Most profitable age group to shoot youth sports

jhefti

Hey everyone, I am hoping that those pro youth sports shooters here can answer a question. I have been recruited to shoot a soccer tournament as part of a fundraiser for my daughter's soccer club. Although I shoot a lot of pro and collegiate sports, I've never done youth sports for money (or any other reason other than to shoot my kids' events). I know that the best way to do this is to set up a booth and print live at the site, but this ain't gonna happen. I have some volunteers to help me pass out flyers and get the contact info for each team so that I can send them links to the shots. Not ideal, I know, but I am not set up to shoot and print on site.

Anyway, my question is whether there is a preferred age range for maximum profitability. This event will have teams from ages 8-18 years. And though it's certainly easier (or at least more familiar to me) to get more interesting shots of the older kids, my sole purpose is to raise the most money possible for the club. I can imagine that parents of a 8-year-old playing in his/her first tournament might be more willing to buy photos, but since I have no experience in this area it is just speculation.

Any thoughts/experiences/help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

John

zSCOTTz

12 and under will be most profitable, at least where I live.

JodiCrandellPhotography

I agree. Our business is primarily youth sports (i.e. Football, Baseball, Softball, Soccer, etc.) and we find that the younger the athlete... the larger the buying group (parents). Some high-school parents are very committed and spend more (per person) but you'll get the largest number of buyers with the younger kids.

Good Luck!

Mike J

The younger the better. They have fewer shots of their kids. You should also have the event organizer send out emails to all of the participating teams. Awareness is going to your biggest problem. Find every way possible to make parents aware.

- Mike J

jhefti

Thanks for the help; I really appreciate it! Looks like I'll be going after the younger age groups.

And apparently there will be an ad in the tournament brochure for this, in addition to people passing out flyers and getting contact info.

Thanks for the help!!

John

Dreadnote

Just a thought, as I am not a "professional" sports shooter by any means. Do you have any way to show sample prints at a booth, or have someone roam through the crowd with an iPad? When I've shown a few 8x10's, and a couple of 20x30's as samples (also brought the iPad with lots to display) that they could see up close, sales have always been better then referring them to something online.

jhefti

Dreadnote wrote: »

Just a thought, as I am not a "professional" sports shooter by any means. Do you have any way to show sample prints at a booth, or have someone roam through the crowd with an iPad? When I've shown a few 8x10's, and a couple of 20x30's as samples (also brought the iPad with lots to display) that they could see up close, sales have always been better then referring them to something online.

That's a great idea! Yes, I'm sure I can find some volunteers to do this. My daughter's team is not playing in this tournament; they are just there to raise money by selling concessions and merchandise. Thus, we have a whole crew of teens and adults who can help out.

JSPhotography

Boys under 12 girls under 16. Mostly the girls. Post pics at the concession stand. Get your shots on your website quick, don't take days or a week to process. Do that as they order. Do a cheap small, low res, facebook digital and sell a ton of them. I'm not sure if soccer is a digital or print crowd. Can you get flyer in sign up packets? to all the coaches? Show people your pics as you take them. Biggest thing is you gotta get the word out and then have them there when they come lookin. Take lots of crowd/people shots also. OK, back to my real job.

jhefti

JSPhotography wrote: »

Boys under 12 girls under 16. Mostly the girls. Post pics at the concession stand. Get your shots on your website quick, don't take days or a week to process. Do that as they order. Do a cheap small, low res, facebook digital and sell a ton of them. I'm not sure if soccer is a digital or print crowd. Can you get flyer in sign up packets? to all the coaches? Show people your pics as you take them. Biggest thing is you gotta get the word out and then have them there when they come lookin. Take lots of crowd/people shots also. OK, back to my real job.

Thx JS--very helpful!!

You got me thinking about another important question: pricing. Naively, I would guess (as you mentioned) that offering small low res FB-type shots would appeal to the kids. How much would you charge for these? The parents might want larger and better quality prints--again, how much? Of course, I will offer all sizes, as well as shirts and coffee mugs and magazine covers as well, but I am guessing that most of the business will be in small (for online) and medium-sized prints and digital images.

Thanks everybody again for the help! I haven't felt like such a noob in a while!