Pro's Giving Work Away In My Area

So I stumbled upon this ad:
http://miami.craigslis​t.org/mdc/crs/22047917​72.html

this guys work is actually pretty good, how can anyone afford to compete with this guy at those rates? I just started trying to market myself seriously but even at $100 per shoot I'd have a really hard time making a sustainable living, this guy is doing it at 80 bucks.

Or am I wrong, is this the standard for a couple's engagement shoot now?

I dont think he can be doing too great seeing as how he is posting on Craigslist to get business Seems a bit desperate to me. I may be wrong but thats how it is in my area photographers trying to start out.

Just look at it this way....at his prices, you probably won't have to compete with him for long....cause he won't be around for long or he'll realize that he needs to raise his prices to be sustainable.

SUB1IM388 wrote in post #11807537
I dont think he can be doing too great seeing as how he is posting on Craigslist to get business Seems a bit desperate to me. I may be wrong but thats how it is in my area photographers trying to start out.

I wouldn't call Craigslist desperate....actually it's pretty smart IMO. There is absolutely no charge to advertise there....so why not? The ROI is heavily in your favor, even if it only gives you one client a year. A smart marketer should not turn down free and easy advertising. If the photographers in your area posting on Craigslist are just starting out and their work is sub par, that's even better....You'll be able to easily stand out and be the obvious choice (assuming you're more "seasoned" with better quality work).

That's how I look at it

He probably thinks he can do volume. Maybe he can in your area (mine doesn't have the population to sustain volume). Maybe he can't. Maybe he'll fail. Maybe it's not even his work. Who knows. Anybody can talk a good game.

i guess so, but darn that's cheap! miami is full of these guys.

It is cheap, and giving the CD out does reduce income but it also eliminates a lot of hassles & costs. His meticulous retouching may not be our meticulous retouching. If he emphasizes bright, low contrast images and avoids headshots like shown in the ad, he won't have to do that much to the photos and the clients wouldn't know the difference. He doesn't say how many photos are on the disk. If he sets up carefully and shoots 12 to deliver 5, his version of meticulous retouching isn't THAT time consuming.

There are ways to make his offer profitable. A lot of marketing gurus make things sound better than they actually are.

Maybe he is doing a discounted engagement session in order to drum up business. If he can please a client in an engagement session, he has a MUCH higher chance of capturing that couple as a wedding client where he can make up the lost money from the engagement session.

Simple, Smart, Effective...sounds like good business to me.

you know $80. may not be much for an engagement shoot, but i have to think the bigger picture here is the wedding, those getting married are looking for a photographer

they get a cheap photo session with CD, it doesn't say prints, and he gets a shot to sell them on a wedding package, he is getting people in the door looking for a photographer

a friend of mine who does weddings, does facebook shoots for $40. in winter, lights are set up already, and word of mouth at school is his advertising, it brings in $4-500 a week

those same kids that bring their moms also come back for family portraits, pictures with the dog etc. it's all about getting a chance to sell yourself

Wow that's cheap! Maybe thats just to get you in the door for $80.00 that will cover maybe four photos Then they hit you with the cost per photo IDK But I know people that do that. They use low prices like this so that they can get you in the door.

I agreel, I don't think this is a terrible ideal. A few engagement shots on a disk with the chance to "audition" for the wedding.

I don't advertise on craigslist for two reasons....spam..20 spams for every legit inquiry (and that's lowballing..) the the people who look for a photographer on CL generally don't want to spend much money, so your competition will be other CL photographers.

I dunno, doesn't sound as if what he's doing is a bad idea. He's grabbing a niche market. The bride who has $2000 or $3000 for a wedding photo package isn't going to be looking at him. On the other hand, the bride on a budget who wants nice photos of her engagement and wedding will.

For the photographer, it's a bread and butter market. He's got a good website, produces decent photos that make his clients look nice, and has a good "About Me" page. While he's not likely to become wealthy per se, he's got the potential to be busy. Good for him!

I agree with everyone that his work is solid and its a good idea but in the end he offers a 6 hour wedding for 400 with a DVD of " meticulously edited and retouched photographs " . Thats hard to compete with.

looks like a great way to build traffic...

if it works for him i guess thats great but unfortunately not a business model that i would want to adopt nor compete with.