the perfect Color

I promised y’all something big today – and here it is! Today’s guest post is by Color Inc. Digital Pro Lab.

Make sure you read all the way to the end because there’s a very special prize and an amazing offer exclusive to Paperie Boutique viewers!

Color Inc. is a full service digital lab that is founded on helping other photographers experience the same success as we have through education, networking, and marketing. Our commitment to you is to provide you with the best digital product at the best possible price.

We are excited to offer one Paperie reader a free 16×20 gallery wrap canvas!

Photographer Lori Reedy had this to say about Color Inc. gallery wraps: “…Gallery wrapped canvas art is the top selling product in my studio, so it just made sense to show more of what my clients love. After all, you sell what you show and canvas is perfect for that tactile high end presentation.”

Our Gallery Wrapped Canvases are a high-quality, finished product that will come ready to hang the moment it is unwrapped. Preserve your memories in style with the Gallery Wrap!

Each Canvas is hand wrapped around a 1½” frame with the finest attention to detail. Each piece is properly finished with a wire hanger, bumpers, and you can choose to leave the back open or cover it with Tyvek® backing. In addition, your canvas will be coated with Hahnemuhle protective spray which protects your work from harmful UV rays and other atmospheric contaminants.

Our wrapped canvases are available in the “Gallery Wrapped Canvas” catalog in our ROES software. To order first read these instructions, then go into ROES and click the “Sizes” button, then the “Gallery Wrapped Canvas” option as seen at left. Canvases are arranged by size within that catalog.

So now you’re ready to win that 16×20 gallery wrap canvas, right?

Go to your blog, Facebook account, Flickr account, or Twitter account and post the following:

Wrap it up! Win a gallery wrap canvas from Paperie Boutique & @colorinc / colorincprolab.com – visit paperieboutique.com for details!

Please note: The link you post must direct to a public account. I cannot verify links on private, friends & family only, or passworded accounts and they will not be eligible to win this promotion.

You can enter up to four times total – one entry per public, non-private blog URL / Facebook / Flickr / Twitter account. Post the URL to your link(s) in the comments for THIS ENTRY. Because so many people are traveling to WPPI this weekend, I am extending the contest through Monday morning this time. Comment(s) must be posted here by 11:59 a.m. EST on Monday, March 8th.

Comments on this entry will be numbered in order of posting. The winning number will be chosen by Random.org, and the winner will be put in touch with Color Inc. within 24 hours of contest’s end to claim their prize.

As if that wasn’t awesome enough, Color Inc. is also offering all Paperie readers 25 FREE 4×6 prints! Use the code PB25.

Thank you so much Color Inc.! You’re definitely kicking everyone’s weekend off on a great note!

And just in case you missed yesterday’s entry, keep scrolling because you have to check out the The Boutique Product Catalog!

Here’s just one more example of how they can be customized:

It’s a product I can’t wait to use, and I think you’ll feel the same! So go peek…

Have a great weekend everyone!
-Robyn

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

what a concept

I was lucky enough to get a demo version of The Boutique Product Catalog recently. To say I was “blown away” would be an understatement. In fact, I tore into the box like a little kid at Christmas. And then I made my poor husband sit there and “oooh” and “ahhh” right along with me until he showed enough enthusiasm for me to let him off the hook and return to my regularly scheduled swooning in private.

I have been looking for a solution like this – not only in look, but in price – forever. This delivers and then some! The concept is fantastic. The design is beautiful. The quality is exceptional. And because they’re customizable and the wording is available, well that’s really just the icing, now isn’t it?

It is with much excitement that I introduce Andrea Halsey of “The Designer Concept” for today’s guest post…

If you have ever looked into creating a unique catalog to hand to your clients at (or before) your session, you may have had some of the same troubles I did when seeking out this perfect marketing piece. After a lot of research, both local and around the digital marketplace of the world wide web, I finally found a solution that was perfect for the Boutique Experience, and light on the pocket!

I wanted a piece that served the following purposes:
- Boutique Look and Feel
- Something unique you can’t just get anywhere
- Something small enough for clients to keep in their pocketbooks (and show off to friends and family)
- Something concise and image-oriented
- A piece that matched my branding and set me apart from other local photographers

Is it so much for a girl to ask?!

Well, I did find some solutions that I loved, but just couldn’t swallow the price tags. I started to find myself looking into custom pieces that had minimum quantities in the thousands just to reduce the price to $3 or $4 a piece. Or, if I wanted to spend $10 a piece, I could get just 250 (insert googley eyes). When I looked into smaller booklet-style pieces, I just wasn’t happy with the look and feel. I wanted my pieces to have that wow-factor that represented the caliber of my boutique work, and the products I offer.

After some prototype mockups, I found a solution that would only cost me around $1/catalog and met all of my expectations. I kid you not! And the minimum quantity was right where I needed it to be, at just one hundred pieces. Having used the pieces myself, I know how valuable they are and can confirm that you will love handing them to clients, leaving them with other businesses, and handing them out to prospective clients… and they will love them too!

The deal only gets sweater. One of the issues I share with many other photographers, is the need to update or change pieces in my product catalog over time. Imagine spending $2,500 on your product catalogs just to realize a vendor has increased their prices or discontinued production. What if you have a new product line you want to add? Even though your original investment for your catalogs may have been around $100, the way our pieces are put together, you can update an entire section for just around $15 or $20. And when I say update, I mean update ALL of your booklets.

The team at my studio has put together a template for The Designer Concept that will give you a Master Cover template to custom match to your branding, as well as layout guides and instructions for creating your own booklet for just $1/piece. You can also purchase our Premium Template and have my personal catalog shipped to your door! This will give you a first-hand look at how I have created my own catalog, the products I offer my clients, and the images and wording that I use.

Paperie Exclusive Alert!

I have developed an exclusive Paperie Master Cover Template ONLY available for Paperie Boutique readers. After purchasing your template, simply email me your PayPal transaction ID and mention Paperie Boutique, and you will get in on this exclusive cover template. (If you have already purchased the Boutique Product Catalog, you can still email me for the exclusive cover!)

Last but not least, I can’t help but give a little something more in the form of a limited time discount!

For *one week only* you can get a $25 or $35 discount only for Paperie Boutique readers and friends.

For the Premium Template, get $35 off instantly by using this code:
PaperieExclusivePremium

For the standard template, get $25 off instantly by using this code:
PaperieExclusiveStandard

OFFER ENDS THURSDAY, MARCH 11TH

Thanks to all for reading, much love!
~Andrea

Thank you so much for the product, and the special Paperie exclusive plus discount, Andrea! I cannot wait to get mine together and share the photos here!

In just minutes the My Funky Camera contest will come to a close. But stay tuned! There’s another HUGE give-away coming on Friday. Yes, I said HUGE. So don’t forget to check back in!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

third time’s a charm

The Internet is full of photography-related forums now, both free and paid, private and public, new and old. Sometimes it gets pretty overwhelming to figure out what to choose—not only from the sheer volume of groups out there, but also deciding which ones will benefit your business and be the best investment of your time. On the 17th of last month, I gave one recommendation. Now I’m proud to feature the only other paid-forum that I’m a member of – Pinkle Toes 4 Photographers (PT4P). I have been a member of PT4P since day one of v1, and immediately renewed my membership for v2 and v3. I’ve always found it more than worth the expense for the member forum alone—nevermind the business and marketing materials, templates, card designs, website expansion tools, etc. So it is with great excitement that I introduce Michele, a.k.a. Pinkletoes, to explain more.

Spring your photography business into action with Pinkle Toes 4 Photographers! Now in its third year, PT4P is the original ever-evolving, all-in-one design, marketing, and resource center for photographers. Whether you’re just starting out or even if you’ve been in the business for years, PT4P has materials to help save you time and money and keep your business fresh and moving forward. New materials are released quarterly, but here is just a small sample of the kinds of templates created just for PT4P members:

Be sure to check out ALL of the offerings in PT4P including webinars (topics chosen by the members), album and framing actions, contract and brochure templates, and so much more.

Special Limited Time Offer: Purchase your v3 membership by March 7th and mention “Paperie Boutique” in your payment message and you’ll receive a bonus Senior Save the Date postcard template.

Thank you so much for doing a guest post, Michele! I look forward to seeing some of you at PT4P soon!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

totally sweet

Since The Album Cafe did their last feature here at Paperie, I get multiple hits in my stats daily looking for their products and coupon codes. So I contacted them again to see if they’d be interested in doing another guest post / promo. Luckily we all win because they said “yes!” Read on…


Hi everyone! We just wanted to share with you a SUPER CUTE new product we recently announced – Accordion Mini Book templates! These little books are the hottest thing out right now, and I can certainly see why – they are adorable! Our mini book templates are designed for printing at White House Custom Color, and we’re offering 20% off the entire store until Valentine’s Day so that you can try them out!

While you’re over checking out the new mini books, why don’t you grab our newest freebies!!

Don’t forget to grab the code at the bottom of each image to receive your “20% off entire order” through Valentine’s Day! And huge thanks to The Album Cafe for this promotion!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

P.S. Paperie Boutique was featured in the latest moo.com February 3rd “Photography special: Ideas to fall in love with!” Moosletter. Did you catch it?

café d’album

When I ran across The Album Cafe website online, I knew I had to feature it here. It was instant-love. I put off an entire morning full of work just combing through the site. Thankfully they offered to do a guest post so now you can see what all the fuss is about, too!

Hi there, we are The Album Cafe!

We were so excited to be contacted by Robyn about doing this guest post! Be sure to read to the end for a great coupon! There is so much to talk about, so let’s get started…

The Album Cafe provides professionally designed Photoshop templates exclusively for photographers. As the name implies, we of course have tons of Album templates…oh, but there’s so much more!

When our company first began, we added a Suggestion Box to our website so that photographers could suggest products that they felt would be useful to them and their businesses. All the following products are a direct result of those suggestions…

Need a business card for your business? It can be so expensive to have a card designed for you, and all the “pre-made” cards out there are so generic – why not create your own card, with YOUR OWN IMAGES… our business card templates range from $3 to $7!

One of my favorite suggestions we’ve ever gotten was for blog photo templates. Most of you have a blog already that you like, but what fun to spice it up by adding fun borders and collage style layouts to the photos you upload? Check out a few of our super fun “Blog It” templates… they even include automating actions that place all your pictures in the layouts for you. Sweet!

Okay, I realize it’s only October, but the holidays will be here before you know it! How about offering your clients the option of ordering their holiday cards through you – with photos from your shoot?

We want you to have fun with your templates and maybe even learn some new cool things about Photoshop, so we have OUTSTANDING customer support! There are tutorials on our “Learn” page to help you out and free actions on our “Free Actions” page to speed you along. We are always available to answer any questions you may have (and we won’t make you wait days for an answer!) – if you’ve got a question, no matter how big or small, please ask! That’s why we’re here. That’s what we love to do.

Also, don’t forget to check out our “Free Stuff” page for totally free templates available for immediate download!

See something here you like? Want to save some $$$? Just use the code Paperie20 at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order! This code is good through December 31, 2009.

Huge thanks to The Album Cafe for an amazing guest feature and coupon code! What are you still reading here for…go…now!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

blush and bashful

I am not ashamed to say that I begged and pleaded to do the following feature. I’ve been wanting to highlight boudoir photography packaging for quite awhile, and when I saw Stacey’s presentation for Goldapple Photography and Denton Boudoir Photography, I was simply blown away. I think you will be, too!

When my boudoir clients book, they receive (either in the mail or in person) a large presentation envelope from Paper Source that has their contracts, info form, and price sheets (all printed from my home on white cardstock). I always include a couple business cards (printed square at ProDPI on pearl paper), and an appointment card (printed as a folded business card on pear paper at WHCC) with their session date on it.

Generally I include a sample invitation or card (depending on the client’s plan for the final images). I have brides use their images to create bachelorette party invitations, lingerie shower invitations, or bridal shower invitations. Here is one I created recently.

I am a member of PT4P, and I used the wall design catalog to create my accordion wall design guide (inspired by Jen of Mesmerizing Moments Photography!).

Some girls aren’t too keen on purchasing large prints for themselves, but I always explain that prints are great for bathrooms (because that is where a woman generally feels the most vulnerable!) and for “man” rooms. My husband has a “man room” that has his guitars, drums, cigars and pipes stuff, books, etc., and that would be a great place for boudoir photos of me (if I ever found the time to do them!).

I also own Goldapple Photography, my portrait business, so I always throw some business cards for it into my booking envelope and offer $50 off their portrait session fee if they book a separate portrait session at the same time as their boudoir session.

My packaging for final prints is from Paper Source. I love their boxes, and they are the only place I can find solid pink boxes! But I also use DNL for black boxes for anything bigger than 8×10. I get shredded pink paper for filler in the boxes from Target, and ribbon from wherever I can find it! Mostly Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, but sometimes I’ll find something online. I don’t use one particular ribbon, but I always use pink and black.

I use clear bags from clearbags.com to protect prints, and my small round stickers of my logo are printed at zazzle.com. I also have stickers printed from Moo, but I don’t have pictures of them yet!

With my delivery of their order, I include a petal envelope in black from Paper Source with a 5×5 referral card (printed at WHCC on standard paper) and their 8 die-cut wallets (printed wherever I print their pictures at – usually ProDPI or Miller’s) tied with a ribbon. When I took these photos, I didn’t have any wallets printed so I just used a mini envelope from Paper Source. But I do have a photo of my Goldapple Photography referral card!

I got this idea from Robyn’s referral cards, and I love it!

So that is my Denton Boudoir Photography packaging! Thank you Robyn, for allowing me to share with your readers!

Lotsa Love,
Stacey

Stacey’s Client Booking Envelope:
★ Envelope – Paper Source
★ Wall Design Guide – Miller’s accordion 10 panel & linen finish
★ Sample Folded Card (specific to type of session) – ProDPI, Moo, WHCC
★ Business Cards – square & pearl finish/ProDPI, regular & linen finish/WHCC
★ Gift card promotion for friends – 5×7 flat card & linen finish/WHCC, pearl finish business cards/WHCC
★ Full Price List – printed at home on cardstock
★ Album Price List – 5×5 trifold & linen finish/Miller’s
★ Client info form – printed at home
★ Client model release – printed at home
★ Client contract & receipt form – printed at home
★ Round sticker to seal – Zazzle

Stacey’s Client Packaging Contents:
★ 4×6 & 5×7 boxes – Paper Source
★ 8×10 and larger boxes – DNL Photo Packaging
★ Photo bags – Clearbags
★ Canvas packaging – Paper Source
★ Round Stickers – Zazzle
★ Rounded Square Stickers – Moo
★ Ribbon – Hobby Lobby
★ Champagne & Chocolate bags – Clearbags
★ Petal Envelopes – Paper Source
★ Referral Insert Cards – 5×5 flat cards WHCC
★ Wallet Referral Cards – Depends on where I am placing the client’s print order, I order them through that printer
★ Small business card envelopes – Paper Source

Drop by and see Stacey’s work at Denton Boudoir Photography and Goldapple Photography—and thank her for sharing her amazing marketing and presentation “guest post” with the class!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

mesmerized.

Jen Gentry of Mesmerizing Moments Photography recently shared how she set up a booth for a community event.

Now we’re lucky enough to have her back for another guest post, which proves without a doubt that like Mary Poppins she is practically perfect in every way.

I am a member of PT4P, and Michelle made us these great wall gallery layouts, so I made mine into a handout that I give to every client!

I print most of my marketing material through Miller’s – a little trick for all of you, is when you are ordering in quantities of 25, always add 1 more (ex.26) and it will push your pricing into the next category, and make it cheaper!

My gift cards, they are 4×5 cards – double sided, and I put them in the envelope shown, and then into a really pretty envelope from Paper-Source and top them off with ribbon (not shown)

My baby’s first year handout – it’s a 5×5 tri-fold

My pricing guide including all my boutique items, printed on a 5×5 tri-fold

My date reminder card – printed on folded business cards – I just circle the date and fill in a time, my clients tell me it’s perfect for their fridge!

I really love Miller’s, their turn around time & quality is top of the line, I couldn’t ask for more! To keep everything a little nicer I print it all on their pearl paper, which is to die for!

My brown envelopes from Paper-Source, and all my clients’ forms & handouts go inside

I put all my client forms and handouts into a large brown shimmer envelope from Paper-Source with a logo sticker on the front.

My photo packaging boxes

I get my photo boxes from DNL – I love them, great quality, a variety of sizes, and they match my colors perfectly. ☺ I use the 11×14 brown box, and the 8×10 green box, and just decorate them all a little differently with ribbon (from Michaels & Paper-Source), logo stickers (from WHCC), and bands (from Envelopper Inc.) For my prints, inside the boxes, and everything larger than 11×14, I use clear bags from clearbags.com and just make them pretty with a variety of ribbon. ☺

My photo packaging bag, with a common gift for my clients – the accordion wallet album from Millers

I put all my orders in a large chocolate tote that I also get from DNL, and I finish them off with prettyness, including my bag tags from Jessica.

My office -

The view from in front of the garage door – into my office and the front door to my house

We bought a townhouse about a year and a half ago, and it works perfectly for my office! The entry level only has a half bath, our entryway, the garage, a closet, and my office, then all our living space is on the second and third floor, so my clients come right inside my door, but never into my home, and I love it!

View from the office entryway – most of those gallery wraps from the back wall are now at a local OB/GYN office ☺

I have clients come in for an optional consult (a lot of clients do this over the phone or via email though) and a mandatory in person ordering session. This really helps clients see what they are getting, get a better feel for it, see their photos on a large calibrated monitor, get my help and opinion, and helps sales too! Once they see it, they want it!

View from the window

View from my chair – my custom framing area

View from the back corner

Well – thanks so much for inviting me over Robyn – Hope that helps some of you readers!

Thank you so much for the inspiration, Jen! Once again, don’t forget to stop by her website and blog and tell her how amazing it is she put all of this together for everyone to see and learn from!

If you’re interested in having your own business packaging, marketing ideas, or photography-related products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

put a ring on it

(Originally posted to Flickr forums in June 2009. Announcement template design shown below is by Diana Hall.)

Since I’m only taking packages at this time, most include either a holiday card or birth announcement selection. I have online galleries of the designs I offer, and each "client welcome kit" includes a paper sample packet. I use this card design to print on five different paper types (when my lab runs its annual press-printed sales, I stock up in bulk):

I’ve found that red changes the most between the paper types (because not all paper is “true white” before printing). This gives them a pretty good example of the color-shifts between their available choices. Two envelope paper selections are included as well. The back of each sample has the paper type listed:

I bring accordion albums along with me to the newborn (or holiday) sessions – they are filled with samples of previous clients’ flat and folded press items so they can see paper types and styles with the other designs I offer for their own birth announcements and Christmas cards:

Quick tip if you’re on a limited budget to start… Design your sample template with 3-4 identical “strips” either horizontally or vertically. Like basically fitting 3-4 bookmarks on a card — instead of designing an announcement or card here, you’d be designing a bookmark and then printing multiple ones uncut on one flat postcard. When they arrive, take a paper cutter and slice into your bookmark-sized strips. Voilà! Paper sample pack for clients, with 3-4 more times the samples for you to give out. (If you don’t know where to begin, I now offer a template for this at “Fit to Print“!)

P.S. Don’t forget the Moo.com code exclusive to Paperie Boutique viewers expires on August 25th, 2009!

it’s a Small world

It’s time for another guest post! Everyone say “hi” to Carrie Small of Carrie Small Photography in Fayetteville, NC. She has one of the cutest logos I’ve ever seen, and some of her ideas have really inspired me to step up my game!

This is the folder that clients get when they book with me. Right now it includes a price info sheet, business card, trifold brochure with the contract on it, and a client info sheet/model release/contract signing.

I bought the folders from paperpresentation.com.

UPDATE: My amazing logo and marketing design are by Tiffany at OTSS (onthespotstudio.com).

This is the Trifold brochure. I print this myself.

This is the price sheet and the client info sheet.

Here is a photo of all the things used in my packaging. The boxes are from WHCC, stickers from WHCC. I include a CD with web sized images, referral cards, a print care/copyright card, and a folded business card in each order.

On top is a 5×5 Pano Album from Millers.

Referral cards, copyright / print care, and business cards – all printed from WHCC.

This is a bound inspiration guide that I send home with my clients for them to get ideas for wall portraits. They are printed as 3.5×5 proofs and then hole punched and bound together with a ring.

The 5×5 Proof book from WHCC.

And last but not least, all my new baby clients get a gift of a bib, printed at cafepress.com.

Are those bibs seriously not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? Kudos, Carrie—and thank you so much for sharing with the class! You can see her blog here, and even more of her amazing photography at her website.

Don’t forget to check out the special Moo business card promotion and pre-sale going on now if you missed the last post! And if you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment).

showcase showdown

This is another guest post by Heather James of Heather James Photography in Princeton, NJ. I’m beyond excited that she’s sharing these here. The idea is nothing short of brilliant and the presentation is absolutely fantastic!

I have quite a long price list as most of us do. Typically, I’d email a potential client a few hyperlinks to various web pages that showcased my work, what my sessions are like, and what my pricing is. It has been a great way to get my information out quickly and in an eco-friendly way. Then I had an inquiry from someone who doesn’t have an email address. WHAT? I was completely in shock mostly because the person sounded much younger than my 75 yr old grandmother who ichats on a regular basis. I needed a way to sell myself, my work and get all 5 hyperlinks into 1 envelope without breaking my bank account. So the accordion price guide was born. The following was a must to have on:

1. get all of my pricing in.
2. share a few of my best images.
3. most importantly: share who I am and why I am a lifestyle photographer and get them excited about scheduling a session with us.

Once I set the guidelines in place, designing it was a breeze for me. I just went with my gut and created something I would enjoy looking at every day – and I do look at it just about every day! The entire front side is all about the session. The only pricing is my session fees and each panel discusses who we are and what we’re like. When I say we, I mean my husband and I, as we truly are a team in every sense.

The back is the nitty gritty stuff. All of my print packages, special collections and premium à la carte pricing. There’s a few photos scattered around both sides that showcase most of the types of sessions I offer. Its neatly sealed in a white envelope with a round 1.5″ sticker from zazzle.com with my logo on it.

I find now that I not only send this to potential clients who don’t have access to the internet, but I also give this to my clients with a thank you notecard and a business card at the end of each session. Now that their session is complete, it gets them thinking about the next step in the process and excited about their proofs coming!

Every 3 months, or when I run out, I update the photos on the card based on the season and am always introducing new sessions into my marketing. And I always send along a sample of any marketing piece I use a client’s images on to them. They get super excited and show all of their friends and family their 5 seconds of fame which is instant free marketing for me!

Thank you so much for sharing these Heather! Drop by her blog and say “hi“!

As mentioned previously…I’m working with a handful of photographers to add more guest posts to this site so it’s not filled with my ideas and photos/demos only. If you’re interested in having your packaging, marketing ideas, or products featured please contact me (my e-mail is in the sidebar and is robyn @ this domain – or you can leave a comment). It’s always fun to share and “pay it forward“! Not to mention improve your SEO in the process… Win / win!