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Rangefinder Magazine
August 2003

Building Your Business: by Larry Peters
The Student Ambassador Program

For over 22 years now the growth of our senior business has been based on simple business practices. The concepts are almost too simple but I know they work.

Once a year we do an advertising campaign to solicit Junior (in high school) students to become student ambassadors for us and from that we build a mailing list of senior-age students.

I continue to use this mailing list to conduct a repeat mailing campaign. As the senior season starts, we will send out multiple mailings to the prospects. We found that it is necessary to mail as many as eight mailers to each senior on our list before we get their business. Repeat, repeat, repeat—that’s the concept that is successful, not just sending out a few flyers.
The first problem you will have is where to find your student ambassadors. Here are a few practical methods.

When first getting started, you can go to a list broker and purchase the names and addresses of students in your area. May I suggest you use girls only, they seem to work better for our purposes. Purchase the list on a disc for one-time use.

Always keep your eyes and ears open when you speak to other clients that you are presently working with. There may be juniors in their family or someone they know who would be willing to help you get started.

After you have done the program for a year, have the present ambassador make a suggestion of someone to take his or her place.

After you have your list, it’s necessary to make contact. We use direct mail at that point. The mailer should include many of the following points:
• How would you like to have your senior portrait for free; yes, free?
• Wanted… Student Model
• Save money on your senior portraits!
• Be a leader at your school by helping promote the best senior studio in the U.S.
• Call before a certain date and schedule an interview, to receive additional information.
• Fill out the attached application.

When the students call about the program they will be required to attend a meeting at the studio along with a parent or guardian. During this visit we will interview them, give them a complete program explanation, show an audiovisual show to get them excited about their photo shoot, give them a tour of the studio and schedule their ambassador senior photography session.

The typical questions we ask them during this interview are:
• How many friends do you feel that you can influence to have their senior portraits taken here?
• If you weren’t accepted to be an ambassador, where would you have your senior portrait taken?
• Rate the most important thing about your senior portrait session:
the price
the experience
the photographer
treatment during session
clothing changes
types of sessions
seeing the pictures as they are taken.

This is also the time to give them a complete program explanation. After all, this is a program for both of you. If they are going to help you, then you must be prepared to give back to them.

The benefits are:
• One of three portrait sessions highly discounted.
• For turning in a complete mailing list of their class in one week they will receive a 10 percent discount on anything they order and a 10-pose outdoor session taken during June.

Mailing lists initially purchased to find Ambassadors are OK, but we have found that the list that the students give us of everyone in their class is much more accurate than any list that you could purchase.

For placing their order before July 30 they will receive an additional 10 percent discount. This is a one-time discount and encourages them to give us an early, larger order.

If they have 10 referrals, (someone we photograph and who places an order), they get to keep their portfolio and all of the portrait originals, including their outdoor session, free.

They have until February 1 the year they graduate to get their referrals or they must return the originals.

I don’t think that this program should ever include monetary payment to the Ambassadors, simply because that costs too much.

This is meant as a guideline to you. It is the program we use and continue to use. It’s a marketing idea that will get you recognized early and provide you with an advertising edge.

Larry Peters owns and operates three studios in Ohio, specializing in senior photography.