Newer Wedding Photog. Needs Help with Album Pricing

[valenda_welch]

<p>Hello All,<br>

I'm brand new to this community and very glad to have found it. I've been working on setting up my business for about a week and I need some advice on pricing, specifically albums.<br>

I know that each album company differs on pricing. I'm looking for what percentage you typically mark up your products. For example, if actual cost is $300, is it most typical for a photographer to charge the bridal couple $400, $600, or $900?<br>

I plan to do the designing of all the album pages myself, either in Photoshop or the ROES program provided by the album company.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

[mark_t5]

<p>There is no clear answer to this. You need to figure out what is your target customers and make a decision as of the pricing</p>

[aimee_pieters]

<p>Most photographers tend to mark up albums 2 or 3 times the cost. But the cost includes the album, the photos and the design, regardless of how you have it done. It will probably help you to assume that you're paying for the design, otherwise you're going to be doing a lot of work for free. Start by using the pricing of an album company or lab that offers a complete design-print-bind service to base your cost on. H&H Color Lab or Miller's Professional Imaging offer this type of service.<br>

You may also find that once you design some albums by yourself, it may be more beneficial to just have them do it for you. It's a lot of work and very time consuming....-Aimee</p>

[valenda_welch]

<p>Thanks, Aimee. You've provided some great info and a good place for me to start. I really appreciate it.</p>

[nicole_brown]

<p>Aimee always has great advice!<br>

Has anyone used RedBoot Design for Asuka books?</p>

[aldrich]

<p>My personal strategy:</p>

<p>Take cost of album, add 25%.</p>

<p>Assume half larger prints (8x10) and half smaller prints (5x7 and 4x6) at your single print prices to fill the specified number of pages.</p>

<p>Add a fee for assembly (Mine is $100).</p>

<p>Total it up.</p>

<p>At my prices, a 12-page (24 views) $200 album would be as follows:<br>

$200 with 25% markup is $250. 12 8x10's are $120, and the mix of the rest is roughly $60. Add the $100 assembly fee, and a grand total for that album is $530.</p>

<p>The key here is not to give details. My clients do not receive a breakdown of that. They simply see "Durapelle Album, all-inclusive: $530."</p>

<p>Of course you can do your own formula. This one works for me.</p>

<p>--Ryan</p>

<p> </p>

[jennifer_s3]

<p>My prices were factored considering my local market. This is how I came up with my album prices.</p>

<p>Design $200- I can either spend this $200 on paying a design service to save me the time, or the money comes to me and I design the album. This depends on how busy I am at the time and the type of layout the client wants. (There is also a bit of mark up here for the paid design- I still have to upload the images and go back and forth between the designer and the clients)</p>

<p>Album Cost x2 plus the design cost. My albums include a 4x4 cameo and branding factored in. Things like larger cameos, additional spreads, box branding etc., are all add ons that the clients can choose. All of these items are marked up about 75-100%.</p>

<p>My base price is for a 10x10 leather album, 4x4 cameo and branding with 20 spreads. </p>

[valenda_welch]

<p>Ryan & Jennifer: Thank you both so much for your methods and detailed examples. Now, I just have to choose what to do :)</p>

[aimee_pieters]

<p>Airlia,<br>

Ryan isn't charging enough, you should really lean toward Jennifer's formula. Also, while her strategy of checking the local market is important, you must also analyze your cost of the product, your cost of doing business and how much you'd like to make.<br>

My guess is that Ryan is probably making more per hour by shooting than selling and assembling, so he may be better off selling a DVD and marketing his shoting time.<br>

I prefer to sell my product so that I make much more from my product. You basically only get paid for your shooting time once, but if your product is marked up adequately, you'll occasionally hit a really large order and make some nice cash. Find some unique product and create unique offerings. Don't try to directly compete with the others in your area, otherwise it's just a price war...-Aimee</p>

[aldrich]

<p>Aimee,</p>

<p>You are right to a point. My albums are very affordable because 80% or more of my clients want retouched digital images on CD/DVD with printing rights. I want to sell more albums so badly, and they won't sell if I charge what Jennifer does. Perhaps I need to charge more for digital images to make albums more appealing. I have already decided to raise my hourly rate in 2010.</p>

<p>Also, I am part-time only. My prices have been deemed "ridiculously low," "bargain," and even "you're an id*ot to charge that little." I keep them low because this is not my full-time occupation and I want business as steady as possible. I am a godsend to budget-minded couples, although I do put up with a lot of shoddy set-ups and BS. This is where my personal values come in. I would rather be the person that made that couple happy for far less than I deserve, rather than the person that did only 3 weddings all year but still made $10,000.</p>

<p>Can you tell I work in human services full-time? :-) Others first, me last, except when Nikon has a new lens I want, at which point, out of my way!</p>

<p>Perhaps someday I will have a reason to charge more. The 2010 rate increase is because we are closing on our first home next month. If I did charge significantly more, I would definitely do something like Jennifer.</p>

<p>--Ryan</p>

[colleendonovan]

<p>It depends on what your entire business model is. Are you making your money off of products or your service?? Anne Ruthman explained it very well in one of her blog posts awhile back. You should look it over and decide how you want to do things. :)

[colleendonovan]

<p>Arghhhh! photolovecat.blogspot.com/2008/02/formulas-for-pricing-products-services.html

[valenda_welch]

<p>Thanks again all for some great points of view. I'm still having sticker shock myself at some of the wholesale album prices. I'll have to do some research for my area and see what couples typically are willing to pay.</p>

<p>How do I do this research? I've noticed the trend is to remove any pricing from your wedding photography websites. I'm thinking my temporary solution may be to offer one budget album, one moderate, and one higher end option. Any thoughts?</p>

[aldrich]

<p>I don't have album pricing on my site but hourly rates and single prints are. My personal feelings are that if I receive a call about services, the caller has been to the website and not only likes what they see, but also the prices. My booking rate is around 90%. I've shot about 20 weddings/major events in 2 years, and only two couples that we've met with decided to go with someone else. Part of this may be because of my pricing in itself, but I also feel people know what they're getting before they even sit down with us. I'd rather have it this way.</p>

<p>--Ryan</p>