Case Study: Julie Klaasmeyer Portrait Design
Combining Portrait Photography and an E-Commerce Business Helps from a Kansas Studio
The Company
After a few years of "being the mom who kept One Hour Photo in business" Julie Klaasmeyer started a formal photography business, J.Klaasmeyer Portrait Design, in 2001 in Paola, Kansas. Since opening the business out of her home, Julie has added a 1,200 square foot studio to her home and grew the staff to four employees. Though the photography business has increased rapidly she has seen an even larger gain in the sales of templates available on a website she set up specifically for that part of the business called Design Revolution. She builds her career around a busy home life that involves a helpful husband, Dale, and their four children, ages 2 to 16.
The Challenge
Julie appears at a disadvantage by living and working in a town of just 5,000 residents and in a region where she jokingly says "there are 10 photographers per square mile." Still, she’s within a half hour drive of Overland Park, one of the tonier suburbs of Kansas City, Mo., where "most of our business is from," says Julie.
Most, if not all, business walks through the door via word-of-mouth, a situation Julie has few complaints with since they tend to be "pre-qualified" – they have the money to pay for a good package of prints, albums, greeting cards, portraits and other products. "These clients know our style, know what their friends said, most have a good idea of the work we do," she says.
Her photography clientele today is 60 percent children, 25 percent high school seniors and 15 percent families. There’s a reason for fewer family portraits. "Our session fees for families are higher because we found they were a lot of work," she says. "Therefore, we automatically include an 11x14. We didn’t want the family who wanted a greeting card or a 5x7, we wanted the family who wanted a wall portrait. With the higher sitting fee we don’t get as many families, but they know they’re getting a wall portrait, at least."
She’d like to continue growing her categories and staying ahead of her competitors.
The Market Approach
Julie is totally comfortable with promotion in the digital world. Rather than bother marketing in the traditional ways – direct mail, newsletters and so forth – she prefers to do it all on the web. Her website is deep with photographs categorized into babies, seniors and toddlers. In addition to websites for Design Revolution and her photography business, she added a third rail to her media empire with a blog she started in March 2007 to display current photographs from recent projects, make announcements of speaking engagements and showcase templates. The most advertising we do is through the blog," she says.
Another successful strategy is to give well connected clients three or four packets with examples of the studio’s work accompanied by certificates for free sessions which they can gift to friends. Giving away a session "to get the kind of client we want" is not a big deal, she says. It opens the door to them for a look. And if they become a client, they in turn tell their friends and the circle of potential leads grows wider.
Finally, Julie is all about service. She caters "to clients who come through the door with a premier experience" by customizing all the work the studio does with the help of White House Custom Colour.
Results
Lately, Julie has employed several WHCC products to boost sales, especially the Hardcover Press Printed Books with hinged paper and custom printed covers. The studio also does great business in collages and wall portraits. The 8.5x11 and 11x14 albums and large collages have sold especially well to high school seniors, while the wall portraits appeal to families, she says.
One of the more successful up sell opportunities features a free DVD when a client reaches $1,500 in sales. Since most seniors purchase a collage at an average cost of $525 it doesn’t take much to have an order go above $1,500 for the DVD. A collage, an order of 15 images along with a WHCC Press Printed Book is more than adequate to trigger the free DVD of the session shoot.
Printed by WHCC, the collages offer an assortment of images that compliment each other and are displayed on art boards of 10x20, 16x24 , 16x30 and custom sizes she will develop for clients. "The collages are printed by WHCC as one big photo and they become nice art pieces for kid rooms," she adds. "We customize them by hanging them by a big, fat ribbon."
The studio sells "a lot of cards and announcements" for newborns, seniors and Christmas greeting cards printed by WHCC. Bookmarks and rep cards for seniors work well, too, she says. As a rule, those images have to be from among the shots seniors or parents have chosen for a collage or an 8x10. Again, one of the factors driving more sales has been the free DVD since seniors who want to send out a tri-fold – and many do – need six images, she says.
Julie works with families but requires they at least purchase a wall portrait. Many who come in for their sessions walk out buying a larger wall portrait than they may have originally expected. "We found families take a lot more time to work with than we originally thought and that has made us require a minimum order, but we’ve found they usually buy a larger piece than the minimum size," she notes.
The WHCC Difference
The photographer is a big fan of WHCC and applauds the new hinged Hardcover Press Printed Books, especially the ability to print a photograph on the front cover. The large scale prints have sold well as both portraits or as collages. She likes the offerings, especially the more fashion-forward books that the company developed over the past year.
WHCC, she says, has encouraged her creativity, especially with regard to templates that can used by other photographers. Those who buy templates often are already WHCC clients or will become one after seeing the company’s work. "We do everything with WHCC," she says. "I’ve known them for years and visited them in St. Paul back when they still had a much smaller office."
Julie is excited to see WHCC add additional hardcover press printed books in the smaller sizes of 8x8, 5x7 and 5x5. She believes her clients will buy them for other family members and relatives. She sees press printed books and collages as continuing to elevate her sales and to draw people from Kansas City, who she says "enjoy a drive to the middle of nowhere" to find a highly artistic photographer well known for catering to their needs to produce work comparable to that found in large urban areas.
Business name: Julie Klaasmeyer Portrait Design
Website: http://www.jklaasmeyer.com/
Location: Paola, Kansas
Focus: Children, seniors and families
Strategy: Focus on high touch service; encourage clients to higher priced wall portraits, collages and other items; continue client connections through blog, Design Revolution and photography web site. WHCC Products Used: Press Printed Books and Photographic Printing with Finishing Services for Collages.