What follows is a great marketing article from Professional Photographer Magazine. The article is titled – DO GOOD MARKETING OPPORTUNITY: TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISER:
Four years ago pet services company Woofie’s will what these contacted pet photographer Ellen Zangla see if she’d make Santa pet portraits for its clients. When Woofie’s asked what
Zangla would charge for the gig, she proposed another idea: set up the Santa portrait sessions as a fundraiser for a local animal rescue.Since then, Zangla has made it a regular part of her business participate in fundraising events for animals in need. “I feel it’s important to give back,” she says. Last year she raised $14,000 via five events with various partners, and the year before she raised $10,000. Some of the Zangla’s tips for portrait session fundraiser:
Partner with the company in your niche that has a lot of reach. Woofie’s, for example, has 7000 people on its mailing list making it possible to promote the fundraising event to many more people than Xanga could’ve reached on her own.
Don’t compete with your regular work. The portraits Zangla makes for fundraisers are done in the studio environment in front of the backdrop the portraits she makes in her business are done outdoors. So while Zangla is making contacts with potential new clients through fundraisers, she is not giving them the same kind of products they receive in the book her for a portrait session.
Customers should pay the charity by cash or check. The customer pays you you’ll have to count that as income will make it clear in promotional materials that customers should bring cash or make a check out directly to the charity.
Collect names and emails from participants before making their portraits. Before participants have their pets portrait made Xanga has them fill out a form that requests their name and contact information, including email address she can used follow-up with digital photos. Zangla writes the image number on the form to keep track of each subject’s photos the form should also ask if they agree to be added to a mailing list and to allow Zangla to share pet photos on social media. “It’s a good way to expand your reach in the community,” she says.
Email each customer there photos before sharing them on social media. “Having that email interaction with people is really important,” Xanga says. “You establish should ship.” For Santa sessions, Zangla provides a print quality image since many customers want to use it from quality power. For Halloween and other themed fundraiser sessions, she provides a social media site image.
Offer a giveaway. When Zangla will emails customers their photos, she creates an incentive for them to book a portrait session with her. For example she might offer a limited time offer to donate a portion of their session playing charity that was supported by the fundraiser.
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