big step. brown trousers.

inaneredstripe

inaneredstripe

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well. were going to look at a potential studio on monday.(weve been looking at sites for months). a unit in a modernised mill about two miles from our house.
never been so scared.
sure, the wedding side will have to susidise it for a while, but i,m sure we can make it pay.
if it comes off, it will be a big step.
weve got loads of ideas on promotions , but anymore would be welcome.
weve contacted the local paper about editorials,(one of the bosses is a mate) and put some ideas down for promoting it thru our website.
checked out local advertising and leaflet drops thru the free press.
were thinking up various promotional offers too.get a portrait session for your family for only x amount an get a framed photo free etc.
already got several local bands interested in promo shots(thanks to my son.)
may not come off yet with this site, but we,ll keep looking. any advice or suggestions greatfully accepted.
mark
 
Well good luck and I hope it works out for you. The location sounds good. Always lots of potential customers about at these places!
 
I don't know how well it would work now, but many years ago ( more than I can mention) the old baby competition worked well for drumming up business. It great if the local newspaper gets involved.

Simply, the newspaper "sponsors" the competition. Entry is via photographs taken at your studio. You take 3 pics of baby. Mum has to come back to choose which one gets entered. ( This is where you sell the pictures). Pictures entered into competition. Newspaper publishes pictures. readers judge, by using special entry form in newspaper. This sells more newspapers. Winner gets framed portrait of winning picture..... Done.

Tips. Only shoot on selected days, you quietest. Shoot by appointment only stops long queues. Provide newspaper with page ready pics of the babies ( they'll tell you size and requirements). Don't flog this to death, repeat once a year max
 
hope so kev . its just off the highstreet too. only real downside is iys a first floor unit. but parking is good ,and its about a minute from the nearest railway station too.
theres already a good few biz,s in there already doing well.
apparently these units dont come up often, so it maybe right place at right time.
good rent and because its in a regeneration area, its 50% rates too.
i thankyou mr council.
and a freind of ours , who is a REAL sharp biz woman is coming with us to give advice. poor sods wont know whats hit em.
as i said, it may not happen , but it sounds the best one weve looked at yet.
mark
intersting idea chappers
 
Hope it all goes your way, and it is a success.
weve been toying with the same sort of idea for a while. We idealy would like a unit with a small shop front, to sell memorycards and have a print machine (like in jessops) also frames and other small photography related items. Another idea was maybe have a small table top studio set up fulltime for doing product photography for clients, a bit boring but could prove to be bread and butter income during quieter spells.
Hope it goes good.
Dean:)
 
dino ,weve looked at a few units with shopfronts as we sell invites, tiars ,albums n stuff thru the site.
the only prob has been astronomical rents on anything involving the word "shop" localy.
.and theyre mostly pretty scruffy too.
we dont realy want to travel 20 miles to get to the place either ,as were trying to stay reasonably local.
the ,majority of editing work will still be done at home initialy , and it wont be manned full time to start with.
shopfronts would demand full time on site.
keep looking, they are out there.

mark
 
I only do advertising & commercial photography, it's years since I did social photography so I may be out of date...

My experience is that you pays your money and takes your choice - these mill buildings are cheap for a reason - there's no passing trade and you have to put in constant effort and money to get people through the door. Also, check that your insurers will be happy with a building that you can't lock the front door of, there's added security risk in a building that anyone can get into, especially if the walls are made from plasterboard and you're not able to make your unit secure. Also, depending on the building, there might be problems with noise and even smells from work carried out by neighbours including people on the floor above.

High St studios are of course much more expensive. I don't think it's necessarily true that they need full time attendance, the shop window acts as 'free' advertising all the time, especially if it's well lit.
 
ta garry. this ones pretty good for security. each unit has its own entrance/camera and security shutters. . its only a fairly small mill. i think 8 units in total.car park next to it. 24 hr access and alarms on all units.
its 400yds from the police station too.
smells n stuff arent realy a prob as we know what all the other biz,s are.
we use the services of one of them regularly.
a shopfront would have been nice, but the difference in rents realy is astounding in our area.50 to 70 % higher and rates are even sillier.
its actualy just off the high street in a small town and i dont think lack of passing trade would affect us too much, as we wont be maning full time initialy. its a pretty busy street too.weve been doing a reasonable amount of home portrait work (which we havent realy been pushing ) and commercial work as well as the core wedding work, so the others will feed the studio too.
weve done some product work and have enquiries from a fair few of our clients about studio work too.
the area WAS a little run down some time ago, but its on the up now with huge amounts of development going on in the last few years.coalfield development and regeneration. old houses being leveled and new built. all the a holes being chucked out.
its right round the corner from my fav bike shop too.

as soon as weve decided wether were interested or not ,were gonna contact our insurers before we go any further.
 
Good luck with whatever decision you make. Keep us updated of any developments.
 
You proably meant something similar when you said editorial, but our local press regularly do spreads that are really advertising sets for local businesses in new premises or with a new line. They get other businesses to take out congrats adverts and do a piece with a few photos of the place saying what you're all about.
 
thats it steep.
and my freind the hairdresser has one (advert) owing too. maybe get involved with that.
some of the local free papers have very good prices on ads too. pretty good coverage for local papers too.
mentioned the possibility to a couple of our former brides , were still very freindly with.now were having people ring to ask when the studio opens.they want portrait sessions ,and we havent signed anything yet.
mark.
 
oh god.
landlord rung. place is def ours. signing wednesday.:eek:
been out buying furniture for it today. two sofas and a coffee table. and a rosewood display unit (bookcase) for the display albums.
pricing and packages finalised.
appointment to see advertising bod of local paper next friday.
paint colours looked at.
provisional bookings taken already.:D deposits paid.
i,m knackered.
 
Well done Mate, and Best of luck.
Dean:)
 
ta dino.
been down to sort stuff today. old tenants lease runs out end of may.but shes almost moved out already.
paperwork is being proccessed .
its ours on june 1st.some painting and boarding to do, and preparation work, but we could be up and running in early june.
its actualy 11 units, used by 5 tenants. the part of the building were in was built in the 1950,s to the rear of the original 1860,s mill. the site manager is a real nice guy , who answered all our questions, and like bikes too. bonus.
tina is so excited,and we have loads of plans in mind for the layout.one main studio with possibly four background layouts.one large office for her and the printers etc.
one smaller office that we may set up as a still life studio.
and a nice kitchen.
two settee,s and a coffee table near the entrance as a reception area with a big flatscreen tv on the wall, to show wedding and portrait clients their images.huge rosewood shelved, oak bookcase to house our display albums .
and two lovely big walls to put framed photos on.
were thinking of hiring out the studio to ameteur togs to eventualy.looking into potential models too.

sorry if i,m going on a bit and boring folks. its just so exciting.
mark
 
Your not "going on" and your excitement is perfectly natural, best of luck.....:thumbs:
 
inaneredstripe said:
ta dino.
been down to sort stuff today. old tenants lease runs out end of may.but shes almost moved out already.
paperwork is being proccessed .
its ours on june 1st.some painting and boarding to do, and preparation work, but we could be up and running in early june.
its actualy 11 units, used by 5 tenants. the part of the building were in was built in the 1950,s to the rear of the original 1860,s mill. the site manager is a real nice guy , who answered all our questions, and like bikes too. bonus.
tina is so excited,and we have loads of plans in mind for the layout.one main studio with possibly four background layouts.one large office for her and the printers etc.
one smaller office that we may set up as a still life studio.
and a nice kitchen.
two settee,s and a coffee table near the entrance as a reception area with a big flatscreen tv on the wall, to show wedding and portrait clients their images.huge rosewood shelved, oak bookcase to house our display albums .
and two lovely big walls to put framed photos on.
were thinking of hiring out the studio to ameteur togs to eventualy.looking into potential models too.

sorry if i,m going on a bit and boring folks. its just so exciting.
mark
Click to expand...

Slow down, slow down. I take it your excited? Heres me happy as larry because i just got my first flash! :shrug:

Congratulations and I hope all goes really well for you. Just wish you were a bit closer :thumbsdown:
 
Well done, sounds like you have a good place there.
 
Woohoo!! id SOOO love to be doing this!!

The very best of luck to you... :woot:

Im excited for ya... :lol:
 
ta fraggle . its definitely butt puckering, but WE WILL make a go of it.
picks will be posted of the studio, when we can get into it.
some minor decorating to do, and decide how were going to arrange the office, backdrops etc, but it,ll be entertaining.
shame we have to wait till june 1st to get in, as the present tenant has actualy moved out.but thats when her lease runs out.
 
Flyers being handed out are a brilliant direct method of advertising as you have more control over the target audience. Press advertising is more indirect as you've no control over who buys the papers. If advertising in magazines and directories obviously stick to the ones where the target audience is relevant.

I setup my partner's business and it's the flyers that bring in all the business. Not so much comes from online despite having top google rankings but the website is more of an information area to be honest but there's still a fair amount of business through the directory listings.

Without question, which I'm sure you are fully aware of, is word of mouth. Nothing beats good customer service which ultimately allows you to command higher prices - compare John Lewis to Currys or something. If something goes wrong with a shoot I wouldn't hesitate to compensate the client in some form to make sure they walk away speaking highly of your business.

Just my thoughts! hehe


EDIT: is there some sort of advertising with Currys here? Link happens when typing their name.
 
[/QUOTE]EDIT: is there some sort of advertising with Currys here? Link happens when typing their name.[/QUOTE]

i think the site is trying out something new thats why certain things get linked eg jessops.
 
except jessops didnt link hmm? Jessops?
 
thanks guys.
weve looked nad are still looking.into leaflet drops.
a local freeby biz paper can distribute an A5 leaflet for us, targeting the local areas we want. 3000 leaflets delivered for £90. we pay for printing.
not bad.
some of the advertising were looking at besides, is another local free paper with around 10.000 copies a week going out .quarter page add and maybe a leaflet drop too.
were looking into the local purchased paper too. advertising is obviously more expensive, but they have a higher profile and better coverage.
not to mention updating our website, and new studio pages.portrait session prices. special offers and gift vouchers etc.
were emailing/ringing/writing to ALL our previous customers as soon as we have a definite opening date. were inviting them to come to an "open evening " /grand unvieling/open weekend . playing dvd slideshows on the 42 inch flatscreen she,s just bought for it.
free wine n nosh etc.good chance to have a look at our work,albums,frames ,items for sale etc.
any other suggestions greatfully accepted.
thankyou for all your comments/suggestions.
mark.
 
Sound's good, free food/wine will always get people interested!

Maybe you could setup a bit of gear and do a single free portrait or similar for any guests who wanted one, obviously not printed but a digital image for them to take away?

Laptop with a CD burner should be sufficient, and CD's are dirt cheap nowadays.
 
Good luck!

How about running a free competition? First prize a full photo shoot (with smaller second and third prizes) and runners-up prizes of £x off a full shoot? Talk to your local paper and see if you can run it with them.
 
Have you considered joining an organisation called B.N.I.
see www.bni-europe.com

It's a business referral organisation and gives you a sales team of other business people looking out for work for you.

I'm in my local chapter as I.T. but we have a professional photographer who gets a lot of business that way.

Also there are often complimentary businesses that help such as catering companies that can widen appeal (obviously that helps with weddings).

You have to pay but it can be very beneficial..

If you want more info see the website or send me a PM.
 
Interesting idea..................but how much does it cost?

We never pay for advertising (apart from Google Adwords which really works) but get a lot of coverage in the Media.

Get your local rag to write about you and your grand opening.
 
Hi....

As some of you mayn know.. I have recently gone into owning my own studio and I have to say its fab.

Its a lot of hard work..but worth it.

Inaneredstripe, give me a shout via PM if I can be of any help.
 
Great to hear things are coming along... Keep us updated.
 
sounds like something yours happy with and have been looking for for a while

good luck, hope all goes well
 
Wish you all the best mate and hope i all pays off.
Very jealous of you at present.
 
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