Hey, how’s it going? I’m Andy Jones and this is episode 107 of the Photography Side Hustle podcast.

So I got another voice message, this time from Jack Beasley in Phoenix Arizona. Let’s listen to that now

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Thanks for the kind words, Jack. Now two things interested me about Jack.

His name. Jack Beasley. That should be a character's name in Coronation Street or Harry Potter. Not an American living in Arizona. Just saying.
I checked out his website and it was excellent. Full of fantastic sports shots, and very impressive. You can tell he has been shooting sports for 14 years. But it was when I got down to the bottom of the home page that it said: “Powered by GoDaddy Website Builder”.

The Godaddy website builder is free when you buy a website hosting package. Years ago the websites made with this builder were not very good. But, Jack's website looks really nice and functional. I also noticed that he sells his images through a SmugMug website. So if you are looking to set up a website Godaddy is a cheap way to get up and running. Keep an eye open for their sale prices, or buy your domain name through them and wait a day or two. You will soon be emailed offers for a discount on hosting packages.

This week on the Facebook group there was a discussion about using Canva to make magazine-type prints. I think you need to make your own customized products using Photoshop. I’ll get into that a little later.

Anyway, because of that discussion, this week’s episode is …

Captivating Customers with Customized Products

Now when you are starting out you’re probably taking a bunch of photos of your neighbor's family and giving them the digital files for a few dollars. That’s fine, everyone needs a starting point. But when you want to make money and expand your business you need to make potential customers want what you are offering.

It doesn’t matter how good your work is if a customer visits your website, looks at your prices, and all they see is one price for all the digital files they won’t see the value.

If they look at your prices and there are multiple options and custom artwork, they will see the value in what you do.

You need to think about the value you supply to the customer.

Ok, so let’s go through a few examples.

Family Portraits

This is where most people start their journey, and there’s a lot of competition in shooting family portraits.

To stand out from your competition you need to offer something different. Something that the competition isn’t offering. Way back in the 90s, I was on a forum where one guy gave a free ‘Brady Bunch’ style print with every order over X amount of dollars.

If you live outside of North America you might not know the Brady Bunch TV show. His custom print was the family name in the middle and portraits of each family member around it.

Back then it was pretty basic compared to what you can do with Photoshop today, but he built a reputation on it and was very successful.

I tried a similar thing using a family group shot with the family name behind them. It worked well, but I stopped giving it away for free when customers started asking for them. I had something people wanted and I used it to my advantage.

Ok, let’s have a look at weddings …

Weddings

Now a customized product for a wedding could be a collage. I called mine Blended Collages. They were multiple images merged together. I have posted a non-wedding example of three generations of Golden Retrievers on the Facebook group.

I listened to a podcast interview a few years ago with a photographer that specialized in making collages, and he was making lots of money.

If you can make this kind of collage for weddings you would be head and shoulders above your competition.

The same goes for albums and books. If you can offer something more than just a photo on each page you can attract more customers.

Whatever you can do to customize your work and turn it into a product has got to help you in the long run.

Sports

I think sports photography is the genre that’s perfect for customized products.

Now this is where the conversation on the Facebook group got me thinking. Tricia posted a magazine-type image she had made in Canva, and I thought she could sell it easily.

But, the big problem with using Canva and similar websites is that every other photographer has access to the same templates that you used. In fact, all your customers have access to them.

So the product isn’t unique to you, anyone can copy you. The best option is Photoshop, so you can make products that only you can sell.

Kids love posters and magazine covers that make them the hero. So you need to develop your own customized products to sell to this market. Believe me, they are the easiest product to sell.

I’ve mentioned this before in past episodes. When I went to the rink to give my grandson his own 36x24-inch poster, everyone around was staring at it. When I took my camera out to get some shots of my granddaughter I was inundated with questions and bookings.

These types of products sell themselves, you just need to let people see them.

I know most big photo labs have templates you can use, but again, anyone of your competitors could also buy them.

So make your own customized products.

Right, so I’m bringing the news section back again, well when there is news.

News

So the first thing is from a couple of weeks ago.

Nikon Z8

Nikon released the Z8 and it looks like a very good camera. In fact, it’s pretty much a physically smaller version of Nikons top of the range Z9.

The only differences are that the Z9 has a built-in grip, whereas the Z8 doesn’t. The Z9 has a larger battery and three custom buttons on the front of the body, the Z8 has two.

Apart from that they are identical, which is strange when you look at the prices. The Z9 is $5,500 and the Z8 is $4,000. Even when you add a grip and one extra battery the Z8 comes to $4,420 ish. That’s $1,080 cheaper for an identical camera.

Someone at Nikon didn’t use a calculator when pricing these models. Maybe there is a Z9 MK2 about to be released, I don’t know but it is a bit odd.

Canon R1 rumours

There are also rumors that Canon is close to releasing the R1. The top-of-the-range DSLR body is the 1D series. For the mirrorless range, it will be the R1 series.

I’m excited to see what the specs are. The cameras that are coming out today are mind-blowing and over the next few years, even the entry-level cameras will be state of the art. These are exciting times for photographers.

Ok, someone mentioned on the Facebook group about the funny call-ins I used to do. Well, the reason I did those was back when it was the Photography Q&A podcast I thought that listeners would call in with questions. But they didn’t.

So I thought I do them myself. Anyway, if you want me to do some more let me know in the Facebook group.

And if you leave a voice mail and it’s a question I’ll try and use it for an episode.

Right, that’s enough waffling for this episode. I’ll be back next week, talk to you soon, bye.