Industry Knowledge

Basic Business Planning

• Research Your Competitors And Prices

https://www.venturephotography.com/

• This website seems to be well thought out, Venture seems to use bold letters to make it really clear to read, they offer discounts for “VIP Venture” members, they also put a trust pilot to show what kind of rating they are. They mainly offer a experience which is probably their biggest selling point, they also show a pricing structure under the “Buy Now” section which shows different levels of experience that they offer. I think the colour scheme they have used on the website is nice and peaceful, it isn’t bright and colourful. The target audience they are trying to attract are the rich and wealthy families because of how expensive they are; this is all tied into the marketing strategy. On the basis of value for money, I’d consider Bartley Studios as the better option because when looking at the pricing structure it was £10 cheaper and I think that makes a huge amount of difference as I wouldn’t be going to the studio because of its experience or pricing. The only thing I can see that they offer is what they call a “Family Treat box” which is a box full of chocolates and sweets which also gives you alongside a one hour family photoshoot experience.

https://www.yaffephotography.com/

This website is very well layed out, everything is very spacious and using bold letters to make it really clear to read. The business model is very different from Venture or Bartleys as they don’t have the same type experience that they take their customers through, although they have a customer experience where you come in a bit early and they will put the kettle on or have a glass of wine or two. In other words they are not really treating it as a day out like the other two do.

The pricing structure is very clear and easy to read and from what I can see they are cheaper by far then the other photography studios. The target audience for this studio is a mixture between upper to middle class, because the pricing isn’t too expensive and I can see people paying the price for type of photographs that are being taken. One of Yaffe’s selling points is the that they have their own in house Frame with in a frame approach where you have a photograph and then you print something around the outside of the image, Yaffe was one of the first people to do this. This studio also has created videos to show you the experience inside the studio which shows you with the photographer and of course what it would feel like if you were in the studio.

One of the cons I have seen with this studio is that they don’t sell/offer anything alongside your photographs, for example a USB in a box etc.

My Hypothetical Business Plan

Find a Location

The reason why I have picked this location is because it is in the middle of town, good access to bus and train links and most importantly it has a forecourt to park customers cars. I have picked this one with ground floor space only because if anyone has any disabilities i.e., has a wheel chair then it needs to have good access for those type of individuals. The street also has good street lighting meaning that it will be well lit in the winter months compared to for example if I chosen a light industrial estate with next to no lights on, people might not choose to go down their for that reason. The location I have picked is very out the way and no where near any other competition, and this will draw in customers as they might not want to travel far to get a photo taken with their family. Signage is key to success as it needs to be well read and attached to the building properly, you don’t want it looking like it’s held on by a pieces of string or ropes as that isn’t very inviting for the customer who is coming to your shop.

• Start Up Costs - are the expenses that are spent during the process of starting a new business. This could include a business plan, research expenses, borrowing costs and expenses for technology. The post-opening costs could include things like, employee expenses (if your employing anyone), adverting and promotion.

Item Description	Cost	Cost Saving Potential (different supplier or Ebay)
Insurance / Furniture / Office Equipment
Deposit on Property	£1000	None
Rent (1st month in advance)	£1000	None
Public Liability and Equipment Insurance (1 year)	£ 250	£21 (monthly direct debit)
Reception desk	£ 300	£150
Reception L-shaped sofa (x2) - £600 each	£1200	£800
Reception display prints (x12) - £25 each	£ 300	None
Signage (Shop Front)	£1000	£600
Decorating budget	£ 400	Free DIY – Do it with family and friends
3 fold brochures size a4 (X1000) - Vistaprint	£ 240	£120 Square format instead of A4
Business cards (x1000) - Vistaprint	£ 28	None
Pre-opening Advertising campaign – leaflet drop / local press	£ 500	Free Use social media and networking contacts
Photo Studio Equipment
Backgrounds (x3) & Support System	£ 420	£100 DIY infinite curve like our photo studio
Studio Flash Heads & light stands (x5) - £329 each	£1645	£987 Just have x3 to start with
Nikon D850 DSLR Camera Bodies (x2) - £1850 each	£3700	£932 Nikon D7100 @£466 each
Flash attachments – Octobox, beauty dish, snoots, spotlight, gel set etc)	£ 760	£400 Used on ebay
Wind machine	£ 280	Free use white card
Camera lenses – 12mm-24mm f4(£689), 24-70mm (£1579) & 80mm-200mm f2.8 (£830)– all deemed fast lenses but more expensive	£3098	£948 Two 24mm-120mm Zoom @f4 -£474 each
Mac computer plus adobe Lightroom software package	£1500	£800 High Spec PC (8GB RAM) + Adobe Lightroom Keyboard
Preview Sales Room
Coffee Machine (bean to cup)	£364	£28 Standard coffee machine
4K Projector and screen	£1100	£400 (HDR 4K 50inch Smart TV)
A3 Epson SureColor SC-P600 Inkjet printer	£578	£230 Epson Expression Photo XP-960
Viewing Room Seating	£600	£400
Viewing Room Wall Products and sample Frames	£500	None
Emergency Slush Fund	£1000	None – arrange a business overdraft
Grand Total	£21,763	£9,473

• Operational Costs - are the expenses incurred by a business that uses to run its operations. This may include payroll, rent, insurance premiums, utilities and equipment maintenance. This does not include capital expenditures and depreciation.

Item Description	Cost
Rent Insurance Business Rates (if appropriate) Service Charges (if appropriate Light Industrial Estate Property – security/garden maintenance)	£1000 £21 £0 (currently zero) £0
Office Supplies	£100
Utilities (gas, electric, water)	£100
Website Hosting / Internet	£85
Wages (additional staff member/photographer..£15K per year)
Total (Monthly)	£1306

Yearly operational costs (monthly x 12 months) = £1306 x 12

= £15672

Profit wanted

= £30,000

Total Sales required (Operating Costs + Profit)

= £45,672

If the studio was open x6 days a week that would give 288 days of trading in a year. This allows for x4 weeks holiday a year. (6 days x48 weeks)

Daily Sales - To work out the daily sales divide total sales required by 288 working days = £158.58

Total = £951 per week (over 6 days)

• Working Schedule

Trading Day	Potential Work Undertaken	Hours Required
Monday (Closed)
Tuesday (2pm-8pm) EDITING DAY	·       Editing x4 studio sessions from Saturday ·       Administration Day	6
Wednesday (2pm-8pm) EDITING & VIEWING	EDITING & VIEWING ·       Editing x4 studio sessions from Sunday ·       Viewing the x4 sessions from Saturday	6
Thursday (2pm- 8pm) VIEWING DAY	·       Viewing the x4 sessions from Sunday ·       Ready all orders for Photo lab	6
Friday (2pm-8pm) SHOOTING & EDITING	·       Photo shoot x2 ·       Editing x2 from today ready for Sunday viewing	6
Saturday (12am-6pm) SHOOTING DAY	·       Photo shoot x4	6
Sunday (12am-7pm) SHOOTING & VIEWING	·       Photo shoot x4 ·       Viewing x2 sessions from Friday	7

37 hours working week

Editing time per session 45 minutes

Viewing time per session 45 – 60 minutes

Media Associations & Agencies

• British Institute of Professional Photographers

One of the main reasons why you’d join a photography agency such as the “British Institute of Professional Photographers” this one is because you can get all kinds of benefits from having dedicated insurance which gives you liability and peace of mind for if anything goes wrong, you also get free legal advice which is by either professional or accredited partner. You also get trade discounts with all different partners, they even give you business advice on how to start a business and how to run it. Their is many other perks you get, but I have evidenced screenshots below about their membership list.

• Production Guild - UK Film & TV Drama Production

To join this film making agency you need to have completed three projects in your chosen grade either high end television or feature film project, but for a supplementary membership you will need to complete one project in a credited category. - When you join you get access to all contacts in the industry such as, roles in administration, accounts & finance, studio management and even roles in the production side. With this agency you also become part of the PGGB which helps you start out in the industry but with one less credit but less then three - Their is also three different types of membership depending on what part of the employment you are situated in.

A lot of what I am talking about is evidenced in screenshots below.

Evaluation & Reflection

• What do you now understand about business planning?

  To understand business planning, you need to understand the industry trends and research the market. This helps you set specific and measurable goals which help you develop a clear strategy to create a well sorted and thought-out plan that includes financial projections with marketing strategies. It is also vital to review and change the proposals regularly to make sure it stays as relevant as possible in the changing climate.

• What did you learn from your research into media associates and agencies? I learnt that there are different types of agencies which deal with different parts of the industry i.e. film, TV, photography and even sound. The beneficial parts of being part of an agency is to have the membership perks which you wouldn’t have if you weren’t part of the club. For example, you will get legal advice from an accredited partner, dedicated insurance liability, trade discounts and you may even get employment advice.

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