Growing one’s photography business isn’t always the easiest thing to do but it can be done. All it takes is some work and commitment. We recently shared on our facebook page “10 Simple Ways To Help Grow Your Photography Business” by FadedandBlurred.com. We would like to add a few tips of our own – How To Sell Wedding Albums. These will focus on how to incorporate custom handcrafted albums into your wedding photography packages.
We understand that custom wedding albums aren’t for every client. But for those clients that do want an elegant and beautiful piece of art to remember their special day by, albums are a great product to add value to your photography packages and increase your revenue.
Tip #1: Create wedding packages with different album options
It’s important to have several different options to offer your clients. Depending on your clientele, these packages may range from economical to high-end packages. Your least expensive package may not even include an album but all of your other packages should. Some clients may want a 30-page spread album (60 pages) to tell their love story while others only have the budget for a 15-page spread album (30 pages). There are also a variety of album sizes and material (fabric/linen, leather, etc.) options available on the market as well. So it’s important to carefully think about what packages are best for you to offer and what your clients would like to have.
Tip #2: Show your clients album samples
Get them interested up front during your first meeting with the potential client. The majority of clients like to see samples of what they’re buying. And honestly, you can’t sell a product if you don’t show it. Even for photography in general, clients like to look at a photographer’s portfolio to get a feel of their work and their style before booking them. In the same way, a great technique to sell your wedding packages is to have a couple of custom album samples on hand so that your clients can get an idea of what album options are available and what they look like according to size, material, texture, color, style and workmanship. You’ll be selling your photography skills and album selection at the same time. Some clients may have thought about only ordering a 15-page spread album, but upon reviewing the sample, they may find that a larger spread is needed for all of the photos they want to include. Or after seeing the samples, the client might realize that they like a certain material cover more than the others. Ordering a few samples may require a little bit of investment on your part, but the potential of a high return is always worth the up front cost.
Tip #3: Give options for customization
Giving your clients the opportunity to customize their album is a great way to assure them that you value them as a customer and this is their special piece of artwork. You can do this by giving them an album checklist. You, being their artist and photographer, can walk them through the checklist and make recommendations, but the checklist ensures that the client gets what they want and you don’t have to read minds. Some of the things you can include on the checklist are color of the album cover, type of album cover (leather/fabric), personalization (embossing, debossing, cover cut-outs), etc. You can even take your clients through their wedding day while you give suggestions on spreads. It might include adding more or taking out spreads. This eliminates the dilemma of a client not understanding why a 15-page spread is not sufficient for their wedding. This is where you can discuss options on how they can upgrade their album to include a few more pages.
We hope these tips on how to sell wedding albums are helpful to you. Look out for our next blog where we’ll discuss how you can price the albums for profit.