Marketing traditional B&W Portraiture.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I think the idea is great but the time you spend marketing it might be greater than you have available and suck time/money/energy from your main commercial work.

I don't see the charity print as a great marketing tool.

Yes some people will see your sample print at the auction but as others have mentioned they didn't get much extra work from the non-winning bidder. The winning bidder might buy a few more regular prints at regular prices and you might break even in some cases.

Plus as some mentioned the people never even came in for the sitting.

The goal of free work is to get as many people to see it as possible.... to get the most bang for your buck. So instead of the charity route why not put together a small 8-10 image show of "leaders of the community". You could expand it if you wanted but the goal is to get the work hung as a portrait art show in places like city hall and the library... or the exclusive golf club that the "target market" is spending their time at.

Just like the charity work you might break even by selling a couple regular prints to this group but the main focus is to shoot such great leaders that a place like city hall, the golf course or sailing club would be willing to hang them for a few weeks. No reason you couldn't move them from one club to the next to get as much hang time as possible.

If you're aiming at the upper demographic I think it makes sense to show your work where they are.

Again my 2 cents worth is worth what you paid for it.

-Rob

When Scott asked a similar question in a career change thread I offered this. Forgive me if you have already read that thread. I think Herb Asherman has been very successful in differenciating himself.

"Originally Posted by TheFlyingCamera
(all I really need to figure out with the portrait thing is how to reach legitimate potential customers). My goal is to be able to find a few customers willing to pay handsome sums for distinctive work so I don't have to do a lot of portrait jobs every month to keep myself in film and airplane tickets to fun places.

From a retired salesman's point of view you can do this by differentiating yourself from the large masses of portrait photographers and then PROMOTE that difference. One example of someone doing it is Herb Ascherman in Cleveland. http://www.ascherman.com/About_Herb.htm
He stresses the permanence and qualities of platinum. I believe platinum is one of your specialties. Herb knows everyone in Cleveland and maintains his face in front of the public. His Jewish Community Center show is the largest photographic competition in northern OH with 560+ entries last year. He always has an exhibit going at the Natural History Museum or the Western Reserve Historical Society. He promotes himself constantly. He also captures the emotion in people's faces well as you can see on his site. He has taught portrait and fashion photography at the local college."

John Powers

jp80874 said:

From a retired salesman's point of view you can do this by differentiating yourself from the large masses of portrait photographers and then PROMOTE that difference.

Click to expand...

I think John hit the nail on the head.

A while ago I was just toying with such an idea - since I do other things for a living, my photography is just a hobby, but for the sake of argument, applied to a local situation (small, relatively affluent town in Croatia), when discussing possible business models with a friend who has a photo lab/studio (in his family since 1915!), I said that, aside from the usual weddings, he might try "traditional", LF B&W portraits, targeted at the "nuveau riche"

The thing is, you need to target your clientele. You need to aim for the "prestige" of offering something rare, something that's not for the "average Joe". This kind of marketing usually works with such clients (at least here, with the "new rich"). In this way, your clients will be paying for the prestige, not for the actual print/portrait, knowing that they will be getting something rare, exclusive and "unattainable" by the masses.

BTW, that's the kind of marketing the Lomography site uses - selling $5 junk cameras for $100 and more, actually selling the hype

I know it might sound rather repulsive to an artist (at least to me it does, and I don't even pretend to be one!), but if you intend to make any money with photography, you need to find your venue. To me, the above model sounds possible - i.e. marketing "exclusivity" through the use of large format camera, large negatives, "old style" prints, etc. - you already have all the elements of "uniqueness" and "exclusivity".
If you really want to be "über-exclusive", you could even try tintypes and other "one of a kind" techniques...

Now, promoting such service is another thing - yellow pages are definitely out - not only are they useless, but in this business model, such approach is even counter-productive! I guess word of mouth would be more appropriate...
But, once you define your target group, I'm sure you'll come up with the idea of the way of "selling" your service/product to them.


Denis

I'm not a pro, I'm not targeting anything. I have a day job as a banker. I just shared my view, that if I were to survive on portrait photography alone, it would be hard to find a stream of clients to equal my current pay.

Three persons a month, even if it's $1,000 per job, ain't enough. I'd still have to pay taxes, marketing, equipment depreciation, transport and expenses, etc.

I don't compete on price, which is why I'm not in the market.

JBrunner said:

A typical concept portrait job would most certainly run into the hundreds. With a good print order it would cross a thousand. I'm not looking to abandon my commercial work, just supplement it.

There is nothing "lucky" about targeting the upper end demographic. It's where the good work is, and where the return on time and money is the best. My personal experience has borne this out time and time again.

Low end clients and jobs are the most headache, most time consuming, and lowest paying, three strikes, so its out. In my commercial work when someone starts to significantly discount price, I hang up. They will undoubtedly be a PIA in every other aspect as well, and if the money isn't there, why bother with all the other BS? With the portraiture it would be sheer idiocy for me to expect to compete on price, which seems to be your premise. Competing on price is a small business killer.

I'm fully aware of the low end, and its erosion of the middle. I don't intend to engage it, and I'm not under allot of pressure to make things turn overnight. I'm looking for about three jobs a month. If I can reach the right persons, that isn't unrealistic. I'm interested in marketing to the persons who will pay for what I offer, and that is what my OP queries.

Click to expand...

Somewhat more on Herb,

Herb’s answer is to constantly have his work or his name in front of Museum, Gallery going, wealthy people. He primarily shoots 8x10, making platinum contact prints, but also enlarged Hassey images. The show at the Western Reserve Historical Society was 100 8x10 images of all kinds of special people in Cleveland. There was a paragraph under each describing why this person was significant. Some of them were humorous. The show was in place for a YEAR. What a draw that was.

The show at the Natural History Museum was from a trip to Calcutta. He joined an Indian color photographer who shot native birds. Herb shot people with the Hassy and enlarged.

He has run the JCC show for eight years of its 38. We have quite a rich Jewish community on the east side of Cleveland. When he taught at U Akron, his assistant was a stunningly beautiful body builder-portrait photographer. All things drawing attention to Herb.

Last year he did a LF platinum show. Our Robert P was there with his 8x20 nudes. Bob Herbst was there with his 12x20 work. The retired head of surgery at University Hospitals was part of that group with 11x14 work. That drew the medical crowd.

Hope you find what works for you.

John Powers

Hi Jason, I've recently set up a portrait business with the aim to target wealthy areas. I have an ad in the UK yellow pages from which I understand, has a little more credibility than the USA version. The ad didn't attract a whole lot of sales, lots of time wasters, but I felt it gave me some credibility as I was new to the area.

People will need to see the work if they are going to be interested in a commission. So instead of the yellow pages (my funds are limited to afford both), I will be setting up exhibitions in public areas. I will also deliver high quality promotional material to selected streets.

Marketing language appears different in the UK, as some of the suggested slogans in other posts wouldn't really work over here. I use the term, 'beautiful handcrafted black and white portraiture'.

My work is very different from the high street studios..my main competition is this crowd: http://www.thisisventure.co.uk/home.aspx ....overpriced digital nonsense who sell fashionable styled shots with questionable quality, but people pay thousands for it.

Gary Holliday said:

My work is very different from the high street studios..my main competition is this crowd: http://www.thisisventure.co.uk/home.aspx ....overpriced digital nonsense who sell fashionable styled shots with questionable quality, but people pay thousands for it.

Click to expand...

God I hate the 'all white' look but , to quote "The Jam" '... the public wants what the public gets' . Anyway back to the thread . The photographer uses the expression '... prints go to the lab...' . We all know that means a PS booth and an output medium of some kind but the fact that these words are used DOES suggest that photography is still associated with the darkroom - just watch any TV series and the photographer always works in a red lit room.
So the Heritage theme will strongly reasonate with the target market. Basically I believe that now everyone can take 50 shots of their daughters 21st in the hope that one will come out OK the only way to succeed in photography is in a niche market. The model being suggested here is just such a niche and has a good chance of success.

Well Jason, now that you've had a few weeks to think about it... how's the portrait business looking?
-Rob

I'm sorry, I can't take time to reply, as I'm busy counting all the money.