How Do You Do Sample Albums?

When you create a sample album, whether to show clients or to put on display at a bridal show, do you create an album displaying one wedding from beginning to end or do you use images from a variety of weddings to show diversity? Until now I've always just gotten a copy of an album a client would order when I needed a sample album but I'm wondering if that's the best way to go. Especially since I allow my clients to pick images for their album and they aren't always the strongest images.

I have custom made sample albums showing one wedding, not a copy of a customer album. I show what I want to sell. I wouldn't hire a photographer who couldn't take enough good photos at a wedding to put together a sample album.

This goes under the heading that you sell what you show. As I've often said, I only sell 12x12 albums because I only show 12x12 albums. Clients always order the best covers, upgraded leathers, etc., because that's what I show them.

When they're going through a sample album, what you want them to be able to see is their own wedding in it; not unlike staging a house for a sale. They want to see the flow of the album. They want to see the story of the day being told. And you want them to see that it may take 40-50 pages to do that.

I show examples of complete client albums (72 printed pages, 150-250 photos approx). Given that I choose the photos for the album initially and 90+% of the time the clients barely make any changes they are all pretty much as I designed them.

I show 4 different ones. An A3 and A4 version of each type of book (landscape coffee table and portrait lay flat). I only ever use the best cover materials and I don't bother offering the cheaper ones for people to choose from.

A3 books are included as part of my packages, I'm not trying to sell the albums as such. The A4 books are the "parent" ones and I sell quite a few of those.

My website and facebook page has more than enough diversity on it.

By the time I meet people though they already have a good idea what the books are like from the examples on the website. In my case I am simply showing an example rather than trying to "sell myself" as it very rare that I meet with a potential client and they don't book.

When I replace the sample albums every couple of years I gift them to the client.

In my experience, if you show the couple to many versions,sizes etc. they get confused, I think that tim and peacefield are right. One wedding shoot in a album and one size would do great. The thinking behind all this is: This is what I offer (choose your supplier and album style you want people to judge you on) and you should buy this because......

I've done this both ways and I can say without question the full wedding albums are *way* more popular in-house than the "variety" albums. However, at a bridal show, both have worked well for us. At a show, they want to see the most possible so that's probably why ... but I would not spend the money on a variety album anymore.

You definitely sell what you show. So we used to show a few - now I show one album, the one I expect and want them to buy.

mattantonino wrote in post #14115693
I've done this both ways and I can say without question the full wedding albums are *way* more popular in-house than the "variety" albums. However, at a bridal show, both have worked well for us. At a show, they want to see the most possible so that's probably why ... but I would not spend the money on a variety album anymore.

You definitely sell what you show. So we used to show a few - now I show one album, the one I expect and want them to buy.

This sounds correct to me

Thanks Arman - I haven't posted on POTN a lot so I guess people don't really know anything about me. Just for a little additional info, I've shot close to 160 weddings and probably sold close to 130 albums. We sell an album with *almost* every package. We just set it up that way and those people come to us.

You can sell what you want - just figure out what you want to sell (for me, it's "what looks good but is easy to make so makes the most profit.")

I have both: sample single wedding album and variety album from a few weddings (one or two spreads per wedding). The 2nd option has a different layout: more non traditional (contemporary) crop and more photos per spread. The single wedding sample album has one to max 4 photos per page in more traditional style. I have just created these two in addition to my older portfolio which has mix of my weddings and bridal sessions, so haven't had much stats yet on how these two new ones will work for me. All three in 12x12. one thing is for sure - it's heavy to carry around .

I used to show variety albums but realized they looked a little too scattered. My clients buy albums full of images from one wedding, their own, so I began showing albums designed like that. PictoBooks has a very reasonable price for studio samples and the only way you can tell it's a sample is a small stamp on the back cover that says Studio Sample.

I just designed and received my first sample album. I don't have hundreds of weddings under my belt so I only used photos from one wedding, one where I felt I had the strongest images and a very complete story of the whole day - as others have said, this is what I expect people to envision for their own album, and I want them to see what that will end up like. If "show what you want to sell" is the mantra, I don't see the point of an album of mixed images.