How to Price Wedding Albums
photo by Bow Tie Collaborative
How in the WORLD do you price these things!?
Right? Am I alone, or is this one of the most confounding decisions you have to make when you add albums to your product line as a photographer? I'm the Owner and Founder of Align, but I am also a professional wedding photographer myself. I remember having cold sweats trying to figure out how to price things when I first started my business. Even today it can be very confusing to know where to start. Here's the thing. Albums are expensive. They're costly to us as the photographer, and they take up a lot of time (unless you outsource to Align, use our hands-off service so we communicate directly with your clients, and have us do the printing for you as well). Plus they are a one-of-a-kind custom, heirloom quality product. They are expensive, and they should be. The high price tag that comes with a custom wedding album is justified.
Here's the rule-of-thumb that I go by when calculating the mark-up for my albums:
How in the WORLD do you price these things!?
Right? Am I alone, or is this one of the most confounding decisions you have to make when you add albums to your product line as a photographer? I'm the Owner and Founder of Align, but I am also a professional wedding photographer myself. I remember having cold sweats trying to figure out how to price things when I first started my business. Even today it can be very confusing to know where to start. Here's the thing. Albums are expensive. They're costly to us as the photographer, and they take up a lot of time (unless you outsource to Align, use our hands-off service so we communicate directly with your clients, and have us do the printing for you as well). Plus they are a one-of-a-kind custom, heirloom quality product. They are expensive, and they should be. The high price tag that comes with a custom wedding album is justified.
Here's the rule-of-thumb that I go by when calculating the mark-up for my albums:
Let me simplify this even more by sharing how you use a calculator to figure out exactly what to charge for your albums. Take the cost that the album company is going to bill you for the product, and multiply it by three. Then multiply that same initial number by five. Pick a number somewhere between the two that seems reasonable to you. That's what you should charge your client. If you are trying to make your albums more affordable to get them into the homes of more of your clients, stay closer to the 300% mark-up number. If you are serving a high-end clientele, or you are selling an album that you are getting at a very affordable price in comparison to its quality, mark it up closer to the 500% mark. But if you're somewhere in that range, you will make money for your time. If you are outsourcing your design work to Align, you could factor that into your costs that you then multiply by three or five, but I wouldn't. I would just take the price that you are charged for the physical product and use that. You're saving your time by outsourcing the design work. And if you look at the profit you make on an album when you mark it up by 300-500%, you still make a hefty profit even after you subtract what you pay to outsource.
I have one album that I charge $1,700 for and another that starts at $3,000. Both are marked up by about 300%. I do this, even for the more costly album, to keep it somewhat affordable. (It's hard to get a client to buy into a package with an album that costs over $3,000 before their wedding takes place and they see their photos.)
Again, if you're just starting out, the price you see on your calculator after you multiply by 3 or 5 may seem exorbitant to you, but remember, you are selling a custom, heirloom-quality product. This is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase for your clients and if you show them something amazing (don't forget you have to show it to sell it!) they will see the value.
--------------> Click here to take our 3-Question Quiz to find out if you are pricing your albums for profit! We'll email you right away with your results and let you know who your album sales strategy alter-ego is as well as some recommendations for how you can tweak your pricing to line up with your values!
I have one album that I charge $1,700 for and another that starts at $3,000. Both are marked up by about 300%. I do this, even for the more costly album, to keep it somewhat affordable. (It's hard to get a client to buy into a package with an album that costs over $3,000 before their wedding takes place and they see their photos.)
Again, if you're just starting out, the price you see on your calculator after you multiply by 3 or 5 may seem exorbitant to you, but remember, you are selling a custom, heirloom-quality product. This is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase for your clients and if you show them something amazing (don't forget you have to show it to sell it!) they will see the value.
--------------> Click here to take our 3-Question Quiz to find out if you are pricing your albums for profit! We'll email you right away with your results and let you know who your album sales strategy alter-ego is as well as some recommendations for how you can tweak your pricing to line up with your values!
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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Luxurious Panama Wedding Album Design for Ruben Parra Studio
Do we ever have a beauty for you today!! Ruben Parra is a luxury wedding photographer specializing in weddings in Panama and worldwide. His work is incredible and it has been such a pleasure to work with him for the past couple of years on close to 20 designs.
This particular wedding took place in Panama at a private residence and Ruben captured every moment so beautifully! We had a blast laying out the story of the day in a horizontal album design -- which lends itself particularly well to story telling and allows for a few more images per spread without feeling too busy.
Ruben was so kind to take a few photos of the printed Dreamsbook Album which we are excited to show you today along with a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design!
This particular wedding took place in Panama at a private residence and Ruben captured every moment so beautifully! We had a blast laying out the story of the day in a horizontal album design -- which lends itself particularly well to story telling and allows for a few more images per spread without feeling too busy.
Ruben was so kind to take a few photos of the printed Dreamsbook Album which we are excited to show you today along with a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design!
To see the design in full, click through the slideshow:
Thank you, Ruben, for trusting us to be a part of your team!
Thank you, Ruben, for trusting us to be a part of your team!
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Design by: Shannon (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Design by: Shannon (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Classy Virginia Wedding Album Design for Stacy Hart
Delaware based wedding photographer Stacy Hart does GORGEOUS work! We feel so blessed to get to design her albums!
Today's featured wedding album is so stunning! Wait until you see it! This first detail spread is beyond lovely. You can tell Stacy loves styling flat lays! haha! But the goodness doesn't stop there, it just keeps getting better and better with each turn of the page! We love the spread that highlights the couples' sweet pup!
This 15-spread album design was approved after only one round of revisions in less than 10 days flat from order form to file delivery! We love being able to help busy photographers streamline their album workflow and get albums into the hands of their clients FAST!
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:
Today's featured wedding album is so stunning! Wait until you see it! This first detail spread is beyond lovely. You can tell Stacy loves styling flat lays! haha! But the goodness doesn't stop there, it just keeps getting better and better with each turn of the page! We love the spread that highlights the couples' sweet pup!
This 15-spread album design was approved after only one round of revisions in less than 10 days flat from order form to file delivery! We love being able to help busy photographers streamline their album workflow and get albums into the hands of their clients FAST!
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:
To see the design in full, click through the slideshow:
Thank you, Stacy, for trusting us to be a part of your team!
Thank you, Stacy, for trusting us to be a part of your team!
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Design by: Sarah (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Design by: Sarah (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
How outsourcing helps you make MORE money in your business
photo by Erin Lindsey
Who wants to make more money in their business?
Dumb question, right? Who DOESN'T want to increase their profit?
Hey guys -- Melissa Jill here! I'm a pro wedding photographer myself who also started Align Album Design years ago to help photographers do just this! We all want to make more money without having to necessarily work more hours. But how do you do that when you are just trying to keep up with delivering on the promises you've made to the clients you already have?
Who wants to make more money in their business?
Dumb question, right? Who DOESN'T want to increase their profit?
Hey guys -- Melissa Jill here! I'm a pro wedding photographer myself who also started Align Album Design years ago to help photographers do just this! We all want to make more money without having to necessarily work more hours. But how do you do that when you are just trying to keep up with delivering on the promises you've made to the clients you already have?
So many small business owners I know have a saving-on-costs mentality. They figure if they can do it themselves, they should, because then they increase their profit-margin by not having additional overhead costs. And while there is some merit to being conscious of your costs, I believe this mind-set is not an optimal perspective for a successful entrepreneur who wants to grow their business and make more money.
Let me share a story from outside the business world by way of example. I have a friend named Kathleen. She is single and owns a home in a beautiful neighborhood with grass and big trees (these are few and far between in Arizona!). She is an elementary teacher, so she works long hours for little pay. She wanted to take on some additional after-hours tutoring jobs to try to make more money, but she struggled to find the time to do so with everything that is on her plate. She works all week long and on the weekend, she has to take care of the house and yard and do all the grocery shopping. She also loves to run, stay in shape, and go out with friends. It seems that there is little wiggle-room and give in her schedule and responsibilities. She doesn't mind doing the yard work -- it's nice to be outside -- but it's hard to keep up with, and she occasionally gets nasty notes from her HOA about how she needs to keep her grass trimmed better. One day she saw a neighbor boy who is in high school mowing a lawn down the street. She knew she didn't really have the additional money to outsource her yard work -- she's an underpaid teacher for goodness sakes -- but she got an idea. She walked down to chat with the boy and offered to pay him minimum wage to do yard work for her every-other-week. With the time she saved on doing the work herself, she picked up some tutoring jobs that pay $50/hour. No more nasty HOA notes AND she has increased her income. Win-win!
This is a great example of the fundamental concept of how outsourcing can help businesses grow and make more money. So often business owners get stuck thinking that outsourcing is only a good option for people who are rolling in money. But that's not the case. It makes perfect sense for people who are tight on money and time, but who have ideas for how they can increase their profit by spending time working on tasks that will GROW their business. In addition, businesses that outsource to experts with fast turn-around times do a better job keeping their clients happy because they are able to offer a better SERVICE. Kathleen stopped getting nasty HOA letters; you can cut down on disgruntled clients who are waiting much longer than they'd like for their products.
Outsourcing portions of your workflow that bog down your TO DO list and your time is just a smart business decision, regardless of how much money you have. If you want to grow your business and your bottom line, free yourself up to be an entrepreneur. Use your time to grow your business and implement your ideas, rather than to merely serve your current clients. It's the only way to grow.
----------> If you have never tried outsourcing your album design, why not give it a try today and see if it does free you up to make more money in your business? Click here to sign up for an account with Align, and when you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY.
Let me share a story from outside the business world by way of example. I have a friend named Kathleen. She is single and owns a home in a beautiful neighborhood with grass and big trees (these are few and far between in Arizona!). She is an elementary teacher, so she works long hours for little pay. She wanted to take on some additional after-hours tutoring jobs to try to make more money, but she struggled to find the time to do so with everything that is on her plate. She works all week long and on the weekend, she has to take care of the house and yard and do all the grocery shopping. She also loves to run, stay in shape, and go out with friends. It seems that there is little wiggle-room and give in her schedule and responsibilities. She doesn't mind doing the yard work -- it's nice to be outside -- but it's hard to keep up with, and she occasionally gets nasty notes from her HOA about how she needs to keep her grass trimmed better. One day she saw a neighbor boy who is in high school mowing a lawn down the street. She knew she didn't really have the additional money to outsource her yard work -- she's an underpaid teacher for goodness sakes -- but she got an idea. She walked down to chat with the boy and offered to pay him minimum wage to do yard work for her every-other-week. With the time she saved on doing the work herself, she picked up some tutoring jobs that pay $50/hour. No more nasty HOA notes AND she has increased her income. Win-win!
This is a great example of the fundamental concept of how outsourcing can help businesses grow and make more money. So often business owners get stuck thinking that outsourcing is only a good option for people who are rolling in money. But that's not the case. It makes perfect sense for people who are tight on money and time, but who have ideas for how they can increase their profit by spending time working on tasks that will GROW their business. In addition, businesses that outsource to experts with fast turn-around times do a better job keeping their clients happy because they are able to offer a better SERVICE. Kathleen stopped getting nasty HOA letters; you can cut down on disgruntled clients who are waiting much longer than they'd like for their products.
Outsourcing portions of your workflow that bog down your TO DO list and your time is just a smart business decision, regardless of how much money you have. If you want to grow your business and your bottom line, free yourself up to be an entrepreneur. Use your time to grow your business and implement your ideas, rather than to merely serve your current clients. It's the only way to grow.
----------> If you have never tried outsourcing your album design, why not give it a try today and see if it does free you up to make more money in your business? Click here to sign up for an account with Align, and when you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY.
-----------
Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
New Jersey Estate Wedding Album Design for Richel Diaz Photography
Today's featured album design is a great example of a clean design that really does justice to the story of the wedding day. This design ended up being 31 spreads -- on the larger side -- and utilized plenty of white space throughout. New Jersey wedding photographer Richel Diaz likes our Classic Design style with "the fewer images per spread, the better" -- which we are more than happy to accommodate! We're big believers that the fewer images you use per spread, the more importance you give them. Each image is given space to really shine!
Richel ended up ordering this design as a sample album to showcase to potential clients, which is brilliant! As we've talked about elsewhere on our blog, sample albums are the number one key to selling albums! Having one that you are proud to show-off can make all the difference in the sale.
Richel really selected a beautiful wedding to showcase in her sample album. It hits every one of the five features every sample album should include!
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:
Richel ended up ordering this design as a sample album to showcase to potential clients, which is brilliant! As we've talked about elsewhere on our blog, sample albums are the number one key to selling albums! Having one that you are proud to show-off can make all the difference in the sale.
Richel really selected a beautiful wedding to showcase in her sample album. It hits every one of the five features every sample album should include!
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:
To see the design in full, click through the slideshow:
Thank you, Richel, for trusting us to be a part of your team!
Thank you, Richel, for trusting us to be a part of your team!
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Design by: Kari (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
Design by: Kari (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill
