'Selling' USB delivery to clients

[Chris Harding]

That's perfectly OK Noa ..the fact that you are prepared to offer DVD's keeps a client happy ... where brides get upset is the Henry Ford phrase "You can have any colour car you like as long as it's black"

Having a Package with your preferred/most popular media is great as long as you have DVD's etc etc as options that can be added.

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Gabe

I think the bottom line still is "How would you like your wedding video delivered Mam?" The bride is still the client and if she wants DVD's you have to give her DVD's .. Imagine going out to dinner and your steak is delivered to you rare and you Only like a well done piece of meat? You cannot dictate what media you will use.

I did a live broadcast yesterday and yes the bride was quite happy with online video but asked for 2 x DVD's ..one for each mother as that's what they are used to. I saw the website of a competitor a few days ago who also streams weddings ...he shoots and leaves BUT if you really want the backup video for $70 he will give you the card out of the camera. I wonder how many brides could play that??

Yup, I know, and that's why I am still doing tons of DVD's. It's not what I would pick if
I had the choice, but people are paying for them so.....

I just got an Amazon shipment today of 100 DVD's. I generally keep 200 DVD's in
my edit bay along with 50 Blu Rays....and anytime I get down to say 25 Blu Rays
or 50 DVD's, I order more. Ink jet printable so I can print photos and text on the face.

I've also got an online store where I sell all kinds of random content I shoot around
town.....kids dances, gymnastics meets, sports, plays or whatever. I sell a decent number
of DVD's from that as well. I offered digital copy on USB and have only had 2 people ever
buy them. I even put away my fear of parents copying the file and passing it around and
offered a DIRECT digital download (via Vimeo password protected link) so that parents
could get an IMMEDIATE copy of the video after they paid me, instead of having to wait for
the DVD. I mean, beyond the better quality of the 1080P digital copy, you'd get IMMEDIATE
access to the video. I sold 1 of those and had 50 or so DVD copies sell. Just crazy.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Gabe

Not only do most people not know the difference between SD and HD but it seems those that do know would still rather have the convenience and comfort of something that they know. I don't think we appreciate how non-tech most people are ....Even my wife who is a photographer and used to working with SDHC cards and USB drives will say to me "I won't be back this afternoon in time for the Bold and the Beautiful ..can you tape it for me?" Really? we got rid of our VHS machine about 15 years ago

Yep I also have around 100 blanks in my shelf ...I do Realty Property Condition Reports of rental houses and the new tenant gets a DVD plus the Realtor keeps a DVD ... It's still the cheapest option for me as suppliers are starting to drop USB drives under 16GB so it's an expensive alternative.

Better order a few more tubs soon!!

[Steve Bleasdale]

DVDs for me still the way to go!! Water shield blu ray and standard DVD-Rs 200 just ordered ! USB 10 ordered past three months

[Steven Davis]

I'm with Noah. I have two packages, the base package comes with a USB. The biggest package comes with the DVD, Bluray option. I do custom graphics for every disk and covers, so it's about three hours of work just in that.

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

I'm with Noah. I have two packages, the base package comes with a USB. The biggest package comes with the DVD, Bluray option. I do custom graphics for every disk and covers, so it's about three hours of work just in that.

Wow! I do custom graphics for every disk and sleeve which takes me 10-15 minutes maximum. I have a photo of the bouquet or similar on the disc, together with their names, wedding date and copyright. On the sleeve I have a photo from the day on the front and a different one on the back, plus names, dates etc. Disk artwork is printed directly on the face of the disk, and the sleeves are printed on high gloss photo card.

I have a standard template into which I drop the different photos and wording. It gives a repeatable standard for our presentation and makes it very personal to each wedding. I can't imagine spending 3 hours to do what is straightforward artwork unless each one is designed completely from scratch with no basics to work from.

Roger

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I take more time than I would like especially on the dvd label. I try to come up with a unique design, contending with the hub hole, for stage work incorporating art work from the program, using the right stills from the video and making it match with the dvd menu.

[Steven Davis]

Well, to each his own. But one thing customers seem to appreciate is that they can pick up twenty of my weddings and each artwork design is completely different. To each his own I guess, but everything from color theme and text is different based on the theme or style of the wedding. Sometimes I can match my font to something similar to the program. Ofcourse, I used to do three disk weddings back in the day, now I'm two tops. And USB of course cuts down on the artwork.