Steven Deverill Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Hi all, after some good ways to market passport and ID pics to joe public. we currently take about 40-50 a week but looking at the services we provide, I think we make more money on these than anything else, so want to get it up to the 80-100 per week mark. any ways that have helped get customers through the door appreciated. Ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Instant, personalised service works for us, and quality lab prints. Even the local post office, traditionally the bastion of passport photos with a Polaroid camera, send them to us. Take photos, back in 15 minutes to collect. Works well. But.....our locale is small. You may be in competition with other labs which we are not. People, these days, don't have time to waste, and they want what they want now. Passport photos to them are a huge nuisance and traditionally not their best look. We also appeal to their vanity and remind people they will have this photo for the next ten years, so we, and they need to make an effort. So they often "do a touch up" before the photo is taken to get their best look. On our part we can often take at least 6 photos to capture their best (within guidelines) expression. We charge a premium $5AUD more that the PO and about to put that up higher. So take the time, make the effort to appeal to people's vanity and advertise that, output quickly, bump your price way up above everybody else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 I find a big 'draw' particularly with child p/p is to offer a minature 'smiley' alongside the standard passports. I make it 3.5inx4.5in, just 'cos it's an easy adjustment and a 'nice' size, but it doesn't really matter, it's just adding percieved value which costs us next to nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLA Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Aaah luuvly passport photos. Just received a rejection (rare these days) but the reason was absolutely ridiculous as it was because the paper was too glossy! Same paper used for donkeys from Mitsubishi. God it infuriates me!! Any one else had a recent flurry of rejections? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLA Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 sorry I think this should have been posted on another passport thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Probably to much bleach..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujilab Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 We used the direct mail letters in the photo marketing programme. They went out to all the travel agents in our town plus we also included travel organisers from some of the big companies nearby. It worked well and we almost doubled the number we were doing. They suggest to re-send it every six months and include vouchers for the agents which we'll do again soon. I hope that idea helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 Hey Fujilab ....great idea. We have a couple of travel agents in an area next to us we could promote. Could also do a promotion to the one in our area, but I'm still waiting for information on a US holiday we eventually took a month or so ago. I like your idea too Photographis. Has great appeal. Our photos are done on the 3300 at 4Up and I can't see any way I could replace one child photo with a smiley face. Shame really; nice idea. Could just do one extra print though, I suppose, based on smiley faces, or fairies, or any other sweet theme really. Not that we get that many kids to do. Too many willing Grandmas for baby-sitting while Mum/Dad jetset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 Yup, I hear what you say there, Liz. We use a dedicated passport package which puts 6up on a 6x4 (uk), sometimes I have to use Photoshop, which then makes the proposition far easier, but nevertheless it's no real problem to bang out an extra print. And people love it. And Fujilab, why the hell didn't I think of that? It's often the obvious that gets overlooked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kioskguy Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Fujilab, we are using the same marketing program and did our mailout recently. In one of the newsletters they suggested making up a card which could go on the travel agents noticeboard. We sent them out by mail and also dropped them into the agents (two pronged attack ) that also worked well. Some of the agents said they were looking for a place they could reccomend as they hated sending people to the Post Office photobooths. I do like the idea of the smiley photos as a package but since we've been promoting we're too busy with passports to add the extra complication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snpysnps Posted May 16, 2009 Report Share Posted May 16, 2009 We sent out those same letters too and the results were very good. One of our staff got some magnetic stickers from the stationers that we put on the back of the cards so they could go on the travel agents fridges etc. Don't forget to send out letters to Embassies too, explaining you can take their passport photos in your town. That has brought us lots of referrals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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