Fundy SOS - Album Design Software, Online Album Proofing, Work Flow Software, Photography Pricing Software » Fascinate – 7 Emotional Triggers

Using the Vice Trigger

"Fundy" — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:51:05 +0000

Vice is the trigger that makes people buy that mocha frappachino with extra whip. It’s what makes people get a margarita with lunch. It’s what makes people spend the extra money on a Saks Fifth Avenue jacket over a Kohl’s. In this hecktic work environment, people are tired, people are overworked. When they do something, they want to treat themselves. We can see this in the emergence of “little” treats: better chocolates, better coffees, better mini massage places. As businesses, we need to give them a chance to treat themselves. As photographers, this can mean many things. This can mean more interesting, “on-location” business portraits, higher end portrait albums, metal gallery wraps, whatever your speciality is. So the tip this week, is give people a chance to placate their vice. For more information on the 7 Triggers that make people buy, visit our blog. Join the forum discussion on this post

Why we don’t trust Victoria’s Secret and why we don’t care.

"Fundy" — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 03:48:15 +0000

We can’t be everything to everyone. What does Victoria’s Secret sell? Sure, they sell lingerie, but what are they selling everyday? They are selling vice, selling power, selling excitement. Photographers can’t be everything to everyone. I spoke to a photographer recently, who was trying work all of the 7 Marketing Triggers into his marketing message. This can’t be done and shouldn’t be done. As a recap, here are the 7 Marketing Triggers according to the fantastic book “Fascinate”.

Lust
Mystique
Alarm
Prestige
Power
Vice
Trust

Victoria’s Secret has a great return policy, you can trust them. But do they advertise this? No, they advertise: lust, mystique and vice. We can’t market and sell everything we do. We have to focus on what makes us unique and sell that. What does Mercedes market? What does Target market? What do you market?

Trust Trigger – gaining it, keep it, capitalizing on it

"Fundy" — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:45:43 +0000

Trust, the trigger that makes me buy a Honda over a Kia. The trigger that makes me spend more on a Dyson versus an off brand. I need to trust that these products will do what they say and last me a while. As photographers, one of the key triggers we need to capitalize on is trust. Clients need to know what level of product and what sort of artistic vision they are going to receive. If we populate our websites with images of different styles, different looks, we are undermining trust. If we deliver lower quality prints than what we have on the wall, we are undermining trust. Sally Hogshead, in her book Fascinate, says that the four pillars of trust are:

Become familiar – through blogs and social media.
Repeat and Retell – retell your message anytime you get.
Be authentic – tell the truth
Accelerate trust – give reasons for clients to trust you.

To read more about the 7 Triggers that Fascinate our clients, go here.

7 Triggers – Prestige, why people want more and spend more

"Fundy" — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:43:01 +0000

In my continuing series on “Fascinate” by Sally Hogshead, a book about the 7 triggers that make people buy what you are selling, today we’ll look at “Prestige.” Prestige is the trigger that makes people want to splurge on themselves, it makes them want the best. It makes them buy a BMW over a Honda, Victoria Secrets over Macy’s, Godiva over Hershey’s, and your photography over what they can get at the mall. But in order to sell prestige, you need to set a new standard and earn it. And you need to communicate why you are better on every level. As an example, on this shoot we were able to use the same make up artist that Focht used on his recent Oregon Bride editorial. The high school senior just loved that, as did mom. How did the viewing go? It was well over our average. Create prestige, earn it and increase profits.

Tip of the Week – Holy Crap the Alarm Trigger

"Fundy" — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:54:34 +0000

As an ongoing series on the Sally Hogshead book “Fascinate” we are continuing with the third trigger “Alarm.” As many of you recall, Hogshead, is an expert in making consumers take action in advertising and marketing. We’ve already covered “Lust” and “Mystique”. Read more here. The Alarm trigger is what creates fear of something going wrong. As photographers, we want our potential clients to know that if they don’t hire us, a professional, the chances of their photos not turning out incredible goes to 100%. In order to tap into the alarm trigger we need to give them a deadline, define what can go wrong (a horrible wedding album, or even worst, lost shots due to a non-professional showing up with just one camera). The alarm trigger can come off very hard-sell if not used correctly, but I think it definitely has a place in our arsenal of tools. Check out her book.

Mystique – the mysterious factor

"Fundy" — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:16:57 +0000

This post is part of an ongoing series. To see all related posts, click here. If I really love a movie, I mean really love it, I don’t want to see the behind the scenes. I think it’s one of the worst things Hollywood has ever done – the behind the scenes DVD that comes when you buy a movie. Part of what makes a movie fantastic is the mystery. How did they do that? Who thought of that? Wasn’t that amazing? Camera’s are mysterious machines anyway. You point a little black box with a lens on it at someone, click a button and they appear. You do it right and something beautiful comes out of it. When you think about it, it’s mind-boggling. How do we capitalize on this mystique? How do we communicate this to our clients? First of all we have to create amazing imagery. And through this amazing imagery, the client needs to ask themselves “How did they do that?” Here Focht creates the questions. How did he get that light? How did he get that muted color? How did he get such an amazing shot in what looks like a broken down loft? In this family shoot, the client is asking “How did they get that color?”, “How did they create that timeless moment?” Here Focht used natural light and tungsten light to play with the background color. The cement in the background is grey. Just regular grey. Clients always wonder how we get it to turn a warm orange when we shoot. Here we have a beautiful blue wall background. when you see the wall in person it appears much lighter. But because the light fall off is so fast here, the person standing in front of it is exposed so much lighter that the wall goes darker and more saturated. All of these small factors attribute to your mystic. Whether it is how you shoot or how you process. It even covers the professional products that you use. “Where did you find that cool album?” the client asks. “Oh, we use only the best professional labs, album companies, etc. in the world.” I never say where, just that they are the best. The mystique lives. Fundy

Lust – the racy trigger

"Fundy" — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:34:59 +0000

Recently I’ve been discussing the 7 Triggers of Fascination by Sally Hogshead. You should check it out here. One of the 7 triggers is “Lust”. Lust, or the desire to have something that you don’t have or can’t have without a little work, is a strong motivation. It’s what makes us stop to indulge with a gourmet chocolate shake, or to order desert, even though we are full. When clients come in and view your samples, they need to be presented with lust, and part of that is showing samples of more expensive items. Most of our wedding clients choose a 10×14 sized album (the middle one). But they all WANT the 14×18 sample that they see. This lust for product, also creates lust for our photography. (the small one is a 10×10″!) That is why restaurants bring around the desert tray. We can say no to a menu, but a cheesecake with fresh blackberries right in front of me? Now you’ve got me.

What fascinates us?

"Fundy" — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:15:25 +0000

ONe of the key issues when marketing photography is that it is an intangible. Photography is all emotion, as it is with many other products. Why does the iPhone command a higher price than other similar phones? Why do we want Godiva chocolate over other chocolates? Why is an Audi more expensive than a Volkswagen when they are essentially the same car from the same factory? Fascination. What keeps us fascinated? According to Sally Hogshead there are 7 distinct triggers of fascination. Over the next seven weeks we’ll be discussing each one of these triggers in depth. If you have a chance, I recommend picking up the book and reading along with me. Fundy