Today, we have a special guest post by Amber McCue. This post is a follow up to a post I wrote several weeks ago about Groupon deals. Amber, and her business partner, had a positive experience after being featured on Living Social and she is sharing how they cultivated their deal to work for them and be a driving force for their business.
While this business model will not (and really should not) work for everyone, I think it is important to show that with the right ground work, you can use marketing strategies like these to promote your business in a profitable way while staying sane.
We especially appreciate the effort Amber made to help others that may be thinking about going this route for their own business. She also included a handy checklist for you to download should you offer a deal and need some extra help. It’s awesome people like this that is what Girl Hearts Camera is all about.
Encouraging, Inspiring and Empowering.
…
Four years ago, I launched a boudoir photography boutique with my partner (and former playboy model – ooolala), Joanna. Deal sites like Groupon and Living Social were just getting hot at the time and it was one of our first marketing strategies – get featured on Groupon or Living Social. We were new on the scene and we wanted traffic and clients to help us spread the word about our amazing experience.
Three years went by and they didn’t pick us up…
We ended up being okay with that because crushing stories about businesses who were losing revenue and and profit margin were sweeping the news. Do you remember the cupcake diaster story was making headlines last fall? In this deal, the baker sold 102,000 cupcakes and lost $3 per order! Yikes!
It just so happens, the week that story was making the rounds we got the call.
Did we want our business to be featured?
… Well, yes, of course we did!
But did we really?
Without thinking about it too much, we signed ourselves up to sell more than 100 deals, which each included a one hour shoot, two digital edited photos, and a online gallery of photos with the option to purchase more (of course!), all for $99 a pop!
That is over 100 hours of shooting + more than 600 hours of invested time to process the photos, galleries, and host follow up conversations. In addition to the time, we pour our heart and soul into this work. Not only do we enjoy the photography side of the business, but we are hearts-on-fire, crazy, passionate about the experience women walk away with after our shoots. It is more than a photo shoot – our boudoir photos shoots do something to women. Our shoots turn women onto their deepest desires in life, boost their confidence, and inspire them to go after their biggest dreams. We wanted to make sure we could deliver on that experience and that the deal would be mutually beneficial for the client and our business.
My partner and I knew that to get this right for our business we were going to have to 1) be realistic, 2) be prepared, and – the biggest opportunity – 3) up sell our hearts out because we know what we have to offer is worth it!
How are we making out?
We made more in our first quarter of 2012 with the help of this deal than we did in all of 2011. In 2012, we will likely more than triple our 2011 income.
Below are some of the guidelines we followed as well as lessons learned that you can put to work for you if you are considering making a deal yourself.
We know this is a lot to take in so we prepared a simple checklist that you can grab here and refer to forever.
Do the Math – Expiration Date + Number of Deals Sold
When we structured our deal we were able to set parameters around how many deals we would sell and how long buyers would have to use their coupon.
I highly recommend setting an expiration date and limiting the number of deals you will sell. Consider how many days you will want to open up for scheduling, how many people you can fit in on each day, and commit to selling just the number of deals that you would like to open up. For example, if you only want to allow shoots on Friday for 10 weeks in May, June, and July and you can only offer 3 shoots on each Friday (10×3=30) set a deal limit of 24. You may be able to go slightly above 30 because it is likely that not everyone will redeem their deal, but consider your back up plan in case they do.
Negotiate – Deal Structure
The deal sites may have specific parameters around the deals you can create. For example, in our deal, two photos had to be included and it had to be a minimum of a one hour shoot. We negotiated to offer digital photos instead of prints because it was easier for us to process (e.g., via email vs. post or coordinating pick up or face to face delivery) and the one hour shoot. We also included a note in the deal that people would receive 10 unedited photos (although we consistently included more than 10) in their online gallery as a part of the deal, which they could select to order ala-carte from. We did this specifically so we had room to up-sell.
Prepare to Get Busy – Frequently Asked Questions + Pre-written emails
Expect to get busy as soon as the deal goes up. People may have questions before they even buy the deal. Have a FAQ page set up so you don’t have to manually field all of the questions, one-off. Simply direct people to your FAQ page. You may want to have a separate FAQ page set up for people to visit after they purchase the deal and reach out to schedule.
And you know there are going to be certain emails you’ll send again and again. Have those ready to go in advance and keep the tone of the emails in your brand’s voice from end to end.
Location Location Location
Pick one location where your shoots will be offered. Depending on how many deals you sell, you don’t want to be running from one place to the next tracking people down to deliver on a deal. Make the shoot location a place that you’ll be happy shooting in. If you want to offer options, you can set different two different locations that will be available on different days.
Take the Load off – Automate Scheduling
If you typically schedule people through emails or phone, I highly recommend setting up a scheduling through an automated system like Schedule Thing. Many scheduling services are available free. This way, when people reach out to schedule their appointments you can simply provide them a link to your scheduling site where they will select their appointment time based on your posted availability as well as enter pertinent information (e.g., contact info, voucher number, etc.). It will save you the heartache of going back and forth with people to find a mutually agreeable shoot time.
This is a serious lifesaver. My partner was the smarty pants behind this system.
The Devil is in the Details – The Fine Print
Consider adding some extra print to the deal so there is no question in the long run… We’ve lived and learned and I would recommend considering so nuances such as subject to availability and book early – first come first serve. It is common to get a flood of people wanting to book near the end of the deal – you might not even have enough time in the day to accommodate every one near the end of the deal. You can always extend, but save yourself some hassle and document in the deal that there is limited availability and the deal is first come first serve.
Lastly, don’t commit to something you can’t happily deliver.
I threw in the word happily there as well because this is your business, your heart and your soul’s work – if you won’t be happy delivering on the deal in the long run don’t do it. It isn’t worth the headache.
If structured right, however, there is an opportunity to grow and expand your business footprint.
My partner and I are happy to help you in your journey. Feel free to reach out to us or join us in the comments below!
xo,
Amber
P.S. Don’t forget to grab your checklist!
Amber McCue is a personal life strategist who works with women who want so much out of life it is almost criminal. She helps them find and live their gorgeous truth her life coaching and business consulting. Amber is currently creating a program to help women move beyond status quo and play bigger. Amber is also the cofounder of Three Boudoir where her and her partner (a former playboy model) create confidence soaring photography experiences for women. She can be found at http://www.ambermccue.com or you can email her directly at amber@ambermccue.com.
by Carrie Anne
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