Thank you for attending our program! These program notes are intended to help you implement the marketing, products and sales

tools that we have found to be an integral part of our business.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the studio or email us at markgarber@aol.com. We are happy to help! Best Wishes!

**Please Note** We have provided this detailed information for you as a resource for your own business. Do NOT pass this information on as your own in articles, blogs, forums, programs, lectures, etc. Stealing intellectual property is no difference than stealing physical property. Your cooperation is appreciated.

-To realize that traditional marketing (magazines, newspapers, phonebook ads) doesn’t work. The biggest key to success is word of mouth marketing. It is the surest & most trusted marketing on the planet.

-69% of business owners say that their business comes from referrals, yet 80% of businesses have no real system to generate referrals.

-We’re going to learn ways to work smarter not harder.

-Were not going to try and ‘out do’ our competition, which is defensive and expensive marketing. Instead we are going to ‘under do’ our competitors through simplicity, clarity and relationships.

-Run our businesses pro-actively and not reactively.

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-There are no real secrets in business- only truths you haven’t figured out how to apply yet. This program will give you the tools for executing those truths through a mixture of innovation and action that will get you results!

-Anytime you see this toolbox throughout the program, know that we are offering you those same tools in our product offering. Everything from templates and resource guides to help you accomplish your goals even quicker.

You can purchase our products through www.redhautedesigns.com

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-People talk about things that surprise them, or make them feel great about themselves.

-You need to provide the total experience that excites, delights and surprises…that is what triggers ‘voluntary’ talking, i.e., word of mouth.

In other words, you need to make an experience so great and or unique that people can’t help but talk about you.

-This represents the minimal amount of contact we have with a bridal client. It doesn’t factor in all the other contact that we have throughout the year, such as sending couples holiday cards, a bridal newsletter, misc. phone calls and online interactions like blog posts, Facebook or misc. emails.

-The Touch Points in red are those points that we added and/or improved upon.

-There are only two sources of referrals: Client Network or Strategic Partner Network. (Strategic Partners are other businesses who are also pursuing the same client, but not in competition with you. For a wedding photographer, a strategic partner can be a wedding coordinator, florist, rental company, etc.)

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In this day era of GPS, we really don’t need to send an appointment card with directions on it. However, the real reason we send this card is because it gives us the perfect excuse to ask for the client’s address, while we are setting up the consultation on the phone. We then use that address to send them a handwritten ‘Thank You’ note after the consultation.

-The Anniversary Reminder is also sent to remind the couple that they get “Free portrait sessions for life’ building our client life cycle. We want to be their photographer for life not just a day.

-Touch Points act as ‘Passive Referrals’ meaning, you assume that people are going to talk about you because you have ‘wowed’ them after one or all of these interactions.

-It is also acceptable to openly ask for referrals too. The success of method, ‘passive’ or ‘active,’ depends upon your comfort level and how organized your Touch Point system is.

-We conduct a Touch Point Map for each of our services…wedding, seniors, portraits, etc.

-Consider doing a Touch Point Map for your Strategic Partners.

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When you go to the mailbox, what do you open up first? Envelopes that look like cards/invitations or the ones that look like they are bills? We obviously open the cards first. Handwritten Thank You notes are still special and are becoming more so in this electronic era.

-Raise your prices.

-Cut your cost.

-Sell to more clients, or sell more to the clients you have.

-Understand the psychology of pricing….price is more than a number.

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Price isn’t just a number to be added or subtracted. Your price point determines where you fall in the marketplace, which in turn determines who your client demographic is, as well as how you market to that group.

-Aside from making sure your prices are economically viable for the survival of your business, you should ask yourself who you want as your client.

-High volume, minimal service, lower price v. Low volume, higher price, in-depth service

-Three Chocolates: Three Prices….What inferences are you making based upon price alone? Which one do you assume tastes better? How is the packaging different? Consider the three distribution channels differ? How would marketing differ for each one?

-Notice the Odd and Even pricing: luxury items always have rounded/even numbers ($100). Discount products have odd numbers ($99.99).

-Consumers use price as a quality clue to the degree that qualities differ among brands and that a low price conveys risk.

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-If you offer collections, people generally settle for the ‘safe’ middle collection. Be sure that you are prepared to have that as your average sale.

-If you include too much in your collections there is little incentive for the client to purchase more. Add-on sales are essential to any business. Consider the fact that movie theaters only break even on the sale of movie tickets. Their profit comes from sales at the snack bar…add-on sales!

-Is your price list a complete presentation?

-If your price list is sitting in a stack of 6 other price lists (because brides shop around) how would your price list measure up?

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-The Signing Bonuses function under the first rule of business: The Law of Value. Give more than what your product or service costs. Giving more in terms of ‘use’ rather than actual cost. For example, a sneak peak blog show (we use animoto.com for these) doesn’t actually cost us anything, but it gives the client added value.

-We consider the engagement session to be an extended interview. It allows us to get to know the clients and it allows them to get familiar with how we work. It builds trust and comfort, which allows us to get better images on the wedding day.

-No charge for any physical part of the album. Pages, imprinting, leather, etc. is all free. We only charge per/image in the album.

-Our Signature Book (ZookBinders.com “Zookbook”) $30 per picture.

-Our Storybook Album (Zookbinders.com “Photobook”) $28 per picture.

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-Think about potty training your dog. When the dog pees on the living room rug is not when you give them the dog treat. You only give them the treat when they do well. Discounts are only rewards for price resistance. Reward your clients when they do what you want…which is spending money!

-Notice that no matter where they fall on the scale, we still hit the wedding average that we want, which is about $6,000.

Time Charge: $275 per hour

Retainer: $4000 in total Retainer Payments: $1,000 at booking, $1500 due 90 days before, $1500 due 30 days before

The three main elements of our price list are: time, album photos and the retainer. We do offer other offerings like parent albums, gallery wraps, proof sets, gift prints, etc.

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-Since we don’t want to be a ‘high volume’ studio, we have to be a ‘high sales’ studio.

-We rarely discount our work by running specials; however, this sale was run Black Friday thru Cyber Monday. We discounted the price of photographs because the work was already done and we had already made money from these sessions/weddings. It was essentially an Archive Sale.

-The sale was promoted via our blog, Facebook and the emails that Proofcast.com sent out to the clients who had previously viewed the online gallery.

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-Money flows freely before a wedding. Capitalize on that by offering your brides a full range of products/services. Your busy brides don’t have to piece out wedding projects all over town or the internet.

-Make a small display at your studio and it will sell itself.

-The stickers and Guest book all came from acilab.com (American Color Imaging).

-Lab ‘novelty’ products make for fun favors or welcome bag stuffers.

-The stickers, playing cards and press printed products all came from acilab.com (American Color Imaging).

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-Think about all the things you can actually print; seating charts, table cards, guest books, menus, programs, save-the-dates, thank you cards, invitations, etc.

-These additional sales before a wedding increased our wedding sales average by $750. If a bridal couple and their families take advantage of all the ‘Signing Bonuses’ it is not uncommon for us to see sales over $2000 before the wedding even takes place.

-Find great companies that cost less…

-We adore American Color Lab (acilab.com), Zookbinders Album Company (zookbinders.com) and Proofcast.com for their quality products and service and great prices.

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-Don’t put your sales on ‘autopilot.’ You must stay in control of your ship. Don’t play the ‘wait & hope’ game of sales.

“This is How we Do It Here!”

-Every business is constrained by its ability to deliver goods/services with limited resources. The way to optimize that delivery is by getting very good at a set of proven processes and then STICK to them as though your life depended upon it.

-Consistency builds ‘Touch Points’ and thus referrals.

-Be PROACTIVE in your selling, not REACTIVE! Don’t put images online at the clients demand and then wait and hope that they will eventually place an order. People like to ‘visit’ their images online, not purchase them.

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-State very clearly up front the level of participation the client must commit to and how the flow of appointments will work. If a client waffles here, things will go downhill fast.

-An educated customer is always a ‘better customer.’

-People get very excited and eager to jump into projects, but later have a hard time finishing them.

-Your sales process should get the customer to pause long enough to realize the SPECIAL differences that you offer. This might not appeal to every potential customer, but you aren’t looking for just anyone to walk in your door. You are waiting on the IDEAL customer who appreciates the extra care and attention that you bring to every project.

-Status updates are essential throughout the fulfillment phase of your business. It’s another great way to exceed their expectations again. Consider telling them when it’s going into production, almost done, send a photo of it before you ship it, and check with them that it arrived okay after shipping. Consider making a ‘Contact Schedule or Calendar.’

-This is the homework is what portrait clients take home in preparation for their ordering appointment.

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-Who better to ice the cake than the baker? Pre-designing albums, wall collages, etc., is part of our ‘full service’ studio. We tell brides, ‘As artists telling a story, this is how we envisioned your story.’

-Brides see an ‘electronic proof’ of their album design so that they can make one round of changes before we print the book. Most changes take place at the reception.

-You have to balance the two.

-While your competitors are glued to their computers doing Photoshop and Facebook, you’ll be carving out a huge marketing niche taking a wedding coordinator to lunch, or by hosting a vendor appreciation night.

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-Companies that are more social are easier to refer and your Blog is the front door to your business. However, people also do business with people they like. While your blog and FB can convey more personality that a static web site, they will never even come close to replacing you as a person.

-Make sure you choose SP’s are in keeping with your marketing goals. If you want to be a high-end studio, it doesn’t benefit you to associate with discounted service providers.

-You need to be a referral source as well. Two benefits happen: 1) You give back to the SP’s that refer you. 2) Clients see you as an expert in your field because you have so many connections. You become the ‘go to guy.

-On the wedding day, don’t forget to shoot for the other vendors that are represented there….the caterer, florist, dress shop, limo company, band, rental company, etc.

-Keep folders on your hard drive for each vendor. As you edit, copy images into those folders so you have easy access to them. If you wait to do it at the end of the year and have to go through thousands of images, it makes for a HUGE project.

-A florist doesn’t want pictures of the limo or the horse drawn carriage. The florist ONLY cares about flowers. Give them images that help them sell themselves!

-Don’t cheap out with your displays. Use gallery wraps, metallic prints, quality albums or elegantly framed pieces.

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-We don’t ever have booths at a bridal show. However, we do get the vendor list from the bridal show company and then contact all the vendors that we worked with during the year. We ask those vendors if they need anything to help decorate their booth and/or marketing materials.

-We will produce anything they want from banners, albums, big prints, etc. We put our studio name and web site on the piece as photo credit and also give the vendor a stack of our promotional literature.

-The last bridal show, we had displays in 30 booths out of the 70 available.

-Works for bridal magazines too.

-Since you have images of vendors, why not give them images for their ads, web sites, and marketing pieces. Since you know Photoshop, why not help them design those pieces too?

-Photograph a wedding coordinator inside ‘their’ creation. It makes for a great PR shot for them.

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-Gifts for vendors are included in our marketing budget because we gift so often…holiday gifts, birthday, congratulations, thank you for the referral…whenever we can send a gift we do!

-Don’t always send a photography related gift….or of you do send it with a ‘non-photography’ gift like chocolates.

-Get to know the vendor, which one has a sweet tooth, which one loves wine or martinis. Send them personalized gifts more max impact.

-Aside from networking with Strategic Partners you already know, work on adding new ones to your referral network.

-How do you break the ice with a new contact?

-Instead of cold calling, send them a gift.

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-In the past we have sent letters, emails, etc. and never got anywhere. However, when you ship a box you get a tracking number so you know when they get it. You are also guaranteed that it will get open. Follow the package and do a follow up call two days after it was signed for.

-The Love is Sweet Campaign includes 3 boxes, which is a self-contained display. The top box ‘Love is Sweet’ has chocolates with our logo (or Fortune Cookies with custom messages if we are shipping during summer). The middle box ‘Love is to Share’ has 5x5 tri-fold promotional cards. The bottom box ‘Love is Beautiful’ has a display album.

-The easiest way to market is to work on influencing a group of people and not just one individual at a time.

-‘The Tipping Point,’ by Malcolm Gladwell is an entire book written about how to influences groups of people.

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-Ask yourself, “Who are my ideal clients and where do they gather?”

-Offer Win-Win Solutions

-Don’t have a network…start one!

-Those who ‘give’ usually ‘get.’ Build a give to get network.

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-Submit invoices with your work with ‘No charge’ written on them. Charities value what you are giving them and it reduces the ‘taking advantage of you’ scenario. It also gives you a tax deduction.

-Go above and beyond by offering to do more. Photograph their Board of Directors, Volunteers of the Year, etc. This builds in loyalty to your studio as well as gives you the opportunity to sell portraits.

-Why just do one silent auction item?

-Give something to everyone to maximize your presence! Do table favors or gift bags. We offer a plastic gift card for a free session and 10” gift print.

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-Some of your clients own their own businesses. Help them market to their clients!

-We offer our clients a ‘Corporate Gift Program.’

In the same vein of thought as the Corporate Gift Program mentioned in the next slide, this is a corporate gift that we give to our top wedding coordinator. These are 4x5 quad-fold cards from acilab.com, which contains information and images about our wedding services. We then adhere with a peal-n-stick glue dot a plastic gift card for a Free engagement session. The wedding coordinator is able to hand these out to perspective clients or as a thank you gift. It makes her look good to present a couple with a gift, and of course we benefit by getting a bridal couple that we can hopefully convert into a full wedding coverage.

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-Drive-by marketing is marketing by the seat of our pants. Usually done whenever you have a little extra time, a sales rep stops by with a promotion, or as a knee-jerk reaction to something a competitor has done.

-Haphazard marketing will only give you haphazard results!

-Building a brand is consistent, deliberate and built on repetition and authenticity.

Soul Searching: Who am I? Where am I now and where do I want to be? How will I get there and when? Who are my competitors and how am I similar/different? Who are my current customers and who are my ideal customers?

-What do I want to accomplish as a result of this year’s marketing?

-Create a weekly and monthly timeline complete with budgets, to accomplish your marketing goals. This makes you proactive and not reactive…which is usually too late!

-Keep track of results so that you can revise every year, making each new marketing plan stronger and more fruitful than the year before.

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We hope to hear your success stories as you add some of these proven marketing practices into your business. Good Luck!

Want to stay in touch? You can find Mark and Jennifer on Facebook. Just look for Mark Garber, Jennifer Gilman and/or Mark Garber Photography.

Follow the blog at www.acilab.com for weekly posts about marketing, sales, and new products.

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