Studio floor location

Hi,

I have recently managed to find some space suitable for a reasonably sized studio at an affordable price the problem is it is not on the ground floor so I need some advice whether I should rent the place or find someplace else.

Are you relying on walk up traffic, or will you be ok with driving people in with advertising?

My studio is on ground level with shop frontage but 99.9% of my work is over the web or phone I have had avery small number of walk in clients, I use the shop front like an ad space and only really use the studio by appointment.

At this moment I am thinking of relying on word of mouth because I won't have much left for advertising after I rent the place. Areas with walk up traffic are a little over my badget at the moment.

Any suggestions for affordable marketing would be appreciated.

I am thinking of displaying posters at our local and not so local hairdressers and makeup artist venues. Any thoughts on this?

It's going to take a lot of words of mouths to pay rent. Also a second floor can become a hassle with baskets of wardrobe, large props, furniture, motorcycles, other stuff you might want to be part of any photo shoot.
Do you have a business plan?

You do have a point, though I don't think I would need a motorcycle for a portrait session.

I am currently working on one I will not start the business without one, it be like walking blindly in a dar alleyway.

I would like to focus on children and family portraits aswell as small product photography. I am also planning on offering customised merchandise to clients with their favourite photographs printed on them.

abuha wrote in post #14594286
You do have a point, though I don't think I would need a motorcycle for a portrait session.

I am currently working on one I will not start the business without one, it be like walking blindly in a dar alleyway.

I would like to focus on children and family portraits aswell as small product photography. I am also planning on offering customised merchandise to clients with their favourite photographs printed on them.

A walkup studio is perfectly viable for portrait work. The major issue that differs from a ground floor location is accomodating clients with walking disabilities.

Starting a business these days, you can pretty much disregard walk-in business unless you set your business up to operate on a volume basis. I know a number of photographers who have storefront studios in optimium locations who still report that their walk-in business is irrelevant to the point that they have actually given it up as a prospect and operate purely by appointment.

Sure, there is a hassle with moving props and equipment up a flight of stairs (wait until you try to move a good-sized studio stand up a flight of stair). But that's not something you do often enough to make it worth paying more rent month after month.

Other issues are the same whether you're on the ground floor or not. If the basic location is extremely inconvenient, that's still going to hurt you. Depending on your community, a downtown walkup might be a better thing for business than a ground floor in the industrial district. A lot of urban portrait photographers do very well with downtown walkups.

You're still going to need to do the same marketing either way, and displays in various locations (restaurants and salons work for me, as long as you choose them carefully to make sure your clientele is similar).

I worked part time for a few years at a full service studio in the down town core of a city. This was still in the film era. While I wasn't there at all times, I did spend alot of time with the owner and he shared pretty much everything with me. If there was more work on a given day than could be handled and still keep the doors open he would lock up so that we could all go to assignments. He was never concerned with walk in traffic as it just happened so rarely that it was a non-issue. Now with the internet I would think that would be the first choice for finding out information. While a second floor location is not ideal it is not the end of the world. I would make sure that have the kind of lease that you can get out of easily so that if business picks up and you can afford something street level you can make a quick exit. This also works for you in case you don't get enough customers and you have to shutter the operation.

abuha wrote in post #14593626
At this moment I am thinking of relying on word of mouth because I won't have much left for advertising after I rent the place.

Statements like this concern me. Have you done a business plan and had it reviewed by someone that is more objective. While you can do a fair amount of marketing online you still need to have money to do it properly. Putting up a shingle and a website and hope that people will find you is very risky. Some of the high end studios in my area still advertise in the newspaper on a weekly basis. The one owner that I do know says that it raises awareness and directs traffic to their website. A couple of these more popular studios also have a display case of some of their work in the more popular shopping malls in the city. Again this is simply an awareness to keep their name out in high traffic areas. I still utilize the yellow pages when I am looking for some sort of service and the photographer pagers have alot of people. Most of them pay to have their ads in both the print and web version of the yellow pages.

Free marketing opportunities are pretty limited. Now that you have a commercial space (assuming you go through with it) you should never be doing the free shoots for the exposure unless you happen have found Elvis and are willing to do that one for free. You can't take those watermarks to the bank and deposit them. This is where I am a firm believer in having a good business plan in place and making sure that you have the funds to survive for at least 6 months with less than desirable revenues while you build your brand.

I wish you luck and as I said in response to your question a walk up location is not going to be the end of the world but you should make sure that tell people when they book that they will have to manage some stairs (unless there is an elevator). If you ignore this and don't tell them that can actually work against you in any reviews that you might get from customers.

This is very true. You need to establish a logical marketing plan (google for photographic marketing plan information). You need to determine who you want to reach, the avenues to reach them, the timing for each avenue, and how you will determine the effectiveness of each avenue.

As I mentioned above, I have found my best marketing bang for the buck in three particular displays. One is in my own barber/stylist's venue. I have the work I do exhibited in his shop--including a family portrait I do for him every year on a "business complimentary" basis. He seems to know everyone in town (his clientele is the same as my target mariket), and has a better sales pitch for me than I do. While the client is sitting in his chair facing my work, he talks me up to them--I've listened to him...he's good.

Another is in an upscale restaurant, and a third that has really begun paying off this year is in a Mexican grocery store. In that one, I have some First Communion and Quinceanera portraits on display. Just since January, First Communion portraits have been attracting as much steady business as my commercial portrait work.

abuha wrote in post #14591938
...at an affordable price...

abuha wrote in post #14593626
... because I won't have much left for advertising after I rent the place.

I have to agree with what's already been said. It sounds like you're about to get in over your "financial head"? Many start-up businesses fail because they're undercapitalized.

Or mothers with strollers. This is another excellent point.

I don't know where you are but around here your competition would be Sears, JC Penny, Walmart catching the low end, as well as photographers with a home studio doing higher end work. I'd suggest finding a market that avoids what is already very saturated and highly competitive.

Do you have the space to set up a home studio? It will eliminate alot of overhead and give you a chance to build your business without the stress of paying a lease. What about shooting on location? Being mobile could be a good thing although it does require some labor.

What is your current cash flow (do you have any)? What is your 3, 6, 12 and 24 month projections? Are the projections founded or just a number you created (they need to be based on pipelines, signed contracts, growth patterns, etc..) Why do you think a studio will succeed more then a home based business? What percentage of your shoots are actually in a studio (or request it at least)? If that number is low, what will a studio do that a smaller office space wont? Do you have a target market? (and no, "i just want to be a photographer" does not count) How do you plan on reaching them? That is just some very basic questions you need to be able to answer just as a business owner, even more so when you are looking at expanding and investing.

Your statement about not having enough money for marketing is quite frightening when looking at a business plan. If you just needed a location and website every business would succeed. Marketing/sales is the backbone of any company, don't skimp too much here. Yes word of mouth is priceless, but just starting out that should not be what you rely on. There are a ton of places to research effective marketing plans/ideas.

Thank all of you for your inputs this will help me greatly with my business plan it's always great to get advice from those who have been in the field for while.

I have about 40k British ounds to invest into this, should that be enough.

One more thing guys, how many of you actually print in house? And what printers do you use.

Regards

abuha wrote in post #14615007
Thank all of you for your inputs this will help me greatly with my business plan it's always great to get advice from those who have been in the field for while.

I have about 40k British ounds to invest into this, should that be enough.

One more thing guys, how many of you actually print in house? And what printers do you use.

Regards

If moving into a studio would consume your marketing budget, you don't really want to start considering printing in-house.