MARKETS THAT USE PHOTOBOOTHS

Weddings

For many photobooths operators, this is their main market. For almost all photobooth operators, the main market will either be the corporate market or the wedding market, with the best ones being able to successfully serve both.

Though it is far less common, you will occasionally get a request to do a photobooth at  a stag & doe (or buck and doe or whatever it is referred to in your area) or even a bridal shower or engagement party.

Sometimes, people who have destination weddings have parties for all their friends (sort of like a reception) when they return. I have done some of these and like to promote “green screen” here. I tell them to make some pictures at their “destination” and pick 5 of their favorites and I will (assuming they are of the correct quality) use them as the green screen backgrounds. Other than that I treat this type of party pretty much like a wedding.

Corporate Market

This is my favorite market, even more so than weddings.

One of the best things about the corporate market is that it is not centered around 40 prime Saturdays every year.

As well, as long as you deliver the quality, the corporate market is a little less price sensitive and is willing to pay for the best you have to offer.

Holiday Parties

Just as with Djing, expect December to be full of company “Christmas” or “Holiday” parties. My busiest day of the year has traditionally been the Saturday closest to 2 weeks before Christmas.

Now, if you are looking for new business, I would start marketing in August and then every month till December – AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER and NOVEMBER.

School Market

During prom season expect to be busy. If you do many events at the school market be ready to work pretty much steady at graduation time.

The school market is yet another way to extend your photobooth business beyond a weekend endeavor.

Birthdays

From my direct experience, after weddings, corporate events and schools, birthdays were the next most common type of photobooth event.

Many times these are kids parties, but I have also done 40, 50 and 60 year old birthday parties. I think my record is 80.

Many times at birthday parties, photobooths are not just used for entertainment, but as well for pictures people will keep for a lifetime. There are times I truly feel privileged in being able to help these memories for people.

Bar and Bat Mitzvahs

If you serve the Jewish market to any extent you will find your photobooth calendar busy with bar and bat mitzvahs.

Generally you would treat these pretty much the same as birthday celebrations. For those people that might not know, bar (for boys) and bat (for girls) mitzvahs are Jewish ceremonies that, very simply explained, represent the first step towards adulthood.

Under Jewish law, children are not obligated to observe the commandments, until they reach their bar or bat mitzvahs, at the age of 13 for boys and 12 for girls. In ancient times hundreds of years ago, before secular and even more current Jewish law governed such activities, reaching your bar or bat mitzvah also represented the age at which you could form binding contracts, testify before a court and marry. I repeat, this was a long long time ago and today, represents merely the first of many steps towards becoming an adult.

Some congregations have elaborate ceremonies to mark this occasion along with significant religious educational requirements such as learning and reciting the traditional chants, while others have lesser demands, as the bar or bat mitzvah is considered automatic. There is no such thing as passing or failing. Of course, the religious service in modern times is followed by a reception that is many times as elaborate as a wedding reception. Consequently, photobooths have become an important part of many bar and bat mitzvah receptions.

I have done a lot of work for the Jewish community over the last 20 or so years. Most of this I credit to what I learned early on from Mobile Beat Magazine and Bobby Morganstein.

Back in 1991, in what was probably the 3^rd or 4^th issue ever of Mobile Beat Magazine, Bobby Morganstein had an ad out for his brand new cd,  The Complete Jewish Party CD. I think it was at the time something like 28 bucks, but it was the best 28 bucks I ever spent.

Now at this time I was not doing photobooths, but rather was a DJ. I got a phone call from a prospect, and their first question was whether I had any Jewish music.

Of course I told them about the new cd I had just purchased that had Hava Nagila as well as some Hora medleys on it, and guess what, I got the job.

Now this was not a bar or bat mitzvah but rather a half-Jewish wedding. However, it seems they liked the job I did and this led to at least 40-50 more bookings within the Jewish community in the next few years. Like I said before, it was the best 28 dollars I ever spent.

If you have a quality photobooth and provide excellent service, try to get into the Jewish market. Some of the larger metropolitan areas actually have trade shows showcasing entertainment services to the Jewish community. I would suggest you check them out.

Trade Shows and Product Promotion

Companies are starting to use photobooths to attract people into their own trade show exhibits.

Being able to effectively brand the client's product is critical to success in this market. Most importantly this is done with the template you use for the photos. Remind the client or prospect that their own prospects will probably keep the photobooth strip much longer than the other literature that was handed to them at the booth.

For a company such as Coca Cola, the marketing reach of the photobooth strips with Coca Cola written all over them could truly be multi-generational. The photobooth strip you provided today might be indirectly responsible for the bottle of Coke someone's great great great grandchild buys in 2130 after looking at your picture that you took at the trade show today.

If you are planning on doing a lot of work to corporate clients at trade shows you might want to look at buying a photobooth that allows you to specifically brand products. If your booth does not allow you to do that, as this is a fairly new upgrade, you may want to look at a temporary wrap of your booth for that particular project.

Radio Stations

Radio stations market both themselves and their sponsors at a large number of trade shows every year.

Photobooths, especially social media photobooths, are starting to become in demand with radio stations.

In the United States radio stations start with the letter W. In Canada, they start with the letter C. A long time ago, there was a joke that a new radio station format was going to play nothing but RAP music. And of course, while in the US that radio station would have been called W-R-A-P in Canada it was called C-R-A-P.

I am not sure if this last comment will make it through the publisher`s content editors, but if you are reading this then it was not censored. The only reason I came up with repeating that joke was that I needed a fictional radio station to use.

So now, what you need to do is approach radio station C-R-A-P and suggest that they contract you to provide for them photobooths at both their on-location live telecasts as well as their trade show appearances.

I generally do not recommend radio or TV advertising for a photobooth company as it is too generalized and your dollars would probably be better spent elsewhere, but I would definitely give them a real good deal as long as they keep mentioning your photobooth company on the air.

You may also want to consider some sort of co-operative deal with them where their name is on the top of the strip and your name is on the bottom. This way they are promoting you as well.

Sell photobooths to the radio station promotions staff as something extra they can sell to their clients. Be sure to remind the radio station of the benefits your photobooths can provide them. Your photobooth will enhance their event presence, increase awareness of either the station or sponsored product, and will without a doubt drive traffic to the booth.

A photobooth is a fresh new approach to on-site marketing that associates the advertised brand with a positive experience. As with trade show marketing, it continues to deliver brand impressions long after the event has taken place.

Some of the latest photobooth software also allows the radio station to collect marketing information that can be used to later market to prospects. As an example, if someone sends their picture to their email, with their permission (pay close attention to your country`s data collection laws) you now have their email address.

Also, in order to allow them to post to their facebook page, you could insist (very nicely of course) that they first have to ``LIKE`` your facebook page. All I am saying here is that the marketing potential is limitless.

Charity Events and Fund Raisers

One thing you have to be careful of here is the fact that you will get calls from charity events asking you to do their photobooths for free, in exchange for promotion. Every charity under the sun will call you asking for a free donated photobooth. If this is a charity you really believe in or if you have so much money you can afford to give your work away for free then by all means go ahead.

If you are willing to donate your time (or pay your employees to do it on your behalf) and are willing to donate the paper and other miscellaneous supplies, well then that is your decision. If you are in a jurisdiction where this applies, see if you can get some kind of tax receipt.

I have in the past done events for companies that paid me and then turned around and gave the booth out for free. If you are making too much money and need some way to get rid of it (wouldn't that be nice ) well maybe this is a good way to do just that.

I have been weary however of the extent of “promotional” value that you do get from doing these events. I remember one event, a large children's festival with a significant admission cost where the owner of the company I was working for at the time was told he would get a free booth in exchange for  making FREE photos of all the people that wanted pictures taken.

It was a huge success for the festival. The photobooth concept was certainly helped. However it was a lot of work over the course of a long weekend, a lot of money was spent on labor and paper, and money was lost from not being able to use the booth at a paying event, and that did happen.

Though some indirect business that I am not aware of may have resulted from this participation at the event, I am not aware of a single direct booking that was obtained.

Worse yet, perhaps one of our competitors got business, because people were sold by us on the photobooth concept, then went with another company with a lower cost which did not have the overhead of doing a “free” festival.

I would rather that someone else promote the general idea of the photobooth and then I come in and scoop the business (lol).

As well, by doing these “free” events you run the risk of devaluing yourself in the eyes of future prospects. Let me stress that this did not happen with my own company but a company I was working for, but I remember one time I was doing a “free” event. Even though most of the people did not know we were doing the event for free, I did have one lady who may have been part of the organization (or something like that anyway) who came up to me asking for a price to do the photobooth for her school's prom. After I told her the price, she almost got mad and acted like I was ripping her off, after all I was doing this event for FREE on a Saturday night.

Now, there are exceptions to what I am talking about here. If someone (let's say the manager of an upscale golf club) has referred a lot of business to me in the last year and then has their own event, I may very likely do their own personal or company event for either cost or free (depending on the volume) purely as a Thank You!

As well, if you are just getting started, you may not have much choice than to do a few “freebies” just to get your name out. Twenty-six years ago, my first few DJ gigs were free as well, for organizations I was heavily involved with at the time. However, I would not suggest making it a permanent part of your business.

As a general rule I do give a “charity” discount and depending upon the charity and the circumstances (and perhaps most importantly the date) I do discount deeper. And yes, I would probably donate the photobooth for my best friend's wedding (lol).

As well, I will consider verifiable advertising (on paper – not just a thank you) opportunities in exchange for a photobooth. Every situation is different and must be considered individually. Just remember, don't let yourself become a sucker and then wonder later why you aren't making money.

Having said that here are some ideas for working with charities where you are not giving the booth away for free:

a) CHARGE FOR THE PHOTOS – and then split the price between you and the charity.

b) SELL AD SPACE ON THE PHOTOBOOTH PHOTOS – limit the photos to 2 or 3 so that you have generous space left over for the advertising of the sponsors logos – once again make sure some of the money goes to you and some back to the charity. Remind the sponsors that unlike brochures or postcards photobooth pictures rarely get tossed after the event. They end up on bulletin boards, fridges and many times on social networking sites such as Facebook. Done right, photobooth photos can be a valuable advertising product with shelf life.

I generally will give a reasonable discount to registered charities, more so if it is on an off day, but I won't go overboard. The person who gives their work away may get a lot of work, but at the same time they'll go broke.

Also, if word gets out that you work extremely cheap, well you will devalue your product and will have a much harder problem getting a reasonable price for your services.