SmugMug Development Lab

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.

As a real estate photographer, you have more opportunities to add money to increase your revenues than a lot of other professional photographers: your network is made of professionals who have consistent demand for quality photography, plus a client base of consumers that may want to commemorate their new home.

Whether it's the middle of the slow season and you’re looking for new revenue streams or you’re trying to increase sales year-round, here are some out-of-the-box ways you can use your skills and network to grow your photography business.

Turn home shots into closing gifts.

Both the buyer and seller agents will likely be purchasing a closing gift for their client. And they’ll want to keep their brand front and center for their next purchase, sale, or referral. A gorgeous photo of the home they just helped buy or sell could be a great way to do both!

You’re photographing the property and already have a relationship with the seller’s agent, so why not show up at golden hour and take a couple of gorgeous photos of the home? Show the agent what your photography skills can do, and offer to make their clients some framed prints as a gift. As a bonus, this gets your photography in front of happy new homeowners who might have non-real estate photography needs in the future.

Create art galleries for open houses.

Agents either stage the house themselves or hire interior designers. Either way, they’re going to need art and furniture. If you see the staging, why not bring your photography portfolio on your iPad or phone and show how your artwork from non-real estate photos amplifies the experience of touring the home?

• Offer to lease the work for use at each open house.
• Come by and hang the work based on the furniture and room, then collect it after.
• Let the real estate agent or designer have access to a private and secure photo gallery where they can pick and choose which prints they want.

Then, in exchange for them getting high-quality photos, you can ask them to list your name and contact info by the photographs, or place your business cards as the artist by the sign-in sheet for the open houses.

The added benefit here is that you’ll be in front of home buyers that will need to decorate. Even if they don’t buy that house, you’re getting free exposure to an audience who will potentially be upgrading their living spaces and in need of new art in the near future. Offer the home buyers a business card where they can find your portfolio. Create a gallery for “Open House Art” so they know where to find the photo(s) they were drawn to on display.

Product and marketing shots for vendors.

When photographing a property for listing, find out who the vendors that worked on the house are.

• Landscapers
• Masonry companies
• Interior decorators
• Pool companies
• Etc….

Each of these companies has to advertise, update portfolios, and showcase work samples, and many forget to do this regularly. While you’re taking photos, snap a couple pro shots with these vendors in mind. (This could be updated patios, the staging of the home, and even a nicely trimmed lawn with flowers.)

Process the photos (and remember to add your watermark for protection), then send sample images to the respective companies along with a link to your portfolio.

Create fine art to sell.

Some real estate photographers like to create creative and evocative images within the homes they’re hired to shoot. As long as there are no restrictions in your contract, why not take advantage of a beautifully staged home for some fine art photography? 

Show up for golden hour to capture natural light coming through a window, or a scenic sunset over the back yard. Work on your food photography with that beautifully renovated kitchen as a backdrop. Your options are endless.

Making money with real estate photography doesn’t end with snapping photos of the house—it becomes a lead magnet for you to earn revenue in multiple ways. And if you’re not currently securing your images from theft and selling prints, give SmugMug a try for free by clicking here.

Whether you’re offering keepsakes to holiday portrait clients, or specialty items to art fans, we’ve taken the guesswork out of choosing which items to offer in your store beyond those gorgeous prints. How, you ask? With DATA. 

We’ve taken the most commonly searched-for items and terms to help you pick and choose just what you’d like to feature this holiday season. Beef up your photography packages, list these items front and center in your shop, and feature them in customer gift guides or newsletters for a gift that will delight your customers and their families.

Photo gift #1: Magnets.

We know that photo magnets are always a big seller for portrait clients. But just how popular are they? By using Google data we can find out, down to the sizes people commonly search for.  Here’s how many people search for photo magnets by month:

• 8x10 photo magnet - 6,600 monthly searches
• photo magnets - 4,400 monthly searches
• photo fridge magnets - 720 monthly searches

There are over 6,000 people every month searching for 8x10 photo magnets, so that’s an easy win right there. Try using a smaller size in your photo packages, and offer the more in-demand size to your clients as an upsell! Or you could offer discounts on orders including multiple sizes to capitalize on a diverse range of magnet options.

Photo gift #2: Mugs.

Another holiday classic, photo mugs are a popular search term. Here’s what they look like by the numbers: 

• photo mugs - 3,600 monthly searches
• photo coffee mugs - 1,000 monthly searches
• custom photo mug - 880 monthly searches

The word "custom" here is sneaky: It could mean someone is looking to upload their own image to the coffee mug. As a photographer that’s not going to build your business. But if you primarily do retouching work, it could be an ideal offering!

Like magnets, mugs are a popular item you can benefit from featuring front-and-center in your store. They work nicely as upsell items in your photo packages, too.

Photo gift #3: Stocking stuffers and wrappable wonders.

The numbers don’t lie: People love their keepsakes. Here are a couple other options that came up in our research:

• photo mouse pad - 1,000 monthly searches
• photo puzzle gift - 880 monthly searches
• photo collage gifts - 720 monthly searches

While these may seem like small potatoes in comparison with your first two options, we included the word “photo” in each of these for specificity. If we take that away, you get a bigger picture of the kinds of demand you can tailor your offerings toward:

• jigsaw puzzle - 165,000 monthly searches
• playing cards - 49,500 monthly searches
• mouse pad - 40,500 monthly searches
• coasters - 33,100 monthly searches
• coffee mug - 27,100 monthly searches
• postcards - 18,100 monthly searches
• keepsake frames - 18,100 monthly searches
• keepsake box - 8,100 monthly searches
• refrigerator magnet - 5,400 monthly searches

Each of these photo gifts offers an opportunity to sell your photos, you’ve just gotta get creative with your messaging: “A photo mousepad is a great way to make sure your favorite vacation memories are always with you at the office.” “Playing cards featuring your photos make great stocking stuffers, and will always spark conversation around the card table!” etc.

By including some of these popular items in your store, or featuring them as add-ons during the checkout process, you can inspire your customers to go the extra mile—and make an extra sale in the process.

Happy selling!