A Monkey Could Do It

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A customer might ask: “Why does it cost so much? You just point the camera and push the button. Technology does all the rest. I bet even a monkey could do it.”

Well, apparently there is a monkey doing it. And, posting her pictures on her own Facebook page. And, Nonja the orangutan works very cheap.

No word yet if she’s available for editorial, commercial or corporate photography assignments. So working photographers can rest easy for now. :-)

When it comes to hiring a photographer, you get what you pay for. A professional photographer is not someone who knows how to push a button but rather they know when to push the button. A premium quality photograph gets its value not only from what it shows but also from what it doesn’t.

If your company’s photography needs don’t require experience or creativity, if your corporate image doesn’t matter, if your customers don’t care how your business communicates with them, then even a monkey could do it.

 

Cost of Digital Photography

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Who started this myth that digital photography is free or cheap?

Last week, two similar sounds passed by my ears:

(i) While chatting with a writer whom I haven’t seen in many years, he remarked that I must be happy with digital photography because it’s free.

(ii) After giving a quote to a potential client, he replied, “Why is it so expensive? You use a digital camera, right? It shouldn’t really cost anything.”

Photographers, feel free to make a loud and heavy moaning sound.

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Three wise men or three blind mice?

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There are currently four new cell phone companies about to start up in Canada. Three of them, DAVE, WIND and Public Mobile will be operating in the Toronto area. Let’s compare their marketing strategies to date.

Web sites:

DAVE is plain and boring and has no useful information. There’s no attempt at excitement and nothing whatsoever to engage the customer. The business image is “we’re cheap and boring.”

WIND is better. This company obviously knows the value of relationship building and is doing everything right in this regard. Unfortunately this site has but a couple of lousy photographs, there’s almost no useful information, and it seems to be trying too hard to be trendy. But at least these folks are thinking about customer engagement.

Public Mobile has some useful information for its customers. The site uses no photography but has some video with its executives. They do try to engage the customer through a blog where potential customers can get answers to their questions.
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Risky Business

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It’s often said that it’s easier for a business to keep existing customers than to gain new ones. But it also works the other way around. It’s often easier for customers to buy from the same business than to look for a new supplier.

A photography customer that already has a go-to photographer will continue to use that photographer, (unless the photographer really messes up), because it’s easier than trying find a new photographer. A search for the phrase “toronto photographer” can result in 50 pages of search results. No one has time for that.

It’s always easier to continue doing things the usual way because there’s little or no risk. The usual way produces the usual results.

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Photo Estimates

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Another long post intended for new photographers. For those who hire photographers, this post will also outline the minimum of what to expect when doing business with a professional photographer.

This article offers some suggestions on how to properly prepare a photo estimate or quote for a client. Estimates aren’t usually used for editorial work for newspapers and magazines but should be used for almost all other clients.

 

Do yourself a favour and always have a paper trail right from the start. It can save you if you do or haunt you if you don’t. The “you” refers both to the photographer and the client.

Photographers: never give an estimate or price over the phone.

Clients: don’t think a verbal estimate is final because it isn’t.

In case you missed it, here it is again: do yourself a favour and always have a paper trail right from the start. It can save you if you do or haunt you if you don’t. The “you” refers both to the photographer and the client.
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Business Math

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Volkswagen is currently sponsoring a contest called The Fun Theory. The contest is looking for the best ideas that use fun to change people’s behaviour for the better. Watch the videos on the home page. The piano staircase is wonderful!

There are two ways to help change the behaviour of your customers. One way is to reward them for the positive behaviour you want. The other way is to punish them for unwanted behaviour. Guess which method is always more successful?

Bell, a Canadian telecom, wants to change to electronic invoices which would save Bell time and money. But customers would gain nothing.

Would you switch to monthly electronic billing if you could save one dollar per month? Would you switch if you got, say, an extra 50 text messages or minutes added to your account each month? I bet the answer would be “Yes!”
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Reputation Protection

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Earlier today, I received a panicked phone call from a photographer here in Toronto. He had lost some pictures on a memory card and had no idea what to do. His corporate client needed same-day delivery which he had promised.

This was the seventh time this year that a photographer has phoned or e-mailed asking for help to recover lost images.

Photographers, here’s the deal:

If you want to be a professional photographer, you MUST have recovery software. It’s not an option.

Data recovery software for memory cards has been available for at least eight years. There’s absolutely no excuse for not having this business-saving and face-saving software.

If you ever bought a pro memory card from Sandisk or Lexar in the past six years, (and why wouldn’t you have done this?), it came with free recovery software. But note that recovery software has to be kept up-to-date to recognize new raw formats.

Pro-level recovery software is no longer free. But it’s a cheap US $29 from PhotoRescue, which is probably the industry standard.

Today that $29 software saved an $800 job for a photographer. It also saved his reputation which is probably worth a lot more.

 

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