Collaboration

So sitting watching Grand Designs this evening, I was watching how a stone mason builder renovated a 19th century Cornish industrial building into a home. One of the things that struck me, was how much he used favours and bartering to get assistance from other tradesmen to build his dream home.

The reason I bring this up, is I've been thinking about how the wedding industry as a whole, is almost like a village of artisan craftspeople. We've got all sorts of different people, all with their own speciality. One of the big things about being self-employed, is the draw towards doing the sort of work you love. In that regard, there's a lot to be gained from outsourcing things that aren't your speciality. So, for example, I found an expert graphic designer Tom Holmes to create my beautiful logo for me. Rather than spend a fortune on a printer, inks, specialist paper, and a long time calibrating said printer to get expert tonal ranges, I outsource my printing to a professional printing lab. It might cost me money, but effectively it frees up my time, and allows me to get on with doing what I do best. It means that I'm able to spend more time earning, than spending time doing work which doesn't pay. You don't imagine the captain of a ship in the engine room; or multi-millionaire CEOs out washing the windows on their skyscraper offices. Those jobs are delegated and outsourced, it allows the CEO and the captain of the ship to continue to do what they do best.

This gets me on to my point. As a photographer, I don't just buy photography equipment. There's lots of things I have to buy, including stationery and sundries. I use a template to design a gorgeous DVD case for my clients and have it printed, but I know there are other photographers who don't opt for a printed DVD case. Depending on their personal brand style, I know some photographers who opt for natural fibre based DVD sleeves for their clients. No plastic jewel casing, just simple card and paper casing.

A photographer I know has been asking where, for example, she can buy DVD sleeves like this:

Source: shadrachlindo.com via Claudia on Pinterest

It's rather pretty, actually. As photographers, we don't always buy things in "bulk". We may want a small number of units, but we are perhaps more likely to be regular customers and clients. We talk a lot too. Seriously! Photographers are a chatty bunch when we get the chance. We ask each other constantly "where do you get this?" "where do you get that?" "how do you do this?". There's pockets of us, all asking similar questions constantly. Photography magazines and press don't have a section recommending where we can source different types of stationery. We trawl the internet, we search and look. When someone tells us about a new product and a good service, we jump on it. We are an unbelievably contagious group for viral marketing and word-of-mouth campaigns, and, if I may be so bold, we are vastly untapped. There are lots of photographers. I know this, all photographers know this. What we want, is products that help set us apart, that make us look special, that appeal to our clients. And if you're a wedding stationer, then chances are, you know those clients as well as we do. At the moment, the best places to go for DVD and CD boxes is U.S. suppliers. Companies like http://www.loktah.com/ make gorgeous DVD slip cases from natural products. I love what they do, but it perhaps highlights where international companies have found a gap in the U.K. market that U.K. suppliers haven't spotted.

There's other things we like too. Photographers need ways of presenting their physical prints. I give my couples their prints in a gift box, with a ribbon and a personalised gift tag. My 2012 package will also include my couples receiving an introduction folder. Sourcing these folders was surprisingly tricky. I knew exactly what I wanted, I just didn't want to order 1000 folders. As photographers, it's not simply about handing over a DVD; for a lot of us, we have to consider the presentation to our couples.

It struck me that this was perhaps an area that wedding stationers may be able to assist. Could you design a range aimed at wedding photographers to pass on to their couples, or a bespoke product for a wedding photographer to use as part of their signature brand material? I'm not suggesting this is a freebie, a barter or a "favour for a favour", unless there was a service you wanted in return. We could be actual paying customers to you; we could be a regular paying customer. Potentially if we build up a good solid working relationship with you, we could end up recommending you to our couples, or on our blogs or websites.

This could potentially go further than just photographers and stationers doing business to business work for one another. Could wedding planners, with their expertise in organisation, help put together photoshoots, bringing in all their contacts to collaborate on one day? Could people who make favours employ a photographer to photograph their products for their website? Could stationers and photographers work together to create a collaborative, bespoke range for couples of save-the-date and thank you stationery, featuring images from engagement and wedding photographs? Could jewellers and dress makers work together, to make brooches that match dresses or elegant pins to hold together  pashminas? Could someone who makes bespoke favours develop a corporate "gift" for other wedding suppliers to buy as gifts for clients?

My point is, I think it's important for wedding professionals within the industry to look next door, to our neighbouring wedding professionals. Find out what we can do to help each other. Can we help one another? Can we outsource to one another in the areas where we lack expertise, where we lack knowledge, where we lack a certain amount of coordination, which in turn frees up our time to work on the thing we wanted to do in the first place. We all have a similar client base. We therefore have an understanding, a joint understanding, of the aesthetics, of the styles, of the trends and fashions. Lots of people can produce office-friendly products, but it takes someone who knows the wedding market and reads the magazines, the blogs, and sees whats happening, to produce wedding-friendly products.

I'd love to hear from anyone already in the wedding industry who thinks they could, in some way, work with us wedding photographers. I'd love to know what you think you could do for us, what service you could deliver, what product you think you could offer. Have you got an idea? Something special?Are you a wedding photographer? do you see a gap in the market?

Trust me, if it's good, wedding photographers will find out.