for our two pups.  My vet didn't have any appointments until January. "Because of the pandemic, everybody's getting new pets, and we're booked solid!"

Remember, the hierarchy of why people hire a professional photographer - brides, babies, and pets are the top three, and with so many weddings being postponed, I'm betting pets might be in the number one spot! Puppies and kittens grow up and, right from the beginning, are a vital part of their family. Perfect for filling a print box.

Second, what's the one thing that Grandma misses most this holiday season? HER FAMILY! The pandemic has kept everyone apart for almost nine months! Putting together a print box of images, both old and new, makes this one of those gifts that becomes a treasure. Looking through your list of past clients and new ones, a print box becomes a truly unique gift this holiday season.

​Here are more ideas about adding a print box to your product line with blank mattes included in the box:

• We're getting down to the wire on the concept for this holiday season. Still, there's time to put together an image box of recent portraits you might have captured for a client, and then include a few blank mattes, each with a certificates to fill in the open space with a photograph.
• Most brides and grooms within a certain age group will start a family within 2-3 years of their wedding. Include those same blank mattes I mentioned above in the box together with some of their images. Each matte is a certificate for something different:  an anniversary sitting, followed by the arrival of the first baby, new home, etc. Be creative and think about those special moments in a couple's new life together and create exciting offers to bring them back in front of your camera.
• Children's photography is perfect for a print box marketing program. Parents of a new baby are perfect for their images together with a few additional blank mattes, again for all of the extraordinary firsts in a baby's life. Younger children could be included in a "first day of school" portrait, Halloween portraits, holiday sittings, etc. 
• Third-Party Gifts - I've shared this idea many times since my buddy Doug Box first introduced me to the concept years ago. For example, third-party promoting involves the photographer giving a real estate agent a print box that could be given to select clients for a portrait sitting, along with other special events in their new home. The brilliance of a program like this is the photographer is insulated from looking like he/she is discounting their work. The box would be filled with blank mattes and promotions for various images for milestone events in the buyer's new home and life.

Here's my point to today's Marketing Monday post - the pandemic has created opportunities for so many of you to be leaders in your marketing. This is a holiday season where we're all looking back as well as to the future. Those memories you're capturing for clients now and from the past are more valuable than ever before!

Note: The images above are thanks to Queensberry: The Queensberry Matted Print Boxes are designed to be different. As well as the range of print options, you have over 40 cover materials to choose from. It's simple to customize the mats with the easy to use software, to suit each photograph and create unique designs. Queensberry will deliver to your studio for free, or direct to your clients with our free drop-shipping service!

For more information, just click on any of the images above.