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Today I'll be sharing with you three ways you can use customized magazines to grow your photography business. So let's jump right in!
Custom magazines are an excellent and unique add-on product for clients. They provide that wow factor that can help you stand out from your competition and seal the deal. With the average magazine costing under $5 to print (when you use McKenna Pro Lab), you now have the opportunity to offer your clients something different and at a cost effective price. And if you use a customizable magazine template you'll save time as well!
You can create a custom magazine for just about any genre of photography.
Let's take weddings for example. Brides are always looking for ideas to make their special day more memorable. So why not offer them a custom magazine? Not only will it help you increase your bottom line, but you will stand out from other photographers who are offering the standard engagement sessions as their value offering. And since wedding photography is quite a saturated market already, you'll definitely need to find unique ways to stand out.
A custom magazine should help tip the booking odds in your favor.
One of the best things is wedding guests can take a copy of the magazine home and use as inspiration for their own wedding, potentially giving you even more business. Just make sure to include your photo credit and contact info. You might even include a vendors page.
In this example I used weddings but if you'd like to learn how to make an extra $1,000 in your senior photography sessions by creating an custom magazine for seniors, I've outlined some tips in this post here.
Use the custom magazine option as a sign-up incentive and let it do the marketing for you! When you're creating a sign-up bonus make sure you put a value price tag on your offer. So let's say a 5.5x8.5 magazine of 8 pages costs you $5 each to print. You can mark it up to $8-$10 each. A bundle of 100 copies would cost you $500... but the price tag is $800- $1,000.
If this is an add-on product as mentioned in #1, you've just made an additional $300-$500 profit! Not only that, but if this is for the wedding example you've now reached 100 new potential clients who are taking a sample of your work home with them! So it's as if you're getting paid to market and advertise your business instead of paying someone else to do it for you!
When you're putting together your offers you don't necessarily have to include bundles of 100. You could make it 25 copies if they book your smallest package, 50 if they book your middle package and 100 copies if they book your top package. If it's for a wedding , keep in mind that they don't need a magazine for every single guest... plan for about 1 magazine per 2 guests since a lot of guests come to the wedding as couples.
Remind your clients that they have the option to upgrade their incentive bonus. So if they get the bonus that includes 25 copies and they need 50, just charge them an additional fee for the extra copies.
Maybe you like the thought of offering a booking incentive but are looking for something even more cost effective... I've got you covered! Convert your custom magazine into a .pdf. Then you still have the novelty of offering a custom product but you don't have the printing cost. It's really quite simple to create a .pdf from your custom magazine. Here's a quick little video to show you how:
You can use high school senior graduation announcement magazines and newborn magazines to accomplish similar goals.
Nearly half of the clients that book me for weddings do so as a result of e-mail marketing. It's one of the most cost effective ways to get in front of your client and has the greatest ROI. That's why I always stress the importance of knowing how to use e-mail marketing to grow your photography business.
The first thing you'll need to do is build your e-mail list. You can do this by putting a newsletter sign-up box on your blog or website. Make sure it's in a prominent location on your website because where place it can affect how many people sign up. Also, don't be afraid to use a pop-up form. I recommend Opt-in monster.
Just because you have a sign-up form doesn't mean everyone is going to automatically sign up. You need to give them a reason to give you their information. For example, you could ask them to sign up for your newsletter or offer them something in exchange for their e-mail address. This is where custom magazines come in. Offer them a digital copy of your magazine. Say something like, "Sign up to get the latest edition of our studio guide sent directly to your in-box". Or if you create a magazine each month with tips and client images you could say, "Sign up for a monthly subscription to our studio magazine". Now they are giving you permission to e-mail them each month, giving you even more opportunities to get in front of potential clients.
Take this idea one step further and make the magazine specific to the type of photography you offer. For example if you're a maternity photographer, create a maternity magazine filled with your photos and info for soon to be moms. Of course it could include tips on how to prepare for a maternity session, but it doesn't have to only contain photography information. Make it something that interests your client, such as what to expect as a new mom. And if you're a wedding photographer perhaps you create a magazine that has tips on how to look great in wedding photos or DIY tips for brides.
If writing is not your thing you could choose from our pre-written articles or reach out other vendors and ask them if they'd be a guest author for your magazine. Perhaps it's a florist who shares tips on how to choose flowers for the wedding day or a D.J. who talks about song recommendations. Or you could even put together a styled shoot to feature with the articles. Offer to give them some images and/or printed copies in exchange for their article. Make it a win-win for everyone involved. By partnering with local businesses your photography business will be growing by leaps and bounds before you know it!
One last thought... if you opted for the digital copy for your sign-up incentive as mentioned in step 2... why not make an opt-in where people are required to enter their e-mail address to access the magazine. Then send an e-mail to those who viewed it and market your photography (or a custom magazine) to them too!
So let's review the different ways you can use a custom magazine to grow your photography business.
These are a just a few. I hope this inspires you to think of even more ways that you can use custom magazines in your own photography business.
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