LOVE ME ALWAYS PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO
By: Julie Horne
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Company History
Charles Lau & Johnny Ma were wedding photographers at a small studio in Chai Wan after graduating from university. The business didn’t do very well in its first year and in their second year they had a creative differences disagreement with the owner. As a result, they decided to leave and open their own studio, ‘Love Me Always Photography Studio’. They invested everything they had and had to borrow money from the bank to open LMA. The men had several problems: the product was too elaborate, no marketing was done, and all involved were unskilled & untrained. These will be discussed in further detail in this report. Solutions & recommendations will also be proposed.
Neither man had any business, management or marketing training or experience. To improve their skills they attended a series of seminars aimed at Taiwanese clients. At the seminars they were exposed to the concept of ‘sets’ that are used to create various themes & eras.
Johnny’s sister, Melanie, was hired as the receptionist but couldn’t keep up with the influx of business. Revenue was even lost on one occasion.
As a result of attending the seminars, the two entrepreneurs decided to recreate Chinese movie motifs in their studio. Such sets proved costly resulting in them having to charge very high fees. They felt this wouldn’t be a problem because their sets were amazing & clients would pay regardless. Business did boom after construction.
THE PROBLEMS
2.1 Product
The two entrepreneurs decided to recreate elaborate Chinese movie sets after being inspired by the Taiwanese seminars. Set construction required a lot of space & money. To cover costs, the men decided to charge very high fees.
2.2 Product Marketing
There was no marketing really, except word of mouth. They did not offer a variety of packages and there were no inexpensive options. Initially business boomed. However, soon the competition started offering a similar service, probably with greater price ranges.
2.3 Staff Hiring
Melanie had no business training or book keeping experience. She was hired most likely because she was available & was Johnny’s sister. No training was provided for her.
2.4 The Cumulative Result
A lack of experience & training on the part of the employers & employee most likely resulted in the businesses demise. Furthermore, no marketing was done and the prices were too high and couldn’t compete. Johnny & Charles invested everything they had. They also moved too quickly without the proper foundation of knowledge & finances.
SOLUTIONS
3.1 Greater Product Range
LMA should offer a wider range of services at more affordable prices. They shouldn’t only focus on Chinese movie sets. Perhaps other thematic sets that are less elaborate would work. They need to downscale their sets so they take up less space and perhaps move to a smaller space at a cheaper rent. Buying their own space would also be a better alternative to leasing.
3.2 Marketing
They lack exposure and as a result need to do more marketing. Advertising on the internet is a must & they should have their own website with all their products & services. www.webhosting-top10.com is an excellent site they could use and it could be free. They could also advertise in wedding magazines.
3.3 Staff Training
Melanie could do an online training course in accountancy at www.sageaccpac.com/training/ . Also, www.netsuite.com is an excellent site for keeping track of & organizing everything related to the business.
CONCLUSION/EVALUATION
Unless Johnny & Charles make some pretty drastic changes to their business, they are going to have to foreclose or worse, declare bankruptcy. Expanding their product range should be feasible if they downsize their current elaborate sets. They definitely need to offer more. Without a presence on the internet people are not going to be aware of them. They should be able to be ‘googled’. Magazines are a great choice as well as most women like to peruse them for their dresses. All involved in the business could use more training; however, it might only be financially feasible to train Melanie for now.