jwu photography2
TRANSCRIPT
JWU Photography by James Wu
December 6
2016Abstract: JWU Photography is a photography service started by a family-owned business to experiment with the photography business and to sell photography services. I will discuss about the advantages of doing business online, significance of setting up a website, and JWU Photography’s business plan.
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What is the importance of websites for business?
Websites are locations that are connected to the Internet and have one or more
webpages on the World Wide Web containing information. The World Wide Web is an
information system of servers on the Internet that allows documents to be connected to other
documents by hypertext links. Thus, the user can search for information on search engines,
such as Google, by moving from one document to another.
Information is processed data and information is meaningful if it is accurate, organized,
and perceived useful by the user or audience.
The webpages on the websites are typically written in HTML (Hypertext Markup
Language). It is a standardized system for the World Wide Web pages. The following are some
of the things we can do with HTML code: create a slider, background color, background image,
hyperlinks, layout, design, etc. However, there are other languages too that can write
webpages such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), JavaScript, XML (Extensible Markup Language),
etc.
Websites are great resources that can do limitless things. For instance, we can establish
and publish information for users, sell services and products online, online transactions, create
an online presence, etc.
It is a modern, efficient, and effective way of doing business. We can do business
cheaply now because we can do business online without establishing a physical location and
can save thousands on investments and cut other expenses too.
All we have to do is buy a domain name, have a hosting provider that provides us with
the desired storage space, or host it ourselves by purchasing a reseller account. Then, we need
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to install a customer management system (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. CMS
are meant to manage web content, digital content, make a website with no coding experience,
and can potentially establish customer relationships. These are important because web content
enables us to do business by interacting with and attracting our customers.
Even though all these platforms offer a variety of customizations and features such as
plugins and widgets, we will be discussing the key differences among these three CMS.
WordPress is the most popular because it is easy to use. We don’t have to learn or do
any coding thanks to plugins however some plugins are not free. Examples of plugins are event
scheduler, responsive sliders, and SEO plugins to name a few. We can also select a theme such
as SDK IT or Lens. Similarly, some WordPress themes are not free either. It especially suit small
to medium sized websites, blogs, and small e-commerce stores.
Joomla is a great and powerful tool. It’s well-suited for e-commerce or social networking
websites, but it requires some computer skills. It is also the second most used CMS.
Drupal is the most powerful CMS that can run a lot of websites; nonetheless it is the
most difficult since it requires us to be familiar with HTML, CSS, PHP, and other common coding
languages (Mening, 2016, Retrieved from https://websitesetup.org/cms-comparison-
wordpress-vs-joomla-drupal/).
What is JWU Photography?
What defines photography? Photography is a visual art form, a passion, is creativity, a
hobby enjoyed by many, and a practice to create beautiful, meaningful, lasting, and durable
images. JWU Photography is a startup family-owned photography business, and we are very
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passionate at what we do. Whether it’s for birthday parties, weddings, banquets, ceremonies,
baby showers, or graduations, we specialize in taking photos for all occasions and events.
It is located at the domain name www.jwu94.com and will expire in September 2017.
Note: The website was deleted because it was intended to be a class project that I did last
semester.
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What are the potential segments?
Our targeted segments are married people, university students, and mothers because
there will be demand for maternity, university graduations, and wedding photoshoots to some
extent. We determined that the demographic age will be 18-30+ since the college and marriage
age lie somewhere around the mid-20s.
Based on my observations of many weddings I went to, many wed couples hire
professional photographers. Hiring photographers for weddings is expensive because it is
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moderately demanding, but it can be challenging since there are many other competitors too.
Maternity photoshoots are very popular too among mothers.
For graduation ceremonies, I feel that demand won’t be high but moderate. However, I
observed on some CSULA Facebook groups, some students are willing to pay for a
photographer to take photos at their graduations.
What is the pricing strategy?
We utilize a combination of competitive and penetration pricing. Since we are new and
are amateurs in this profession, it is important to not price too high and start low to attract
customers. If there is a lot of demand, than we will use a competitive pricing approach such as
matching the market value. However, our pricing strategy may vary depending on the market.
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What is the promotional strategy?
After we finished making our website presentable, we will promote it to generate online
web traffic. How do we do this? We can create business pages and promote it through social
media platforms and streaming sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Hulu.
These platforms are essential because they allow word-of-mouth according to an article
called Social Media Versus Traditional Media by Angela Hausman. For example, traditional
marketing uses traditional media such as radio, broadcast, prints, or signage. But, it does not
enable consumers to give feedback, endorsements, or likes.
Ninety-two percent of current consumers do not believe in name brands in a sense that
it does not provide better quality than other less-recognized brands because consumers see no
distinction among the same products of various brands. Thus, it is difficult to promote our
product if we have a lack of engagement and that there are many competitors or copycats.
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Whereas, when we post on social media; consumers can like, share on groups, friend’s wall,
their timeline, comment to give feedback, or see reviews. Therefore, it is essential for us to
keep our social media pages updated and post regularly to keep our followers or visitors up to
date of our current activities and events. To attain more followers on Facebook, we may want
to share other contents rather than posts that markets themselves (it should be fun, simple,
and offer incentives to followers but does not lose focus on its mission such as concise yet
informative, imaginative, short, and simple video clips that empathizes the simplicity of use, the
collaborative, and carpooling aspects of it), post in open groups that allow business
advertisements/opportunities, spread advertisements (should be detailed yet concise,
distinctive, and stand out) that are displayed in newsfeed (Hausman, 2014, Retrieved from
https://www.hausmanmarketingletter.com/social-media-versus-traditional-media/).
From my observation, Instagram is the most effective in marketing even though it may
not be the most popular social media platform. This is because of the use of hashtags which can
attract an audience that is particularly interested in the certain subject and hashtags used.
We can have a guest blogger or re-blog it. This can help us be introduced to a new
audience, make connections, and ultimately generate web traffic.
We can submit the website to high-traffic search engines such as Google, Bing, and
Yahoo. This allows our website to be indexed in their search engines if approved. We can also
make business directories such as Yellow Pages and Yelp.
Lastly, we can use free SEO tools offered by Attracta or any other SEO provider. Some of
the tools available are website auditing, submitting maps, etc. (33 Free Places to Promote Your
Website Online, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/06/33-free-places-to-
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promote-your-website-online/). Additionally, we will offer a free session for the first 10 clients
as a promotional offer.
In addition, we will promote though networking events found at www.meetup.com,
emails sent through phpList, and different avenues. I will also consult and discuss with my
network of friends and professionals to see if they can refer a potential client.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Flexible hours
Able to accommodate if there’s a schedule conflict
Continuing to learn
Have many connections
Technical, professionalism, social media, organizational, interpersonal skills
Open-minded and follows direction well
Weaknesses
Amateur photographer
Inexperienced with Photoshop
Inadequate portfolio
No blogging experience
Lack marketing skills
Opportunities
Opportunity to network with more people
Opportunity to compete
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Threats
Highly competitive
Promotions may take some time
Absence of actors and other incidents may occur
Technological change
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Works Cited
33 Free Places to Promote Your Website Online. (June 23, 2014). Retrieved December 06, 2016
from http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/06/33-free-places-to-promote-your-website-online/
Hausman, A. (October 6, 2014). Social Media Versus Traditional Media. Retrieved December 06,
2016 from https://www.hausmanmarketingletter.com/social-media-versus-traditional-media/
Mening, R. (November 23, 2016). WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal? Retrieved December 06,
2016 from https://websitesetup.org/cms-comparison-wordpress-vs-joomla-drupal/