S14E03 | European clients want product too, and they’ll pay for them!
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Today’s guest, Mareike Konrad was one of Europe’s first, if not the first, professional pet photographer. She started her business 12 years ago doing what most of you are doing today- selling digital only packages at unsustainable prices. She quickly realized that in order to put food on her table, something had to change. After reaching out to newborn photographers around the world to learn what worked for them, she introduced albums, wall art and other products too- and when she did- her clients thanked her!
WE COVERED:
Mareike’s journey into pet photography
What Mareike offered when she first started, and why she changes
How much Mareike’s clients spend
EXTENDED MEMBERS-ONLY EPISODE:
The exact products Mareike sells & which are the most popular
Offering digitals and the client response to that
Where Mareike’s clients come from
LINKS: https://mareike-konrad.de/ | https://www.instagram.com/mareikekonrad/
Mareike Konrad
Mareike Konrad Fotografie, Germany
Mareike is a professional pet photographer specializing in outdoor dog photography. She creates colorful, vibrant and natural images by using very shallow depth of field, available light and beautiful bokeh.
As a business mentor she also helps other pet photographers create their successful pet photography business.
ONLINE CONFERENCE FOR GERMAN-SPEAKING PET PHOTOGRAPHERS
Es wird Zeit, dass sich in der Tierfotografie endlich etwas ändert. Seit Jahren schon beobachten wir den Markt und finden talentierte Fotografen, die sich völlig unter Wert verkaufen. Menschen, die den Spaß an der Tierfotografie verlieren, weil sie sich totarbeiten, um ein geringes Einkommen zu erwirtschaften. Viele, vor allem Frauen, die aus schlechtem Gewissen, ebenso wie aus Unwissenheit viel zu viel verschenken.
Gleichzeitig gibt es ein Konkurrenzdenken unter den Tierfotografen, welches es einem schwer macht seinen Traum zu verfolgen.
Das soll sich jetzt ändern, dachten Sarah (Abenteuerhunde Fotografie) und Mareike (Mareike Konrad Fotografie) und riefen mit „Mutig voran!“ eine Onlinekonferenz für Tierfotografen ins Leben, in der sie sich dem Thema Preise annehmen, ganz viel Wissen zum Thema vermitteln, Erfahrungswerte einstreuen und dir zeigen, was du sofort ändern kannst, um als Tierfotograf:in faire Preise aufzurufen
Transcript
my name is Mareike. I'm 34 years old at the moment, and I'm photographing for almost 12 years. Dogs only .
It was kind of a hobby during being student and yes, one day I just started to take money from. And I quickly knew that this is gonna be a business. So I went full-time two years after dad, and so this really, really changed my life and I love it. So I am professional pet photographer in Germany now based in the east, eastern Germany and live tech.
And, and, yes. Guess, and I probably was one of the first full-time pet photographers in Germany. And yeah, this is where my journey started and I could never, ever, ever imagine doing something else because I really love it. I'm I'm shooting outdoors only, so I'm, yeah, I do this very kind of natural, authentic colorful, vibrant images of dogs and their people.
So this is, yeah, what I specialized in mm-hmm. . And yeah. I also specialize in selling products. So this is kind of what we are here today, I guess. Definitely . Yeah. Yeah. I al also was one of the first ones really selling products with Pat Photography and yeah. Never could imagine doing anything else.
I love it. I really love it. My clients do love it and yeah, this is what I'm very, very passionate for. So me, you just said you were most likely the first in Germany, I would argue probably in. Mainland Europe. In fact, I mean I haven't seen any other photographer , so this was 10 years ago. So for the listener who maybe you are in a country where you are one of the first, or it's still developing there, I mean, Mor, you can really relate.
You know, to that photographer who, who is trying to push the genre there. Yes, me too. Cuz it was the same in Australia when I was there 10 years ago as well. , how old are we? . Okay, so not only did you start an entire genre basically in in Germany, in around Mainland Europe, but also you introduce product to those clients who.
Well, I guess they didn't really know another way. They only knew what you were offering because there was no other pet photographer, right? Or did you have clients that were coming to you? You know? You know they'd already had a wedding photographer or they'd already had newborn photos or something like that.
And so they had a bit of an idea how photography works in whatever version they'd experienced. What was kind of. , what did it look like 10 years ago for you? No, it wasn't like the clients are asking for that , it's just I was offering what all the others were offering, so it's like maybe everybody is in kind of the same situation.
So when you are offering path photography, it's like, oh, just I want to look what the others are doing and maybe take the same prices as them and do some kind of packaging and yeah. Was what I was doing also. So, and then one day I just sat down and thought, this, this won't work. There won't ever be enough money to pay me for what I'm doing here.
And so this was when I reached out to, to other photographers. And I just found the concept of i p s and selling products with newborn from other newborn photographs and something like this in America and Australia. And so this was kind of interesting for me and I just thought about what in the hell on it doing and why does anybody pay them $5,000 for a photograph shoot So, This was the way it started and I just was so jealous.
I just wanted to also get on the train and sell products, and make, make money from that because I was very, really passionate about it. My clients loved what I'm doing. They were always over the moon with their pictures, but I wasn't. When I came to being paid, so it's just, it was just low. So this was the only option I had for me because I also wanted to go full-time and yeah.
Then I stumbled over that and I just tried and I tried and I tried and I tried and I started to sell products and I. Did everything I, I, I can, and I offered them everything I had and they just loved it. They just loved it. And yes, this was when I, when it all started. So I just to, to recap. , I knew that I could never go full-time with the amount of money I am.
I, I charged at this moment, 10 years ago. So this was when I just looked, what can I do different? And then I found products. and I fell in love and my clients did also . Okay, so let's fast forward. So actually first of all, 10 years ago you were selling then what? When you very first started just digital files, is that what you were set up in the very beginning?
Yeah. You know, in Germany things are kind of different. I don't know when it started and who did start the thing. Selling floppy prints and kind of small prints with the digitals. This is kind of a thing in Germany, I guess. I have never seen this anywhere else. And maybe did you? Did you do in Australia?
There was a period, I don't know if they're still doing it, where wedding photographers, at least in Australia, were doing the same thing. They were. Sally, you know, you would get like 50 prints, like little, you mean like little five by seven or six by four? Mm-hmm. . Print, right? Yeah. They were giving, they were just giving those with anybody that bought a certain number of digital files, I guess, something like that.
And it was like they were saying, well, this is what your print are supposed to look like. That was the idea. Yeah. I actually tried it myself. . Maybe, I don't know why, because my system was working well, , and I was selling framed wall and everything, and then I decided to change it and I was like, well, all these people are giving these small prints with with the digital collection, so maybe I should be doing that.
And I introduced no. And straight away I was like, oh, this is a mistake. And I went straight back to my old friends.
your experience with with this. Yeah, it's kind of the same. So I just did it because everybody was doing this, so I just thought it's just, just the way it is. And so I had free packages, like nearly everybody, a small one, a bigger one, and a very big one. So do we have to talk about numbers? It, it was kind of 69.
And 89 and 129. So it was very, very, very low . So hang on a minute. And if we do the maths on that and we say, ok, let's say like, you know, everybody bought the 89 package. If you had a hundred clients a year, that's two a week, you'd only be making 8,900 euro. And so you would've had to shoot like more than 1000 clients a year to.
Livable wage cuz you still have costs and everything, right? I mean, that's not sustainable. Hello? Burnout . So yeah, so this was what I was doing because everybody did this and I see this today also. Much of, most of the time when people are coming to me for coaching this is what I found, free packages with some digitals and they include the prints in it for free.
Of course. For free. Uhhuh . Why not? And so this was what I'm doing also. And yeah. . It wasn't working, I guess ? No. Well, it was working. I had clients and they were over the moon. They were very happy with it. But I wasn't, it wasn't working for me because I wanted to go full-time. And also I realized they, they never did anything with this kind of friends.
Mm-hmm. . So why just give them, give something to them they don't really want and offer them prints for free? What just keeps them away? Asking for prints or yeah, buying prints for me. Well, you're kind of telling the client, aren't you? Like this is what a photo shoot is for when you give them these little prints, you know, then they don't even have another idea in their head of what they could do.
It's interesting how you, you know, we all come to these, not all, but a lot of us come to these conclusions. Through only experience, you know, I mean, I'm thinking, my comparison is that back in like when I first started, the first maybe three or four, three years, I would say I would sell wall art. So like a 20 by 30 inch print, but not framed and not mattered.
So it was just a loose. A 20 by 30 inch print and that would pay a lot of money for that. And I thought I was doing the right thing, you know, because I was making, it was profitable for me. The client was getting this beautiful print big enough for their wall. I thought it was a great idea until I had a repeat client come back in the next year and I asked her, where did you hang the, the photo from last year?
And she's like, oh. Still rolled up in the cylinder because I, I know haven't time for the framers yet, and I said to, you paid a thousand dollars for the print and it's still rolled up in your office and you're having another shoot. , but you haven't even framed the first one. This was at her ordering appointment of the second shoot, actually
And and she was like, yeah. I said, okay, scrap the price list you're looking at right now. You're not buying anything unless a frame is included. And as a bonus, I'm gonna frame that last one as well. And she was like, okay. Literally with her, I changed my friends list. I added like you could only get something b if it was framed or canvas.
And then I took her print with me when I left and I took it to the framers and and I delivered both back to her, the one from the previous year and that one. And after that, never again could you buy loose prints from me that were big for the wall perfect. Yeah, but you have to learn, you know, you have to, you either hear that like, that's why I'm sharing this story now.
You know, you hear somebody. Had the realization and they've shared it, or you have to have it yourself. So, so for you Maria, you, you realized, okay, these little loose prints are not what the client wants. The digitals aren't really either. And so at that point, that's when you found product, right?
Definitely. But nobody ever complained about it, . Nobody will ever, you just have to take that step. as a photographer. Nobody will ever come to you and say, oh no. Well, the print is already roll up. I don't like it. , , nobody would do that because they're nice people. . Yeah. We have the, the most perfect clients.
So yeah, you just have to do it on your own as holograph. Think about it. Think about what they want, what they really want, and if you are doing a good job at it. So if we fast forward to today, 10 years ago you started out, you did these three packages, 69, 8900 and something, Euro digital files and these floppy prints, like that's okay.
I'd say most people can relate to that. After a little bit, you realize that's not sustainable. So you changed your business model at that point. Is that the model that you still use today? Yeah. Kind of it, it developed, it definitely developed. And I changed my process because my life changed in the last years, so, mm-hmm.
It kind of flipped up and down and Yeah, I, I really would say it, it's the same system. Mm-hmm. . So I, I collect a shooting How do you call it? ? Sorry, it's shooting fee. Mm-hmm. and the session fee and the after that, which is sell product. And this is what I, what I'm using now, but I changed the, the, the whole system within and the whole workflow many, many, many times.
So I just tried everything , I, I found on the market and tried it out and looked what was the best thing for me to. . Mm-hmm. . Okay. So today you're still doing that. You take the session fee, then people buy the product from you. Yes. And it's working super well for you. I know that . So can you give us an indication, Meka, how many clients did you shoot last year?
Oh, well, last year I had a baby, so it wasn't that much. Yeah, sorry. Wrong year. But I, but I have, I had to recap, it was 35 clients only. Okay. And on a typical year, like the year before, oh yes. You were pregnant, but . , yeah. I was pregnant the whole last year, so I have three kids now. But I don't want to shoot that much clients anymore.
So for me it's totally okay to have four. a month. Okay, perfect then that's great. Let's stick with that because I feel like a lot of the listener would also be happy with that number as well. Whether it's because they're doing it on the side of another job or because maybe they're actually, you know, this is kind of a, a.
Semi-retirement or because they just want high sales and low volume, that's fine as well. So I'm gonna break in a second so that we can keep some great details of this in particular for the members. But just before we do that, would you be happy to give an indication of what your average spend is, Monica?
Yes. My average client spends between one, nine and two and a half. Euro with me. Okay. So I'm just gonna go back to those numbers earlier. So now let's say the average is 2200 and you're doing 35 a year, so it's 77,000. Before, with your old numbers, 10 years ago, you would've had to shoot a thousand clients for that same money.
yeah. For 35. So that's like big, big difference. I know, like, I mean, I'm not really compar. apples and apples because you have o you know, costs and everything of course, but just it's still interesting to hear those numbers. I mean, 35 versus 1000, that's a big difference. . . All right, so I wanna go into this a little bit further into exactly what products are selling the best for you at the moment and all of this kind of nitty gritty, a little bit more.
But I'm gonna save that for the second half. Episode, which is for the members only. So let's wrap up part one. But before we do that, can you just let the listener know where the best place is to find out more about you and what it is you offer for photographers as well. So while you can just find me on my website, I guess you put it in the show notes so you can find with Mareike slash Oh no Mareike there.
No, you just, you just put it into show notes, . So yeah, you can find my photography in page in there. And yes, I'm offering many things for photographers now. I'm teaching since 2015. I was doing some kind of one-on-one coaching and developed from. So my own academy will go live in April and you can find it in the show notes as well.
But that's it for part one of this episode. If you're a member, of course you can continue listening to part two in the Member Zone or via your private RSS feed in your favorite podcast player. Just a reminder that if you are a member, you do have that private. . If you can't find it, shoot me through an email and I'll hook you up because that makes it way easier to listen to put your, you know, the extended episodes on the go.
You can listen to it on whatever app you like, you know, listening. So yeah, make sure you hit me up for that. Now, if you're not a member, of course you can join today. It's just $10 a month and membership includes loads of perks, like listening to the end of this. Sign up here: https://thepetphotographersclub.com/join