iPrints Professional
by Dale Laboratories
Marketing Ideas For Working Professionals

April 2011
In This Issue
Is Shoot-and Burn Right For Your Studio?
Out of the Box Thinking For Improved Product Offerings

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Dear Subscriber,
 
Are you receiving calls from prospective clients who only want you to shoot their event and hand them a DVD?

In today's competitive market "shoot-and-burn" jobs are becoming more the rule than the exception.

What can you do? There's a good chance you'll say "Yes" when people call. At least you can get the prospects to meet with you to discuss their events.

We'd like to examine the "shoot-and-burn" business model a little more closely. Then, we'll go over some inexpensive alternatives to "shoot-and-burn" when you're bidding on economy jobs.

Also...be sure to take advantage of our 25% Off Spring Sale on Metallic prints. Details are at the end of this newsletter.


Best regards,
Dale

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The Pros of Shoot-and-Burn:

From a purely business standpoint you can earn easy money...with fewer hassles...than when you provide complete packages.
  • You have very little post-production work.
  • There are few, if any, additional consults with brides and their mothers.
  • You receive your payment right away.
The Down-side of Shoot-and-Burn:
  • Prices & Profits Are Lower - You're usually competing against amateurs with a fraction of your skills...but who are offering a very low price.
  • Your Business May Decline Rather Than Grow - You probably won't get repeat business or referrals because friends of the bride and family don't see your finished prints in an album or as enlargements. (Have you ever seen a photographer's photo credit on Facebook?)
  • Your reputation can be damaged when your clients take your images and make consumer-level prints at retail stores. (People won't blame themselves for low-quality drug store prints...they'll blame you!)
Our Suggestion: Consider offering inexpensive, "value-added" packages to shoot-and-burn prospects. The idea is to gain slightly more profit, protect your reputation and get more referrals.
Three Value-Added Packages You Can Offer to Shoot-and-Burn Clients

You should have a competitive, yet profitable, shoot & DVD only package price. Then, you can offer prospects some additional, economical printed packages, that will give them a greater value than just the DVD.

Start by looking at the expense you'll incur for the add-on product(s). Then, structure the expense and some additional profit into your alternative offerings.
  • Selected Proofs of the Event - The prospect agrees to a specific number of pictures to be printed. You select the best of your shots.
  • A Magazine Proof Book - A specified number of images are placed in the correct sequence in a bound 10" x 13" book.
  • A Low Cost Album - We can give you a complete 20 page bound album, including all the prints, for a fixed price of just $150. You can create the album, using our beautifully designed templates, in under two hours...and easily sell it for $500 or more.
Each upward step should be a relatively small dollar amount that will seem totally logical to your clients and be a good fit for their needs.
Offer Professionally Printed Proofs

Shoot-and-burn is a generational thing!

Young couples may be perfectly happy to receive only digital images for their iPads, computers, cell phones or social networking. A DVD may be all they want.

But, their parents...who are often the people paying for your photography...may still prefer prints (especially of life events they want to keep for years.)

Proof packages offer an ideal compromise. The bride and groom get their DVD. The parents have their prints.

The key here is to get the message across that the pro-lab prints you can provide are significantly better than the ones they'll be able get themselves...even from your pro-quality DVD.

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Here are three ways we can give you pro proofs:

Kodak Endura Lustre (E) With Studio Name & Copyright Watermark

Laboratory Corrected Proofs
Our Technicians Correct the Color of Your Prints
  • Submit your JPEG images on a CD or DVD. We'll individually correct each image with the software on our pro-printing machines. Cost: 25¢ per 4" x 6" proof,,,$150 for a 600 shot event
Or...
  • Send us your JPEG images via ROES online ordering. We'll provide individual corrections with Kodak DP2 digital enhancement software. Cost: 40¢ per 4" x 6" proof,,,$240 for a 600 shot event
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Studio Corrected Proofs*
You Apply Your Own Color Corrections
  • Make your own color corrections and save big dollars, while still giving your clients truly professional proofs. Submit your images online via our ROES Studio Corrected service or on a ROES formatted CD or DVD. Cost: 19¢ per 4" x 6" proof,,,$114 for a 600 shot event
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Magazine Proof Books
6 Up or 12 Up Images on a 10" x 13" Page




Magazine proof books are an alternative to individual proofs that can differentiate you from your low-cost competitors. Each image is placed in sequence, with its JPEG number clearly shown below. You can include it in your initial contract or up-sell the "Proof Book" to the family after the event.











  • Lab Corrected Proof Books - Cost: $235 per 12 up book for a 600 shot event; $310 for two 6 up books (2 books are required due to the number of pages).
  • Studio Corrected Proof Books* - Cost: $135 per 12 up book for a 600 shot event; $220 for two 6 up books (requires 2 books).
  • Add a removable leatherette cover for $35.
Sell Our Economy Photo Albums (Your cost: $150!)
The right album...at the right price!

The motivation for "shoot-and-burn" is primarily about price. Couples have ruled out spending $1000 - $2000 for a photographic package with an expensive album.

That doesn't mean they don't want an album. They just don't believe they can afford one.

The total cost of our album to you is just $150. This includes the album, all the prints (fully color corrected) and an attractive dust cover. So, you have a premium-looking album you can up-sell at only $495 and still make a nice profit!

Optional Cameo Photo in Cover


Album With Dust Cover


We Provide Hundreds of Designer Templates For Beautiful Layouts

One Selling Strategy -

Try a time-tiered pricing approach to motivate your prospects to buy the album sooner rather than later.

Here's one pricing model:

  • Select the album at contract signing: $495
  • Order within 90 days of the wedding: $595
  • After 90 days but within one year: $695
Create payment terms that will make upgrading from the DVD alone to the DVD and an album an easy choice.

Then, see if you can convince the parents to purchase a smaller (8" x 8" or 5" x 5") companion album.

How To Design & Create Your Album - Our ROES software makes this an easy 1, 2, 3 process. You can design a complete album in well under two hours.
  1. Download our free ROES software.
  2. A templates window will open that says "Lustre E Surface (Laboratory Corrected Prints)." Go to the bottom of that window to "Catalog". Use the drop-down menu to access "Complete Photo Albums."
  3. Follow the easy, step-by-step instructions.
If you have any questions...please call us at (800) 327-1776 and we'll walk you through your first order.

Spring Sale: Save 25% On Metallic Prints

Take this opportunity to get some inexpensive sample prints...or make extra profit on current sales. You'll save big $$$!
  • Sale prices apply to all ROES online orders for 5 x 7 through 20" x 30" enlargements printed on Kodak Metallic paper.^
  • Please order through our ROES program. (Regular prices will show online but will be charged at reduced prices in our laboratory.)
  • Visit www.iPrintsPro.com for an overview of all of our ROES professional services.
  • Sale extends from today until midnight on May 1st.
 ^Sorry - Sale prices do not apply to orders placed at the front counter of our Hollywood, Florida store, nor for album pages, wholesale accounts or online orders made through our iPrints.com consumer site. However, our regular low prices and store specials will still apply. Other discount offers are available on iPrints.com. 

Here are some suggestions that can improve your economy offerings and help you win the sale even if you can't up-sell past the DVD:
  • Differentiate yourself from amateur "shooters." Let your clients know that you're a professional...with years of experience...who will give them the dependable photography they truly need. Also, in addition to delivering their DVD you will:
    • Sequence the images on their DVD to show the proper flow to their event.
    • Downsize the images in a second file to give them images they can use on their iPads and for social networking sites.
    • Load their event images onto their iPad(s)
    • "Be there" for them after the DVD is delivered to help them, should they want prints or further assistance.
  • Leave the door open to getting prints and/or an album in the future.
    • Have a printed offering sheet with your after-event services and prices. (Consider time-tiered offerings.)
    • Don't Forget Enlargements - Offer the option of getting enlargements of the best pictures after the event is over.
Do you have any ideas you can share with fellow pros?  Please email me at info@dalelabs.com if you have any suggestions. For each idea we publish we'll give you a complimentary 16" x 20" or 20" x 30" enlargement.

I hope you find these ideas useful.



Best regards,
Dale

Dale Farkas
iPrints Professional by Dale Laboratories
South Florida's only ROES/Kodak DP2 Pro Lab

*Many of our pros have found our Monitor Calibration Chart to be very useful in calibrating their monitors for our studio corrected prints. Please click here to download our chart. It's free.

Photo credits and our thanks to Michael Anthony Photograpy and Video, Cooper City, Florida  and to Curtis Smith Photography, Dania Beach, Florida.