We want to help you make the most out of your Family Portrait Month promotion. The resources in this section will help you do just that!
Here, you'll find a wealth of marketing tips, written resources, and real-world information on how specific photographers have used Family Portrait Month to benefit their marketing programs. To download items, you will be asked to log in with a password (received in an e-mail after your donation to PPA Charities is processed).
General Information
Any PPA-member studio can participate in this promotion if they:
- Make a minimum donation of $25 to PPA Charities (an annual donation, payable each year that you choose to participate in the promotion). Once registered as a participant (and your $25 minimum donation to PPA Charities is processed), You will receive an e-mail that provides password-protected access to marketing tips, written resources, and downloads.
- You are asked to donate at least $25 to PPA Charities for each family portrait session occurring during October. Otherwise, you are free to decide how much to contribute--an entire session fee, part of a session fee, a percentage of each sale, or a specified amount of $25 or more. You can even accept donations for Operation Smile year-round, not just in October.
- The marketing content in this section includes ideas and examples of information that has worked for others, which you are free to use.
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If you prefer, you can make a personal donation to PPA Charities on behalf of Operation Smile. Remember that it takes only $240 to buy the gift of surgery for a deserving child. So ask yourself: How Many Smiles Can I Buy?
Marketing Webinars
Learn how to make the most out of PPA Charities' Family Portrait Month promotion from the these hour-long Webinars:
- Angela Weedon
- Terry Farmer
Want a basic year-round fundraiser that will not only benefit Operation Smile, but also raise community awareness of your studio? Try selling "Smile Cards."
Smile Cards are folded stationary notes with a favorite image from a client's session on the outside, blank on
the inside, and with your studio's logo and the Operation Smile logo on the back. Simply sell the cards in a pack
of 10 for a predetermined price, and donate all proceeds to Operation Smile through the Family Portrait Month campaign. Dallas photographer Angela Weedon, the originator of the Smile Card concept, sells them for $15 per pack, and her studio generates over $5,000 per year on this fundraiser alone!
Angie's studio prints the cards to keep cost down, and limits clients' purchases to 3 packs each. The back of the card features the Operation Smile logo and this statement: Sales of this card benefit Operation Smile (operationsmile.org)
To read Angie Weedon's article about her success in raising funds for Operation Smile, click here.
You can download templates for Angie's vertical and horizontal Smile Cards here:
Smile_Cards.zip.
To read Terry Farmer's article on partnering with dentists to benefit Operation Smile click here.
In addition to raising funds for Operation Smile, Laura used the promotion to introduce her upscale studio to consumers she might not see during the regular course of business. She added an intriguing twist to the month-long promotion by offering an October 31 Halloween shoot for only $75, which included 5-8 online proofs of each child in costume, from which parents could purchased finished prints. The fee went to Operation Smile and represented one-third of the studio's eventual donation.
To publicize this special event, Laura posted a flyer at a luncheonette and also added it to her Internet blog. To facilitate fulfillment of this special session, clients ordered their images online. Later her blog featured some of the charming images the promotion produced.
Charlene McKay Uses
Family Portrait Month to Introduce
Her New Studio
When veteran photographer Charlene McKay opened her new studio in El Dorado Hills, California in 2005, she decided to use Family Portrait Month to kick off her most aggressive promotion of the year. She began by creating 10,000 4x9 postcards that a local service delivered to each home in her small town for only 10 cents per home. She also participated in two different local business fairs and distributed the cards there as well. The promotional offer Charlene chose was: "Make any donation of $25 or more to PPA Charities' Operation Smile and receive a free session and a 16x20 print." Her plan was to upsell the 16x20 to a larger canvas and sell additional wall prints, gift portraits and frames.
Charlene photographed 28 sessions for the month and had many clients donate more than the minimum $25, and only two did not upgrade. Most spent over $1,000, and her highest sale was $4,000. Best of all, the promotion allowed her to spread the word about her new business through a very low financial commitment that didn't cheapen her work. "By supporting a charity, it provided a reason for me to offer such a low price for a very valuable product," she said. "I think Operation Smile is a perfect fit as a charitable partner for photographers."
Sandy Puc' Gets an Early Start Through Her Studio Newsletter
Colorado photographer Sandy Puc' utilized early promotion of Family Portrait Month in her newsletters to generate community awareness. This motivated her clients to get in for their holiday portraits. She donated a portion of her session fees during the month of October.
Get More Marketing Ideas From "PPACH Pacesetters" by clicking here.
Marketing Resources
