Make an Extra $40k+ By Offering Quality Products- Interview with RedTree Albums

In this conversation, Christa interviews Whitney, the marketing director for RedTree Albums, a company that specializes in high-quality albums and prints. Whitney shares the story of how RedTree Albums started and emphasizes the importance of printing photos in the digital age. They discuss the value of printed images, both for photographers and their clients, and how offering printed products can be financially beneficial for photographers. Whitney also explains the different products and customizations that RedTree Albums offers, and encourages photographers to show their clients physical samples to help sell the value of printed images.

Takeaways

• Printing photos is a way to ensure that images are not forgotten on digital devices and can be passed down through generations.
• Offering printed products can be financially beneficial for photographers, with some photographers making an extra $40,000 a year or more.
• RedTree Albums offers a variety of high-quality products, including flush mount albums, fine art albums, matted print boxes, and matted folio albums.
• Showing physical samples to clients and allowing them to experience the quality of printed images can help sell the value of printed products.
• Photographers can sign up for a RedTree account and access pricing and product information on the RedTree Albums website.

See RedTree’s Instagram HERE.
Join RedTree to access their products HERE.

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Transcript

christa (00:00.94)
Okay, welcome everyone. Today I am chatting with the marketing director for Red Tree Albums, which is a beautiful album and print company Whitney's going to share about their offerings and services. But Whitney, we are just so excited to have you on today. Welcome.

Okay, Krista, thanks so much for having me.

Yeah, I would absolutely love if you shared a little bit just about, you know, your role and how you came about that. We love Red Tree. I could hype it up all day, but let's hear from you a little bit about that.

Sure, yeah, I can hype it up all day myself as well. Like you said, I am the marketing director for Red Tree Albums. I was first a photographer myself. I got into wedding and portrait photography in the early 2000s and I was a Red Tree customer. I was a Red Tree photographer myself.

Yes.

christa (00:54.636)
Oh wow.

Whitney (00:59.076)
Red Tree is based here in Louisville, Kentucky, my hometown. It was started by our owner and his own photo studio here. He, at the time he couldn't find any albums that he liked personally with cover materials that were in line with his brand quality that he wanted to offer his own brides and grooms and seniors.

I love that.

Whitney (01:25.668)
So he decided to make his own albums and engineer them himself. In the very beginning, he was using his own kitchen as one of his workspaces and would cure books in his own oven. Now we have these very high quality, specific to book making machines. But back then it started out in a very...

Yeah.

christa (01:51.18)
Yeah.

Whitney (01:55.684)
very personal way. To this day, Red Tree has an uncompromising commitment to quality all the way down to the glue. That means no plastics, the best leathers and fabrics available, paper is acid -free, pH -neutral glue. All of this is done so albums will last for generations. Our owner was making these in the beginning for his own clients and it came back.

Wow.

christa (02:23.884)
Yeah. Wow.

to him and he still, you know, designs and engineers every product with that, with that kind of ethos. Yeah. So Red Tree has grown by word of mouth from the beginning, like myself, you know, I heard about Red Tree from people here in my hometown. And I think that really speaks to who Red Tree is, you know, as, as far as how people find us.

I love that. I love that.

christa (02:48.428)
Yeah. Yeah.

I love that. And, you know, speaking of, I think it's really cool that he actually created it like for his own clients and then it just grew. I think that's so beautiful. And so Winnie, one of the things I know we had talked about sharing today is just like, really the why behind printing your photos, like not even as, you know, we'll talk about, you know, photographers serving your clients in that regard in a minute, but just for us, even, even, you know, you're a former photographer, I'm a photographer, like printing our own photos and the value there.

Do you want to speak to that a little bit?

Right? Sure. I would say one thing that I think about a lot is that from the very beginning of photography, images were printed. They were held in people's hands with reverence as keepsakes. You know, photos were put on walls. They were put in, some were put in albums, some were put in plastic sleeves. Some were even put in shoe boxes.

Yeah.

christa (03:51.788)
Yeah. Yeah.

Organized or not, they were stored in their own way. And now if images aren't printed, they are digitally stored on a computer, hard drive, cloud service. And they're among word documents and PDFs and screenshots. So, you know, we like to go back to, go back to the beginning and, and carry on a tradition.

when it comes to photography and uphold that value and that experience that printed images do.

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And I think for us as photographers, like obviously we get a front row seat to, you know, getting images printed, but I still remember Whitney, you're going to laugh at this. Before I knew and had done any research on getting things professionally printed, when my husband and I were engaged like six, seven years ago now, I printed an album from this really, really cheap, like consumer place, like really, really cheap. And I was like, perfect. Whitney, it's literally when I open it,

I'm afraid to open it, it's breaking in half. The binding is ripped apart. Like it is such poor quality. And had I known, you know, I need to get it reprinted, but had I known the quality of like just investing in something, you know, and having it withstand the test of time, it's so worth it.

Whitney (04:59.716)
reminds.

Right. Right.

Whitney (05:15.076)
Right, right, there is a difference between consumer grade and professional grade, most certainly. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. And one thing I'll tell my students, Whitney, is if they're unsure of like, Hey Krista, like, is this worth offering products or not? Like, I'm not sure I see the value. I actually tell them print something in your own home, whether it's your family or extended family or like you and a child and know how often you look at it. So Whitney, I use your products. I have currently on my table. I have my husband and I's trip to Italy that I printed through you guys. I did this really pretty blue with this like gold script, my daughter's newborn album.

Mm.

christa (05:48.684)
and then her six month photos. And I stand there and flip through it. And Whitney, like, those gallery links are, you know, somewhere out there. I'm not standing there scrolling through those. Like, I pick up that album and flip through it. And I think as photographers, if you're unsure, like, hey, I'm not sure I see the value in this, like, invest in printing your own photos and have those in your home and see, like, how meaningful that is.

Oh

Whitney (06:01.7)
Right? Right.

Whitney (06:11.844)
Right. And experience what it's like so that you can communicate about it. If someone in theory likes the idea of delivering printed images for whatever reason, you know, because they know it's meaningful or because they know that there's so much potential to add revenue to their business, but they don't know how to talk about it. Like you said, getting...

Yeah.

christa (06:26.86)
Mm -hmm.

Whitney (06:37.508)
printed images yourself. I mean, it gives me, that's crazy. It sounds like it gives me a little goosebumps thinking about it because when you can experience the difference of sitting down, putting everything in life on pause, turning the pages, you know, these tactile pages, it is an, you know, it's an experience where you use your senses and you're not getting distracted with notifications on your phone or texts.

Yes, yes!

christa (06:58.092)
It is.

Yeah.

Whitney (07:05.348)
or pop -ups that pull you away. You know, you put everything on pause and you get to relive a moment or remember a person or a place and then you can close it and go back to life. And when you experience it yourself, you can then talk about it and you can share with your clients how it is unique from scrolling.

Oh yeah.

christa (07:19.468)
Yeah. Yeah, I love that.

christa (07:25.58)
Mm -hmm.

christa (07:31.212)
It is. And even Whitney, people coming into your home and sharing those moments with you. I'm that person that sits down on someone's couch and if there's an owl, I might grab it and flip through it. Like sharing those moments with anyone and everyone who comes into your home is just so special.

It is, yeah, and it's so much easier to access than a... Yeah, right, you can't quite, it's not as easy to pass around a laptop and maybe a phone, but if those images were made 10 years ago on a CD, like many of my images, or my images were delivered in that way in the early 2000s, someone is going to have to...

Oh yeah, everyone's sitting around at, you know, your phone or a computer.

christa (07:58.7)
No.

christa (08:12.78)
Mm -hmm.

hope they have a CD -ROM because computers don't have them anymore. And then we started delivering on USBs and then you have to hope that you can find a converter for that USB drive. Printed images don't require technology in that way and technology is changing every day. So to know that, yeah, images are there on the table and they, yeah, just pick it up.

Yeah. Yeah.

christa (08:35.596)
Oh yeah, absolutely.

christa (08:41.964)
Yeah. I had an email Whitney from a bride and I looked it up and it was 10 years ago. I had shot her wedding and she reached out and was like, Hey, the link isn't working. And I actually still had, um, the photos on the backend, which I, which I was kind of surprised, but she was like, Hey, the link isn't working. I think I want to finally go ahead and do something with them. And I was thinking, man, like it's been a decade, right? And it's not boo on her. I think we can now shift and talk about like.

Mm -hmm.

christa (09:09.004)
as a photographer, that's not something I was really offering then and really sharing the value about. And I saw, man, I wish I could have served her so much better so that, like you said, she's not digging these up. She said, I think you gave me a CD. I could try to find it somewhere. And I'm like, no, I'm like, I don't know. Right. And so speaking of that, like technology changing all the time, obviously wanting to give as photographers, I know you were in photography space for years.

Right.

christa (09:36.908)
our client something that's tangible and legacy and withstands the test of time that they can take with them generation to generation. Let's speak now a little bit about how you guys help photographers do that for clients. And if you want to go into some of the products you guys offer.

Sure. Yeah, we, our name is Red Tree Albums. We started with the Red Tree Album. It is a flush mount, lay flat album that you can customize with leather or linen, a cameo window on the cover or foil debossing. Options have grown over the years, you know, but there are now also other products. There are fine art albums that are printed with

Yeah.

Whitney (10:23.844)
G clay style printing. There are matted print boxes for people who maybe focus on portrait photography or for wedding photography and they don't have as many images to deliver or want to deliver as many images and a matted print box can hold 30. We have matted folio albums that offer a more individual image. Yeah.

I love those. Those are one of my favorites. Yeah.

and they're precious. And yeah, everything can be customized for many different styles and visions and brands, be it dark and moody or light and airy. There's something for almost everyone.

I love that there really is. And the students that I've coached to Whitney, we've had obviously a lot of wedding photographers want to do wedding albums. We've helped family and senior photographers do portrait albums. I have one of my students is in the motherhood space and absolutely loves the folio, the printed folio boxes. And one of the things that I think students and myself, actually, I found you guys because a student was like, you have to check them out. And then I switched all of my business over to you.

Oh.

christa (11:44.204)
from who I was using before. But one of the reasons that students love you that I love you are obviously the quality, but also the customizations that are possible. I had yet to find a company that had so many different debossing options and engraving options that are trendy and classic and album covers that clients love and are beautiful and the linens and the leathers. Like you guys offer so many options.

Yeah, we try to make it, we try to make a lot of options, but also keep them really simple so that there isn't a sense of, you know, so that there isn't, so people aren't overwhelmed. Yeah, or can't make sense of what to do or how to do it. We have very simple fonts, you know, you have 14 fonts where you can type in your words and we will generate that for you.

Yeah.

christa (12:25.068)
Like overwhelm, yeah, yeah. Right.

Whitney (12:40.228)
we have custom debossing. So if someone has a family crest or a design, a very intricate design from a wedding invitation suite, you know, we can, we can make a lot of things happen and are always adding and listening and hearing what people want and need and making it possible.

I love that.

christa (13:04.588)
I love that. Amazing. So Whitney, I did want to like spend some time with you because we definitely both see this just about the value of offering these products to your clients. And first of all, such a meaningful way of ensuring their images don't get forgotten on the cloud or, or a link somewhere out there and you were the Instagram post and then it went away. But also from a financial aspect too, there's a lot of money on the table for photographers eager to offer that level of service.

Right.

Whitney (13:33.732)
Right, right. We know of photographers who easily make an extra $40 ,000 a year by a simple change in offering prints to people who make upwards of a million in revenue from printing albums, matted print boxes, things like that. You know, I've heard people describe that if they are delivering digital

Oh yeah.

Whitney (14:03.62)
images only. They are selling their time and there's a limit on their time. But when they offer a printed product, the options are endless.

They really are. I love that Whitney. I wholeheartedly agree. We recommend you guys to all of our students because we love the options you have. Also Whitney, I know that y 'all added in, this just occurred to me, you might've mentioned it before, like the Red Tree Light album where you have different options depending on for the photographer wanting to offer it. And now speaking Whitney to our listeners, y 'all like they have different options depending on kind of that price point you want to be at and that level.

right.

I don't want to say quality because everything is quality, but you have some tears which makes it again really accessible to add in and in my program I teach how to price things because obviously guys like designing albums ensuring it's the right cover. Yes, it does take time, but it is so worth it when you have the right structure and you have the clients excited about this this piece and then Whitney it comes in. I just had a twin senior session. So there were two girls.

Yeah.

christa (15:07.244)
And we did a beautiful album for each of them. We changed a few things about it. And when I opened it up, I actually met with the mom yesterday. Now we're doing the album. One of the daughters also got married. It was their senior. It was their college senior year. But like we pulled those albums out and it was a 10 by 10 leather red tree and like just the weight of it and the engraving. Like there's nothing like holding that in your hands, you know? Yeah.

Right. Right.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's an experience like holding an art book that you have on a coffee table. You have to, yeah, it stands on its own. You have to lift it and oftentimes sit down. Yeah.

It is, for sure.

christa (15:43.468)
Yep. Yeah. And the colors of it, both girls actually had beautiful red hair, like just the colors in it. It's like, you don't want to look, my clients, when they get this album, like you don't want to look at them on your computer anymore. And so I get excited about this and passionate. And actually, Whitney, I teach students how to, we have to share the value with our clients of why print, but also from us because...

Yeah.

Whitney (15:55.94)
Right, right, yeah.

christa (16:07.02)
Only photographers have access to places like Retrie. And I know you have to do that intentionally to vet people, to make sure that they're a good fit. It's a two -way street. And by doing that, we can really just uncap our income. We can uncap our service to our clients, ensuring that this moment is forever remembered in their home.

Right. Right.

Whitney (16:21.604)
Right, right.

Whitney (16:26.308)
Right. And with that client that you had yesterday, they got to see that album in person and they got it, you know, when they saw it, when they had it. And we really try to encourage showing what you want to sell, not, you know, not just letting someone see the final, the end result when the product comes in the mail.

Yes.

christa (16:45.068)
Yeah. Yes.

christa (16:53.772)
Yep.

in the end, but to show them at multiple points along the way to make it known that what you offer, why you offer it and why it's different. To have it in person if it's possible, you know, to take it to your pre -consultations, you know, sometimes people bring them to their sessions, but if it's not in person, then to at least do it digitally where...

Right? Totally.

christa (17:18.284)
Yeah.

Whitney (17:23.14)
when they stumble upon your Instagram, they see there are posts about albums. They see physical items. They're not just pictures within those squares or, um, but, and then your website, you know, when they go and they learn about what the process is with you and what you value having notes there about why printing is important and talking about, you know, the things that we've, we've already chatted about a little bit, but, um,

Exactly.

christa (17:51.34)
Exactly.

putting it out there so people know and reminding them, you know, we all hear that someone needs to hear something seven times before they buy it. So I think it's valuable to think about what that means for photographers as well. Where can those seven, eight touch points be along the way?

It does.

christa (18:12.748)
Yeah, I agree. People buy what they see. And one thing that I also tell my students, if they're just jumping in is you have to set up an account with Retrieve first, but you guys have a folder of free marketing images of products that photographers you've allowed, you've licensed that photographers can take and use them on their Instagrams if needed, if they need some filler images.

Right, right, yeah. We have great sample discounts. All sample albums are always 25 % off. If you want to have albums with your imagery in them, you can have them made for you to show to your clients, but then also to photograph and to make videos of, to make reels of. But for those who may want more imagery, like you said, we do have a folder available for download of

Yeah.

Wow.

christa (18:52.716)
Yes.

Whitney (19:03.716)
different covers, different products, different papers showing all that we have in different ways.

Yeah, I agree. I had a student recently, her name's Grace and she's in Florida and she had a reveal session and she was also supposed to deliver a client album and she was like, Christ, I'm supposed to deliver this album before the reveal, but I really want to show this client. And I'm like, hey, if you can push it back, let's push it back and showed the client and the client was immediately sold. Like I agree seeing it in person, like you said, even if you're meeting over zoom after, but like some, at some point at the session, holding it in your hands.

And people sometimes ask me, Whitney, like, how do you coach people to go this route with you instead of like ordering from some more economic, you know, for the masses places? I don't want to use any names. And when you just hold it in your hands, there's there is no explanation needed. Yeah. Yeah.

Right, right.

Whitney (19:53.924)
Yeah, yeah, people talk about that when we see them at workshops and conferences and trade shows across the country. We do a little bit of traveling, you know, and we take our products with us and seeing people's faces when they walk up and see us for the first time or even the 10th time, you know, we always hear.

Yeah.

Whitney (20:18.148)
there is nothing like seeing it in person, you know, and seeing all of it in person and really understanding how the linen is different from the leather and how the fine art paper is different from the photographic paper. Yeah, it's pretty special.

Exactly. Yep.

christa (20:34.604)
I love that. So Whitney, say a photographer is listening and they're like, wow, I'm really curious about this. I want to check it out. Could you walk them through where they could find you, how they can begin selling your products?

Sure, yes. You are able to sign up for a Red Tree count as long as you are a professional photographer that can prove so. You can go to redtreealbums .com forward slash join. There is a form that you can fill out and our team will run through that information, confirm that you are a professional photographer. And as soon as you're approved, in the same day, likely within a few hours, you will receive an email from us that says, hey, you're approved.

Mm -hmm.

Whitney (21:15.62)
You can log in, you can view our pricing, you can access our album calculator where you can see the pricing based on customizations and how much you can make per album if you change different variables. And then from there, we recommend the starter kit. That is a product that's available to new photographers for $49. It includes everything you really need to get started. There is a...

Yeah.

Yeah.

Whitney (21:45.572)
swatch kits and our paper samples and test prints. So you can submit your own images and receive your images on our papers and see how they look on our different papers. And you also get one 50 % off sample album coupon. All of our sample albums are always 25 % off, like I mentioned a moment ago, but with our starter kit, you can have your first album be 50, your first sample be 50 % off.

Oh wow.

Whitney (22:15.78)
And another thing that we have available is our welcome calls. You can schedule some time with our team to talk through any questions. We have photographers that are coming from other album companies that are very knowledgeable of products and services, and they just want to know what it's like with Red Tree. And then we talk with people who have...

Oh cool.

Whitney (22:43.204)
never step foot into product sales and they just want a basic understanding of what their options are and how they could approach this new world.

Yeah.

christa (22:53.996)
Yeah. Wow. I love that Whitney. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to coming on and sharing all of this with us. This was amazing. And we're so honored that we got to have you and guys, I'm going to link Red Tree albums and their Instagram and the show notes. If you want to go take a peek and check it out now, I highly, highly recommend and encourage it. But when you thank you again for taking the time.

Thanks, Krista. Thanks for having me on.

Okay, Whitney, so it would be ended now. You crushed it.

I'm going to go to bed.

You have such like a calm aurora about you. And I think it's because I'm so like, I get so hyped up and frantic and like sweaty and you're just like, yeah, well.

Whitney (23:31.332)
Oh, I'm sweaty as well. I just hope it's helpful. I don't know. I hope it gives someone some kind of inspiration. Okay. All right. Well, good luck.

Oh, so helpful.

christa (23:51.596)
Oh, it will. No doubt.

christa (23:58.092)
Well, thank you.

You know, you're not calling your what's it called? You're not calling. What's the next step?

I don't even know. So what I'll do, yeah, so we have an editor that helps us, but I'll send you the date that it would go. And then I know you want to just give it a listen through prior. So I'll definitely do that as well. But I have, I literally have no concerns. And then I should, if you're good with me just linking, I'll link the join site. How does that sound? I was gonna say I'll do the red tree forward slash join.

Great. Okay. Yeah. You don't mind. Yeah. Okay.

Whitney (24:26.436)
Yeah, that's great. Yep.

as well as obviously I'll do your Instagram and if photographers obviously like to check that out too. But Whitney, that sounds awesome. Thank you so much for making the time and doing this. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, and if there's ever, I don't know, any other ways we could collaborate, even if it's with your, your coach, you know, your coaching people, let me know. You have a, you have such a, you're kindred spirit. So, you know, if there's other, other ways, other ways we can, I don't know, help people get started.

Yeah.

christa (24:48.876)
Yeah, I'd love that.

christa (24:58.796)
Oh, thank you.

christa (25:04.844)
I was, I know I was going to say for sure, I would definitely be down for that. So let me, I was brainstorming some things actually earlier when I was thinking about talking with you. So I would definitely love to stay in touch about that. Maybe we can host a workshop or something together one day, you know, it'd be fine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, same, cool.

Oh, that would be amazing. Yes. And one thing I have done is, you know, people who do group coaching, I will pop on Facebook lives or, um, Oh, what are other things that we've done? I guess that's mostly it. Yeah. There's like Q and A's. Yeah.

Yeah.

christa (25:34.316)
Yeah. That would honestly be great. We, yeah, that would honestly be great. Um, cause we do just like coaching. I don't, I don't really like Facebook groups, but I do like coaching zoom calls with my students. I think it'd be an awesome addition to have you come and share. So yeah, I would absolutely love that. Perfect. Thanks so much, Whitney. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. It meant so much. I know you're so busy, so thank you. I'll keep you posted on what's next. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Cool. You're welcome, Krista. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, good -o. Yes. Sounds great. Alrighty, talk to you later. Bye.

Bye.