Succeeding In The Face Of Diversity

Rocco Ancona

It can easily be said that digital technology has been the single most dramatic force of change to ever affect the professional wedding and portrait industry. It has brought with it benefits and cost savings that were never thought possible just a few years ago.

With all good things come some bad! This same technology that we are enjoying has also brought great cost savings to the general public. So much so that many now have cameras that are producing image qualities at the same level as professionals. It also creates a perception in the public’s mind that they can (or their photographically inclined friends or relatives can) produce results almost as well as professionals but for a fraction or none of the cost. And for those who acknowledge that the results are not as good, many are simply happy to accept a lesser quality image in return for the substantial cost savings realised by doing it themselves. This has negatively impacted the volume of work that was previously availably and if we do not develop business strategies that educate the public and prove there is good reason to invest in the skills of trained professionals, then we as an industry are in for a rocky future.

Tackling this problem head on are two very successful photographers from Australia, Tero Sade and Rocco Ancora. Both have nursed and adapted their businesses very prudently through constantly changing times.

Tero Sade and his wife Julie have built and continue to run one of Australia’s most successful portrait businesses. The basis of their success has always been Tero's unique view of the portrait market and his innovative approach to marketing to it.

Tero's view is that we work in a speculative market, and based on a set of assumptions and observations of human nature, one can create steps and systems for a successful portrait business that can be replicated in many different environments. It is one thing to generate great numbers of portrait sessions but another thing entirely to maintain a healthy average-sitting sale. Tero likens the portrait procedure as a journey and has systems in place for every stage of the journey from lead generation, how to handle the enquiry, the planning session, the shoot and sales appointment. Even the price list is part of the system. The theory goes that the sales process starts before the client even phones the studio and if you put the steps into place, nurture the relationship you will maximise the return and create a very happy client.

Having the steps in place is one part of the challenge, then you need to get the phone to ring and this is where lead generation programs come in. Tero and Julie have fine-tuned Third Party Marketing to the point that they can confidently achieve conversion rate to the tune of 20%. "It's a great way to predict and control your workflow" say Tero. Instead of running a few advertisements and hoping for the best, you are out there being proactive and making the phone ring.

In addition to third party marketing, the second form of highly successful marketing Tero undertakes is the book program his studio developed and launched in 2002. The concept evolved around a wish to achieve three goals... one was to generate work for the studio, the second was to strengthen brand awareness and the third was to raise funds for a charity that Tero is very fond of, the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

The result was the birth of the "kids of" book program which had an initial goal to produce one “coffee table book included several hundred children from the local community and raise $10 000 for charity through nomination/participation fees. Ultimately the opportunity to sell images to the families is created and to date this program has generated over $4,500,000 in extra portrait sales for Tero's studio since in 2002.

Rocco Ancora on the other hand, runs a predominantly wedding based business. He too has changed his business model many times over the years and has honed it into a very efficient and profitable business.

“It’s important to educate your clients on why and how you do what you do. Never try and compete on price by discounting your work. This devalues your worth. It all begins with the client’s experience from the moment they walk into your studio. In photography, we stimulate the sense of sight, but in professional photography we must stimulate all the senses, including sound and smell, and this is where hospitality is very important. The way you make people feel makes a big difference to the final outcome and how they, in turn, feel about you and your work. Digital technology has also made it possible for us to customise and personalise the presentations of our images to an extraordinary level, never before possible. We use only high-end (Albums Australia) wedding albums which lets us custom design and personalise every part of their book from within a virtual designing software called TDA. The end product is nothing like they have seen before or can get anywhere else. The workmanship and quality that oozes from the albums helps them justify their investment and ensures that they really are getting great value for money. This total approach to my business has seen our average sale value per wedding rise dramatically.”

Many of Rocco’s images are classical and romantic, exquisitely imbued with distinctive and evocative lighting and composition similar to that found in numerous wonderfully crafted movies from the 1940s and ‘50s. Rocco sums up this aspect of his work: “For me a good photograph has to be full of emotion, mood and atmosphere. Taking great wedding photographs is not about me or winning awards, it is about the people I am photographing—my clients. I like people and am genuinely interested in finding out what makes them tick. When shooting at weddings, I look for moments that make me feel good inside and these are usually the same moments that make the bride and groom feel good. We are all made up of life experiences and by being in tune with our own; we can then be in tune with theirs. Connecting with people is easy if they feel comfortable around you.”

Rocco is emphatic that creativity is a personal trait that can be honed by your own efforts, not by where you call home. “It really has no bearing on what country you are from. Creativity requires the courage to go beyond your comfort zone. Push the boundaries and experiment. The sheer thrill of creating something new every time I shoot is what drives me,” he said.

“To grow as a photographer I believe that you must always have a thirst for knowledge and, to some extent, never be fully satisfied with what you are doing today. I like to think that tomorrow I will create that ultimate image.”

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