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GradPics™ Best Practices Guide 🎓

GradPics™ Best Practices Guide 🎓
🎓 GradPics™ Best Practices Guide 🎓

Hey there, photographers!

Candy here, and Graduation season is right around the corner, and we're here to help you nail it with GradPics™!

Follow this handy guide filled with proven tips, tricks, and best practices to maximize your success and make your ceremony shoots smooth and profitable!

📸 Why GradPics™?

Before diving in, if you're curious about why GradPics™ is your best bet, check out this informative post. Here's the quick rundown:

  • Fast and easy Selfie Check-In™ collects accurate contact info.
  • Real-time photo uploads (or post-ceremony)—your choice!
  • Instant personalized gallery marketing and effective consent for Face Matching™.
  • FREE background removal for portrait stations.
  • No subscription fees or hefty e-commerce charges.

Simply put: It's easy, effective, and boosts your sales!

🤳 Mastering Selfie Check-In™

Selfie Check-In™ is essential to marketing your photos effectively. Follow these critical tips:

  • • Avoid sending pre-event Selfie Check-In links. It can cause day-of confusion and reduces day-of participation, making it harder to get 90%+ participation.
  • • Collect check-ins on the ceremony day at the venue’s holding area. Grads should show you the "confetti screen" to confirm completion.
  • • Print your QR code clearly on a reusable sign. Need signs? We've got you covered here!
  • • Always test your QR codes to confirm they're linked to the correct event.

Why it matters:
  • Collects accurate, updated contact info (personal and family).
  • Far superior to school-provided rosters featuring old contact info, no cell numbers, and edus.
  • Enables personalized gallery marketing, dramatically improving sales.

📢 Effective Communication with Schools

Collaborate proactively with school staff—graduation speakers, event coordinators, and volunteers—to ensure successful Selfie Check-In™ participation:

  • • Clearly explain the benefits—they want smooth photo distribution almost as much as you do!
  • • Offer schools the collected alumni data to assist their future marketing and fundraising efforts.
  • • Ask schools to remind grads and parents about Selfie Check-In™ ahead of the ceremony.

🚀 Be Proactive, Not Passive

Relying on signs alone isn't enough! Take these additional steps:

  • • Hire staff or allocate your photography team to encourage grads to check in.
  • • Consider asking schools or parent associations for volunteer help.
  • • Send engaging videos, graphics, or flyers ahead of time (without the actual Selfie Check-In™ link) to prepare grads and parents about what to expect.
  • • Prepare your customers for day-of Selfie Check-In™ to achieve 90%+ participation.

🌟 Photography Essentials

Great photography drives sales! Here’s how you maximize photo opportunities with GradPics™:

  • • Capture a variety of shots: buddy shots, processionals, pre-stage portraits, handshake moments, post-stage portraits, friends & family shots.
  • • Coordinate with the handshake presenter: request grads and handshakers turn towards your camera for the perfect shot.
  • • Tap-a-Face feature: Use NowCandid’s™ capture app to market family group shots directly.

📡 Always Have a Backup Plan

Internet issues happen. Here's how you keep rolling smoothly:

  • • Provide physical Selfie Check-In™ cards.
  • • Inform grads they can complete Selfie Check-In™ after the ceremony online.
  • • Leverage offline-compatible devices (Capture App and upcoming Selfie Check-In Station™ can both collect info offline).
  • • Work with schools to post Selfie Check-In™ links post-event if needed (available 30+ days).
  • • Enable Group-by-Face™ to simplify navigation within "All Images" galleries.

💲 Pricing Right for Maximum Revenue

Pricing too high can limit your sales. Remember:
  • • Avoid the temptation of setting premium prices for all of your graduations.
  • • Appropriate premium pricing is suitable only for certain graduations (law or medical schools).
  • • Lower prices can significantly boost your overall sales volume.

Real Example:

Now to be fair, this event was not a graduation - but he point still stands!

A recent customer lowered digital download prices from $26 to $20, resulting in:

  • • More orders overall
  • • 20% increase in total revenue
  • • Happier clients and long-term marketing benefits & residual sales

🗓️ Need Extra Help?

We’re here to support your success. Schedule a chat about graduation season and GradPics™ at Calendly.

Happy shooting! 📷✨

Cheers and sparkles,

Candy

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We have a new update now available for the Now Candid Microsoft Store App! This update has several quality of life changes and logging improvements, but the main change is that Scanner Identification has finally been implemented!

 

Scanner Identification is a system that positively IDs images to your customers using, as the name implies, a scanner to scan a customer’s QR card.

 

When setting up your event you can generate these QR cards (more on that later) that your customers can scan with their phone to input their contact information. From there, the info & QR code are linked. Any time a QR code is scanned by the photographer that starts a session, and all subsequent photos taken will be matched to that contact info until another QR code is scanned.

 

At this time, Scanner Identification will only be usable with Sports Pics Now and Portraits Now. During event creation, when one of those two programs have been selected, you’ll choose either the “Tap A Face & Selfie Registration” option, or the “Scanner Identification” option. Once Scanner Identification has been selected and the event created, you’ll be able to input how many QR cards you need and a PDF will be generated with that many cards.

 

You’ll want to print out the PDF on perforated paper such as this 4 up card paper found on Amazon to more easily distribute cards without manually cutting all the paper.

 

The Scanner Identification workflow does require an LTE tablet! It’s required both as a device to connect your scanner to and as a way to upload your images live at the event so that guests can have links to buy their images moments after their session ends! Since facial recognition is not being used, galleries will be sent even more quickly and with 100% of the images taken during the session.

 

If you happen to have a very poor internet connection at your event, bringing the tablet and camera to a location with a strong internet connection after the event will send up all the images at that time! Paired to the data you scanned with it at the time of taking the image.

How Bruce H. Used GradPics Now to Increase Sales
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Bruce Heflin utilized Now Candid’s Grad Pics Now, with Selfie Check-In at a recent graduation, so far racking up roughly $2600 in total sales in less than two weeks.

Heflin had covered this Nursing College’s graduation in previous years, generating roughly $200 in sales each year. The sales had been so dismal the administrator would provide gas money to keep Bruce coming back. This year was a different story, Heflin has managed to increase his sales by roughly 1200% with the help of Grad Pics Now’s Selfie Check-In Workflow & automated marketing campaigns.

Here's How He Did It:

1. Used Selfie Check-In to collect correct & current contact data

2. Sent automated marketing messages during the event

3. Bruce had about $200 in sales by the time he reached home an hour or so after the event (he didn't have to go back to the office!)

4. He used a mix of GPN Price Levels 1 & 3

5. He had a total profit margin of roughly 75% across the College’s ceremonies after accounting for the 85% margin for digital downloads.

6. We’re excited to see people discovering the effectiveness of Now Candid’s systems in action when executed properly with quality photography!

We recently caught up with Bruce to get a better idea of how he started incorporating Now Candid's tools into his existing photography business. Watch the video below to hear from Bruce.

Drive Sales Using Party Pics Now
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“We had a very successful Father/Daughter dance. The assistant principal was shocked at how organized and fast the pictures were this year. She also said that she didn't think dads would buy photos online. I told her that with my system, they will (this was our first year covering this event). Last year, dads had to pay with a paper order form, and many of them left the dance without taking photos because the line was so long. This year, we used Now Candid’s Party Pics Now, with Tap-A-Face. And when dads entered a phone number, we asked them to put mom's cell phone number in.” - Eric Miller

(screenshot of the event report taken before $2,100 was reached)
  • In one week, this event has done over $2,100 in sales and has ~$13.65 in sales per father’s face tapped.
  • Father/Daughter pairs were shot with a sparkling golden backdrop for most photos.
  • Price Level 11 (the most expensive PPN price level) was used for this event. Accounting for the 85% margin digital downloads and Price Level 11's 80% margin on physical products: Miller’s total profit margin was 82% of all sales and shipping.
  • No additional fees, charges, or unexpected costs makes for easy and instant accounting, and funds were deposited to his account within the week

Overall, this event was a homerun for MillerFoto and a great example of how effective Now Candid’s systems can be when you shoot quality photography and book quality events.

Thanks for sharing, Eric!

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