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Author Topic: Microstock Agency- made by photographers (by you). Let`s start?  (Read 35493 times)

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« on: June 29, 2016, 23:57 »
+7
deleted
« Last Edit: January 09, 2020, 10:40 by hellou »


Harvepino

« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2016, 01:43 »
+11
You need to know how to attract customers first mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2016, 01:58 »
+20
here we go again...  ::)

« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2016, 07:35 »
+3

« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2016, 08:01 »
0

« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2016, 08:41 »
+3
I think it's a great idea and it is very possible.  My advice would be to seek investment simply to cover marketing costs ($millions).  Get your people in place and the business unique selling points first then get the backing.

« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2016, 08:42 »
+8
here we go again...  ::)
?

Such ideas have been discussed here many a times.. please do a quick search and see what community people are saying

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2016, 09:07 »
+12
The questions you're asking are operational. What about marketing and general viability?

What's the purpose of the agency?
What is unique about this agency compared to others?
Why would buyers use this agency over the dozens of other well established agencies and other general options?
What is the profile of the target buyer?
How will you attract buyers?

Maybe you're new here but you're getting a luke-warm response for a reason. Fairly regularly someone posts about starting a new agency. And it's usually the same type of post as this. Starting up a business with no mention of why the agency should exist or how it will attract buyers.

If I were going to invest time and money in someone's idea here's some examples of what would at least get me interested in talking more seriously about it.

"Hi, my name is [name] and I'm the former [title] of popular agency [company]. I successfully helped grow agency [company] from concept to multimillion dollar company. I'm planning to start a new co-op agency and would like to gauge the level of interest of MSG members in becoming contributors and part owners"

OR

"Hi, my name is [name] and I'm a stock photographer who's planning to start a new agency. My day job is [title] at [company] which is a leading SEO and Social Media marketing business. I've helped over 100 new startup company clients increase traffic by 10,000% and grow sales by 1,000% and I believe I can use my experience to start and grow a successful co-op stock agency but I'll need some help. Is anyone interested in discussing the details?"

Not sure if those example would even generate interest. But the point is if anyone wants to get attention here you need to talk about the business model and how you will attract buyers.

« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2016, 09:36 »
+1
deleted
« Last Edit: January 09, 2020, 10:40 by hellou »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2016, 09:58 »
+9
There could be so many good ideas. E.g. upload only 1% exclusive at our website. Send customers to our website. Place a link at your homepage to our website.
If placing a link at my homepage, or posting on social media, would make a scrap of difference, I'd be selling independently.

Quote
I realy have to say iam a little bit sad about the first replies and the expectations for a final solution.
You're sweet and naive, then. Good luck to you with that.

As has been said, if we only had $1 for everyone who has come in here with the same suggestions.

At least you didn't come in with a half-baked website already in existence. Then you'd have been shredded. The BS detectors in this group are second to none.

« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2016, 10:02 »
+3
There could be so many good ideas. E.g. upload only 1% exclusive at our website. Send customers to our website. Place a link at your homepage to our website.  I realy have to say iam a little bit sad about the first replies and the expectations for a final solution.

Welcome to reality.

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2016, 10:23 »
+1
What i do, i offer you a working and ready to go microstock agency. No costs to setup for anyone of you. Owned by us and decisions made by us.
How the agency looks like, yes, this WE have to decide. Yes i saw all the earlier post. But do we have an agency now? No.

So now we could start. Iam ready to start right now. We have to find answers for your critics but we do not need to have them right now. Because there is no business plan out there that could guarantee success.
If we setup the site and get our content online, we maybe could earn more than 30%.. this is a good reason to think about it.

The idea was a agency made by us. So i am not sure why anyone should expect all answers only from me (?). We are a team? I hope so.
I can understand everyone only wants to jump on a ready-to-go system and start selling. But come on, if WE start a agency everyone should think about solutions too. If there is some SEO guy, hey welcome. Please help us.

There could be so many good ideas. E.g. upload only 1% exclusive at our website. Send customers to our website. Place a link at your homepage to our website.  I realy have to say iam a little bit sad about the first replies and the expectations for a final solution.

I'm not questioning what the final solution is. Just what about the business makes it a viable idea.

I get your approach. Some people will just jump into things, do stuff, and success just happens along the way. I've been part of a couple startups before so I'm looking for a little more than "let's do something". People here have invested a lot of time and money in new opportunitites most of which didn't work out so you may need to be a bit more persuasive.

It sounds like an exciting idea and I wish you the best of success.

Mr Nobody

« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2016, 10:50 »
+2
A few new companies are actually up and running to see how well it operates before they would even dare to come on MSG. One company is paying 70% (so far two sales with just 20 images on line) to the artists and is fine tuning their business plan to include the customer base- yet not ready for MSG folks.  The road to a 'successful' company is rare to say the least... 8)




« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2016, 01:42 »
+1
How about this a a bit of an alternative, Photographers that have their own online offerings gather together in a cooperative way and promote each others sites with some form of central locations where image users can go to search and then license the images they want.
Limit contributors to say less than 5000 images with NO similars.

Just my 2 bobs worth.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2016, 02:16 »
+5
^^Search here for info about Symbiostock, which was/is based on that idea.

« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2016, 08:22 »
+4
^^Search here for info about Symbiostock, which was/is based on that idea.


And it didnt work either.


I think a new co-op, with the model that stocksy uses, would be welcome. There are a lot of contributors who cant get in to stocksy so an alternative would be great, but you would have to have lots of above-board credentials in order for contributors to turn over their content.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2016, 14:03 by cathyslife »

« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2016, 10:19 »
+2

Please tell me your thoughts and questions.


I think (IMHO) that any new enterprise should start with asking what needs of customers are not yet met or addressed. At this stage needs or wants of contributors are irrelevant. Even if 100% of revenue goes to contributors, 100% of zero is still zero.  I honestly don't know what those customer needs would be.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2016, 11:37 by Aleutie »

50%

« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2016, 12:29 »
+8
It's not about making a cool site it's about marketing otherwise all your efforts are wasted no matter how good intended they are.
Problem is we don't know your background we don't know your expertise we don't know your team we don't know your financial back-up.
Stocksy started with a good financial-back-up, probably the best expertise team you get, great marketing and couple of hand-selected very good photograhper and still it took about two years to take it off.
I feel your intentions are good and honestly but unfortunately that is not enough the market has become extremly competetive for any new ageny this is why people here are hesitating. Wish you all the best and good luck!

Chichikov

« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2016, 10:07 »
0
[] Because there is no business plan out there that could guarantee success. []

This is what I call a "positive mind"!


« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2016, 10:39 »
+6
As others have said, we've been through all this many times before.  It's relatively easy to get a new agency going; the technology is there and so is the pool of content.  What isn't there is a customer base, something that will attract customers to pay money in large and growing amounts.  What's missing is what marketing people (and I've been one of them) call a unique value proposition: something your new agency offers that clients can't get as easily from an existing player. 

And even that isn't enough, unless you and your suppliers are incredibly patient.  The other missing piece is advertising/marketing, so all those potential clients know you're out there and have a better solution.  Word of mouth is slow and unreliable, so you're looking at spending some serious money to get attention.  Most new agencies and a bunch that have never managed to take flight either don't have it, can't get it or don't want to risk it.

The last agency I saw with a unique value proposition that is seeing success is Canva.  They aren't just a supplier of content; they offer tools for creating documents, and they offer imagery as part of that creation.  From my own sales there, it looks like they're taking off.  Few agencies I encounter show those signs of life, and without some indication that my time will be rewarded at some point, why would I bother?

In the end it's about sales and income.  Show me how you can deliver those and I'll be interested.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #20 on: July 04, 2016, 21:01 »
+3
And it's always a bit chicken and the egg. If you haven't got any buyers buying stuff, then you'll have a hard time attracting contributors. And if you haven't got any contributors, then you'll have a hard time attracting buyers to buy stuff.

« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2016, 09:49 »
+7
Stocksy started with a good financial-back-up, probably the best expertise team you get, great marketing and couple of hand-selected very good photograhper and still it took about two years to take it off

Stocksy also started with a quite large bunch of photographers who trusted the management enough from the start to submit images exclusively with them i.e. partly removing them from existing sites where they had a sales track record in exchange for an uncertain future.

I'd say this level of trust is hard to gain for someone with no track record in the industry. And actually I'd say MicroStockGroup overall seems not to be the right place to search for contributors who would put in this kind of trust into a new agency.

« Reply #22 on: July 13, 2016, 05:41 »
+3
Where would you get the many million $$ from to let potential customers know this new site exists?

« Reply #23 on: July 14, 2016, 09:27 »
+1
Having an entrepreneurial spirit is good. The questions you are asking yourself (and us) however, are not. Buyers don't care about keywords, website technology and management. All they want is good images at an affordable price. Your startup agency must cater to that need, otherwise it'll never come off the ground. What can you offer them that other agencies can't?

Don't expect contributors here to blindly jump on the bandwagon without a good business plan and money to spend on marketing.

« Reply #24 on: July 14, 2016, 10:21 »
+2
deleted
« Last Edit: January 09, 2020, 10:42 by hellou »


 

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