Preserving the Family

I hate to break it to you, but one day we are going to be old. All of our children will have families of their own, our grandchildren will have no idea who our grandmother was or that she made the best ice cream and pumpkin pie, and they won’t even remember Uncle Tom’s black high sock’s with white tennis shoes. Before our generation gets old, it’s our job as professional photographers, to make sure they understand the need to capture pictures of family so that they can transcend their life on earth into the pages of the sacred family photo album.

A family photo album is not a gift to you by any means—it’s a special gift to future generations. By capturing family celebrations, we are allowing a chance for future generations to meet family they physically never could have. Photos have been a way for people to meet their World War I veteran great grandparents, to meet the people that have such a great impact on their lives without realization. We MUST impress upon our customers the importance of capturing their family perfectly so that after they are gone, others can look at a photo and be proud to say “This is exactly who s/he was.” One day we’ll be old, but we can leave our legacy by helping our customers understand the importance of leaving something behind so that future generations can remember too.

Katie Perez

Marketing Intern

The Bride Needs an Album!

The Bride Needs an Album

Planning a wedding can often turn a rational, well mannered woman into somewhat of a “Bridezilla”. When the flowers are not just right or the bridesmaids are not cooperating, she develops an attitude and will verbally attack just about anyone. So when Bridezilla finds a photographer and she requests just a disc of her wedding pictures, the photographer agrees—often without an argument.

Although not all brides can be classified as a Bridezilla, lately many brides are becoming victims of the disc phenomena. The photo disc proves to be a simple solution for the busy bride. She can save money and print her images later when the turmoil of the wedding settles. The sad fact however, is that there is always an excuse not to print the wedding photos. There is always a mess to be cleaned or a child to be picked up from practice and before she knows it, the tenth wedding anniversary rolls around and the photos are still sitting on a disc in a drawer somewhere.

Even though we live in a rapidly growing digital age, we need to stress the importance of printed images. While the wedding disc is becoming more and more popular, we forget some very major details. We can store a lot of photos on the internet through social media sites like Facebook, but there is no guarantee that photos will reside there forever. There is always the possibility that the photos are accidentally deleted or your hard drive crashes. Ultimately, there is one key difference that separates a photo disc from a photo album—touch. Without an album, your kids will continue to mindlessly attach themselves to the screen of a computer without being able to physically flip pages of photos and forever lose a very special moment in their own family’s history.

As professional photographers, it is our duty to impress upon our clients the importance of properly archiving lives precious memories ~ in albums!

Katie Perez

Marketing Intern

Meet Our Staff

Paula joined the Tap family in May of 2011 after spending 18 years in customer service and sales with Albums, Inc.  She works hard to process orders and to guide customers to purchase products that will help their business grow. Paula connects with her customers on a personal level and says that it is her love for her customers that has kept her in the industry for so long.

In her free time, Paula loves to bake and design cakes and cup cakes, attend Zumba classes, and spend time with her family and her little dog Max.

Create Lifelong Customers with Children’s Portrait Packages

Let’s face it ~ repeat customers are what sustains businesses.  Attract the customer, impress them with your presentation and chances are they will be back!  New parents offer an amazing opportunity.  Grab them while they are still basking in the glow of their new arrival, give them a heartwarming experience in your studio and then WOW them with a final package presentation.

Every parent loves to show off their bundle of joy and you can provide them with numerous opportunities to do that.  In addition to framed or gallery wrapped larger portraits, a coffee table book is a perfect vehicle to share their entire collection of portraits and acts as a great marketing tool for your studio.  Include 5x7 and wallet albums for grandparents as well as additional 4x6 or 5x7 prints in folders or easels for aunts and uncles.  (Make sure they realize that professional portraits make great gifts!) Wrap the entire assortment in a beautiful box that coordinates with your studio branding, complete with tissue, ribbon and a bag and your new parent has lasting memories to share. 

First impressions are one of the most important marketing tools. The time and effort you put into these infant sessions will get paid back ten fold.  Remember, these babies grow up to be seniors, brides/grooms and parents themselves.  As I prepare to send my baby off to college, I treasure more than ever those precious childhood portraits and wish I had more!

Remind them that childhood will fly by in the blink of and eye and offer to book birthday sessions to keep them coming back. Create life long customers by presenting priceless childhood portrait packages.

Susan Auzenbergs
Marketing Specialist

Helpful Hints to Increase your Bottom Line

With warmer weather quickly approaching, chocolatiers are faced with the age old question of how to safely ship their delectable creations in the heat of the summer. For many of you this is an everyday concern.  As our businesses expand across the country thanks to the internet, shipments head to warm climates year round.

Just as artist protect their masterpieces for delivery, chocolatiers protect their works of art from breakage and damage each day.  Temperature concerns require added attention and can be easily dealt with by packing chocolates in insulated boxes and cold packs.  Leak proof, reusable refrigerant packs are relatively inexpensive and well worth the assurance that your products arrive to your customers in the same condition they leave your hands.  Cold packs are usually good for one to 2 days, so to further protect your products, limit your shipping options during warm months and when shipping to warm climates year round.

Finally, make sure to properly prepare your shipping box for ultimate weather protection.  Tape all seams to slow heat exchange, stack your cold pack around your chocolate box and wrap with mylar wrap as you would a present, thoroughly tucking and taping the ends and  include your regular packing material underneath and on top of this cold wrapped package.

Remember, nothing markets your product more effectively than word of mouth advertising and that all important first impression in priceless!  Give your chocolates the attention they deserve and show your customers your products are worthy of exceptional packaging.

Increase Profits with DPS from Tap!

DPS Folio

With the increase in online communication thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, clients are seeking digital images of their sessions to use on their internet pages.  What a great opportunity this demand presents to upsell your clients.  Move them into a higher priced package by offering them
unique packaging for those electronic images.
                                                                                                          

 A paper CD sleeve is the most economical option, but doesn’t hold value.  A CD case is better.  Numerous companies offer attractive CD folios, but why not WOW your customers with the latest innovation in digital delivery?  Tap Packaging Solutions DPS dual purpose packaging line includes folios and easel frames equipped with a patent pending, retractable CD tray hidden in the back seam, allowing for your images to be the focal point of the packaging.

DPS Easel

In today’s economy, it is more important than ever to emphasize the perceived value of your product offerings.  Your photographs are your best advertising, but don’t forget the packaging makes the first impression when your images are delivered.  Make your first impressions lasting ones!

Meet Our Staff

Get to know Enett, Sales Service Specialist

Enett has been a member of the Tap Packaging Solutions sales service team for 11 years.  Her main focus is servicing our large accounts.  Enett works with customers to address their custom packaging needs as well as coordinating with our manufacturing team to ensure that custom jobs are completed and delivered in a timely manner.  Enett also acts as a lead change agent within our organization.  The Change Agent team works to identify ways that we can improve our overall performance.

While not in the office, Enett enjoys interacting with nature, hiking and camping.

Contact Enett at 800-827-5679