Studio Profile
Studio of the Month
The only people who can teach you how to be successful are people who already are. So we asked one of our highest volume customers of 2008 to tell us her secrets to success. To borrow a phrase from Donna Summers… "She works hard for the money" Portrait Photographer Amy Headington displays big, creates a home-like atmosphere in her studio, builds canvas walls in clients' homes and develops lasting relationships with local vendors to not just get more clients but also attract high-end customers. And everything she does, you can start doing today...who knows, maybe you'll be one of our biggest customers in 2009!
The success began over three years ago when Amy began ordering Simply Canvas prints of images she had taken of her children, displaying them throughout her in-home studio. "I created different collages on the walls, above the fireplace and couches. People loved how they were set up and that I could make a whole wall out of something." But when she decided to move her studio into a trendy shopping district, her sales dropped. "It’s because they (referring to her clients) weren’t seeing them in an environment where they could hang them."
She then transformed her studio into living areas, adding couches with canvas groupings above them and displaying canvas prints on easels on table tops. She also began featuring large canvas samples as focal points. "If you don’t show it big, you won’t sell it." For example, Amy replaced a 30x40 canvas with a 55x40 to prove her theory. It worked. She sold a couple in that size.
In addition to selling these big prints as separates, she builds walls with them that tell a story of the child or family she photographs. "I sell 3-4 20x24’s that tell a story to build their room around." Her ideas come from previous trips to client’s homes where she’s seen the space first hand, photographs and even fabric swatches. And, she makes sure that the canvas prints can be switched out with new pieces from future sessions. Her idea behind this? "Building walls with canvas, you don’t have to worry about taking a piece out and not finding a place for it. Canvas can always be put somewhere else because it’s so versatile.".
Besides her "display big" philosophy and artistic approach to marketing canvas, Amy has created partnerships with outside vendors, enabling her to display her work on canvas in areas throughout her community.
At one children’s clothing store, Amy has 15 20x24 canvases on display. A local craftsmen and herself are currently teaming up for a Bedroom Giveaway. The room’s furniture and overall design will be built around the big canvases Amy provides. Finally, an interior decorator, who design’s three million dollar homes in Amy’s area, features her work on canvas everywhere throughout the space. Each of these ventures have proven to be highly effective as she has received an increased volume of walk in customers.
But it’s how she offers a canvas print to new customers that has made her business so successful, by retreating back to the idea of selling big. "I can market to both ends of the spectrum. I’ve got clients who spend money like it’s nothing and build wall after wall of canvas prints. And, I’ve got others who walk in and say I’ve got $700 to spend and I say to them well, get this one big canvas print that looks like art and you can keep forever. It’s all word of mouth. These people walked into their friends’ house and saw their big canvas…not small 5x7’s. I’m not in it to sell little pictures. Big canvases are a better piece."
It’s no secret that Amy’s marketing techniques surrounding canvas prints are producing consistently high sales and big returns. She understands the value, not only for her studio, but most importantly for her clients when it comes to selling big prints. Her artistic approach in building walls of canvas in her clients’ homes shows that she believes in the product and her work. And finally, by creating relationships with vendors in her community, she’s shown that she’s dedicated to increasing her clientele and revenue through canvas prints.