Spring Wedding Season Top 5 FAQ’s for Photo Booth Owners

April 17, 2013 by

spring wedding season by: Tim BouwerThe warm weather and chirping birds are proof that spring wedding season is upon us. As their special day approaches, your clients will want to confirm that your photo booth business will meet all their needs. Having a wedding in an unpredictable season like Spring can be stressful, but you can easily calm your clients’ fears by preparing confident answers for the questions they will ask. To help you out, we’ve compiled the top 5 most common questions so you can be ready with well-prepared answers.

 

  • How long have you been in business?   This question is the most common when considering any service, so even if you haven’t been an established photo booth business for very long it’s important to answer honestly. In the instance that you’ve only been in the business for a year or less, stay away from specifics. Use phrasing like “We are a fairly new business, but we’ve had excellent feedback and worked many different types of events!”. This is a great time to pull out your portfolio, thus leading us to the next question.

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    • Do you have references?   In short, you need references. Be prepared to have printed testimonials and examples of your work in a digital and printed portfolio to share with your potential clients. This will not only provide them with tangible proof of the product they’ll receive, but reinforce their decision to choose you based on the great feedback from your past customers.

     

    • What kind of equipment do you use?   For AAAPhotoBooth owners this question will be an easy one to answer with confidence. You can assure your clients that your photo booth business uses the most cutting edge software and equipment. There is no need to overwhelm them with details. Knowing the brand name and model of your equipment will be enough for most clients.

     

    • What will the booth look like:  This question is bride code for “Will it be an eyesore?”, so be ready to show the client pictures of the booth looking its best and most unobtrusive. Let your clients know the dimensions of the booth and what it requires to function (outlets, a sheltered area, etc.). If applicable let the client know you can be flexible with their theme, blending the photo booth into their decor or color scheme. For AAAPhotoBooth client’s that service mostly weddings, the booths now come in white!

     

    • How long does it take to set up? Can you set up early?  Weddings run on a tight time schedule. Making sure your clients know you can set up quickly and work with their timeline is key to maintaining their business. When the issue of time comes up, be sure to learn your client’s expectations so you will both be on the same page when the day of the event arrives.

     

    The key to keeping your photo booth business on top is preparation. If you can answer all of these questions professionally and back up your answers with visual proof then your client will feel confident they are working with the best in the business.

     

Filed Under: marketing your booth, Photo Booth Business, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: , , ,

Six Quick Tips To Getting Started in the Photo Booth Business

March 5, 2013 by

Photo Booth Business | Photo By:Sal FalkoAn increasingly popular feature at wedding receptions, company parties, class reunions and birthday celebrations, photo booths are a growing sector in the event planning industry. These steps will help provide a template for getting starting in this surging novelty market:

 

1. Put together a business plan: Determine who will operate the photo booth business (you? you and a partner?), and write out why that person is the right person for the job. Ask what problem the business hopes to solve, how it will solve it, and who it will serve. Think about the capital and resource requirements need to get the business going, and look for the funding necessary to meet them.

 

2. Take a look around at the market: Will this be the first photo booth business in the area, or are there dozens of professional photographers offering a similar service? Gauge each potential competitor, and look for ways the new photo booth business can stand out in the crowd. Photo booths range widely in price depending on their features; be sure to know what the competitors have in their arsenal before putting down money on a booth.

 

3. Make the initial purchases: Choose a photo booth that fits the business plan, and take the leap. Additional start-up costs could include marketing materials, camera equipment, photo booth props, business cards, or liability insurance.

 

4. Get a marketing plan together: Establish a brand that works well for the target audience, and stick with it. Choose logos, make a basic website, setup email accounts, and start social media accounts before the business goes live. Start cultivating content on all those channels so potential customers will have something to base their decision on.

 

5. Know how the payment will work: Set up all bank accounts, payment methods and pricing structures needed for the first year of business. Customers will want to see that payment is going to a credible source, and business owners will want to avoid last-minute questions when it comes to money.

 

6. Put together a portfolio: Especially in markets that are already home to a photo booth business, new owners will need to demonstrate their work and have examples of their services. Considering offering up a free or heavily discounted photo booth rental to a friend’s wedding, community organization’s party, or local high school’s reunion. Gathering examples of the fun, high-quality shots this new photo booth business produces will be key to building a customer base.

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Building Pricing Packages to Grow Your Photo Booth Business

January 31, 2013 by

Grow Your Photo Booth Business - Photo Credit: Eric Dickman

 1. Set a baseline: Determine the shortest event timeline you’re willing to work, and offer it with a single set of photos for each session. Depending on the style of photo booth and the set up, the final product could be digital images available for download from your company’s website, or small, printed photos that are available immediately at the event. Set a minimum event time (2 hours is a good starting point), and bill a set amount Always include necessities, such as booth attendants or setup/take-down time.

Here’s a sample:

  • 2 hours of photos
  • Free photo strips for every customer
  • Photos will be available for download at our website after the event
  • 1 photo booth attendant
  • Setup and breakdown not included in 2 hours of service

 

2. Set a top tier: Roll out all the standard options for the most inclusive, most expensive package you plan to offer. Gear this package toward your target audience — if wedding receptions are the focus of your client base, then design this top package for a long wedding reception. Include every step of every applicable package you offer elsewhere, as well as final extras and a longer service time.

Here’s a sample:

  • 4 hours of photos
  • Free photo strips for every customer
  • Customized photo strips for the event
  • Customized photo album printed after the event
  • CD of all photos
  • Photos will be available for download after the event
  • 2 photo booth attendants
  • Setup and breakdown not included in 4 hours of service

 

3. Fill in with additional options: Variations in the length of the event, the final photo options offered, the number of attendants available, and additional services should occupy the middle pricing tier. Base the pricing for these tiers by the number of hours worked.

 

4. Keep specialty items a-la-carte: For event-specific requests — such as photo strips that match a wedding’s color scheme, a printed banner of the newlywed couple’s photo booth portraits, etc. — offer a menu of a la carte pricing options that can be added to any package. Many companies also offer the extra pieces of higher-end packages as individually priced options. This allows customers who opt for a shorter rental, but want the added items such as a photo CD, to get the package they’re looking for.

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Website Creation 101 For Your Photo Booth Business

January 26, 2013 by

Photo Booth Business Websites 101 - Photo by:Sean MacEntee

A functional, user-friendly, e-commerce-equipped website is a key customer service piece for any photo booth business. Potential customers turn to business websites to learn about pricing, packages, availability, and contact information. They’ll want to see a portfolio of your company’s photo work, and follow links to your social media presences.

Event vendors will want to know how your business operates, a little bit about the owners, and the best way to get in touch if they’d like to collaborate on an event. For either group, the information sought should be easy to find and presented in a clean, professional, aesthetically pleasing way.

To stand out from the difficult-to-navigate, cluttered websites of industry competitors, contract with a professional web designer to build the site, and focus on the following areas:

 1      Navigation: The front page of the site should showcase your business aesthetic (a sample of your work, a clean graphic, and contact information). It should include a navigation bar, with drop-down menu options, that directs visitors to additional information.

2      Important information: Make the things potential clients want to know the focus of the site. Pricing options should be listed — some prefer to create a menu titled, “investment”; the word “pricing” also works just fine. Include a page with photo samples. Include a contact form for new and old customers to submit questions or comments.

3      Fresh content: Further down the navigation menu, consider including pages for updated photos, and blog posts. These items will keep customers coming back to the site, and offer shareable content for social media.

4      A simple design: Let the web designer take the lead here. Web pages work in boxes filled with words and pictures — follow that principle, and your website will be clean, accessible and visually appealing.

5      Remember mobile: Resist the urge to overload the front page with videos, pictures, and flash elements. These items take too long to load on a PC or laptop, and frequently don’t translate to mobile platforms.

6      Proofread everything: Carefully read every word of the business website before it goes live, from the front page description to the confirmations created by the “contact us” form. A single typo can damage credibility with potential clients. Apply the same editor’s eye to all blog posts and social media posts.

7      A good website doesn’t need flashy add-ons: Skip the background soundtrack, auto-play videos, and animations. These elements increase load time, might not work on mobile platforms, and can be annoyances to potential customers.

8      Opt in forms: You must have a way to collect email addresses to build your lists. Whether you build it through subscribers to your blog or give away some great tips or information in the form of a white paper, infographic or ebook.

 

A website’s design, the company’s logos, and the photo business’s portfolio should convey your photo booth venture’s brand identity to clients.

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WordPress Plugins to Manage Event Bookings For Your Photo Booth Business

November 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

For those who use the WordPress CMS to maintain their online presence, there are dozens of plugins that offer the ability to schedule and manage  reservations. Sitting on Photo Credit: Joe Lanmanthe  left-hand dashboard at the back-end of your WordPress site, these plugins feature devices to help navigate a busy client load:

 Bookings: With this tool, website administrators have the ability to map out “resources,” typically in the form of rooms — for a photo booth owner, that might be a single booth, or a single operation — and make a public schedule listing those resources.

 Plus side: Additional features include the ability to block out unavailable dates or set time limits on reservations.

 Drawbacks: Most useful features reside on the back-end of the site; the pieces of the plugin clients will see have a somewhat austere look. The free version caps at a single schedule with 25 bookings each month; a licensing fee gives access to unlimited schedules and reservations.

 

Booking Calendar: Clients enter information into a fairly basic front-end calendar, while administrators have access to a number of scheduling tools on the back-end.

Plus side: A colorful interface, user-friendly actions panel and auto-filled reservations list are on the positive side for this reservations calendar keeper. Details about each reservation, including name and contact information for each client, fall into an easy-to-understand main listing, displayed after a few clicks through the WordPress dashboard.

Drawbacks: The interface clients see on the front of the website leaves a good bit to be desired from the photo booth perspective, and is mostly fixed to date, time, location and contact information. Specific packages or personalities will be difficult to convey.

 

BookingBug: Offering a broad spectrum of services and customization options, BookingBug is a reservations widget that can be plugged into a WordPress site, and shared, customized and optimized from there. The basics, the bare bones of the widget interface and the ability to take appointments, come free with the download. Snazzier features come with a monthly service fee.

Plus side: BookingBug is more business management tool than reservations tool. Depending on the package, it can take payments, be edited to fit a site’s themes and colors, and include separate reservations pages for each resource.

Drawbacks: Of the most popular WordPress bookings plugins, BookingBug is on the upper end of the pricing scale. Pricing kicks in after two weeks, and a BookingBug.com account is required.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Marketing Your Photo Booth Tip: Team Up With a DJ!

July 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Strike Up a Partnership

Sometimes the best way to build your business is to team up with another aspiring businessperson in your community. Don’t look at other entrepreneurs as competition but instead as teammates. The list of things people want to have at events is a short one. At the top of nearly everyone’s is a DJ and a photo booth. Why not strike a deal so you both succeed? Teaming up with a DJ will help dramatically build your business’ reputation and client base. Sharing your talent, resources and equipment with another can be a great business move – sometimes two heads really are better than one. Joint venture marketing is one the strongest steps you can take to successfully market your business.

Find the Right Business Partner

Weddings are big business for both photo booths and DJs, serving as the primary customer for both in many cases. So search around for the best local DJ and see if he or she would be interested in forming a business partnership. You can find them by searching online, cruising your local social media, or by just asking around at bars and clubs. Who gets the most business? Who do people hire repeatedly? After you feel like you’ve narrowed down the field to a good list of candidates, reach out to them and see if they’d be interested. Remember, DJs are entrepreneurs just like you. They’ll be willing to listen.

Now comes the hard part. You’ll have to sit down with the interested party and hammer out the nitty-gritty details of your joint venture partnership. How will profits be split? Will you share equipment? How will you market yourselves? But throughout the negotiations, remember that joint venture marketing for your business is a fantastic way to expose your company to a wider base of customers, and make more money in the process. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers: would you rather hire a DJ and a photo booth separately and pay a higher price, or obtain both for a discount?

A Joint Marketing Plan

There are compromises in a joint venture, but both parties will ultimately achieve greater success. It’s easier to market a DJ/photo booth package deal for weddings and other events than it is to market each separately.  Have an honest conversation with your new business partner about how you’re going to reach your customers. You both bring many unique talents and contacts to the table, so don’t be afraid to utilize both of your skill sets to reach out. He or she may already have connections in the wedding business, or work off of referrals from previously satisfied customers. You may have a long time client that rents out your photo booth at every possible opportunity. If you combine your knowledge and resources, business can boom just like that.

Marketing your booth can be difficult, but if you build your business on the foundation of a rock-solid partnership, the process will only become smoother over time. Sharing your hard-earned business with another is never easy but keep your long term goals in mind. Teamwork can pay big dividends.

 

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Market Your Photo Booth for Last Minute Fourth of July Parties

June 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A Festive Holiday

With Independence Day coming up next week, many people are gearing up to throw a serious party. You know the Fourth of July drill: barbeque,  beverages and spending the day with family and friends. While you might think of the Fourth as a pretty low-key affair, in recent years it has grown into a more lavish and celebratory holiday, almost like New Year’s Part Two. This holiday is a great opportunity for you to market your photo booth to people and parties you may not have even thought of. And that’s ultimately the key to successfully marketing your booth: you’ve got to think outside the box (or booth, in this case).

Family-Friendly Fourth Events

There are generally two types of Fourth of July parties: the family-friendly ones complete with yard games and fun activities. Then there are more adult-oriented parties, with plenty of adult beverages and fireworks. The beauty of this holiday is that you can easily market your photo booth to either group. But since these two opportunities are so different, you’re going to have to market your booth in two very different ways.

For the family-friendly gathering, think about where these big bashes will be held. Families will gather for the Fourth in the suburbs so target the affluent neighborhoods. They’re more likely to have the money and space necessary to go all-out on their Independency Day shindig. After you’ve found specific areas you want to target, it’s time to market yourself. Put your brightest, most colorful flyers up in local businesses, like grocery store bulletin boards, or hang them up on neighborhood street lights or communal posting places—anywhere they’re going to get seen.  Just because the Fourth of July is coming up quickly doesn’t mean you can’t seize the opportunity to rent out your booths. Remember, most people are planning their parties at the last second, too, and will be looking for fun events and activities for their guests. It’s up to you to be visible to them.

Adult Parties

Let’s be honest: getting together with friends and having a couple of adult beverages is a large part of many people’s Independence Day plans. Nothing fits that loose and fun party atmosphere more than a photo booth.

While a lot of people looking to let their hair down on the Fourth will host a casual backyard affair, some will throw a party of epic proportions. It’s these people you want to look for when marketing your photo booth. The most fun part of marketing your photo booth is putting yourself in the shoes of your prospective clients. So think: how best can you reach this untapped client base? People don’t know they need a photo booth for their holiday get-together until you show them that they need one. Here’s what you can do:

  • Post a lot on social media. Facebook and Twitter are great ways to reach out to a younger audience. Even if your prospective clients aren’t friends with your page, you can publish a Fourth of July promotion that can reach them through other people sharing and posting it.
  • Go face to face locally. It might be the opposite of new-school social media marketing, but if you go down to a local park or restaurant and hand out flyers to people, you and your product will be remembered. 
  • Word of mouth never hurt anyone. Businesses, and especially local businesses like yours, thrive on referrals and recommendations. So tell your friends about your Fourth of July deals. Word of mouth can also reach future customers.

The Fourth of July may not traditionally call for a photo booth, but with the exploding popularity of the product and a little savvy marketing, you can make sure your clients ring in America’s birthday in style with one of your booths at their party.

 

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