The Long-Term Value of a Photobuyer…Cultivate Them for Future Profits

No contest, right? Yet most stock photographers resort to the second scenario, or even a third: they wait by the phone and hope someone will call them.

In the early days of the California Gold Rush, the ’49ers who proved most successful were those that panned the creeks first to locate the gold, but then took one more important step. They followed the gold back to the source and then spent their time in the mine.

Too often, stock photographers will sell a photo to a buyer and consider the sale and relationship done. The photographer goes on to look for “gold” elsewhere.

FUTURE WORTH
Successful stock photographers, on the other hand, learn how to “mine their lode.” That is, they calculate the future net worth of each photobuyer (and the market he/she represents) and put the buyer into their marketing program, which includes systematic promotion. A buyer soon forgets a photo and a photographer unless you remind the buyer regularly of your work.

You can cultivate long-term working relationships with photobuyers at markets whose photo needs match your strong coverage areas.

Determining the future net worth of an editor or photobuyer is not difficult to do. Based on photobuyers at other, similar, markets, be it a book or magazine publisher, a corporation, etc., the photographer estimates the jobs, sales, and other revenue that can be obtained from the photobuyer over two to three years, and then projects what potential revenues will come in. Past experience shows that each buyer represents certain predictable variables: per-picture rate of pay, average number of pictures bought per transaction, frequency of purchase per year, spin-off to other photobuyers in the same publishing house/ad agency/ corporation. From this, it’s possible for the stock photographer to determine a fairly accurate future net worth of their new photobuyer.

The future net worth over a ten-year period of a typical low-budget buyer would be approximately $5,000. A mid-range buyer would be approximately $25,000, and a high range would be about $75,000. By the way, we have found ten years is an average length of time you can expect to remain with a buyer in the publishing industry.

PROMOTION
The critical factor is promotion.
If the stock photographer does not set up a regular and consistent plan of promotion, the new photobuyer could very easily be lost.

What does it cost to promote? If your costs to promote were just 10% of the expected gross revenue, it’s easy to see that promotion costs are irrelevant. The critical factor is to know who you should spend your promotional dollars on.

Which brings us to how to get good leads worth your promotion dollars (panning for gold along the creek). Obviously, the leads in your marketletter (PhotoDaily, PhotoLetter, or PhotoStockNotes/Plus) are the most cost-effective for you. If you spend $330 per year on a marketletter service, and obtain 10 excellent mid-range leads during that one year, you have a gold mine: 10 x $25,000 = $250,000 future net worth–at a cost of only $330, plus 10% to promote to them over a ten-year period. There are not many businesses that can realize that kind of cost-effective marketing strategy.

Begin today. Follow up with the photobuyers you’ve cultivated in the past. Start mining this hidden asset of yours.