mike_barrett2
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Posts posted by mike_barrett2
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Man, I use the phrase "and the like" a lot. Sorry, how annoying!
Mike
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Todd,
I really do appreciate your comments. I am not a newbie and have played this game for quite some time. The truth is that administrators are REALLY not excited to hear from photographers and the like. They are busy people with much higher priorities. They are usually satisfied with who they have currently. Satisfied translates into "I am not getting too many complaints and I am uncomfortable with risking the unknown even if it may be better."
Therefore, if you want to get the ear of administrators or the like you need a hook. The preferred way is a direct referral from someone they know and trust. The next best is to build trust and awareness (maybe even a little indebted) of your company to the point where they feel compelled to talk with you. If I can get them to open up to what our company can offer them, I have a fair shot. If I simply annoy them with cold calling and the like, I may get an appointment eventually. However, I will start out without their good will. If they are already hesitant about risking the unknown, my odds are nile indeed.
Lifetouch, Herff Jones and others are already perusing the "wear them down" approach. I am taking a long view by working on relationship building. It is a model used by some of the worlds leading salesman in their field. It has been proven to have many long term benefits. The fact that most others wouldn't do it and don't see the value of it is in itself encouraging.
As far as bidding goes, if a district is taking bids, most of the time it goes to the lowest bidder with little or no concern about anything else. Also, the board is famous for adding tons of extras onto the contract at no cost to the school, of course. The bottom line is the winner often becomes the loser in the end. They bail and the bidding process starts again. Oh joy!
Mike
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Thanks all for your HELPFUL replies. SmugMug is the clear winner for simplicity and style. Thanks again! Anyone have a discount code they could email me?
Mike
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So Dave, your in the newspaper business and I am in the photography business. To each their own. I wish you the best with your endeavors. I wouldn't change what I do for anything. I hope you feel the same.
Back on point, DO you have any ideas on what service might work?????
Mike
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Dave,
I checked out your site and it appears that you may have a bit of a bias considering shooting sporting events and selling reprints is your main deal. For the record, I have yet to see anyone at the local high school games taking images for sale. So, I am not taking food out of anyones mouth!
Mike
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Dave,
I appreciate your concern. However, you are missing the point. I don't want to spend the average weekend shooting a sporting event. I only want to shoot a sporting event whenever I feel the urge.
I do want the school contract. Annuals, spring portraits, athletics, band, yearbooks, prom, graduation, etc. I currently shoot about 35-40 weddings a year in addition to my schools, preschools, little league, dance studios, etc. If I could add about 5 more schools, I could get my income to over 120K take home per year and only have to work a few Saturday evenings a year.
The password is needed for privacy of the students. It's a pretty bad idea to put students images on-line for all to see and download without at least making an effort at privacy.
Any ideas on what site might serve this purpose?
Mike
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Thanks Ni,
Unfortunatly, Flickr is for personal use only:(
Why do you not like the idea? The average small school contract is worth an average of 10-15K a year net. The average little league around 4K a year net. Seems like a good way to drive people to the site to discover us for themselves(the new school and events site is not up yet). Beats cold calling. It also gives us an excuse to email or call the principals, vice principals, athletic directors, yearbook advisors, etc of both participating schools. I am giving them something of value upfront that cost me nothing but time. Builds awareness, good will, name recognition, etc. It just might get me the covetted appointment I need to sell my services.
I am also giving a free after school photography course for interested teachers and students. Again providing value.
Mike
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To clarify, I want a company that will host the images and allow the user to download them. My site would simply link to the gallery. Also, I need to password protect them.
Thanks
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I want to give away images through my website. Example, I go to a high school
sporting event and take action shots. Then, I give out cards to the parents,
coaches, administrators directing them to my website where the can download
them for free. The idea being to get the people that may directly or
indirectly influence the decision of contract photography for the school.
Annuals, spring portraits, athletics, prom, etc. Basically, it's marketing.
I already do this work at 3 schools but am looking to greatly expand.
I use collages.net for my wedding work. However, what I am looking for is a
fairly inexpensive and VERY easy way to share these images for FREE. Maybe a
resolution in the neighberhood of 900X1500px. I am considering also charging
for larger sizes. Not real sure on that one right now.
Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Mike
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I used 250 students as an example because that is the average number of kids in each school we photograph (small public schools). Some schools have 650 kids. It is still expected that it be done in a single day and usually before lunch. If you have 650 kids to get through in 2.5 hours you would need 3-4 identical set ups, 3 to 4 photographers and lots of help. Organization is key.
Mike
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Have you ever done school annuals or sports? There is a lot to know. It is about logistics, service, support and photography last.
Can you have all 250 elementary school students photographed before lunch?
Will you provide a powerschool administrative CD (or some other school software)to the school?
Can you provide a Jostens formated CD? If they use Lifetouch now, do you provide yearbooks?
What about student IDs with or without bar coding, yearbook strips, etc.
Turn around time? Will the orders be labeled and sorted by homeroom?
With sports, can you photograph several teams of 10-40 kids per hour?
If you approach the school and cannot answer these type of questions, you will likely not get far. Unless, they have been using a photographer that doesn't offer these typical service items. It is not likely, unless it's a small privite school or an extremely small public school.
There is a lot more to school photography than it seems at first glance. However, it's learnable but it takes time and effort. A large lab that is in this business can help but be prepared. The school business is highly lucrative and very cut throat.
You may want to learn doing individual recreational league teams and maybe preschools. It's much easier to handle, much less service items, and it will get your feet wet.
Good luck,
Mike
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Wow. it's amazing all the negative comments here, except for Mark. If you were going to buy a diamond ring and didn't know the first thing about evaluating gem stones, do you think you might ask a lot of questions that might offend a professional jeweler? I would bet so. Sounds to me like she is just like you.
As a professional, it is our job to make our clients feel comfortable throughout the process. That process starts at the initial consultation. That is when the building of trust begins. She is afraid of making a poor decision. You should be glad to have a client who cares so much about the photography at her wedding! None of the things you mentioned seems in the least bit confrontational. It simply sounds like questions out of ignorance. Lighten up and educate her. Be confident in your abilities and you will likely win her over in the end. If you only want to caterer to clients who bow unquestioning to your divine photography wisdom, then more power to you. However, by calling her a bridezilla, it seems to me as you come us as the one with the problem. So many DESERVE this title. Let's not throw it around with such disregard.
Conrad, you are probably going to ignore this advice as it seems by the tone of your post, you had already made up your mind. However, with nearly 20 years and 700 weddings under my belt, I can tell you that sometimes the clients you have to work the hardest for end up being worth the trouble.
Mike
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If you are just starting to develop your workflow, I would suggest Lightroom. It is nothing like what I am doing now for conversion, etc and I do not have time to learn something so different right now. However, those photographers that have spent the time to explore it capabilities are giving me rave reviews! Good luck!
Mike
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My website was designed and is maintained by www.digitalcaldwell.com/
Well actually, the original design was by myself, but John has tweaked it and made improvements so he deserves much if not all the credit.
I use register.com for hosting. 24 hour customer service is worth the additional cost to me. I pay 14.95 per month.
My lab requires everything to be submitted in RGB, as do most other professional labs. That is why I commented on the grayscale.
Mike
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Actualy, it looks like poor white balance. Try shooting in raw or doing a custom white balance. It may be fixable and worth the trouble as a sample...Here is a 30 second fix, I'm sure others could do better. A much bigger file would help.
Mike<div>
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I would love this one if it were in color....
BTW, did you know that all your black and whites are saved in grayscale instead of RGB?
Mike<div>
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Rebecca,
As far as the black and white's are concerned, decide for yourself. They look very muddy on my monitor and it's a color corrected Lacie.
As far as the best pics, this one is what I would put on the home page. I added some black point and dodged a little. I would make it square, but that is just me :)
Mike<div>
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I have to pay on the entire amount, for what it's worth....
You CAN'T go back to past clients. I cannot think of anything that would look worse for your reputation. Just eat it and move on.
Mike
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Rebecca,
Your black and white images have no pop. Flat, very flat. Just go into levels and increase your black point.
In addition, your home page is the first impression your site offers. I like simple look but all black and white? Check out http://www.expressionsbymichael.com to see what I mean. It is simple, as well. Not perfect, I know.
Your strongest 2 images need to be on your home page. And, if only 2 they really need to pop. Color too, in my opinion. Overall, you have some good photos in your wedding gallery. But, if I were just surfing photographers, I may never even bother to look. Best of luck to you in your pursuits.
Mike<div>
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Hi Jen,
As far as who is the best choice and offers the best value, I will let you decide for yourself. We offer our services to professionals as well as clients like yourself. The total cost for your album is clearly stated.
Please email me with any questions you may have. Once the process begins, you can have your finished album in as little as 30 days.
Mike Barrett
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Yip, if you do this (don't) and it really works let me know! I would pay $500 per month for this!
Mike
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NetBiz sponsored placement or NetBiz sponsored search engine placement or sponsored placement or search engine placement...
Try googling any realevent terms and you will find this company not listed in the first couple of pages, at least. That is as far as I got. I tried 15 variations with the same results.
Too funny, huh?
Mike
I want to give away my images on my website. How?
in Business of Photography
Posted
For those of you who do not think I'm nuts, I have attached a sample home page. This is just a jpeg to give you an idea of the marketing effort that will go along with my overall stragedy. The marketing concept is simple.
Goal 1- Get as many potential clients as possible to the website. This will be accomplished by shooting the action shots and giving out flyers or cards at the event offering downloads for free.
Goal 2- Get those who come to the site to sign up for our "keep in touch" plan. By signing up, they will have access to free downloads, free tutorials, free classes (for yearbook staff, teachers, civic groups, etc) as well as receiving information on anything new or studio is offering.
Eventually, we will also give those who register a free chapter (pdf)of our "real world photo 101 book we are working on. If interested in getting the entire book, they can purchase it at a discount.
Goal 3- Get those who are on our list the ability to get their feet wet without fully committing. Maybe allowing us in their school to talk with their yearbook staff, a photo promotion, etc. The idea is to work on relationship building.
Goal 4- Convert as many of these people as possible to full clients. Provide them more service than expected. Earn their referrels and testomonials.
Repeat.
This effort is concentrating on our volume photography business. However, I will be utilizing a similiar stragedy for our wedding business, as well.
I will be dedicating 20 hours a week to this marketing plan and will be committed to it for at least 2 years. I have even budgeted having to pay my office worker an extra $750 per month to give myself the time to work it.
I know that many will not understand why I would go to so much effort. After all, I have been in business for nearly 20 years with better than average success. I, however believe that the time has come where taking quality images is a distant second to marketing those services effectively. I strive to continue to improve the quality and service I provide my clients. However, to reap the maximum benefit from my effort, I need to utilize the best marketing plan I can come up with.
This is that marketing plan. I hope it can provide food for thought for others here.
Comments welcome.
Mike<div>
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