Alex Szentesi - Total Camera - Medford, Oregon www.totalcamera.net

Dear Bill

First, I want to thank you for your thought provoking presentation of the "branding" concept of the PRO affiliate program at our meeting Sunday morning at the PMA show. I urge anyone reading this to consider joining the IPI (Independent Photo Imagers) and the PRO program. They can be of huge benefit!

This is my first contribution to your newsletter so I hope it's considered worthy. I've been reading your newsletter and always scratch my head looking for some contribution I can add. After this last week at PMA it occurred to me why I couldn't think of any. I try to think of the "big picture" rather than the "nuts and bolts".

I've noticed that, as owners of independent operations, most of our concerns are given to attracting the admiration of our customers. Many great ideas - promotions, new services, advertising ideas, rewarding of positive behaviors (both customer and employee), etc. - have been presented, both in your newsletters and in personal contacts at the PMA convention. But we are chattering about the lovely trees that make up the forest that our independent operations are in. We need to pay more attention to the forest.

When personal friends want to buy a digital camera at my store - from me - I tell them in all honesty that my employees are the experts and I'm not qualified to help the way they deserve to be helped. Many times I've been asked "how can you run your business without being expert on the product?". The answer is simple - I'm the expert at running my business!

I believe our industry is at a crossroads as important as when the one-hour photo phenomena hit us in the early 80's. For the benefit of those who may not have been around at the time; our business model then was "a camera store that offered high quality finishing services". We were fulfilling the customers' wants. When the one hour finishing operation opened a few doors down we screamed that our quality was better and some of us even got to where we could deliver same-day better quality service but we still lost a majority of our profitable business to that place that offered on-site fulfillment. It was very obviously what the customer wanted. For those of us that were finally able to make the huge investment into our own lab equipment, those customers came back - and brought more customers with them!

Most of those who stuck to the old business model - maybe not by choice because of the investment involved - are not around anymore. The business model that fulfills customers' expectations is the only one that will always work.

Not that long ago many independent camera stores hung onto a "film is better quality than digital" attitude. Are they still around? Those of us that jumped - with both feet - into the "coolness" of the new (lower quality) way of taking pictures were rewarded with growing business including profitable photo finishing services!

Our customers are poised to make another major change. The popularity of photobooks, folding cards, calenders, and other personalized photo services is huge to anyone exposed to them. It's now our opportunity, as the forest of independents, to join in the creation of what will be the new expectation - on site fulfillment of those services. You can bet your last business dollar that the big stores will be doing just that. The demand will be there whether we participate or not.

At the PMA show HP offered us an incredibly easy way to get into offering a variety of "cool" new on-site services. For a low price, with 0% financing, and enough free media to almost pay (sold at retail) for the equipment, we have an opportunity to "brand" our businesses as leaders and innovators into these new expectations. All for a very modest investment!

Kelly Pittman - National Camera Exchange - Golden Valley, MN - www.natcam.com

Hello Bill,

National Camera Exchange has several successful photo contests each year. And as anyone who has planned a photo contest can tell you, it is not easy to get people to enter - even though your photography customers love the "idea" of photo contests, and are very proud when they win. It is a great way to involve your customers, and works even better if you can tie it in with a promotional event. In my 15 years of coordinating contests, I have compiled some basics to keep in mind:

1. Keep it simple! The more complicated it becomes, the more entries you lose! Make it easy to enter with an 8x10/8x12 photograph that can be dropped off or mailed to your store. Omit entry fees. The contest should not require special photo equipment in order to enter - make it available for all your customers: entry level and the more experienced. (Please note: We find it much easier to judge, receive and display printed photos due to lack of quality in images sent via email. Therefore, we only accept prints! After all, that is what photography is all about - the final printed image.)
2. Determine a "theme" for photo entries. Again, keep it simple. Popular themes we have used are "Fall Colors" and "Summer Fun".
3. Make it a "regular" photo contest, that happens the same time every year. These have been our most successful contests. People look forward to these, and we get several calls asking when they will be.
4. Plan ahead! You need a time span of six to eight weeks for your customers to submit their photos. However, the contest should not extend much longer than eight weeks as you lose your urgency after that time! Many will be interested in participating, but need time to plan their shot, shoot, print and mail it in.
5. Keep a flexible deadline. If you are looking for a good number of entries, keep your deadline flexible. (We typically have a deadline as Friday, but accept entries through Monday.) No matter the length of the contest, you'll have frantic last minute customers asking you to please accept their entries.
6. DISPLAY THE WINNERS, and state where in your contest guidelines! People LOVE to see their work displayed in public. We display all winners at each location, making prints of the winners and giving each store their own framed display to hang in the store.
7. DO NOT RETURN ENTRIES. This may cause distress with some of your customers. However, it is standard practice NOT to return entries. If you have a large number of entries it can become labor intensive to send them back. Plus, if you inadvertently lose or damage one, you are not responsible. We have returned and not returned. Not returning is by far the best option when running a successful contest.
8. Have lucrative prizes. We have found that gift certificates to our retail store in the amounts of $50 and/or $100 are very well received and promote business in our store.
9. Use a consent form. On entry forms include a "consent to release information and release of liability" statement. State that the photos may be used to advertise future contests and may be displayed in your store or on your website. Do not claim to have all rights of the photo. People get uptight about the possibilty of losing their rights to their image. State clearly what you may use them for. Look at other "consent to release" forms to help guide you as to what to include and the wording. You may choose not use use their images in advertising, and can omit this form. However, if you're going to display images on the web and in your store, include that information on your entry form and have the person submitting their photo sign the form acknowledging this to avoid misunderstandings.
10. MOST IMPORTANT: ADVERTISE YOUR CONTEST!!! This is where many contests fail because of lack of follow through with advertising. If you do not advertise, you will not get participants. Promote the contest through your ads, flyers, photofinishing, direct mail, in-store posters, newsletters and website. Combine the contest information with regular advertising to keep costs down. The more you advertise, the more successful your contest will be!!

Chris Lydle - Chris' Camera Center - Aiken, SC - www.chriscamera.com

I didn't see anybody walking the aisles who looked like he was ready to go home and shoot himself.

That's a pretty bald way to put it, but it's the truth.