Dear Sam and NILMDTS team,
I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in the National Charity Model Search. With the current shaky economy, I was more than a little nervous about the typical slow months for photography. When the announcement came about the Charity Model Search I was thrilled about the awesome prize potential for clients (and my studio, of course), but also thrilled that all the work was done for me with your marketing pieces!
I sent out the Charity Model email ad, had posters printed by my lab, postcards printed by Marathon Press, and I was off and running. The postcards and posters were placed in several places, a daycare center that I provide portraiture for, my hairdresser, a florist that I photograph for, my husband's business, and a Swim/Fitness center where I have done Charity food drive portrait sessions.
My phone immediately began ringing, and much to my dismay and delight, I got nothing done for two days (other than booking models, of course)! This campaign was MAGIC for my business and booked my Saturdays solid in January and February. I am a small business of one employee (me!), and the numbers may not be shocking for big business owners. However, I am thrilled with the results. I booked 36 sessions from this campaign and of those, sixteen of them had never been in my studio before, and four had just done big family sessions with me in November.
Guess what? They couldn't pass up the portraits of their "model" even though we had just sold them big packages. I sold my largest portrait package ever out of this group including a 30x40 Gallery Wrap. Now this is by far my best investment in a marketing campaign ever (I only spent about $200 on the whole campaign for printed materials)!Now for the emotionally rewarding part, one of the reasons I got so little done while scheduling appointments was because of the personal response from some of my clients. Several of my clients and some complete strangers called me to thank me for being a part of NILMDTS. This was the first time they had heard of the organization, and many of them have experienced personal loss or have helped family and friends through their loss. This was an outcome I wasn't expecting, and it touched me so deeply. Many people called just to say thank you and said they would go out to vote for my models even though their children were too old to participate. Wow! I have a connection with my clients that business alone could have never put there.
During this campaign I also received my first phone call to go to a family needing portraits for their stillborn son. I can only say that there is no way to describe how it feels to give this precious gift to these families in their time of loss. It still makes me cry, and I feel more strongly about this organization than I did on the day that I joined. I am so proud to be a part of this model search that has currently raised over $53,000 for NILMDTS. Thank you Sam and friends for being marketing geniuses. Give me a path and I will follow it. Most importantly, thank you Sam, Cheryl, and Maddux for providing the framework to give our gift to those who truly need it.
With a sincere heart,
Heather Gaydeski
Bella Photography
Charlotte, North Carolina
And another letter writers says. . .
When word went out about the National Charity Model Search, our studio jumped at the chance to participate. From the very first email we received -- right at the end of December -- we hit the green light and downloaded all the pre-designed materials.
The pre-written press release, modified with our information, was submitted to a dozen or so PR sites. At the same time, we sent out an email to our customer base with a very special deal. We also posted it in our blog and on the Giving portion of our website. Our local NBC affiliate pulled the story and announced it on the 6pm news, and it was also picked up by Carolina Parent and our local newspaper.
By the end of the next day, we had 10 sessions booked.
On day two, we sent out very targeted messages to our commercial customers -- those that work with or around kids asking them to post our modified flyer or send it to their customers via email. That same day, we called all our top customers and offered them an even more extra special deal if they wanted to participate and, with just one exception, they all signed up.
On day three, our monthly newsletter went out,
including an entire section on the Model Search, and we held our first three, 15-minute Model Search sessions. We offer single-subject, mini-sessions year round, at discounted prices exclusively for children under the age of 10, but with associate photographers, not me. Our customers like these types of sessions, and now they had a chance for a mini-session with me! That, plus the fact that they could participate in such a great cause pushed them to jump at the chance to do so now.We have quite a few connections with local businesses too: dance schools, bagel shops, kids drop-in daycare places, pediatricians, etc. We posted the flyer in each of their locations (where possible) and in the front window of our studio. We continued to market the program throughout February, online and in our newsletters, on Facebook, Craigslist, and with mid-month updates on just the Model Search Participants and their "rankings."
We even designed our own "National Charity Model Search" poster with all OUR kids on it (with direct links to vote for them) as well as announced a National Charity Model Search wrap party for March 27th with cake and ice cream for all participants.
Click here to see the poster we built.
As of March 13, 2009, we had nearly 50 kids come through our studio and participate. While a few families opted not to purchase any photos for themselves, most did! We attribute our 25% increase in 2009 revenues (and 15% increase in February) to our participation in the National Charity Model Search!
Thanks!
Aimee Bickers
Pure Expressions Photography
