Richard Tadman Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 From "Facebook" this evening Alamy Get 30% off all images and video this Autumn, use the code 'Autumn30' at the checkout. Offer ends Nov 30th. So, would it be correct to assume that as a result of Alamy's marketing strategy, all contributing photographers will find themselves the victim of discounts that they had no idea, nor vote they were a party to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnB Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Alamy give discounts every day of the week. My sales seemed to have tailed off over the last few months - perhaps this discount will help. (I doubt it though.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 ..."at the checkout" suggests that the discount offered is for those purchasing directly via the Website and paying immediately via credit card. Bigger buyers or clients with good purchasing history with Alamy will almost certainly already be receiving these kinds of discounts (or more), and/or additional kinds of benefits. Seeing as few savvy buyers will be using the calculator to directly purchase images in any case, then I see no issue with this. Those that do choose to use the calculator to license something, may be trying out Alamy as a potential new image source or as a one-off purchase, when otherwise they may have gone elsewhere? Providing discounts is part of any company strategy to encourage new business, no? Until persuaded otherwise, I don't see the problem with this. I do see a problem with ideas such as NU and the newspaper scheme, however, which to my mind allow advantage to be taken of both Alamy and the photographer, (I have always opted out). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shergar Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I don't see any problem with the discount. Lets hope it brings in a few new customers. Few! what do I mean? Lots of new customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirco Vacca Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I also see by far no problem with discounts. We should think as a business and for sure nobody will just give discounts without thinking. If it will make us give more clients why not . If we dont come with some offers we will loose the competition. Mirco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I guess its better than Fotolia's free give-away. They actually ask their members to mark a photo for free, and it gets put into a big pool. "It's good publicity" they say. No it's not, it's a free image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov makabaw Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 If only all my sales were only 30% off list I would be a happy bunny. dov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 30% off the calculator price would be fantastic. I give the thumbs up to that. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Upfront discounts just reduce price expectations long term - it is a spiral to the bottom or bankruptcy. Discounts should be a reward for long term commitment, frequent usage, purchasing volume. All that will happen is purchasers will take the discount for now and then move on to whoever is discounting next month. See my piece in September's Professional Photographer magazine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris E Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 From "Facebook" this evening Alamy Get 30% off all images and video this Autumn, use the code 'Autumn30' at the checkout. Offer ends Nov 30th. So, would it be correct to assume that as a result of Alamy's marketing strategy, all contributing photographers will find themselves the victim of discounts that they had no idea, nor vote they were a party to? Yes it would! You have given Alamy the rights to market your work at any price point or discount they wish. Check the T's&C's you signed up to. Regards Chris E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrioticAlien Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Only 30% off I can live with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I understand what all of the foregoing posters have said but it begs the question: "Has Alamy experienced a slump/slowdown in sales?" Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I understand what all of the foregoing posters have said but it begs the question: "Has Alamy experienced a slump/slowdown in sales?" Allan I don't know if Alamy has but I am certainly experiencing a major slump this month Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Slump here too, Pearl. More news than stock sales this month. Curse of the 500? Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Three of the four sales that I've had so far this month have been for more than $100, which is over 230% up from last month's dismal average price. So I guess one person's slump is another one's bump. Not sure what I think about the 30% off because I have no idea what it means. But if it brings more business to Alamy, I guess it's a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Has Alamy experienced a slump/slowdown in sales? Not here - I'm having my best year ever. Total number of sales already 50% up on my previous best year and there's still a couple of months to go. Average sale price for this year only marginally less than my overall average for the 5 years I've been a contributor. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I've had a very poor last 6 weeks or so but I do not attribute this to anything except my own inactivity. I have almost 800 new images since June, none had been uploaded apart from a timely series from Flodden Field, and as a result my 'new this week' 'last 2 months' etc viewings had dropped completely off the radar. I do not have much in 'creative' as that's not my bag, so to speak, and having regular search results related to the NEW aspect really matters as these images have clickthrough options to view more - which includes the older material that might be hiding deep in a 'relevant' search. I now have a simple dilemma. Do I rush ahead, frantically making all my new work live? If I do, it will all appear in the two top new sections right now and by the end of the year, it will all be Relevant and 'older'. Or should I pace the drip feed into going live - and risk missing sales? Answer - Alamy today demands a completely different strategy to my old MediaPro based large batch method. Alamy will work best if I upload daily or every two or three days or after every shoot. This demands that 14-21 day travel tours have to be fully processed and keyworded on the move, because when I return, pressure of paid work can mean it's two months or more before I get a chance to tackle them. I am just doing our June output now, it's taken that long to find the required hours and complete the processing of 1500+ exposures down to 550 finals. I suspect those still getting consistent sales and good search figures are those who upload small and often. And that is also why Alamy has sent me emails recently both asking me to upload more (seeing the big gap) and then reminding me to Manage Images (stuff left unmanaged for a week). Their whole system now works best if there's new material for every search every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilpatrick Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 And - 30% off - sure - no problem for me as this is 30% of on-line calculator buy it now rates. I still think that stock image licencing has too wide an overall spread, giving too many images for almost nothing, but then putting off and killing sales at the other end of the range by making the image cost more than the entire print job or the web page designer's fee, or the journalist's per word writing fee. The price calculators do not take account of new print technology (a 10,000 run is now a relatively big printed magazine order and all the major printers in the UK will quote from 1,000 run or less), e-print (Indigo etc) 100/200/500 print runs for mailshots etc. At the same time, the calculators omit common new media methods. For example, MailChimp charges me £30 a month to have more than 2,500 email addresses on my mailshot list - the rate would go up over 5,000 (etc). Yet the universal marketing method today, used by everyone from Groupon downwards, is the email-shot and most are HTML based. They are not a web page (though a version may be archived that way) and they have a quantifiable circulation - and there's no recognition of this marketing method by nearly all price calculators. I guess the assumption is that all images for these will be RF or in-house but that isn't necessarily true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Personally I never have large projects to upload any more - so I upload a few targeted images every couple of days - sometimes as few as five at a time. For me it is a good discipline and I do a basic keywording as soon as the files are in the system - while I am there I have a think of how I might search for the previous batch, and go back and 'tune' the keywords - often to a simple one, two or three word search. I'm not sure how my strategy would affect my searches or sales. But I do know this - if it ain't in there it ain't going to be viewed, zoomed, or sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I've had a very poor last 6 weeks or so but I do not attribute this to anything except my own inactivity. I have almost 800 new images since June, none had been uploaded apart from a timely series from Flodden Field, and as a result my 'new this week' 'last 2 months' etc viewings had dropped completely off the radar. I do not have much in 'creative' as that's not my bag, so to speak, and having regular search results related to the NEW aspect really matters as these images have clickthrough options to view more - which includes the older material that might be hiding deep in a 'relevant' search. I now have a simple dilemma. Do I rush ahead, frantically making all my new work live? If I do, it will all appear in the two top new sections right now and by the end of the year, it will all be Relevant and 'older'. Or should I pace the drip feed into going live - and risk missing sales? Answer - Alamy today demands a completely different strategy to my old MediaPro based large batch method. Alamy will work best if I upload daily or every two or three days or after every shoot. This demands that 14-21 day travel tours have to be fully processed and keyworded on the move, because when I return, pressure of paid work can mean it's two months or more before I get a chance to tackle them. I am just doing our June output now, it's taken that long to find the required hours and complete the processing of 1500+ exposures down to 550 finals. I suspect those still getting consistent sales and good search figures are those who upload small and often. And that is also why Alamy has sent me emails recently both asking me to upload more (seeing the big gap) and then reminding me to Manage Images (stuff left unmanaged for a week). Their whole system now works best if there's new material for every search every day. David, my drop in sales has only happened since the start of September and I definitely haven't been inactive recently. I am starting to suspect that it is more due to more editorial buyers searching through Creative or New rather than Relevant. This puts me at a serious disadvantage as my images come up high in searches under Relevant but very few have been selected as Creative because I am an individual rather than an agency. If this trend continues then I will have to rethink where to send the majority of my work. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I have also seen a drop in sales recently and am thinking alone the same lines as Pearl. It would be nice if someone at Alamy could tell us what is happening as so many seem to have seen a drop recently. Sending out emails telling us we are in the top 500 and encouraging us to submit more just isn't going to cut it when the sales are not coming in - sales are the only encouragement I have to keep going here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I have also seen a drop in sales recently and am thinking alone the same lines as Pearl. It would be nice if someone at Alamy could tell us what is happening as so many seem to have seen a drop recently. Sending out emails telling us we are in the top 500 and encouraging us to submit more just isn't going to cut it when the sales are not coming in - sales are the only encouragement I have to keep going here. +1 Agree absolutely. I got that email too but it seems pretty meaningless at the moment. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Given my pessimistic view of the overall future of this business, the only Alamy 500 I am ever likely to appear in is one that lists those near the bottom of the pile. However, I do appreciate the position of long-standing contributors such as Pearl, Callie and many others. Seems very clear (to me, at least) that the Top 500 e-mail was intended as a gee-up to continue uploading, as Alamy may be finding that sales from the New button aren't all they could be. I guess that quality is (generally) there in Creative and Relative, but not so abundant in New - and they want to change that in order to encourage more sales. They clearly value the quality of your images and are very aware that you know how to take (process, caption and keyword) a saleable image, so they don't want to lose you. In answer to a question about 10-year licenses in his latest video, James mentioned that clients generally don't use the extended period too much. Why? Because they always need fresh material. We already know that, right? Logic surely then says that when shopping at Alamy, they are (at least) going to use the New button, no? That being so, then surely a part of your strategy should be to do as David K. says he is planning to do (and as I have done for a long time now) - upload constantly in small batches. Your images will then appear alongside other new images as well high in relative, owing to your decent Alamy Rank. Uploading in small batches (my average is 6!) also keeps you on your toes as far as QC is concerned - you are far more likely to be sin-binned if you are not being careful! Take all this with a pinch of salt, if you wish; I have only sold a handful of images so far, so have very little experience here, but I know that New is my friend (it's the easiest first-page guarantee there ever was)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I tend to agree with what I believe David K. was intimating above -- i.e. that it is now a good idea to take advantage of the "New" button as much as possible by uploading small batches every few days rather than doing mammoth uploads that will probably sink like an overloaded barge to the bottom of the sea. If I wasn't currently doing hard time in the sin-bin, I would be following my own advice right now. That's what I get for uploading small batches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov makabaw Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I have not noticed whether small or large batches make any difference. I find that my sales pattern includes new and old and very old images. I tend to upload larger batches about once a week. This fits in with my workflow rather than anything else. I also suspect that this is good for QC. September was average for me with values creeping up. October has been a bit slow so far with prices again above average. dov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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