Album Pricing Strategy Example
Lesson 29 from: Creating Your Ideal Photography BusinessKathy Holcombe
Album Pricing Strategy Example
Lesson 29 from: Creating Your Ideal Photography BusinessKathy Holcombe
Lessons
Class Introduction
07:01 2How To Price Your Products
05:01 3Which Products Will You Offer
13:14 4Methods For Pricing
10:38 5Mark Up Factors On Products
05:46 6What Is Your Per Hour Figure
04:45 7What Is The Feasibility Of A Product
11:28 8Target Sales Average
08:04Session Fees Pricing Strategy
09:48 10Minimum Purchase And Incentives Pricing Strategy
05:53 11Bundling Pricing Strategy
25:47 12Pre-Design Pricing Strategy
10:33 13Album Pricing Strategies
10:33 14Example Pricing List
17:33 15Business Basics Overview
07:07 16Tracking Product Lines In Your Business
14:01 17Track Your Session Counts
07:19 18Know Your Sales Average
06:41 19Importance Of Data Analysis
10:14 20Overview Of Costs
13:46 21Professional Photographers Of America Benchmark Survey
18:57 22Creating A Vision For Your Business
08:25 23What Do You Want To Accomplish
13:31 24Take A Leap Of Faith
20:19 25Refine Your Vision
12:44 26Products That Sell
07:48 27Identify Pricing Strategies
03:03 28Portrait Pricing Strategy Example
15:57 29Album Pricing Strategy Example
09:21 30Online Pricing Strategy Example
08:21 31Fine Art Prints Pricing Strategy Example
05:54 32Packages Pricing Strategy Example
12:39 33Sales Strategies Overview
05:45 34Portrait Sales Session Overview
05:34 35Sales Strategy for Portrait Sales
22:56 36How to Present Images to Client
23:03 37Sales Strategy for Wedding Sales
09:49 38Album Pre-Design
18:51 39Marketing: Define Yourself
12:55 40Who is Your Ideal Client?
05:12 41Who is Your Ideal Partner?
03:27 42How to Start a Partner Business Relationship
08:29 43Marketing Strategies that Work
17:10 44Product Lines: Business Plan Part One
09:07 45Workload: Business Plan Part Two
08:23 46Sessions: Business Plan Part Three
16:06 47Expenses: Business Plan Part Four
11:14 48Clients: Business Plan Part Five
05:29Lesson Info
Album Pricing Strategy Example
Let me kind of walk you through this particular price list here. I suspect that this is just a piece of a price list that somebody wanted to share because it's titled additional albums and so I'm guessing that there's probably something before or after this and these are some add-on products. And basically there are a few products that are on here, it starts with albums. So what I think this photographer is trying to sell is albums first and foremost, so it's probably somebody that tells more of a story with their images, it may be as an experience of a child for the day and going out and playing and telling that story. Or something to that nature. And so the session album is the higher end album of the two. And it's an 8x8 album with 20 pages with one image per page so it's a very simple, clean design. It's mounted on photographic paper. It has a linen cover with a cameo. And it's hand crafted in North America. Yay made in the U.S.A. Our clients always love that. The second option is ...
a first edition book. It's an 8x10 with 20 pages. This particular book has a custom layout. So that's interesting to me that the more expensive album has a one image per page design and then the less expensive album has a custom design. To me that's a little bit confusing. I would expect the custom design to be with the more expensive album. So it has a custom layout. It has a hard cover photo wrap cover. So the image goes all the way around on the cover. It's press printed in North America. So, same made in the U.S.A. or made in North America. And it is press printed. Now here's a question that I always wondered. And that is, honestly, why people offer press printed books? Do you guys have an answer in your head? When I think of a press printed book, I think of something that is lesser quality than a photographic book. And so, you offer them as a less expensive option for your clients because they're less expensive to create. And maybe that's really important for your clients. Just make sure you know why you're doing it. Okay, we only offer photographic quality books because it's the best quality. Think about what that says about your brand. And makes sure that aligns with the prices that you're charging. (inaudible) Yeah, I was just wondering if you could maybe even explain what the difference between an album and a first edition press printed book might be and I'm curious if you think that customer would know what the difference was too. Absolutely. I actually have something that I can show you. So this is one of our albums that we create. It's made by PictoBooks. And when you open up the pages, um, they are photographs that are mounted on matte board. So this has the same quality photographs that we use for our wall portraits. A press printed book is something that is digitally printed and it's usually, I don't know the exact term for it, but there's dots on it, there's little dots on it. Laser printed maybe? I'm not sure. And the quality is not as clear as a true photograph. And they are usually on just normal paper, they usually have some kind of finish on them. But it's not the same quality as an actual photograph. And so, I just challenge you to think about what kind of quality you're presenting to your clients and if that aligns with your brand. So, whenever I make something fun for our family, I can go online and order a press printed book, not from our professional lab, for about $20. They're available out there all over the place. It's a product that anybody can make from their vacation pictures. So does that make it through the filter that we put at the beginning of the class? Is it something they can't get anywhere else? It's something that people are familiar with, that they can go have made on their own, and that people really like making press printed books. It's a great memory from a trip. Maybe not something worth paying a hundreds of dollars for a professional. Something to think about, food for thought. The difference between the two books, and here's why I think photographers offer that. This book has 20 pages and it's $225, it's very affordable. This book is $465. It's much more expensive. Okay, so that's probably why photographers offer this. So I don't know, perhaps this is the best selling thing on this price list. I think it's a great value and you get a lot of images on it. I'm just not sure that's exactly aligned with the high end brand. So, think about it and think about what your intentions are as a business owner. It might be a great fit. Okay, moving on to wall art. That's the next section of this price list. So I would suspect they wanna sell books first and then they wanna sell wall art. Now, wall art start out with 8x10. So in my mind, an 8x10 is a gift portrait, something you give away, not something to hang on the wall, unless you put it together in a group with a bunch of 8x10's. That's a piece for the wall. So, think about how that fits. I always like to flip these as well. I like to have the big print at the top, as the first thing that somebody sees. And then descend in size. Because, really what happens is the first thing they look at is the first price they expect to invest. So if I see an 8x10 for $25, and then I come down to a 30x40 for $103, that's really expensive. So you kind of want to have that punch of whoa that's expensive. And then you wanna say, okay, well I can't afford that but I can come down a couple sizes and I will invest that. So it's a very different feeling whenever you decrease in price versus building up in price. Okay? Um, so they go up in price relative to size. The price jumps are easy. I can't imagine that the markup factor on these is marked up by four plus time. So, this was obviously submitted before we talked about how to calculate prices for profitability. So I'm sure this photographer is gonna go back and definitely use that mark up factor of four to adjust these prices. And then just by flipping it, I think you would see people buying higher end up here. And if you take the 8x10 off, and yesterday I mentioned the 11x14, the awkward size that hangs on the wall. I just wrote it off on my price list. I recommend everybody do that. Unless you're selling them in groups. And 11x14's in groups are wonderful things to sell. It's not so great to sell one 11x14, but four 11x14's, that's awesome. (laughter) so, consider that as well. So, I would definitely say adjust the prices here, and flip the numbers so that they start big and go small. And then I think you're gonna have a really great pricing structure here. And then, the last thing is this digital collection. And it says all session images archived on a wooden USB flash drive in a custom case. $500 I think, might say $300. I think it's $500. Um, and so, if I were looking at all of this as a buyer, I would probably get wall art. Because that's the best, this is a really good value. I can't even produce wall art for this value. So that's where my mind would go first as a buyer. And then the next thing I would look at is the digital collection because I can take all of those images and make my own press printed book for $20. So I would suspect that probably people aren't purchasing this session album. Okay? So you're seeing how these strategies are used. And again, there's probably a session fee associated with this particular pricing list, I would guess. I really like the clean design of it. It's well laid out, it says high end. I think all of that is really going strong for it. And just a few tweaks again, would really make this a successful price list.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Lindsay
I started my business a year ago with little formal technical photography education. It's hard to admit but I've been winging it, figuring out each small task that goes with photographing a session, editing one, and working with clients as I go. I may be doing things backwards, but now that I feel like I'm more comfortable in those small, specific parts of business, I need to figure out how to make this business sustainable and profitable. Kathy's class felt perfect for this time in my business to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of what I want to focus on and where I want to go (and how much I want to pay myself!). She uses realistic, specific numbers: something that's SO helpful and I feel like I rarely see in the photography community. And she breaks everything down in an organized and easy to understand way. The classes were easy to follow along with and Kathy's positivity and patient manner is inspiring and motivating. The fact that she used to be a school teacher is clear. Thank you so much Kathy (and the rest of the Holcombes)!
Jenny Farrell
I am so glad I was able to attend this course in person and receive all the wonderful and practical information Kathy shared with us. I also really enjoyed the connections with other audience members and side conversations with Creative Live peeps as well as the Holcombe family. What an inspiration this family is--lots of practical info, but also a great pep talk to not sell yourself short and get out there and do what you love, but use sound business practice while doing it. Thanks so much for these incredible two days.
Vanessa
Fantastic course! Very helpful instruction and how-to guide for anyone considering starting up a photography business. Kathy was an excellent instructor, with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I gained a good understanding of the practical everyday aspects of running this kind of business, and how to create my own vision.