Under the umbrella of “marketing plans for the year ahead” I made a list of specific areas to discuss with dealers: new approaches; new plans; reacting to changes in the market and in the habits of consumers.
When several dealers remarked they’d had very good Decembers, it occurred to me that if it were possible to continue with whatever they did in December, well, there’s a viable marketing plan. Except it might be tough to get Hallmark and everyone else to go along with another Christmas. One per year exhausts us all. And so, with the birth of Christ off the table, I pretty much stuck with my list.
Jeff Dobbs
Sales Manager
Mike Crivello Camera Centers, Brookfield, Wisconsin
We’re getting into promoting some of the accessories people can use with the still cameras that also take movies, like the Canon 5D Mark II, which is a camera a lot of people are asking about. We’re putting in things like monitors and fine focus controls to rent as well as to sell; it’s an area that seems to be getting a whole lot of interest.
Which products specifically?
Monitors and grip devices from Ikan, and a focus control device from Zacuto. These are aftermarket companies that are making things to make the movie modes of digital SLRs more functional.
Marketing products that play off the technology manufacturers are offering—sounds like a plan.
This is where we think our industry is going right now, and it’s something we can get in on. It’s an area where people need some expertise to help them along the way, to show them more about the functionality of their cameras. [These products] seem to fit the mold of the smaller camera store that’s trying to do more with higher end items. We’re not just going to sit back and watch the photo world go by us. We’re going to be part of what’s happening.
Phil Kaplan
General Manager
Showcase Photo & Video, Atlanta, Georgia
We’re still formulating our ideas, so it’s a little early for me to give you a specific idea of our objectives, but I can tell you that for us, as a small retailer, advertising is an area we think about a lot. We consider what we did the previous year and how it worked and how we can improve on it, and that’s what we’re going to try to figure out in the next couple of weeks. So our advertising review is about all I can mention right now.
Jesse Thompson
Manager
Milford Photo, Milford, Connecticut
We enjoyed a very good December—cameras were very strong, so we’ll continue with that, and all the peripherals, all the accessories, have been very big. We’re part of the PRO group, and that’s helped us.
And things you might want to improve?
Our photo gifting—via our in-store production. We’re contemplating an expansion of that, out of the regular 4×6, 5×7 and 8×10 because that kind of business is waning, and there’s not much we can do about that. I think we need to smarten up on some higher end photo gifts—posters and gallery wraps and custom framing. There are new products out there that we should look into . . . we’ve seen some fantastic dry processing that gives outstanding book production capability, and while we do that, we find that it evolves very quickly so we need to pay more attention to it to be able to provide the latest and greatest and slickest looking products. We need to find a product where people will come in, it’s up on the wall, they can look at it, envision their image up there and we can roll with that.
You mentioned that cameras did well in December. What did you do to promote them—and what might you continue to do?
We did a tremendous amount of advertising, and we were able to work with the manufacturers to do that. We expanded the radius of our advertising beyond the usual area, reaching out to a 60- or 70-mile area. And it worked for us; it laid the groundwork to get people in the store. We had a record amount of people come into the store in December, and once we got them in, well, we’ve always made it a priority with our salespeople to accessorize.
Jason M. Smith
Vice President
Camera Wholesalers, Stamford, Connecticut
Like everybody else, we’re going to be looking at online social and viral marketing. That seems like a good way to go.
How are you going to approach that?
Well, I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I’m not ready to share it with anyone yet.
In general terms, then, are you talking about tying your store into picture-taking activities, postings . . .?
We’re talking about giving people a little bit more of a transparent look at our business, knowing what’s coming in, what’s going out, what’s new.
Sort of highlighting products and services and your abilities, what you can do for people who are interested in taking photos for these social groups and networks?
And concentrating it more in the areas that we excel at, not necessarily in trying to compete with everybody for the best price anymore.
Pitching it toward quality and service, not trying to have the lowest prices . . .
It seems that everybody is trying to have the lowest prices. It’s tough when you can go online and see a thousand other prices, and every time you do a search for a camera the first two places that come up are Amazon and B&H.
So you’re not going to try to play their game?
Actually, we’re going to use their game against them. It’s going to be a big part of our plan.
But if their game is price, how do you compete?
That’s the part I can’t share.
Looks like I’ll be checking your website from time to time and calling you back in a few months. So, other than social networking, any plans?
We’re shifting away from the paper ads; they’re not really working as well as they had. I think we can do a lot more on TV. And we’re hiring companies to do our Web advertising for us, to concentrate it more in our area. We don’t sell online, and I think that’s something we’re going to look into. We never opened an online store because I always thought you had one chance to make a good online first impression, or you’d lose all your clients.
So you plan to go after that—the one good first impression?
That’s right.
Rex Allen
CFO, Co-Owner
Allen’s Camera, Orem, Utah
We’re thinking of putting a lot of our advertising budget into building a Web presence instead of going into the traditional Yellow Pages and billboards. We’re still going to run our newspaper ads; I don’t think we can get away with not running those, but I think we’re going to spend a lot of our money trying to make our website more accessible. We’re going to try to optimize our website so when people Google something, we show up.
And you’ll change the design of the site?
Right now we’re using basically a canned website that a lot of dealers use. It’s well done and it’s economical, but it makes me the same, Google-wise, as all 200 dealers that are using it. I have zero advantage over other dealers. So if I can make my website different . . . I feel you can only win on one key word or term on the Web, so you have to go out and say, I want to be the number one person for, let’s say, Epson . . .
Not Canon or Nikon?
I think Canon and Nikon are pretty hard to win. You might be able to find a little niche where someone’s not marketing, say, PocketWizards, so you may be able to win for that key word. And you have to have the right price, because I feel that the Web is about price. Nobody cares how good you are. They care that you don’t suck, but they don’t care if you’re really good. They care what price you have and that you don’t suck.
So you have to get their attention and have a price that’s competitive?
And you have to have a product you can make money on. There’s a whole lot of things you can try to sell online, but to be price competitive, to make money, that’s different. I don’t think that product is a camera; cameras are so hammered online. You have to look at something and say, this is where I can make my money. And if you get to where a clientele is choosing you, you might be able to sell other stuff that you’re not necessarily the cheapest person on, but you might be close enough.
And close enough might be good enough.
It might.
