offering freebies

Elaine · January 3, 2008

I've been thinking of offering "freebies" when certain $ amounts of prints are ordered within a certain time frame. Such as, order $60 worth of prints within 30 days and receive a free 5x7 (or something). I'm not interested in doing my own packages at this point, but I'd like to encourage people to ORDER prints. Does this sound like a reasonably good idea? My plan would then be to order their chosen freebies myself, along with some personalized wallet/business cards (see this: http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=692688&postcount=932) bundle it all up with a logo-ed thank-you card in a cute little package to mail or deliver. That way, I'm still able to give them a last impression of something customized and personal, they feel like they're getting something special and "free" and I get some print orders in a more timely fashion. Am I missing anything here?

~Jan~ · January 3, 2008

I think 30 days is way too long and $60 is way too low. I don't do freebies but I give 10% off if they order in 5 days. It makes my workflow so much easier if I can get them ordered and off my hard drive, if that makes sense. I think the little smugmug magnets would be a cute little freebie for your lowest minimum order.

Icebear · January 3, 2008

Elaine,
You're creating a monster. Too much work for you to keep track of. Your prices have been so absurdly low anyway, why not just pay them to waste your time.
Seriously, your work is too good for you to give it away. AND, how much is your time worth? What would it really cost you to have to stop whatever else you're doing to order another print yourself - and pay the shipping, etc.
Fuggedaboudit.

ShepsMom · January 3, 2008

Elaine, i like the business card idea. For a freebee, it's not a bad idea, but make it $100.00 not $60.00. I decided to do packages from now on. It's pretty time consuming to do 300 shots, sit and go through all of them, edit what didn't look right, post them in the gallery, and only see that they bought 3 or 4? No, thank you.
What keeps you away from package deals?? I think it's the way to go. Unless you want to charge whole lot more for your services w/out including print pricing.

Elaine · January 3, 2008

~Jan~ wrote:

I think 30 days is way too long and $60 is way too low. I don't do freebies but I give 10% off if they order in 5 days. It makes my workflow so much easier if I can get them ordered and off my hard drive, if that makes sense. I think the little smugmug magnets would be a cute little freebie for your lowest minimum order.

Wellll...I'm rather comfortable with 30 days.

I'm really just starting out here, and considering the fact that most of my shoots have mostly been after one shot (say for a Christmas card), I haven't really had the experience of customers wanting to buy much anyway. And now that's it winter and I'm not doing indoor/studio stuff, I don't expect much for a few months either. $60 was just thrown out there as a number, but that is my largest order to date. I'm not quite sure how to apply a discount when I'm sticking with Smug and letting the customer order. I like the idea of the smugmug magnet! Thanks for weighing in on this for me! There is so much to consider and think about and I never really thought I'd be in this position, so I'm grateful for this place and its contributors!

Elaine · January 3, 2008

Icebear wrote:

Elaine,
You're creating a monster. Too much work for you to keep track of. Your prices have been so absurdly low anyway, why not just pay them to waste your time.
Seriously, your work is too good for you to give it away. AND, how much is your time worth? What would it really cost you to have to stop whatever else you're doing to order another print yourself - and pay the shipping, etc.
Fuggedaboudit.

Hmmm...
I have raised my prices a little this week. :hide

I guess I figured if I wanted to do the personalized business card thing that I would be making an order anyway, so I could add on another pic. I'll keep thinking about it...

Thanks for your feedback!

Elaine · January 3, 2008

ShepsMom wrote:

Elaine, i like the business card idea. For a freebee, it's not a bad idea, but make it $100.00 not $60.00. I decided to do packages from now on. It's pretty time consuming to do 300 shots, sit and go through all of them, edit what didn't look right, post them in the gallery, and only see that they bought 3 or 4? No, thank you.
What keeps you away from package deals?? I think it's the way to go. Unless you want to charge whole lot more for your services w/out including print pricing.

Like I said above, $60 was just an example but it is my largest order to date. I certainly agree about the time involved...I've been leaning towards charging more for the service so that I'm guaranteed some payment, rather than making a big deal of the prints. I'm staying away from package deals right now just because I want the simplicity of letting customers choose what they want from Smug. Ordering myself and repackaging sounds great, but not for me, not right now. How are you doing packages?

evoryware · January 4, 2008

call em gifts or bonuses, not freebies. Get that word out of your vocab.

Elaine wrote:

(see this: http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=692688&postcount=932) Am I missing anything here?

Don't mean to bash you on this issue, more as constructive crit, but as others have suggested before, you are selling yourself short.
While you are at it, look at how much she charges for prints. She charges more for wallets than you charge for a 16 x 20.
I hope you really see how nice your photographs are and take advantage of that business license (nice photo of it btw.)

http://e-heasley.smugmug.com/popular/#P-1-12
I don't know much about where you live, but I'd imagine your market would tolerate a higher fee for a great memory.

ShepsMom · January 4, 2008

Elaine wrote:

How are you doing packages?

Right now i'm working on something simple like this:

4 4x6
2 5x7
1 8x10
4 wallets

This is just a generic package, which is going to be part of the deal. I also mention that individual prints can be purchased at given price. Set prices for standard sizes and mention other sizes, gift options, mounted canvases, etc. Clients still have an option of going through their proofs and picking what the want to order within the package. If they want to order extra prints, great. That's not a package deal anymore. The gallery pricing wont be availabe for purchase, all orders for package will have to be emailed. You can always enable prints selling after they chose to buy extra.
So, something in these lines, with some tweaking.

Julia · January 4, 2008

Elaine wrote:

I have raised my prices a little this week. :hide

Reading along with interest... and I agree that you're selling yourself short. (But I'm a hypocrite, as you know.

)

I offered a "bonus" (I like the idea of removing "freebie" from the vocab!) 8x10 with my holiday packages. It seemed to be a big hit with my customers - and they still bought enough prints and cards to make it worth my while.

Love the idea of a little magnet... but I love packaging goodies.

Julia

Sam · January 4, 2008

Julia wrote:

Reading along with interest... and I agree that you're selling yourself short. (But I'm a hypocrite, as you know. )

I offered a "bonus" (I like the idea of removing "freebie" from the vocab!) 8x10 with my holiday packages. It seemed to be a big hit with my customers - and they still bought enough prints and cards to make it worth my while.

Love the idea of a little magnet... but I love packaging goodies.

Julia

Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!

Finally, get rid of the word free! I hate the use of that word in advertising!

If I am ever elected king, I will outlaw the use of free.

I think the use of bonus, incentive, a thank you, special, etc. is appropriate, and honest.

Sam

Elaine · January 4, 2008

Sam wrote:

Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!

Finally, get rid of the word free! I hate the use of that word in advertising!

If I am ever elected king, I will outlaw the use of free.

I think the use of bonus, incentive, a thank you, special, etc. is appropriate, and honest.

Sam

Got it!

Elaine · January 4, 2008

ShepsMom wrote:

Right now i'm working on something simple like this:

4 4x6
2 5x7
1 8x10
4 wallets

This is just a generic package, which is going to be part of the deal. I also mention that individual prints can be purchased at given price. Set prices for standard sizes and mention other sizes, gift options, mounted canvases, etc. Clients still have an option of going through their proofs and picking what the want to order within the package. If they want to order extra prints, great. That's not a package deal anymore. The gallery pricing wont be availabe for purchase, all orders for package will have to be emailed. You can always enable prints selling after they chose to buy extra.
So, something in these lines, with some tweaking.

It's the e-mailing orders and collecting payment part and turning off and on pricing that I'm not relishing the idea of. I think I may hold out for Smug to put something together. I remember getting pictures taken a few years ago (before I was more of a photo nut) and not liking the package deals because I felt like I was paying for something I wouldn't use. Maybe that's why I'm not keen to do packages quite yet.

Of course, I could change my mind in a month or two! Thanks for sharing your method, Marina!

Elaine · January 4, 2008

evoryware wrote:

call em gifts or bonuses, not freebies. Get that word out of your vocab.

Got it!

evoryware wrote:

...
I hope you really see how nice your photographs are and take advantage of that business license (nice photo of it btw.)

http://e-heasley.smugmug.com/popular/#P-1-12
I don't know much about where you live, but I'd imagine your market would tolerate a higher fee for a great memory.

Thank you very much. To be honest, it is difficult for me to see how nice my photos are. The few jobs that I've had have turned out very few shots that I thought were any good (low keeper rate) or were very difficult because of the circumstances (kids not cooperating) or did not meet the client's expectations (see previous reason).

I am armed with better equipment now, so I'm not as concerned about shooting high ISO in order to keep the shutter up to capture wiggly kids. That is a huge help! I am shooting RAW now. Another huge help! I feel like I'm learning some new technique for post every week, just by hanging out here. That's great too! So, I'm continuing to learn and grow. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and see just how much!

I've honestly not done much research about my market. I just know I've been dirt cheap and considered myself inexperienced enough to not be worthy of competing in the local market. I've just been shooting for friends and they have not been buying much. It does seem a little strange to raise prices when your low ones aren't getting any bites from the people who know you and ooh and aah over you. (I KNOW this sentiment is shared by others!)

Thanks for the kick in the pants...err...support, I mean!

jdryan3 · January 5, 2008

Sam wrote:

Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!

Finally, get rid of the word free! I hate the use of that word in advertising!

If I am ever elected king, I will outlaw the use of free.

I think the use of bonus, incentive, a thank you, special, etc. is appropriate, and honest.

Sam

Significant Other: "Look at this! It was on sale for only $120. 40% off. I saved $80"
Self: "Actually you didn't 'save' anything - you spent $120. Was it worth $120?"
SO: "Sure I did. It was $200 and I only paid $120. So I saved $80. Plus I got another $10 off because I had a frequent shopper coupon."
Self: :bash [/sigh]

gman33 · January 19, 2008

Elaine...I looked at your gallery and you really need to increase your prices...or I will hack into your account and raise them for you!!!! :ivar

Very nice shots you have...don't sell yourself short

I just got serious last year with doing sports for the local leagues. They never had someone take their action shots, so I made out better than I thought. What I did for the customers that ordered several prints from me was surprised them with a digital magazine cover that I designed and emailed it to them. I thanked them for their order and to take 10 minutes out of my day to make them happy and have them possibly be a returning customer, was a way for me to be that "nice photographer".

Since I basically started out too, doing this seriously, I see a huge market in my area. I know I am not the best, but the parents love the shots. One league already asked me to be their official photographer and do a T&I for 400 kids!!!! Need an assistant now!!!

So keep moving forward and trust us when we tell you that you do great work!!!! Best of luck

Ed

offering freebies

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