November

What are you Thankful for?

As we enter the homestretch of the year, things will feel like they are accelerating toward the finish line. It’s important to keep the Year-Round philosophy in mind and not lose momentum on acquiring the RIGHT new business for your studio on into the future.

In November, you will find some school photos still wrapping up. This is a Post-Covid phenomenon as around the country, most areas were finished by Halloween pre-Covid. Certainly, this is the time that all of the late or last-minute packages should be delivered or shipped out to the schools or parents. There are those people (as crazy as most of the rest of us think they are) who send out their holiday cards before or right at Thanksgiving. Many families also celebrate the gifting part of Christmas with family at Thanksgiving if they will be at “the In-laws” at real Christmas. So, all of these groups will be looking for their photos to share with relatives. If they bought digitals, they want to include them in online ordered cards. Bottom line – don’t drag your feet! Get the pics/digitals out the door and home before the holidays hit.

You might have a few Fall Sports Leagues that are still wrapping up photographs in early November too depending on where you are. But, the big photo events of November are the starting sessions of the Holiday Promotions(Santa, Grinch, generic, etc.). This includes Corporate and Company Holiday Parties. If you have access to large companies or banks, etc. who have hundreds of employees, you could earn some extra cash if you are the staff photographer at their holiday gathering. Make sure you are near the entrance and get everyone photographed prior to their, shall we say, becoming one with the eggnog? They might buy better drunk, but they won’t photograph as well.

So, what is Booking this month?

*Remember to check the calendar and the Year-Round Events found in the Year-Round Calendar Lesson of this course!

November and December are very closely related from a booking standpoint. Schools will start looking to the future to book photographers for the next school year – maybe even the spring season if the fall photos went badly! The bigger, more organized sports leagues that play in the spring will certainly be booking now for the spring season. The Daycare market has opened up just like the schools, but primarily for the spring photo events.

The Booking List (with full range of dates in parenthesis)

  • School Photos – K-11 (November-May)
  • Youth Sports Leagues – SPRING sports (October-January)
  • Childcare & Preschool Spring Promos (November-February)
  • DANCE SCHOOLS *Book as many of these as you can! (November-February)
  • Scouts- Pack & Individual for the Spring Banquets (November-December)

Year-Round Opportunities:

  • Cheer & Gymnastic Schools Group & Individual pics
  • Directories – Church, Synagogue, Membership, etc.
  • Family Portrait Fundraisers (i.e. your large soccer league, an elementary school, athletic coaches for your school, etc.)
  • Martial Arts Schools
  • Any type of Mother/Son or Father/Daughter dances, Galas, etc.