You have about 7 seconds to get your customers attention when they enter your studio or shop. That’s after you’ve successfully convinced them to teleport there with your advertising through search listings, classifieds, banner ads, word of mouth, or by other methods. How do you grab their attention? How do you keep their attention? What do you do with their attention once you have it? How do you get them to come back?
Your success as a studio photographer depends a lot on the aesthetics of your work environment. Your shop reflects the work you do! If you want to be known for your realistic style of SL photography and you have loads of sample artwork on your studio walls, it won’t make any difference if your potential clients arrive to your land and find a giant glowing submarine skybox. Some may actually venture inside and look around, but the initial impression is that you probably don’t do the type of photography they customer needs. If you are known for your cartoon style photography and you give your customers chunky, colorful photo frames with their portraits, it would be accurate to house your studio in a chunky, colorful building! Make sure your style of building reflects your photography work. You don’t want to confuse customers – you want to reel them in for a sitting!
A great way to grab the attention of a customer is to not just give them a notecard about your services, but include a form for them to complete to reserve a time for a photo shoot. Be available regularly and keep consistent pricing. When a customer arrives, let them know when your next 3 available times are for a photo shoot and ask them if they would like to reserve one of those times. Make yourself available!
Your studio should have 4 parts:
- A sitting area
- A information/viewing area
- A gallery
- A work area
The sitting and viewing area can be integrated however your gallery should be separate if possible. You don’t want to distract from the works of art on your wall. Your work area should be well organized and ready for your next customer. If you have a lot of poses try organizing them on a shelf and labeling them with hover text. When your customers see your large selection of poses, props, and backgrounds they will appreciate that. No one knows what’s hidden in your inventory. So if at all possible display relevant items tastefully, and in a place that is out of the way and does not over power the work area or gallery area.
And finally, your pricing should be available and easy to find. Your customers shouldn’t have to ask you about your pricing. It should be somewhere in plain view for them to grab – and not just on your profile.
Here is a layout I created just for you! If you are just getting started or maybe want to get reorganized and sport a fresh look to “wow!” your customers, you can get “STUDIO 1” here by leaving a comment/reply and letting us know any tips you may have or even by asking a question if you have any.
"Studio 1" Starter Studio Shop
"Studio 1" Layout and Design
What great tips for setting up shop would you like to share? Leave your replies below!
Thanks for this entry. If I ever get around to actually setting up my studio as a “studio” I’ll definitely be coming back to use this when I’m planning the design.
I had a studio once, one that I built myself, but it was pretty big and prim count started to come into the equation so it had to go 🙁 I always seem to have problems seeing anything when I go into small buildings so my studio reflected that *sigh* but I just may try the smaller version in the outline above 🙂 Thanks and have a great weekend.
Nice points of view in this article. I have got a small Studio too (built by myself) and as above it is quite difficult to build it just as big as the customers need it. Mine ended up way too big too in the first tries, so im quite nosy how this studio here will look like.
I have done some things for myself with doing photos of Alts on a 512m lot, but my studio for that seemed kind of cramped. Is it feasible to build a studio on a 512m, or should someone go for the 1024m for more space and prims?
I would always go for the largest parcel I can afford — for the prims if nothing else. Land space is not such a big issue unless you want a huge studio, or a gallery and studio, or even a house and a studio. The prims are the biggy — especially if you use props 🙂
If u have a small plot, u can use a rezzer like the FC-Room Switch, then u only rez the things u need.
It’s a wonderful Tips. Thank you for giving a hint.
I agree that the layout of you studio does make a large difference to your customer. But be sure you follow through with your contacts. I have responded to other peoples offers for photo shoots only to find they never got back to me. It makes a bad name for all Photographers in SL.
Do you have a suggested number of prims required rule for someone to go by?
Keep the building low, as the studio will take up a lot of prims
A 40 prim building is good enough
I would love a copy of the studio 1. I also think it would be marketable to sale packs of props as add on packs. I know we can add our own, but it would be easier to buy loadable ones that I do not have to do anything to get to show up in the studio 🙂
Hi! I am trying to get back into the swing of shooting and I was thinking about remodeling– thanks for all the great tips!
I would love a copy of Studio One– less fussing with the interior will leave more time for me to get organized on the business end. Thanks!
As a new photographer I find this very usefull. The amount of information you have given and the type of products you sell are second to none. Thank you for the tips. Your studio 1 layout seems perfect for the budding photographer.
Thanks for the great tip. I would love to have a copy of studio 1. I will be coming back to read more!