We’re very excited to feature Jason Kiefer, Pictage Founder & CEO, on today’s special episode of the Pictage Podcast.Jason discusses new products and services designed to maximize profits for professional photographers. He also shares best practices, industry trends, Pictage background and exciting future innovations.
Check out the podcast here:Powered by Podbean.com
Sara wasn’t the only one chatting with Jason this week. Camera Dojo also released an very informative epsiode with Jason as a featured guest.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Very interesting info… thanks for sharing it with us!
February 12th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I am just new at Pictage and already very impressed
Thanks
February 12th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
As the market is getting tougher it seems that a lot of business are trying to make up for their loses by getting into advertising. I wish Pictage would just stick with what I love pictage for. A place to host images, print and possibly do albums. All this expansion costs the individual photographer a lot. Pictage is getting so expansive they are going to be too high for the new photographer or the slow photographers in a bad economy. Cool your jets. When the economy is bad, its best to go back to basics. Offer value and you will be busy, start charging more fees and people will just have to drop the service or go to something not as elegant but then again, its like a car payment after awhile. Right now brides are looking at photographers to give them a deal. If you are new to the business, like I am, I have to give some deals to have business. But no one is giving me a deal on the other end. Pictage is a great service, but it is not a deal. I think the $20 a month fee that you charge initially is a satisfactory fee for membership. $100 plus 15% off prints is over the top . Maybe just offer a beginners and an advanced membership. As I get busier I can upgrade, but for now. I just want a pretty site, with basic services. Or drop the hefty monthly fee and make it up with people who chose to go the advertising route. Let them pay the fees for Pictage’s expansion because they are big already and are making a ton of money enough to see it as a win win. Lets make a deal
February 12th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Totally pumped on the new directory now!! Rock on!
February 12th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I very much enjoyed getting to learn who Jason is and hear about his concerns. I have wondered about the person behind the Orange letters. Yea I hope you figure out an advertising scheme. I would certainly be into it if if it is actually SEO friendly. I am slowly sliding into wedding photography through my years in journalism and love that I am getting into it at this time.
It was wonderful to hear this podcast. Keep up the “brainstorming” let me know if I can help.
Sherrlyn Borkgren Photography
February 13th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Dear Jason,
Thank you for taking the time. I love being part of Pictage. Please keep up the great work. I look forward to future with Pictage.
February 13th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Latest Blog with Jason Kiefer. Love the push to help with advertising and lead promotion. I think $125 per wedding for a cold lead is absolutely OK. The charge is after the fact.
I would like to push people back to Pictage to look at my leads, from my website to you, to check out referrals, but in this case, I generated the lead and used your site to firm up their decision. Any chance of including a link for this kind of referral with a discounted rate if the lead starts with me? I also take a chance because my lead might wander the Pictage web site and go to someone else?? But overall it generates more links to you, more traffic to you, and more buzz in the industry.
What do you think?
February 13th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I’m new to Pictage. I’ve had my challenges in terms of customer support. It’s was good to see the BIG PICTURE…b/c I’ve been considering returning to Collages.net. This is low volume time & I can’t afford Pictages services now. We shall see…promise & fulfillment. Thanks
February 13th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Thanks for sharing your evolving business model with us all. In this rapidly changing world the only sure sign of life is growth!
February 13th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Hi guys -
Jason is on a plane to Vegas for WPPI so I’ll fill in to answer some of the questions/points raised here.
Heather wrote:
“Maybe just offer a beginners and an advanced membership. As I get busier I can upgrade, but for now. I just want a pretty site, with basic services.”
Great idea.
The new Pictage Lite plan will launch in March. $199 per year – includes unlimited event sites and event marketing, but none of the pro services (free album design, P3, Directory Listing, Wholesale product ordering, etc…)
We are also putting together a mid-level pricing plan that does include the pro services, but in a different fee structure from the current pro plan. (For example P3 may run you 2.2% instead of 1.5%. The Directory may only include 1 free region instead of 2. Etc…)
Henry wrote:
“I would like to push people back to Pictage to look at my leads, from my website to you, to check out referrals, but in this case, I generated the lead and used your site to firm up their decision. Any chance of including a link for this kind of referral with a discounted rate if the lead starts with me? I also take a chance because my lead might wander the Pictage web site and go to someone else??”
Hi Henry -
You should not pay a booking fee if the lead found you first through means other than the Directory. We have added a question to the booking report form asking the customer to certify they FIRST found the photographer on the Pictage Directory. You can go to the Directory and click on the “Report Booking” button to see how this works.
Here is the forum thread with a screenshot of the new question:
http://forums.pictage.com/showthread.php?t=30438&highlight=Pictage+Directory
—————
Ian Siegel
VP Product Management
Pictage, Inc.
February 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Thanks for the tips and advice!
February 13th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for sharing all of this Jason and Sarah, great interview and wonderfully informative. Pictage continues to impress me with its efforts at thinking ahead of the curve and all these years later I remain excited by our relationship. Keep it going.
bp
February 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Jason,
I think this idea is genious! Well worth the booking fee. Thank you to Pictage for finding more ways to drive business our way!