Senior Portrait Photographer - Why You Should Form a Focus Group

Senior portraits are a big money make in smaller photography studios. For some photography studios, high school seniors are their main customer base. Every photographer knows there is money in senior portraits, the question is, how do you market to them? Their young, you're old; what do you do?

Let's look at some ways to get some great buzz marketing going for your senior portrait photography studio.

Senior Portraits - Get in the Seniors Mind

Knowing who your market it is is easy, knowing what they like is the hard part. You need to know what parents and seniors are looking for in senior portraits. To do this, consider creating a focus group.

Recruit ten to fifteen seniors and their parents to participate in your focus group. In return for their participation, offer them free sittings and free prints.

If possible, you will want to separate the parents from the seniors. Seniors tend to not express their opinion in front of their parents. Have one of your assistants conduct the focus group with the parents, while you work with the seniors. This way, you will get better responses from both.

Senior Portraits -

Some ideas of things to bring up during the focus group are; prices, packages, locations, props, and marketing.

Senior Portraits - Prices

When discussing price with the parents, show them a list of packages and have them tell you how much they would be willing to pay them. You could also show them a list of packages with three different prices associated with each package. Then have them circle the amount they think is most reasonable. This will give you a good idea of what your target market is willing to spend and will help you price your senior portraits accordingly.

Senior Portraits - Packages

Some people like packages, while other like to order ala-carte. Take a poll to see which is more popular. Share some ideas about packages such as, what seniors look for in a package, what size prints do they want more or less of, and what type of extras they might want. You will also need to get some idea of what your customers are willing to pay for individual prints.

Senior Portraits - Locations