How Photo Booth Owners Can Relieve Inbox Stress With Email Filters

October 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

There is a neat tool at www.sanebox.com that does a lot more than simply filter mail. The best part about it is its ability to schedule correspondence alerts that remind you if a contact has not responded to your email in X amount of time, be it hours, days or weeks! The mail filter option is powerful as well but what many business owners don’t realize is that Yahoo and Gmail both have free mail filters of their own.

For those that have never used a mail filter, be prepared for a slice of heaven to start uplifting your inbox blues. It’s common knowledge that most business owners forward their mail to their personal online mail accounts. The problem with doing this is twofold. Not only does your inbox get full fast, but you can become easily distracted by simple alerts and updates by friends, family and deal sites.

Yahoo mail has a great free filter that lets you add up to 100 filters with its free email service or, for only two to three dollars per month, Yahoo Mail Plus makes your inbox advertisement free and gives you an additional 100 filters.

Filters behave just like they sound. They take emails that have certain addresses, keywords, subject lines etc, and direct them to go straight to a designated folder instead of your inbox. A good practice when experimenting with filters is to create a folder called “1Later.” This will put the folder at the top of your list and you can direct all non-business mail to that folder. If you use Yahoo and want to try to create a filter you need to create this catch-all folder first.

To create a filter in Yahoo, all you need to do is copy the address of an email that belongs in your “Later” folder and click the down arrow on the “options” link at the top let of your Yahoo mail, right above the Yahoo logo. This will then reveal the option to choose “mail options.” Once you are inside “mail options,” you will see “filters” in the left hand menu near the bottom.

Choose to add a new filter and paste the email address you copied into the “sender” rule option, which is the first one. Remove all text in front of the @ symbol and any characters past the end of the address. Now title the filter with the name of the group or person that emails you from that address and choose the destination folder that, hopefully, you created already.

Now keep that process going and add at least five addresses a day until your inbox is pure business. You will be amazed at how infrequently you check your “1Later” folder and how much better you feel checking it when you actually have time and are in the mood! Setting up all the filters is time consuming but is more than worth the trouble.

For those that have a diversified interest range, try creating folders like news, politics, deals and social alerts. You will find that most emails fall into these four categories. You will save time and sanity taking on the simple task of email filtering and your AAAPhotoBooth business will prosper as a result of your good decision making. Remember, each positive step forward is cumulative and with slow, steady progress you are bound to hit your sweet spot sooner than later.

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Two Cool Tools For Photo Booth Owners Or Those Looking To Buy A Photo Booth

October 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Whether you have purchased a photo booth and are in business already or are considering buying a photo booth to go into business for yourself, the right tools can  help you plan and grow your business.

There are an overwhelming amount of tools available for entrepreneurs but a few stick out for creative value and time-saving qualities. Most photo booth owners will be working from home which presents its own class of hurdles. Space is limited, distractions are ever present and organizational problems can quickly become overwhelming.

Sanebox  is one cool tool that helps business owners keep a messy inbox clean. It’s very unlikely that owners will keep an entirely separate business inbox from their personal email.  Most people simply forward their business email to the email they use most often. It just makes sense.

There is no problem with doing this but a cluttered email box can become an administrative nightmare. Missed emails, untimely responses and distracting alerts are but a few of the distractions that can sideline productivity. That’s where Sanebox can help. For only $5.97 per month owners can have their non-priority emails shifted to a different folder that they can view later and a host of other powerful features like follow-up reminders.

Follow-up reminders allow conversation tracking to ensure timely correspondences with your most important contacts. When you send out a reply to an email, you can set a reminder to alert you if the other party has not contacted you back. You can set the reminder for any duration: minutes, hours, days . . . etc.

You can also move and store bulky email attachments in the cloud if you sign up for, or have, a free Dropbox account.  It will store your attachments and provide links that you can send where clients will be able to download them, allowing you to send more and larger attachments without over-limit messages or all that time uploading.

It also works from mobile devices and has an elegant way to deal with spam, inbox reports and a five-level priority message for ultimate control. That’s about $72.00 per year versus the cost of an administrative assistant who you would have to train and trust with your passwords and private contact list. They advertise a 14-day free trial with no credit card required to sign up. Seems like there is little to lose by trying this new cool tool.

The other cool tool comes to us from http://www.ideapaint.com/. Ideapaint turns your walls into dry erase boards for far less cost. Like to think visually? Then this is THE product for you. Turn a space, wall or entire office into a marker-safe environment for to make your master plans to take over the world. The paint also comes in clear if you want to keep the color of your walls. At $255.00 for 50 sq. ft. of wall space, you can get a far larger board than you can buy online and save on the way. To put it in perspective, a decent, 4’ x 6’ melamine board sold on Amazon goes for about $220.00. That’s 24 sq. ft. total for nearly the same price as the amount of paint that would cover more than double the space.

In total these two cool tools come to $297.00. For less than a dollar a day you can seriously upgrade your workspace and get a hold of your inbox. For photo booth owners, why not try painting the inside case of your AAAPhotoBooth as an additional backdrop that clients, especially party and wedding customers  can graffiti with signatures and love notes, capturing the spirit of the event?

Get creative, get organized and grow your business. Let us know what you think of theses cool tools and suggest a couple tools you’d like to share!

 

 

 [JAG1]I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules against this, but it doesn’t quite sound right to me—just deleting “greatly” would work; alternatively, try something like “the right tools can be a big help with planning and growing your business.”

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks, Tools Tagged With: , , , ,

Illusions About Buying A Photo Booth

September 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you’re considering buying a photo booth, know that you are not buying a “business”. You are however buying a piece of equipment that will allow you to create your own business. When you truly buy a business you are buying, not only the equipment, but the customers, branding and all the work that the previous owner put into that business. There should be records, email lists, contact information and more.

Illusion #1

The illusion some people have is that when they buy the photo booth that they are immediately “in business”. This is true in a sense. You can buy your booth, take it home and immediately book a gig. No one is stopping you but there is a bit more to running a successful business than booking a few gigs and most booths do not come with a customer base included.

Typically, when buying a photo booth you are only buying the equipment. It will be up to you to register your business with the state, usually about $150.00, as an LLC or S-CORP. The main difference between these two is mainly taxes and how the filing is handled. Those that want less paperwork usually go for an LLC and those that want a better tax shelter go for the S-CORP.

Tips for Websites

The next step is a company logo, business cards and a website. Your website is a very important part of your business and the second illusion many people hold is that websites are like cars, you just choose what you want and it runs. The truth is that websites are more like children. You are always looking after them. They need a lot of attention and guidance and there is no “one way” to make them perfect. They are constantly growing and changing, forcing you to keep learning and challenging what you know.

Websites are also multi-faceted. They are meant for interaction and data collection. If you are not collecting information with your website you are missing the boat. Websites are not meant to be advertisements. They are there to engage and encourage potential customers to take action.
When a potential customer comes to your site you want to capture their information, either by getting them to call you, write you or fill out a form. There are many ways to do this including: newsletter subscriptions, free reports, quizzes, e-books and discount mailing lists. Always think about the action you want your potential customer to take and make it easy for them to do it.

Lead Generation

Since you will likely have zero to only a few customers at first you must begin building your email lists from the beginning by using a service like Aweber. Contact management is crucial to the life of your business. Sign up for Meetups and Meetup.com and engage people in your community. Word of mouth works wonders but there is nothing like networking to bring in a constant flow of new potential business. 

Learn about Facebook advertising and how it works. Did you know you can do research about your niche market by starting the submission process for placing a Facebook ad? If you don’t understand demographics learn. It is easy to get started with a few quick Youtube tutorials to get your feet wet in the world of marketing.

Make no mistake, a photo booth business is like most other businesses at its core and if you want to be successful you likely have a lot of learning to do along the way. That being said, the photo booth business is one of the most fun and entertaining businesses for small business owners to get into. People really do flock to the booths and you will pick up clients fast if you maintain a professional attitude and a healthy interest for the business. AAAphotobooth has years of experience and top quality booths. When you decide you are ready to buy a photo booth they are one of the best companies to get you started. Above all have fun and follow your dreams, wherever they may lead you.

Filed Under: How to, marketing your booth, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: , , ,

The Best Time for Buying a Photo Booth

September 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you are considering purchasing a photo booth the fall season is arguably the best time to buy. The reason for this is that the wedding season (spring/summer) is over and manufacturers begin giving their best sales and discounts during the slower fall and winter months.

This time is when manufacturers have the most time for you and can give you the most attention. They are also likely doing their best research for the next season and have started adding new updates and conversions to their products which is a good thing for you.

The other reason fall and winter are the best seasons to buy your booth is that there is less competition for market share during the slower months and it may yield better opportunities while the more seasoned professionals take a break from the hectic summer. Clients are likely to be less rushed and demanding as well providing you the perfect opportunity to make a great first impression.

Most of the events will be indoors as well and that’s a good thing for most photo booth owners who’s booths are meant to used indoors. If you begin now, you will have 6 months to build your brand, make preparations, research next year’s trends and be polished by the next time wedding season hits.
Fall/winter is also a great time to attend trade shows and start sifting through online publications in your search for ideas and strategic partners. Check out the event planning industry and catering industries blogs and publications to get an idea of where your potential clients will be hanging out. It is now that next year’s brides begin to plan their weddings and start scrapbooking ideas for the big day.

Now is a great time to look for your props as well, an integral part of any photo booth business. Props are half the fun and a killer prop collection will keep people talking for years to come. Get ideas now for creative marketing. Decide whether you want to invest time creating a Pinterst or Instagram account. Will you use Facebook or Twitter as your primary social media platform? With so much to consider and learn, now is the time to invest in yourself and build your business the right way for the coming year.

 

 

Filed Under: marketing your booth, Tips & Tricks

Don’t Stuff Your Keywords – How to Get Good SEO for a Photo Booth Rental Website

August 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you do one favor for your website this year, don’t keyword stuff your site. Confusing Google bots by stuffing every keyword you’re are targeting into every page makes for poor ranking as well. Imagine inviting an event planer to your house to help you plan a small reception of guests next week. The planner arrives at your house expecting the unusual layout and prepared to see what they have to work with to accommodate your guests.

 

But in your excitement to impress your friends, you decide to do something unusual by putting a toilet in every room, as well as a bed, dresser, oven and refrigerator. Now the even planner shows p at your door and wants to look around. She might walk in and look confused for a minute before she began her survey. “Where is the bathroom?” you hear her ask. “Well there is one in EVERY ROOM!” you exclaim excitedly. “You can do anything you want in any room you choose. Isn’t that GREAT?” You wring your hands excitedly for her reaction and watch as she uncomfortably makes her way around each room. Her bewildered face eventually betrays the truth. You have gone too far and made a general mess of your house.

 

The truth is that in your excitement to be everything for everyone you have missed the importance of having separate rooms.  People like to eat in kitchens or dining rooms, wash up in bathrooms and sleep in bedrooms.  There is a comfort to knowing what to expect and the functionality of a house works very well that way. Websites are no different and when your friendly Google bot (event planner) comes over for a visit you want her to be able to quickly and efficiently determine what each of your rooms is for and where to direct your guests (traffic).

 

Homepages are for helping your potential clients find their way around.  It should have good pictures and a few links to places you think your customers would want to go. The text on your homepage should be as general as possible so people can quickly determine whether they want to stay or go.

 

Your about page is for just that, telling about the history or story of your business. Listing the services you provide is fine but choose to promote the core values, attitudes and beliefs of the company rather than keywords specific to your products or services.

 

Your sales or product pages is where you can place information and keywords specific to what you do or sell and if you have many products, choose different keywords for each page.  Make the pages unique and you will have a 100% better change of ranking on a search engine than you will muddying the water with every possible scenario, product and piece of information about what you offer to your clients.

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How to Use Meetup to Increase Your Photo Booth Rental Sales

August 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Find conferences near you easy

Meetup.com is a great place to find local events that are being held by your community for free!  Finding conferences and get togethers comprised of your target market or potential referral partners really is as easy as the click of a button. First let’s get you to www.meetup.com.

One you ‘re at Meetup you have a few options.  You can search your entire city with or without a keyword. Both methods of searching have their advantages. If you search by location alone you will get every Meetup within 25 miles of that city but you also get to filter the results by “most active”.

The most active filter will tell you, in order,  what the best Meetups are without much effort. When you see one that is comprised of some or all or your target, BINGO. If you see nothing that excites you try the keyword search or another city.

To try the keyword search enter a keyword like “event planning” and then enter your city and state below before searching.  You will not be able to filter by “most active” anymore but you will have fewer results to choose from so it matters less.

Tips and Tricks

There is a trick to the keyword searches as well. On Meetup, each keyword variation matters. In other words, typing the words “event planning” will not pull up any conferences or get-togethers that have been tagged or described with slightly different keywords. So “event planning” will not pull up the same search results as “event planner” or “event planners”.

After you have identified your potential Meetups go ahead and see when the next Meetup is and what the rules are to join or attend. To prepare for the event do a little research so that you bring either something useful, new or funny to the group. There is usually a theme to the get together posted on the Meetup page so it shouldn’t be that difficult.

Make sure to bring pictures of your booth in action and plenty of business cards.  Another idea is to ask the event host if you can set up your aaaphotobooth at the event for free to showcase yourself. It never hurts to ask and, though it’s a bit more work, it’s well worth it when you are in front of such valuable referral partners or your target market.

Filed Under: How to, marketing your booth, Tips & Tricks

How to Change The Name or User of Your WordPress Blog Articles

August 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As a photo booth rental business you likely understand how important blogs are to your site. Not only do they give your customers a chance to get to know more about you and your company but blogs are great for organically building your SEO. You may have noticed however that the posts appear with the author name as “admin” or the username of the person creating the posts for you.

Changing the name is easy but it depends on how you are posting. The author name can be anything you would like. It can be your first and last name or the name of your business. The best name to use will depend on your branding and marketing plan. For this example, let’s assume you want to display the author name as your company. You will now need to login to your WordPress site by finding the login page which will be www.your_site_here/wp-admin. Once you see the login screen, login and continue below.

The easiest way to change the name is to identify the user the blogs have been posted under. For blogs that display the name “admin” as the author you will need to edit your admin user account. To do this simply look on the left hand menu of your WordPress site. You will see a link called users. Click “users” and “all users”, if necessary, to bring up a list of all the users on your site. Now find the user named Admin and find the place that says “edit”.

Once you are in the edit screen you will see an option to add first name and last name. Delete any words in these two fields and type your company name in the “first name” field. Now below the name fields you will see a dropdown selection box titled “nicknames”. Click the arrow and you will see the new name of your company that you typed in the “First Name” field. Select your business name and save your changes.

Any posts that were posted to your blog as admin will now appear as your company name. If you still see blogs with different author names you need to identify which user they are posted under and follow the steps above for that user.

Filed Under: How to, Tips & Tricks

10 Things to Consider When Renting a Photo Booth for Your Wedding

August 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

1.How quickly will you get your prints? Antique booths are pretty and nostalgic but can take up to 3 minutes to get your prints. A modern booth can print in under 15 seconds and that makes everyone happier.

2. Pricing – For wedding rentals, usually 4 – 5 hours, expect to pay between $2,600.00 to $3,500.00 for unlimited photo action, a great booth and great attendant. It’s not recommended that you pay less because fuzzy photos or red eye will tarnish the memory forever and there is no money back that will remedy that lost opportunity.

3. How many copies of the photo strip can you make? – Say there are 10 people in the booth. Can the booth print out a copy for each person so they can all take home the memory? Does it cost extra to do that or is it included in your rental agreement?

4. Booking – Just like anything else, photo booths book well in advance come wedding season.  Make sure to think ahead and call a few booth rental places to check their booking policy.  Find out how far in advance you need to book and if they require a down payment to reserve their services.

5. Can you access the photos after the event? If you are with a good company they will upload your memories to their website and make a private link for you to download and print the photos after the event is over.

6. Time allotment for booth rental – Most weddings run 4 -5 hours but what if your event goes a bit longer? Will there be extra charges? Know in advance what the policy is for extended rentals.

7. Samples – make sure you see recent samples of the photo strips that the booth you are renting prints out. The photos should be hard to smudge and difficult to tear. Quality is important for your event so take the time to preview what you are purchasing.

8. Personalization – Does the photo booth company offer personalization on the photos? Many couples would love to have their name printed on the bottom or back of the photo. Does your rental company offer personalization and if so, how much extra is it?

9. Props – Props are an essential tradition of the photo booth experience. Ask to take a look at their props or ask to see a picture.  Props should range from over-sized hats to funny moustaches on sticks, sunglasses and more!

10. How many people does the booth hold? – Not all booths are created equal so make sure that our booth fits at least 8 to 10 people like the AAAphotobooth. Booths that seat couples are cute but you won’t be able to get all the bridesmaids in one shot or the bride, groom and parents.

 

Have fun picking out our booth and make sure you feel good about the booth and attendant you choose. It may also be worthwhile to see what the policy is if they cancel on YOU. What would you do? Would they send out a backup company? If so then who? Your wedding is too important to leave things to chance so use this guide to help you make the perfect selection.

Filed Under: How to, Tips & Tricks

Photo Booth Tips: Take Advantage of the Summertime

August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Summertime Marketing

As we roll into the dog days of summer, we’re also entering the prime of event season. Don’t miss out! These next few months are a premier opportunity for you to grow your photo booth business and see some great profits in the process. Whether you’re an established brand in your community or just getting started, the summertime is the right time to hit the ground running with your business and market your photo booth with the best of them.

It’s Event Season – Cash in While it Lasts

What goes on in the summer? Everything! From block parties to outdoor festivals to backyard barbeques to wedding parties, these three months are a crucial span for anyone in the entertainment business. There are more and more potential clients out there every day waiting to be found. It’s your job to hit the pavement and market your photo booth so they can find you and give you their business. Think about it: there are no shortages of events in the summer that are looking for a photo booth. There are dozens of weddings every weekend, and more outdoor fairs and festivals than you can shake a stick at. The sky’s the limit for your business during the muggy summer months. Take advantage.

Summertime Events

Here’s the easy part about photo booth marketing: a lot of event organizers are already looking for an affordable and reasonable option. But a crucial step to take, and one that can cut out a lot of legwork on your part, is to approach local organizations and groups. Talk to fair organizers in your town, or present your ideas to local city officials. Obtaining permission is a huge step toward getting your photo booth placed prominently in many local events.

Hand out your flyers at similar public or municipal events, or promote your product in conjunction with other local businesses. If you’re just starting out, consider putting on a public demonstration of your booth. It’s the summer—people are outside, loose and having fun. If you park your booth in a busy park, people will be curious and stop by. If even a few of these people take your flyer or your card, you’re on your way to building your business.

Stand Out From the Crowd

Another way to set yourself apart from the competition is to offer your customers extras along with the booth rental. For instance, have you thought about purchasing an accompanying tent for your booth? Those kinds of purchases will cost you a little up front but ultimately make their money back and then some by swaying customers to purchase your product. Photo booth marketing, in the summer or any season, is about setting yourself apart from the competition. So think: what do people want in the summertime for their events? Well, most events are going to be outside and with the outdoors you have to factor in the heat and the elements. That’s where the tent comes in. It is little touches like that, simple and small, that can set your business apart. There will be dozens of events happening every weekend this summer, guaranteed, and every one of them is a business opportunity for you and your photo booth.

Filed Under: How to, marketing your booth Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Marketing Tip: How to Build a Foundation of Clients

July 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A Solid Client Base

The hardest part of starting any company is to not know where the next paycheck is coming from. It can be a little scary but it’s also the best part of being your own boss. You can take on as much or as little business as you can handle. One of the biggest first steps of any young start-up is building a steady client base. Your number of customers may jump up and down depending on the year, economy and season. If you can work off of a steady foundation of clients though, you’re in good shape. Here are a few simple steps for how you can build a network of trustworthy and repeat clients for your photo booth business.

Look to Local Businesses

There are a couple things you should look for in building up your client base: do your prospective customers have a need for your product, and if so, are they likely to repeatedly use it? Thankfully, if you own a photo booth, the answer to both questions is a resounding yes! The technology is only growing in popularity, and is always a smash hit at events.

A good place to start looking for interested clients is at local companies and event centers. Companies, for instance, will host many parties and events throughout the year for their employees. Many would love to have a photo booth present to assist in the festivities. Event centers, on the other hand, might be looking for something even more permanent. They could rent your booth during conventions and conferences, thereby guaranteeing you a steady client and steady income.

Another golden opportunity for marketing your photo booth business is local malls. Check around and see if any malls around you already have any photo booths. If not, offer your services to the mall’s director. You may have to pay a small rental fee to serve as a kiosk in the mall, depending on where they locate your booth but it will be worth it. Shopping malls provide incredibly high volumes of foot traffic and plenty of families with kids are walking around just looking to have a good time!

Promotions

Many businesses involved in sales are constantly searching for the best way to get people’s attention and your photo booth is a true head turning item. These companies could rent your booth for a weekend to use alongside their own demonstrations and presentations to grab people’s attention and get them to stop while they pitch their own products. That’s the beauty of owning a photo booth: it can be used for many different purposes! While you’re racking your brain thinking about the next innovative way to market your photo booth, it can be used to market someone else’s product! These kinds of clients are a boon for your business because they will use your booth repeatedly. It’s helping them grab people’s attention, and it provides another reliable customer for you. Talk about a win-win!

Starting your own photo booth business can be scary, but just think about all of the opportunities. There are countless companies, event centers and businesses looking for a photo booth. You’ve just got to go out and let them know you’re available!

Filed Under: How to, marketing your booth Tagged With: , , , , ,
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