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Experience Businesses: Use Photography to Boost Revenue

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A picture is worth a thousand words, but for experience businesses in today’s photo-obsessed society, pictures also mean happier customers and increased profits. Successful experience businesses –  like escape rooms, ropes courses, arts and crafts studios, and whitewater rafting companies – are built on creating events that leave an impression on the participants. 

The goal is to have customers walk away with lasting memories that they are excited to share with friends and family. When the business creates and sells high-quality imagery (print and/or digital), they can boost revenue in the short-term by selling prints or digital downloads. If profit per image sold is $10, selling 2 images to 8 groups in a day, that’s $160 in new profit per day.

Beyond that boost in revenue, when customers walk away from your business with awesome photos to share on social media, they’re acting as a walking spokesperson for your brand. Their followers will want to have the same experience and seek your business out. This can build into grassroots marketing campaign that is more powerful (and cost-effective) than anything else on the planet. Forbes reports that 76% of social media users have purchased something they saw on social media, with authenticity being the most important factor when a product or service was recommended. It doesn’t get much more authentic than seeing a photo of the individual enjoying your business in the moment!

The following article is a primer on how experience businesses can leverage photography to provide a top-notch customer experience and boost revenue in the short- and long-term.

Providing event photography leads to a better customer experience.

How many times have you been laughing with friends, living in the moment and loving life, when somebody says, “Hold on a second, let’s get a picture!” Then everyone has to wait until the person gets out their phone, sets up the shot (or finds a random stranger to take it), and keeps clicking until they’re satisfied. By then the moment’s over. 

Or maybe you’re more familiar with the person who never puts their phone away. They are constantly taking pictures and practically see life through their screen. For experience businesses, both of those situations can be disruptive and ruin the magic that one is trying to create. 

Providing event photography as a service allows participants to put their phones away, stay fully in the moment, and enjoy the experience. Knowing there’s someone capturing the amazing moments for them will help customers enjoy their time even more. Whitewater rafting businesses can position a photographer at the biggest rapid on a trip, capturing the surprised and excited faces of their patrons—or even the unlucky person or two who falls into the drink.  An outdoor ropes course might have the perfect stopping point to gather everyone for a group photo high off the ground with an epic landscape backdrop. 

Removing the stress of having to capture every moment and offering incredible photo packages adds up to an enhanced experience and boosted revenue. After all, that’s what your business is all about!

Selling photo packages creates an additional short-term revenue stream.

Once you’ve gotten customers in the door, photography provides another opportunity to create revenue. You can provide event photography as an optional add-on service and sell customized photo packages to participants. 

  • For adrenaline-fueled experience businesses like whitewater rafting or skydiving, having an on-site photographer might be the only way customers can get images that will allow them to relive the moment over and over, so it’s a service that most people will want.
  • One thing to keep in mind with selling photo packages is to have the images available immediately afterward, before the customer walks out the door. They’re still riding the high of their experience, so seeing images of what they just went through amplifies their excitement, prolongs the moment, and leads to more sales.
  • Experiment with different types of photos and package options based on what customers like and what sells. Some people might just want one great image of their time with your business while others might want a photographer with them the whole time, capturing every second of the experience. Digital downloads are inexpensive and popular, but you might have the opportunity to offer prints, group portraits, video clips, or even create a themed photo booth filled with props. For example, an escape room might use a security camera to capture video and sell clips that have a completely unique but authentic style.
  • Photo package examples can include a mix of print and digital downloads, perhaps $35 for 1 print, $40 for a digital download of all files, or $50 for both a single print and all digital files, which could be an easy upsell because it’s such a great deal. Keep track of the who, what, and when of purchases made, and tweak prices and seasonality of the photo packages you offer to maximize profits.

Providing shareable content for customers is the strongest form of marketing.

“Pics or it didn’t happen” has become a mantra for a whole generation of social media-driven customers, and luckily for experience businesses, customers who post high-quality pictures are the best type of promotion. 

Word of mouth marketing used to be limited to your customers’ friends and families, but thanks to the power of the internet, that network has expanded to include your customers’ followers and anyone who comes across their page. When you provide great images and videos that a customer is proud to show off, they become a walking spokesperson for your brand.

  • In recent years, there’s been a shift away from placing value on material goods and a shift toward placing value on experiences. Thanks in part to social media, when a satisfied customer posts an image of your experience business, it makes their followers want to have that experience, too. By providing event photography, you can ensure the images going into the world are the highest quality and reflect your business in a positive and professional light.
  • Each social media post is a real customer story, a positive testimonial that acts as an authentic endorsement for your experience business. These kinds of posts build community and engage new customers, which can become a sort of grassroots marketing campaign: It can provide new leads for your team to pursue, and give you ideas for future promotions. Plus, you’ll be able to repost on the business’ social channels. 
  • Consider creating a hashtag for your business or a social media group for customers to chat with each other about their experience. Make it enticing by offering discounts on future purchases for group members and hashtagged posts.
  • By providing event photography to customers, you’re constantly building your own image library to be used as marketing materials, whether it’s on social media, in a brochure, or on a billboard. (Just make sure to get the subjects’ permission before using any images for marketing, promotions, or advertisements.)

Photography isn’t just a superfluous add-on for experience businesses these days, it’s a powerful tool that boosts revenue, expands marketing efforts, and significantly improves the customer experience. Leveraging this new paradigm is crucial to the success of any experience business, and if you follow the guidance provided here, you’re guaranteed to see incredible results.