|
Article from The School Photographer, January 2005. The official monthly newsletter of Professional School Photographers International (PSPA)
Founded in spring 2004 by Army and Linda Moreno, Antiquities School Pictures of America, Alameda, Calif., is a training program and network designed to assist professional studio photographers enter the school photo business, or to do a better job if already in it, as well as training nonphotographers to establish a home-based business.
The training program carries a one-time fee of $5,000 for experienced school photographers who want to use the Antiquities marketing and sales features. For others just entering school photography, the fee is $7,500 and includes onsite training, equipment, and supervised initial sales calls and fall photo days.
In addition, all clients retain their "associate" status within the Antiquities network, enabling them to continue to receive the various benefits the Morenos have negotiated with manufacturers, labs, and other service businesses.
In the school photography business himself for almost 30 years, Army Moreno notes it always has been difficult to go up against the large studios.
"The large companies could offer something that costs a lot of money, or in other ways make it nearly impossible for small, independent school photographers to compete," he says. "I began to think there had to be a better way for independent photographers to market themselves."
He developed a currently patent-pending marketing plan, based on the idea school photography is solely a fundraising enterprise.
While the financial specifics of the program remain proprietary, the plan is designed to be risk free for schools, and ensure profitability for associates.
Using this strategy, Moreno approached five nearby schools in May 2002, and won all five contracts. "I knew I had to be doing something right," he says.
That early success, in addition to capital from an investor, allowed the Morenos to launch their new business as an addition to their own photography business. As of early December 2004, there were 21 associates in nine states, from Georgia to California.
Marketing to pros
"Initially, I approached established portrait and commercial studios who wanted to expand into school photography," Moreno explains. "There are a number of commercial studios that aren't doing as well as they did five years ago. It wasn't long before we were receiving referrals."
While the Morenos market their program through trade shows for photographers, they also find "franchise" shows to be fertile grounds for attracting parents who desire a home-based business.
"In our society, parents who choose to remain in the home get short-changed. When the children enter school, they often are left with nothing to do until school lets out for the day."
The Antiquities School Pictures program can give a young mother or father summers off, and a school-year income opportunity within the community.
Marketing to nonphotographers not only increases the opportunity for the Morenos to expand their network, it also affords them a continuing revenue source by taking care of all related paperwork and after-photo-day involvement with schools, suppliers, etc.
"It's a strictly labor-only business for these people. They take the pictures and we do the rest," Moreno explains.
In either case, it's a business suited for making money between 7:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon. This allows established portrait studios to make added money, given sittings tend to be in the afternoon.
Software makes it possible
Key to the success of the network, Moreno says, is software from PhotoLynx Inc., Santa Ysabel, Calif. Moreno says it is the software many school labs use to enable Web-based access.
"PhotoLynx allows our network to function," says Moreno.
Antiquities currently has working arrangements with three labs: Excel Photo, Salem, Ore.; American Color Imaging Inc., Cedar Falls, Iowa; and TOCO Color Imaging Inc., Tucker, Ga.
When looking for a lab, Moreno doesn't ask for special pricing agreements. This, he says, would create a competitive atmosphere among labs, which he wants to avoid. The one requirement is prices at each lab must be within 10 percent of each other.
Because the network is providing each lab with new customers, however, Moreno can negotiate for products made especially for the network.
One such product is the "Amber Alert" photo CD. Moreno says Antiquities is the first to offer the CD to schools. Containing a thumbnail image of each child in the school, the images on the disc can be sent electronically to the police who can upload the images of a missing child to every patrol car in a matter of minutes.
All student pictures are burned to a CD and sent to the lab. In addition to the image files, the disc contains all the text information required by the school for purposes of identification and distribution.
"Once the photographer sends the CD to the lab, his job is done, as theschool takes care of the rest." An associate doesn't even require a high-speed Internet connection.
Hands-on assistance
During training, a staff person accompanies the new associate to sales meetings, and to their first school assignments in the fall, until they are ready to go it alone.
As for selling acumen, Moreno says he's enjoyed a 90 percent closing rate. "Generally speaking, if I can sit down with PTA members, the school principal, or whoever else is in charge, I can make the sale.
The program, however, is designed for elementary and middle schools only. Also, the phrase "school photography" is used by Antiquities to connote individual student portraits only.
Even for novice photographers, the Morenos have designed an imaging setup that's easy to master and always the same. Then, too, high-end commercial studio associates might have beautiful 6-foot light boxes in their studios; but you can't use those for school photography.
While all associates must eventually buy their own equipment - Nikon D70 Digital SLRs, laptops, lights, stands, etc., Antiquities supplies everything needed to start.
By remaining part of the network, photographers never need worry about a school being too large to service with their personal equipment.
Within the network, a photographer can request the assistance of another associate if a certain school requires three cameras and an extra photographer.
The photographer making the request must pay his colleague all expenses, plus $150. The fee remains the same, regardless of experience or reputation.
Can the requesting photographer still make a profit under this arrangement? "Sure," Moreno says, apparently rhetorically. "There's a lot of money to be made in school photography."
A second option is to request an equipment setup be shipped from Photo Service International, Gastonia, N.C., which supplies Antiquities photographers with complete equipment packages.
The Morenos envision future growth coming strongly from the franchise channel.
"Using our plan, a young mother or father can make good money doing 10 schools a year in the area where they live, which also gives them an advantage with local school officials."
|
