A keen hobbyist photographer approached us for some help in establishing his own side business. He had experience working as a second/help photographer but wants to try and grow his own business.
Adding to this, he has had some interest in some of his classic car photographs and wants to be able to sell digital prints & physical products via his website.
Logo
This client has a strong vision of what they wanted from their logo, and being an artistic business, it needed to demonstrate their style. We were able to use some of the client’s large stock of photographs and produced a logo with a more ornate feel, which met the focus of his business well.
Website
Although there is a dedicated .photography domain area we wanted to try and keep his site local to the UK. We were unable to secure his initial business domain but with a bit of ingenuity we used a com.uk, enabling him to maintain his UK identity and business desire.
Content was key with this website so we produced his website around a gallery of his most recent photographs. Sectioned by event type and style we could provide specific pages for different advertising that he had planned. We even performed some quick market analysis to allow him to target specific events locally to maximise the yield of any advertising he chose to do.
As a more technical approach we provided the client with a complete suite of webmaster reports, which allow him to see how his business is performing against local competition and provides some excellent insights into audience targeted, use of key phrases and the type of content that brings people to his site.
Having current content is key in this digital age and these reports gave him a good way to ensure any updates would aid his business.
Pricing strategy
Having the right pricing strategy early on is critical in the growth of any business. On the back of the initial competitor analysis we helped him create a suite of photography packages to suit his target market, which make him competitive in today’s market, but don’t undervalue his huge talent.
Online retail
To answer his need to be able to sell some of his photographs separately from his main photography services we integrated his main gallery with online fulfilment service for physical products. This allows people to purchase his photographs as prints, cups and even clothing items, with him receiving a percentage of the profits without the effort or risks associated of managing orders.
Results
The initial results were staggering, as our client was able to convert people from his existing social networks to fully qualified customers with ease using his new company brand. The security offered by a recognised domain helped secure bookings well into the following year.
With a year under his belt, he has now gone full time with his photography business and (last time we checked) was fully booked for the next year. He didn’t need google advertising in the end, but did pay for some advertising on facebook.
When we last spoke the customer is selling 5-10 prints a month, with no additional effort, helping to boost to his income.
We are currently working on the digital strategy to broaden his customer base into London.