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It's no secret. Every parent has a high-powered camera in hand or in a nearby pocket. You'd be hard-pressed to find a youth sports or school photographer who hasn't considered how camera technology and accessibility has affected their business and our industry. But, this week, at Sync Sports 2019, NO ONE is talking about this. It's old news. The conversations on the tradeshow floor and in the classrooms are forward-looking, centered on innovation and collaboration. The energy is super positive and proactive. Here are our just a few of our top takeaways...

Uniquely Better

Sync Sports 2019 kicked off with show organizer Darty Hines challenging us to look at ways to be uniquely better. With this one simple phrase, he set the tone for the entire conference. I should be clear - he wasn't talking about one-upping your competitor. He was encouraging everyone to consider the possibilities of doing things differently, in a way that will wow and delight customers. Just awesome!

Win-Win-Win

Our industry depends on studios, labs, and technology all working together to deliver an amazing experience for customers. This isn't a zero-sum game - every piece has to work in harmony for all of us to win. When we share ideas, from our unique perspectives, we come up with lasting solutions, not quick hits. Nothing beats bringing people together face-to-face in a setting that encourages learning and conversation. One thing that stands out about our industry is this sense of cooperation that exists, even between competitors. This is certainly on display at Sync Sports - and it's alive and well every day in our Facebook Users Group.

New Realities

As Tim MacDonald of Image Art Studio pointed out in his session, "today's parents don't want to buy the idea of a photo, they want to buy the photo itself." Consumers are accustomed to having ALL the information before they make a purchase of any product. They read reviews, watch videos, look at pictures from a dozen different angles. No one wants to buy the idea of anything when they don't have to. Tim was careful to weigh the pros and cons of moving from a prepay model to an online proof model. Like anything, it's important to have a strategy to test the waters and see what works with an eye on giving customers what they want - which is great-looking photos and a convenient shopping experience. Certainly, in an online proof model, the quality of the photo matters more than ever, which brings me to the next point...

Photo Focus

Jay Boatwright of SMAX Photography has set the gold standard for image quality. In his session today, he took his audience outside to demonstrate how he gets the pose, the expression, the lighting, and the background just right so that he can capture his signature artistic style photos with speed and agility. Making time to hone your skills and improve your craft has always been important in our industry - but now it's essential.

That's just some of the highlights! We'd love to hear your impressions too - join the conversation on Facebook.

Filling out forms, long wait times...this isn’t the DMV, it’s picture day!!! It should be fun, fast, and easy for parents to view and purchase their child’s photos. For the past year, we've been making steady improvements to the PhotoDay gallery experience. But, today is no ordinary day. We just released a dramatically transformed gallery, making everything from searching for photos to customizing products to checking out, more intuitive and faster than ever. We've done our homework, and every change we've made was designed with your customer in mind. Our (not so) secret motive? A smoother experience for your customers means more sales for you!

Here's what you can expect from the new PhotoDay gallery experience:

NEW & IMPROVED SEARCH

The search "modal" - the blue pop-up window where  customers choose their search method - has been refined so that they complete their search before the gallery window opens. And, as mentioned in our version 1.25 release, PhotoDay users now have total search freedom which means you can choose which of the three search methods you want to use for a particular job.

PRETTIER GALLERIES

Like we always say, IMAGE IS EVERYTHING! So, we've stripped away any excess clutter in the photo galleries - so that your photos take center stage, and customers can browse them without any distraction.

ON-THE-GO CUSTOMIZATION

This is HANDS DOWN the most exciting update of all! Now customers can customize products while they shop. For Memory Mates and other highly customizable products, we've given them an all-in-one experience that anticipates their next move. They can now crop and swap photos, choose themes, and add text in just a few simple clicks. By the time they get to their shopping cart, all they have to do is pay and checkout! We expect to see even more orders and higher order values now that we've made it SO INSANELY EASY!!!

CLEANER CARTS

With all that product customization behind them, the shopping cart is super clean...so they can easily preview their items and complete their order. Hey, maybe this cleaner shopping cart will make them want to fill it even more.

Check out the all-new PhotoDay for yourself! Text access code PD100 to 90738 for the full experience. When you're done, stop by our Facebook User Group to let us know what you think. If your customers need help, we've got your back. Check out: How to PhotoDay and How do I order my photos?

‍Here's the deal...you keep taking great photos and we'll keep making improvements to PhotoDay. And, together we'll take your business to new heights!

Ever wonder what would make your customers not just satisfied...but happy, really happy?

We did too, so we did a little sleuthing. After customers place orders on PhotoDay, we invite them to take a survey, and many have taken us up on this invitation. Here’s what they want their photographer to know:

1. Please don't make the watermark cover the majority of the subject’s face! You can adjust the watermark position and opacity in your PhotoDay Studio Panel.

‍What parents have to say:

‍“I understand the need to watermark the pics until purchase but the watermark should not cover the face to the extent of not being able to see my kid's face. This made it difficult to see which pics I really liked and this affects your selling of the pictures if we can't see which one we want to purchase because we can't see their faces.”

“Your stamp was right over my child’s face, making it difficult to see it. As a result, I ended up purchasing a bad photo...not happy at all seeing as I paid almost $100 for my photos. Maybe think about moving the stamp to a photo corner.”

‍2. Use free shipping offers, because EVERYONE expects free shipping nowadays - even if it means building the shipping costs into your pricing. Read more about offers.

‍What parents have to say:

‍“The ease of ordering was great. However, the shipping cost was a bit high. I would suggest having a deadline for ordering then shipping the order to the school/coach in bulk to save on shipping costs.

“I did not like that there were shipping costs.”

‍3. Include digital downloads as a sweetener in your packages and add them as an a la carte product. This allows customers to save photos forever and have them printed on just about anything!

‍What a parent has to say:

‍“I loved being able to purchase a digital download that I can print at a later time.”

“Thanks for offering a digital download. I can’t wait to print up some photo gifts for our whole family.”

‍4. Quality matters!!!! Remember to check every picture you are taking and editing and ask yourself, would I want this photo? If you're ready to step up your photography game, be sure to watch the replay of Jay Boatwright's info-packed webinar: Art Quality Photography for Volume Photographers

‍What parents have to say:

‍“The background was terrible, the team photo was totally out of proportion and my daughter covered up the team name in the picture. I have not received the pictures but hoping the issues are fixed once received. I really liked the online ordering experience!”

“Photographs are dark. Not happy.”

“Try to make the edit look more natural.”

“The photoshopping on the team photo is absolutely AWFUL. The biggest kid on the team looks like a shrimp, the smallest kids look huge and one kid has a beetle juice head. There has got to be a better job done in the future. The pic is literally comical.”

“The group picture was mis-proportioned. My daughter was almost as big as the coach.”

Talk to our CEO, Jon, and he'll tell you that one of things that motivates the PhotoDay team is our insatiable desire to give photographers tools to make their lives easier and their sales greater. Technology has the power to make this possible. The latest release of PhotoDay - version 1.25 - is proof.

This release focuses heavily on the end-customer experience because we think picture day should be modern, fresh, convenient, and easy for today’s parents. And, we know that when customers have an awesome experience, photographers get more sales!!! Every feature outlined below is designed to make the customer's experience more personalized, faster to navigate, and easier to checkout.

We based many of these features on feedback from photographers and their customers as well as some slick behind-the-scenes software that lets us record the customer experience. We can see how customers are interacting with the PhotoDay gallery and shopping cart - and identify where things are going smoothly and where there may be some hesitation or confusion.

Here's what you can expect from this latest version of PhotoDay:

Search Freedom

If you're familiar with PhotoDay you know that there are three ways for customers to find their photos:

       
1. FaceFind - Our facial recognition technology filters gallery photos based on a matched reference image. See FaceFind in action
       
2. Tags - Tags are a way to group and organize images in ways that narrows the search in a way that is intuitive to the customer - by team name, coach name, age group, etc.
       
3. All Photos - This view is for customers who want to browse an entire gallery.

Until now, all of these options were presented to every customer for every gallery. With this latest release, photographers have the freedom to choose any combination of these search options to use for a particular job. Cool, right? This feature can be applied in a bunch of use cases:

       
• By selecting only FaceFind, customers will be limited to seeing photos that contain the matches with a reference photo. This is great for large jobs or any job where privacy is a priority.
       
• By choosing the Tags option, customers will be able to narrow their search based on grouping criteria set by the photographer. Tags are great for leagues with multiple teams, dance schools with multiple classes, preschools with multiple teachers, etc.
       
• With All Photos, customers will be able to view, you guessed it, all of the photos in a gallery. This is great for smaller jobs and private events where individuals know one another and want to check out all of the photos.

This new search feature really puts the photographer in the driver's seat - allowing them to mix and match these search types based on the needs of each job. As always, we're so excited to see how this flexibility gets applied in the real world!!! To change search settings for a job, simply go to the Job Settings "General" page and check off the options. Be sure to hit SAVE when you're done.

Better Shopping Experience

Next up is the customer's shopping experience. We are constantly working on the customer side of PhotoDay - the web gallery, the apps, the checkout. We won't quit until shopping is lightning fast and 100% intuitive. Here are the storefront highlights from this release:

       
• Featured Products & Popular Products - The power of suggestion is STRONG in the online shopping world. How many times does something catch your eye that you weren't even looking for? That's why we've implemented two new sections to the storefront. First is Featured Products - photographers can select products to feature for each price sheet by simply "starring" that product. Second is Popular Products - these are products that we know to be best-sellers for the lab, using actual sales data. This is a huge enhancement that we think will help customers see more of what we all want them to see!
       
• Improved Layout - Image is everything when selling photos online. That's exactly why we've made some design updates to the online and mobile web galleries - making the photographs more prominent while eliminating any clutter that might get in the way.
       
• Smarter Buttons - We noticed that some users were accidentally pressing buttons twice which could potentially mean TWO orders. So, we fixed our buttons to prevent that from ever happening again!

Job-Specific Offers

Until now, offers and their corresponding coupon codes were universal, meaning that they didn't tie to any specific job. With this release, you can now associate an offer with a specific job. Why is this awesome? Well, first it allows for your marketing to be more targeted - (like when you create a flyer, you can easily pull in the offer that is tied to the job).

The second reason is even more exciting!!! It's related to a new feature that we're working on that is going to seriously TRANSFORM the way studios interact with customers. With this new feature, we're essentially giving photographers the ability to target and customize text marketing to their customers - to help drive sales, to run special offers, send reminders, and more! We'll have lots more to share on this feature VERY soon - but if you want to see a preview, I encourage you to check out this webinar replay: Kick-A$$ Marketing in an Online World

Number of Subjects

This feature may appear small - but it has GREAT POWER! When you set up a new job, you can add the estimated number of subjects. Why is this a good thing to do? Simply put, it will help with your marketing! If leading up to picture day the opt-ins for the job are only 10% of the estimated number of subjects, you've got some work to do to get the word out to parents about picture day.

And, there you have it! Version 1.25 in the books. If you're a total PhotoDay nerd, you can track the details of every feature update and fix right here.

Not already a PhotoDay user? What are you waiting for? Get started!

Most sports photographers we meet say they want to take their businesses online. In fact, we just conducted a broad industry survey (not just PhotoDay users!) and learned that 60% of photographers plan to use an online service on some or most of their jobs, and 25% plan to test an online service this spring season. Those are HUGE numbers - and indicators that our industry is finally moving online in a big way. At the same time, we know that there are very real concerns about the risks of changing up the way you've always done business. This list will help you make a smooth transition to a way more efficient workflow that doesn't just mitigate the risks but actually helps you compete effectively in your market and GROW your business.

#1 Choose the right organization

You have to start somewhere, right? So, it's best to look at all of the organizations you work with and choose the ones with which you have a solid working relationship. We recommend you choose a league/team/school that has gotten stellar sales in the past - so that you have a good baseline to compare results. Ideally, the parents are active and involved in the organization and look forward to picture day. Get your contact onboard with all the benefits and ease of online galleries (our sales kit can help). Let them know that you'll need their help getting the word out to parents, but once that initial connection is made, the online system actually brings the entire picture day experience to parents, relieving them of all picture day follow-up tasks!

#2 Start marketing early & often

Work with the organization to find out how they communicate important information to parents - like field/schedule updates, uniform/costume information, etc. Perhaps they have a league portal - or maybe a Facebook group - or a weekly newsletter! Find this out as early as possible and develop picture day marketing communications for each touch-point - we recommend a minimum of 3 touch-points! Good thing PhotoDay offers a complete marketing kit with easy-to-customize posters, banners, web graphics, and more. We recommend that these communications to parents start 2-4 weeks before picture day.

#3 Get skin in the game

Nothing drives engagement like $$$. Before picture day, parents can purchase an AdvancePay credit that they can apply to their order after picture day. We've found that early credit purchases lead to higher order values and more orders. Even a small amount like $10 gets parents committed to purchasing photos when you publish the gallery. Of course, it's best if you give them a reason to do so - here are a couple ways you can get parents on board with AdvancePay:

       
• Make it required. You could make taking the child's photo contingent on purchasing an AdvancePay credit. Get creative. You could turn AdvancePay into a per costume fee, a hold-your-spot sitting fee, an extraction credit, etc.
       
• Give them your best offer. Give those early birds your absolute best offer. For example, you could make it so that everyone who purchases an AdvancePay credit gets $5 off PLUS free shipping for orders of $40 or more.

#4 Motivate speed and spend

In the online, e-commerce world, incentives are the name of the game. You know those coupon offers you get from EVERY retailer...they use them because THEY WORK! And, these retailers are still making money, I promise. The key is to develop special offer incentives that drive the purchase behavior you desire. Here are a few examples of offers that you can easily execute on PhotoDay to drive urgency and higher order values:

       
• Offer expiration: Save 10% on orders over $30! Offer expires April 30, 2019.
       
• Gallery expiration: Get your photos while you can! Gallery expires in one week.
       
• Friendly competition: First 20 customers get $10 off their order!
       
• Best prices: Order by June 15 to get the BEST prices.
       
• Early birds: Purchase an AdvancePay credit now and save 10% off your order later and get FREE shipping!
       
• Offer Combos: Save $5 on orders over $30. Save $10 on orders over $50. Save $15 on orders over $75.
       
• Bulk Discount Digital Downloads: a la carte, 2 pack, 4 pack, 6 pack. The more purchase, the more you save!

#5 Stay connected

Staying in close touch with the organization is KEY to success. If you're not seeing the parent opt-ins you expect in the weeks and days leading up to picture day, reach out to the organization and see if they've gotten the word out. Be straight with them about not seeing the opt-ins you were hoping for and find out how best to reach those parents. Keep the organization in the loop on sales even after the gallery is published. PhotoDay provides reporting "Insights" for each job that makes it easy for studios to know how each job is doing before, during, and after picture. The bottom line - keep tabs on each job and work closely with the organization to help drive those sales!

Feeling confident? Ready to take your business online? Sign up for PhotoDay - it's totally free to get started.

Already a PhotoDay user? Hopefully, these tips help you get record results this year. If you need help or just some moral support...  you can always chat with us here by clicking the little blue bubble, or email us at support@photoday.io ;)

‍Photo credit: Jay Boatwright, SMAX Photography

Spring season is here and things are really heating up - more jobs, more orders, and more photographers using PhotoDay. In fact, March has been an over-the-top record month for us here. Needless to say, we've got a spring in our step and can't wait to share with you some new features that we released over the past couple of weeks:

Brand YOU

We know how important it is to keep your studio's brand in front of your customers. That's why we've added the ability to easily add the studio logo to PhotoDay promotional flyers. Simply, go to the My Studio section of the Studio Panel and add your logo, then you'll have the option of adding your logo to any flyer in the future.

Flyers that Fly

PhotoDay flyers can now be made into slick web pages with a click of a button. Here's a sample web page.

Promo It Up

We stocked up Promos for the entire year - giving our users the ability to sell to their customers well beyond picture day. Studios can now promote their galleries to customers for gift-giving holidays and generate lots of buzz and excitement with seasonal sales! Check out the complete calendar of 2019 Promos.

Our Little Secret

We have a treasure of sales and marketing tools tucked away in the PhotoDay Studio Panel - in an area called Resources. We're always adding and updating new, super-helpful stuff. In fact, we recently made some updates to the how-to guides that you can find in the Resources help section. These visual, how-to guides walk you step-by-step through the entire workflow, from set-up to final sale. They include: A Simpler Way to Set Up Picture Day and How to Sell Before Picture Day. Also, you don't want to miss the Boost Your Buy Rates Checklist. These resources are specifically for PhotoDay users so if you haven't already joined us, what are you waiting for? You can sign up here today!

Those are just the highlights, folks! You can track all of PhotoDay's new features, updates, and fixes right here: PhotoDay Version Updates

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Jack Levin. He's an imaging software guru who is also a technical advisor to PhotoDay. His current company Nventify, Inc. makes the cloud-based imaging processing software, Imagizer - used by giants like Nordstrom and Homesnap. In complete non-tech terms, his company gives customers a better image browsing experience, whether they're shopping for shoes or houses...and now sports & school photography!

PhotoDay has integrated Imagizer into our platform which means dynamic image sizes based on pixel ratio and overall improved speed and performance for images displayed in PhotoDay galleries. On the surface, nothing should look much different but that's the beauty of Imagizer. It's one of those under-the-hood things that you don't notice...but we notice. We know that if we can shave microseconds off of image load times, this will result in a better overall experience for the end customer and more sales for the studios who use PhotoDay.

Before Nventify, Jack co-founded ImageShack and yfrog, which provided image delivery and hosting for MySpace (awww!) and Twitter. In the early days of his career, Jack was among the first employees at Google, working as an Infrastructure Engineer, overseeing early partnerships with Netscape, Yahoo, AOL, ASK and many others. Let's just say he knows his stuff - and he shared it with us in this video interview. Enjoy!

The Evolution of  Photography Video first aired at SPAC 2019.  In case you missed it in Vegas...here it is.

Why we do picture day stays the same, but how we do it is changing...

It all started when National School Studios, founded in 1936, established "volume photography" as we know it today. However, there was still a long period of time before this when photography itself was just taking its first steps.

Relatively speaking, photography is a "new" concept, which only appeared around the same time as the electromagnet and the steam locomotive.

Throwing it back from crude heliographs in the 1820s, to Daguerreotypes in the 1860s, to hi-resolution 20th-century FILM, we’ve been sharpening our focus to capture where we were – and who we are NOW.

We’ve honed our techniques, and pushed our creativity to pioneer NEW approaches to this industry. We see PhotoDay as part of the evolution. We are fueled by the innovators and visionaries who came before us.

Technology is constantly changing and those who adapt to this new world, those who appeal to today's digital parents, THOSE are the ones who see the big picture –and profit from it. We at PhotoDay are determined and excited to get you there– are you ready?