Portrait Photography – Targeting Tourists As a Customer Base

Are you an existing photographer looking for additional customers or a new photographer looking to start a photography business? In either case you may want to take a look at targeting the tourism industry which accounted for $772.9 billion dollars of the US economy in 2008.Why Target Tourists?Tourists travel or vacation in every state in droves each year spending their money on activities, food and lodging, but to what extent?Did you know that Idaho brings in 20 million visitors annually and that in 2008, in the midst of one of the largest recessions in United States history California had 338 million visitors generating $97.6 billion; even Delaware had 8.1 million visitors in 2008. Tourism is one of the largest bread winners for every state in the union and a therefore a great industry to draw photography customers from.Why Tourists are a Profitable Customer BaseTourists have the Magic Formula: Time + Money = BookingsWhat are the most obvious reasons for people not booking a portrait photography shoot while at home? The infamous objections, “I don’t have enough time” or “I don’t have enough money”, stop people from getting portraits while at home. The great thing about people on vacation is that they have time, and they plan on having fun, so they have money to spend on activities.Now, if you use popular tourist locations as backdrops for getting family, couples or senior portraits taken you have a customer base for your photography business and the perfect backdrop.What Tourist Attraction Do I have Near Me?Look at your states website, and find out how many people go to each tourist attraction near you each year and run the numbers of how many customers you could generate.Here is an example of targeting tourism using New York’s Central Park as a customer base:Let’s say you live in New York City a ½ hour commute to Central Park. Central Park commands 25 million visitors annually. If you can generate 1 photo shoot from just 1 in every 100,000 people going to that location you will generate 250 shoots per year.Now Compare the Destination Photography Business Model (tapping into tourism customers) to a Standard Business Model:Let’s also say you live in New York City and are advertising to the local community within a ½ hour commute of where you live for standard portrait photography. The total population of New York City is 8.3 million, already 16.7 million less than your potential target of Central Park tourists of 25 million. Now how many potential customers live within a ½ hour commute of where you live in New York City, let’s estimate 2 million. Even at 2 million potential photography customers that is still a pool 12.5 times smaller than that of Central Park tourists.Now here is the important factor that makes the destination photography business model so appealing. These potential 25 million customers for Central Park Photography are also partially qualified in that they have the magic formula for deciding to book a photography session: Time + Money = Bookings.In most instances you will not have a tourism draw as flooded as Central Park for your target. Every state has at least one attraction that is a viable draw for tourism based portrait photography.Here are just a few potential examples:Grand Canyon Family Photography
California Wine Country Portraits
Bryce Canyon National Park Family Photography
French Quarter Portrait Photography – New Orleans
Miami Beach Family Photography
Yellowstone National Park Family Photography(Use your areas beautiful natural or man made backdrops as your photography studio)Photographers need to understand that families and couples spend the year, sometimes a lifetime, planning a vacation and people want professional photographs to commemorate the event (if someone was offering them) or to have photos with backdrop they have been dreaming about during their special trip.

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Really Cheap Car Insurance – You Want it Cheap? Start Here

Car insurance is the one insurance in America that you, as a car owner, are legally required to have at all times. Is there a way to get really cheap car insurance? Sure there is! Actually, there is more than one way to get really cheap car insurance, and if you are in the market for it, here is where to start!If you haven’t purchased your car yet……purchase one that is affordable, safe, low profile, and durable. Car insurance companies are more likely to offer really cheap car insurance policies to those who own cars that aren’t very flashy (they’re less likely to be burglarized or stolen), include safety features for you, your passengers, and even pedestrians, and are built sturdy enough to only need minimal, cost efficient repairs.If you have already purchased your car……make sure you take all precautions to protect it against burglars, thieves, as well as make it as safe as possible. Purchase a car alarm system to warn you of possible danger. Park your car in a well lit area, garage, or private and secure parking lot to prevent situations in which a thief can access your car.And you should always remember to……drive safely. By keeping traffic tickets and violations nonexistent, or at a minimum, you can help keep your really cheap car insurance stay cheap. If you start shopping for a really cheap car insurance policy with tickets and accidents on your driving record, you’re more likely to get a really expensive car insurance policy. Plus, many car insurance companies offer discount rewards to those drivers who avoid infractions and accidents.Be sure to talk with your car insurance agent about any actions you can take to help you obtain really cheap car insurance, as well as keep really cheap car insurance. Also ask about any discounts your car insurance company may offer as rewards for certain driver behaviors.

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Importance of Online Reviews For Automotive Dealership Sales

Online reviews on automotive dealer’s website are valued features and play a key role in influencing the customer’s automotive buying decision. Online reviews are sought after by customers using Internet at every stage of car buying process, as they offer existing customer experiences on vehicle models, services, policies etc of particular automotive dealers. It is important to include online reviews and testimonials in dealer websites as they help in retaining the existing customers and builds initial trust among potential customers. It helps to increase sales as prospective customers prefer to deal with dealers they can trust.Positive Impacts:
Online reviews positively impact the dealership sales by increasing the confidence among both existing and potential customers.Credibility
Potential customers perceive online reviews as authentic, genuine opinions from other customers and feel that they are receiving accurate information. They provide an effective way for dealers to communicate with customers. A good number of positive reviews on dealer website mentioning satisfactory experiences of customers are likely to instill confidence among potential customers. The potential customer can feel more comfortable and satisfied when reading a comprehensive evaluation of the dealer from a large number of customers. Even, the way dealers handle negative reviews by customers by quickly and efficiently resolving problems increases the trustworthiness of the dealers. It is likely that such unhappy customers will revert back to the same dealer.Included In Consideration Set
The customers usually have a pre-defined set of vehicles that they prefer to buy. The automotive dealers in order to increase their sales needs to persuade the customers to alter their consideration set. The customer generated content like vehicle ratings and reviews, consumer ratings and reviews, dealer ratings and reviews can be effectively used by automotive dealers to alter the consideration set of these automotive internet users. The information given through dealer ratings and reviews can effectively target the new-vehicle buying customer segment. The reviews enhance dealer consideration among customers as both positive and negative reviews increases awareness level of the particular dealer. Also, positive reviews improve the attitude of customers towards dealers. Thus, expanding the consideration set helps to increase automotive dealership sales.Reassurance
The online reviews and testimonials at automotive dealer website provide reassurance to the new customers that the dealer stands for professionalism, quality, credibility, and security. Reviews by previous customers reassure the potential customers that it is safe to deal with this dealer and there is commitment to customer’s privacy. Providing reviews on dealership website also increases conversion rates as it increases trust and confidence among first time visitors. Thus, existing and new customers will confide upon the dealership that helps to increase sales.Negative Impacts If Not Monitored:
The negative online reviews can have impact on the attitude of customers towards automotive dealers.Left Out From Consideration Set
Online reviews influence the purchasing decisions of automotive internet users. Also, they are checked while researching for a particular car on the Internet. Thus, ignoring or not monitoring the online reviews means failing to effectively target the large segment of automotive internet users and getting left out from user’s consideration. Poor online reviews and testimonials can fail to persuade, build confidence and trust among first time visitors and lose out on important prospective customers.Needs More Time To Convince The Buyer
Online reviews and testimonials indicate the satisfaction of other customers due to better services and quality offered by dealer. Potential customers reading improperly monitored reviews are likely to view the dealer as less reliable and not trustable. Thus, the dealers may have to put in more efforts and time to convince the customers.As online reviews are like online conversations between customers, automotive dealers need to actively get involved in them that can result in sales growth. The automotive dealers can leverage online reviews and testimonials by existing customers to generate new customers by efficiently targeting them at each step of car buying process.

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