The digital age has made it easier for consumers across the globe to capture the special moments of their lives and create photo albums online. However, the feel of holding a photo album or a commemorative mug cannot be ignored either. Such photo products are personalized.
Gone are those days when it took weeks to get photos back from a brick-and-mortar photo printer. Today, it is possible to get high-quality photo prints within a business day by placing an order from the comfort of our home, combined with the convenience of having an abundance of options when it comes to getting our photos printed.
The year 2016 saw 176 million print orders for greeting cards, mugs, photo books, paper calendars, and wall decor, among others. Out of this, only 47% of them were printed by brick-and-mortar printers – thereby giving much weightage to online printers.
In 2018, the sale of personalized photo books was valued at USD 25.4 million. By 2023, the photo printing industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.3%, touching USD 26,113 million.
source:https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/photo-printing-market-2701
As the market is favorable, this is indeed an ideal time for running a photo product business. If done right, the business model can be pretty lucrative for you. All you require is a high-quality digital printer, a dynamic photobook design software, and a self-driven entrepreneurial spirit, and you are on your way to becoming a leading photo product printing business.
Here are six steps to take to fill the demand for printed photo products in 2020:
1. Implement a Photo Book Design Software Solution
First things first: if you already have an online printing business website, then you must ensure a robust web-to-print software solution powers it. Today, consumers want to enjoy the flexibility to choose between different products such as photo albums, mugs, greeting cards, calendars and more, customize as per preference, and make a payment online through the website itself.
If you are in search of a vendor, do not look further. DesignNBuy’s All-In-One-Designer offers a fully-responsive, easy-to-browse online printing store. With superior web-to-print capabilities and friendly navigation, the photobook design software takes care of everything – from order placement to fulfillment, with minimum hassles.
2. Streamline Product Categories On The Photo Album Maker
The majority of potential customers who visit your web-to-print store will be looking for something specific: e.g., photo albums, t-shirts, wall decor, calendars, and more. You should thus categorize and sub-categorize your photo products so that it is easy for your store visitors to find what they want, ask for real-time quotation, customize and order it on the website.
When it comes to sub-categorization, you could sort out photo albums according to paper type, orientation, size, mail options, and more. Convenience is a critical factor for excellent user experience. Therefore, you must give consumers everything they need in their hands.
3. Perfect Your Product Descriptions and Site Photos
To entice your potential customers, each of your photo products should have a catchy description that not only provides the right amount of information but also convinces them to buy them. Further – do not focus on just the written word.
Your photo products should be able to showcase the fact they are worth it. Therefore, get high-quality images clicked of your offerings. Hire a photographer for creative direction and better-printed results. You can find one by posting a job ad on social media groups or through referral.
4. Enhance The Website User Experience
When your potential customers land on your homepage, you want to hook them instantly. And you can do that by highlighting your best selling products right on the hero banner. Make use of your sales data for the last six months to determine which photo products have performed well and display them on your homepage.
In other news, 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business website. And 88% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. That means positive reviews from your previous customers are an excellent way to convince potential customers that your photo products are worth the buy.
Therefore, include a testimonials/reviews section on your homepage that your site visitors can read on scrolling through the page. Lastly, your calls-to-action (CTAs) should be displayed prominently across the photo book software store.
Use both text and images for creating attractive CTA options. For example: have a button that says ‘add to cart’ or use a vector image of a shopping cart on it along with the text for impact. You have to dummy-proof everything on the website for your potential customers.
5. Dip Your Toes in Digital Marketing
When it comes to advertising your photo printing service, there is one thing you cannot ignore, i.e., digital marketing. It is a useful weapon for earning customer trust, generating site traffic, nurturing qualified leads, and more.
Therefore, you must make sure your web-to-print store is SEO-optimized, and you have implemented ongoing content and social media activities geared towards your potential customers. Now, let us discuss this in-depth:
The good old SEO strategy will help you climb up the search rankings over some time. Identify the right keywords using a tool like Google’s Keyword Planner and sprinkle the select keywords across the website content. Insert them in your meta titles and descriptions as well.
Maintain a high-quality company blog to consistently publish content that your potential customers will want to read and share. Your blog posts should talk about your company, the product categories, and address commonly asked questions.
Further, set up profiles on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest – all of which are visual. Place your offers, promote new products and blog posts, share new testimonials received, and more on the channels.
If your marketing budget permits, you can run paid ads and reach a broader, more relevant target audience instantly. To make marketing work, you must make sure you have a proper strategy in place, one that is reviewed periodically.
6. Network and Connect With Related Businesses in Your Niche
If you specialize in making prints of wedding photos, then get in touch with local wedding planners, bridal shops, caterers to maximize your business visibility. Similarly, if you want to specialize in printing photos of newborns or children, seek out private hospitals, obstetricians, birthing coaches, nurseries, and schools to spread the word about your printing services.
While online marketing tactics are essential to implement, you cannot ignore the magic of offline promotions either. No business can survive and grow without the right amount of advertising. So, get the word out and gain the attention of potential customers.
Over to you
Consumers may want to print their favorite photos for archival reasons; however, one can’t deny the emotions involved in such a scenario. There is a huge demand for photo products which will continue to rise even this year.
Therefore, make the most of it and enable potential customers to print on a variety of products. Seeing high-quality printed images on commodities is a mesmerizing experience. Make it possible with web-to-print technology.
Speak to Team DesignNBuy for a personalized demo of a photobook designer software solution. If you get stuck, just hit the comment section below.
