1. Define who you are willing to give a valuable gift to. Here's our thinking behind this offer:

• Ricardo Serpa - Wedding & Lifestyle Photography

  We emailed this newsletter to pre-qualified professional photographers.
  
• Key Assumptions:
  
• Smart pros would quickly recognize the profit potential our books offer.
  
• A Marketing Reality: Pros can't/don't sell products they can't show.
  
• This "free" book provides a sample that will allow pros to market their photography on our photo books.
  
• My suggestion: Plan your offers so that you target likely buyers; not the general public.
2. Your gift must have real value to the person receiving it. How our offer stacks up:
   
• Both pros & consumers love our books...once they have seen them.
  
• Dollar value of this offer: $40+.
  
• Benefits to Pros: 
• Easy Profits - Our smaller books (14 - 18 pages) cost $25 - $30. Pros are now selling them for over $100 each...with multiple book sales very common!
• Can Be A Deal Clincher - These pro photo books have a low cost, yet offer a high perceived value. You can use that to your advantage!
  
• Example: You're bidding against other photographers on a shoot & DVD job. Throw in a $25 (your cost) photo book as your "gift" and you'll make the sale!
  
3. Make your "conditions" reasonable ... but effective.
   
• Deadlines - Any decision put off is one that probably will not be made. Placing a deadline will get a response from real prospects.
  
• Define what you want the gift's recipient to do - We are requesting that you use (and possibly learn) our ROES ordering system. Then, spend 1/2 hour to create your photo book.
  
• The reward has to be commensurate with the effort for the recipient. (We believe it is!)
• Consider offering a "consolation" gift - Nobody likes visiting a store the day after a sale. A secondary offer for "late" takers can soften some of the sting.
  
4. Determine if your expense justifies your expected gain. Our thinking behind a $40+ gift "investment":
• We know that our photo books must be seen to be appreciated.
  
• The biggest obstacle to our selling photo books? Getting photographers to sit down and design their book online (a pretty easy process once they try it.)
• Expectations: Sample books from this offer will generate future sales for  photographers and our lab.
• My Advice to You - Structure your offerings with a reasonable likelihood of a return on your "gift" investment.
  

• A token gift of a penny, personalized address labels or a calendar is sent to potential donors.
  
• The purpose is to elicit a response based upon a normal human reaction to "give back" in exchange for a gift.

• Two bottles of water and a granola bar.

  When my family checked into our Marriott Courtyard a silver gift bag was given to us by the desk clerk.
• Why? We were Silver Members (i.e. Marriott's frequent travellers club.)
• Effective: Very. Had the contents been in the room they would have been taken for granted. As a gift they had an emotional effect, reinforcing our relationship with Marriott.
  
• Cost/value: About $3 to the hotel. Valuable to us? Yes! Water costs $2.50 per bottle at Disney World.
• Lesson: A gift doesn't have to be expensive to be effective!
  
• We stopped for dinner at a Carrabba's Italian Grill. At the end of dinner our waitress gave us this $10 Discount gift in honor of Mother's Day.
• The waitress had qualified us as likely repeat customers.
  
• Corporate Objective: Though we were in a tourist area and not likely to return, Carrabbas' management wanted to influence us to visit one of their restaurants near our home.
• Deadline?: Within 3 weeks.
• Effective?: Yes.
  

• Family Photographers -
  
• Create a yearly, discounted package for "growing family" portraits.
• Offer free "gift" photos if people book a shoot.
• Consider offering a "free" or discounted photo book if orders exceed a pre-defined dollar amount.
  
• Give increasing discounts if people up-size their orders.
• Provide low-res photos for Facebook as a gift item.
  
• Maternity -
• Do a discounted follow-up series of photographs after the baby is born.
• Include one of our photo books, with a sampling of your best shots, in your package as your personal baby gift.
  
• Give a gift certificate for a "free" portrait of the baby & family on his/her first birthday.
• Wedding/Event Photographers.

• Ron Glazer - Event & Corporate Photography

  If doing only a shoot & burn (you shoot and provide a DVD of the images) surprise your clients by giving them a photo book as a "Thank You" gift when you present them with the DVD.

  Ron Surprised His Clients With This Gift Book - Front Cover

  He Used Our Drag-and-Drop Design Templates

• Cost? About $30 plus 1/2 hour's time.
• Your request of the clients?
  
• That they show the book to all their friends, letting them know about your great work.
• Be sure to adhere a label to the back of the book with your contact information!
  
• Ask them to tell you about upcoming events their friends and relatives are planning, permitting you to use their names as references.
  
• Your return? Valuable referrals and a possible upsell to an album or enlargements.
• Corporate, Fashion & Architectural Photographers
  
• Send a photo book of your pictures as a gift to the CEO of the company or the decision-maker who hires you.
•  Mail the book after the DVD they ordered. You may want to gift wrap the book to increase the "Wow" factor.
  
• Be sure to include a personal note or card thanking the exec for using your services.
  
• Benefit - You'll significantly increase your chances of getting their next assignment!
  

I assume you have a lot of ideas of your own. Just follow the guidelines in our Marketing Logic and you'll do just fine!