Senior Portrait Photographer - Why You Should Form a Focus Group

Senior portraits are a big money make in smaller photography studios. For some photography studios, high school seniors are their main customer base. Every photographer knows there is money in senior portraits, the question is, how do you market to them? Their young, you're old; what do you do?

Let's look at some ways to get some great buzz marketing going for your senior portrait photography studio.

Senior Portraits - Get in the Seniors Mind

Knowing who your market it is is easy, knowing what they like is the hard part. You need to know what parents and seniors are looking for in senior portraits. To do this, consider creating a focus group.

Recruit ten to fifteen seniors and their parents to participate in your focus group. In return for their participation, offer them free sittings and free prints.

If possible, you will want to separate the parents from the seniors. Seniors tend to not express their opinion in front of their parents. Have one of your assistants conduct the focus group with the parents, while you work with the seniors. This way, you will get better responses from both.

Senior Portraits -

Some ideas of things to bring up during the focus group are; prices, packages, locations, props, and marketing.

Senior Portraits - Prices

When discussing price with the parents, show them a list of packages and have them tell you how much they would be willing to pay them. You could also show them a list of packages with three different prices associated with each package. Then have them circle the amount they think is most reasonable. This will give you a good idea of what your target market is willing to spend and will help you price your senior portraits accordingly.

Senior Portraits - Packages

Some people like packages, while other like to order ala-carte. Take a poll to see which is more popular. Share some ideas about packages such as, what seniors look for in a package, what size prints do they want more or less of, and what type of extras they might want. You will also need to get some idea of what your customers are willing to pay for individual prints.

Senior Portraits - Locations

You can never have too many locations to shoot at. Have your seniors recommend places they'd like to have their portraits taken at. If there are a few places that get a lot of results, think about offering a special for it. You could give a discount for all the seniors that book their sitting for a certain day at the particular location. This way you wont be going back to that location every other day.

Senior Portraits - Props

Props come and go like fashion and they can really ruin your reputation as a senior portrait photographer. Bring some prop catalogs to the focus group and have the parents and seniors look through them. Have them put red Xs by the props they like, the more red Xs, the more popular the prop. With props being so expensive, at least now you will know you bought the right one.

Senior Portraits - Marketing Ideas

Seniors and their parents will surprise you with their marketing ideas and locations. Ask the seniors and their parents to suggest ideas about how to market to the rest of the community. Ask them to recommend some locations to place flyers and posters. If they are recommending the location, then you know there will be other seniors and families there as well.

These focus groups will help get a better idea of what the seniors and their families want. Assuming you do good work with their free senior portraits, this will also help your buzz marketing. Seniors and their parents will be talking about all your new ideas, prices, locations, etc. They will be excited that they helped you with your business. It will make them feel like part of the business. This in turn, will make them want to help it grow.

All and all, the senior portrait focus group is a sure fire way to build buzz marketing, get some great market research, and help build up your customer base. The only real costs involved are your time spent doing the free shoots and the prints. Your time is basically free and prints cost almost nothing. So, what are you waiting for?