You’re new to photography; you’re new to making money with your photography; you’re a veteran in the biz in need of fresh clients; you’re a veteran in the biz and broke; you’re lazy and want the shortcut; you’re ambitious and see this as an opportunity; you’re eagerly looking for an edge. No matter which category you fall into, you see Groupon as an incredible way to make cash/grow clientele and you want a piece of the action. So how do you do it? And how do you do it without inciting the wrath of the entire photo industry on you? (well, I can’t promise anything on the latter, as I, too, will probably get some feedback here) I’ll just list a couple of principles to keep in mind as you PLAN (key word there) your endeavor.
Be Honest:
Are you ready to be offering your services professionally and commercially, or are you hoping that the mediocrity of your work will go unnoticed? Be honest. You can practice on people in your neighborhood for cheap or free, so decide now if you’re ready. If I go on groupon and buy a massage or a mani/pedi, I’m certainly not going to be impressed when the quality of my service is average at best or if it’s clear the person is new to the trade. Anytime you charge for your work, whether $25, $2500, or $25000, you need to deliver quality. So be honest, and be ready to bring it.
Be Specific:
The exact requirements of Groupon are a little vague (i.e. floor and ceiling of offer). What we do know is that they take 50% of the deal price, and they require that your groupon offer clients no less than 50% off. Being specific about your offerings is essential to being able to handle the volume of coupon-clipping clients that will be banging down your door for the deal. Most of the offers I’ve seen thus far go like this, “1 hr portrait session, on location or in studio, up to 8 people, within 1 hour drive.” Just reading this, I make the assumption that the photographer doesn’t know what they’re getting into. We’ve already established that this offer requires way more time than it’s worth (see previous blog post). So get specific:
- Who are you shooting? (babies, kids, families, engagements/couples, weddings, corporate, boudoir, product, etc) Choose. Don’t be a niche-whore.
- When are you shooting? (Days, nights, weekends? Is the offer good for 1 year, 2 years?)
- What is your time investment per client? (1hr photo session will run you at least 4 hours investment)
- How many deals are you offering? (100,500,2000?) Don’t get greedy, do what you can handle. If Groupon needs you to have a minimum of 1000 deals, and you’re busy for 2 years shooting for pennies, realize that you are the sucker in this deal, and find another method of obtaining new clients.
- Where are you shooting (on location is great, but note that you will spend more time and money arranging it all, so get specific. Perhaps you give your clients a selection of locations to choose from, or you organize a “day in the park” where you can schedule back to back to back photo shoots.)
- Why are you offering this promotion? (What’s your motivating factor in this deal. Money, experience, exposure.)
Plan for Success:
If Money is your motivating factor, then by all means, MAKE IT! Using a ‘cost of doing business’ calculator, determine your pricing sweet spot. Quick breakdown: CODB adds all expenses (salary, insurance, taxes, equipment, food, entertainment, etc) then divides by the number of shoots you expect to have during the year. This number is the minimum you can charge per shoot. Looks like this [expenses/photo shoots = rate]. This is a great place to start. So after running the numbers, say your rate is $250 per session. For sake of argument, we’ll assume this refers to a 2 hour portrait session. Then on Groupon, you need to realize that you will only net $125 and decide what volume you will need to hit your mark. The bonus is that you will attain a new client database, from which repeat business is a possibility. *sidenote: If you would normally have 100 portrait sessions in a year, then enter 100 into the CODB calculator, NOT the 1000 you anticipate to sell via Groupon. This will be counter productive, and you will not likely cover your expenses.
If Experience is your motivating factor, then you probably have another source of income and are truly interested in mastering your craft. Nothing wrong with that! However, I think Groupon is not the medium in which to offer your services. You can easily offer your services to people in your day to day life by extending a hand, introducing yourself, explaining how you’re just getting started, and offering complimentary sessions. You can still build a very strong client database with this method.
If Exposure is your motivating factor, and this is the big one, then your goal is to get the most clients as possible, without driving yourself into the ground. I repeat, without driving yourself into the ground. The allure of Groupon and other sites like it is that it offers a massive audience, and you pay Groupon for the people it can funnel into your business. While I tend to think that Groupon customers are coupon clipping, they insist their audience is made up of young, hip, web savvy shoppers. Regardless, you’re going to have a huge influx in your clientele, and it’s up to you to 1) upsell them in the first shoot with prints, add-ons, etc; and 2) turn them into repeat clients. Turn on the charm, and work it!
Write it Down:
Once you start viewing this from a business perspective, it should become clear whether or not using Groupon is still a good idea for you. If, after everything you’ve read this far, you’re thinking, “YEAH, I can rock that!” then it’s time to write your plan. You’re a small business, so using Groupon is the equivalent of a mid-sized company hiring an agency to put together a major marketing campaign for them. Every successful company, small and large, uses business plans to map out their direction. Start by writing down your goals, and your motivating factors. Then go through those W questions above, and map it out. There should be nothing surprising to you on the day your Groupon deal launches, because you’ve planned it all in advance. It doesn’t have to be wordy, or even filled with spreadsheets (some of you are cringing.) It’s simply a common sense diagram of where you are, where you want to be, and how your Groupon deal is instrumental in taking you there (+ some details.)
I think that’s enough for now. Love all of your feedback, keep it coming. If you have any biz questions, hit me up sherri (at) gmail (dot) com
#1 by Rob W on September 19, 2010 - 19:53
This is a pretty good analysis.
However, at least one of the “things we know” is not accurate: The Groupon 50%/50%. I know Groupon goes to at least 30%/70% in favor of the business.
Also, they now have the ability to offer different packages for a single business so you can offer maybe a family portrait package that is priced differently and has different deliverable from say a boudoir session. You can even individually cap the # of packages sold by type and overall.
#2 by sherriinnis on September 19, 2010 - 20:28
@Rob W, My info comes straight from customer service, although I’m happy to hear that they are giving more options to suit small businesses!
#3 by Sarah on September 19, 2010 - 21:35
Also, Groupon won’t let you raise your prices prior to offering a Groupon. So if you want to do that, you’d need to raise your prices before ever contacting groupon. They fact-check all the pricing to avoid people doing what you suggest.
#4 by sherriinnis on September 19, 2010 - 21:37
great feedback, I wasn’t aware.
#5 by Rosemary on October 13, 2011 - 17:10
My understanding is that photography deals do not do well for them. However boudoir does but for the small amount of money you get you are asked to include hair and MUA into the deal. A beauty school will charge you about 32.00 for this service at their location. Figure the costs and the amount of self employment taxes and state taxes that have to come out too. Then figure your print, cd and shipping cost. Dont forget you need insurance and figure the wear on your equipment. Sell 500 deals, take 150 images per session and that equals 75,000 shutter releases. Some cameras have a life span of about 100,000. So you are at least looking at repair costs sometime in the near future. There is a lot more to all of this than meets the eye initially.