Is there a standard package offered to hockey players? I would imagine the T&I memory mate is a standard item, but do specialty items like posters, magazine covers, trader cards etc. go over well?
What other items besides what I've mentioned here have you sold?
__________________ Curtis Cunningham
Photography and Graphic Design www.photistry.com
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Traders, traders, traders. Everything else is way back. Magnets are probably second in popularity. I've tried to sell big posters and they just don't go -maybe I'm too expensive, but they're OK in football, just not in hockey.
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
What has worked out well for me is to enter into a contract with the manager or someone from the coaching staff and collect all the money from them. Usually travelling (rep) teams have fundraisers etc.,have a pool of money decide as a team to get something for each player. I print 8x10's have them plak mounted and sell the package for $500-$600(around 25 per). I add names to the team pic, batch process the individuals and put it all together in photoshop (about 12 layers). After making a template it goes fast. Lighting is done with 2 studio strobes bounced into 52" umbrellas 1:1 for the team (close to the camera and angled out and 2:1 or so for individuals) shot at f8 and 1/125
__________________ Kevin Krasnay
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Nice stuff there but it seems like a lot of work for $25/kid. My lab has templates (customizable) for all this type of stuff (and they update the designs each year and they are sport specific) so they're 95% as nice as the MM you show here - but I only have to drag and drop the individual pic and type in his name. Very quick and easy - no PS skills required so a $9 hour grunt can do it successfully.
Plaque? Sounds costly unless that's all they get for $25. My lab has a new item that appears to be a metalic print on lexan that might be doable for that kind of price point, but the wood ones are pricey. I think they added a sublimated wood one - I can see what that cost is. I sold a couple of the nice wood ones in the spring becuase they asked I never thought they'd sell.
As to trader cards, if I can interject a price from my area - there are two kids- photo and digital. Digital are like the 'real' ones and include topps bubble gum and come wrapped in plastic (at least from my lab). There are 8 double sided cards and I get $12. Some sports buy them and some do not (wrestling didn't buy many but baseball did)
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
What kind of profit do you make on these cards then?
I had a similar product for the soccer teams I shot this past summer, and my cost for 8 double-sided, laminated cards with a 9-pocket slipcover was around $8. I charged $15 and didn't have that many takers. Even with that I thought I wasn't charging enough.
__________________ Curtis Cunningham
Photography and Graphic Design www.photistry.com
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
I just went thru the heart wrenching and mind bending bit of looking at my pricing.
You want to charge as much as the market will bear. Finding that number, especially in this economy, can be tough.
You need to charge enough to make selling the product worthwhile.
Now it gets tricky. Folding greeting cards are one thing I struggle over. A flat markup of 2.5 or 3.3 or what have you will not work - the consumer won't spend it. $75 for 24 cards? I don't think so. BUT if you make a flat $20 and 10% is that OK? I mean, after the first card it's just a number you type into ROES. If $20 covers your creation fee then making a dime a card isn't a problem.
Unless they buy the cards over a say an 8x10 where you can make $38 markup. If a client only has $50 to spend you may not have much control over what they choose to buy. Cards and you make $22, a print and you make $38. But if you markup the cards as much as they print you'll not sell any cards and that can be a bad thing.
My thinking of late is to throw in prints with things I want them to buy. I want a minumum sale, average sale type of thing. Physical prints are cheap for me, but carry a high perceived value.
OK, back to the traders. Alacarte they're $12. But perhaps you can put them in a package and sell that instead? Up the min average sale. I tracked what packages sold this time. The lowest 2 of course, then one didn't sell at all (they have no idea what a fun pak is), the next two did OK and of the 2 high end one package sold once.
I'll have to go back over the spring sales and see what worked then. If it sells up the price $1. If it doesn't then drop it $1.
My cost is $5.95 for 8. A unit runs $1.60. All color corrected. They'll bag by kid and label for 40c or 50c a kid.
I want to sell clings, but they are not cheap. I'm thinking of the $20 markup idea - i need to get a sample and push them a bit I suppose.
Also, what do you want to sell in regards to your work being handed out or displayed - as a reminder to hire you. This being my first year I didn't go for imprinting on the memory mate holders. I will for next year for sure!
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Last edited by ChrisPerry; 11-28-2008 at 12:18 PM.
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