Need help estimating marketing budget

[elijah laughinghau]

I am a professional photographer looking to monetize my unique knowledge of exotic locations into a photography tour business. I am currently projecting costs for the business plan, and the one area I have no idea how to get started on are the marketing costs. In fact, I consider marketing will be the primary focus of the business and the only possibility for success so I want to get this right. The target market is landscape photographers.

The first year objective will be to make between 72-98 sales. (1 tour per month, 6-8 people per tour). The cost will range from $2000-$6000 per person depending on location. I roughly estimate this so far, has the potential to net between 90-120k the first year after expenses if these sales goals are met (excepting the marketing budget which is not yet determined). The business will scale by hiring additional photographers to lead additional tours at additional locations, but this is the first year objective.

So my question is, what are going to to be the most effective outbound marketing channels I can employ, and how can I estimate those total costs, as well as a per customer acquisition cost estimate? Esp. how much can I plan on needing to spend the first year?

 

[samimnoorzaitgc]

Welcome to Webmastersun Elijah!

Hard question, I suggest you should split your money into parts. For example, some of your money should be used to pay your hired photographers, few more should be spent on your website's SEO improvement.

How does targeted advertisement on social media work for you?

I would like to add that you should not spend all your money right in your first year, you may not get succeed so soon and once you lost all your money you may need some savings to get everything back.

I cannot help you too much with this as I have not been working with such a campaign. There are many other great experts here on Webmastersun that will help you regarding this.

 

[elijah laughinghau]

Hmm well I hope so but I'm not so sure. I can't help noticing that it looks like almost everyone here is looking for help, rather than giving it. There are very very few replies to the average thread here.

I'd like to point out, as I said, I won't be hiring any photographers this year, or probably for several years. I am looking to ESTIMATE my budget, for the purposes of writing my business plan, and determining how much money I need to start up.

 

[CyberAlchemist]

I am a professional photographer looking to monetize my unique knowledge of exotic locations into a photography tour business. I am currently projecting costs for the business plan, and the one area I have no idea how to get started on are the marketing costs. In fact, I consider marketing will be the primary focus of the business and the only possibility for success so I want to get this right. The target market is landscape photographers.

First off, have you tried google adwords or social networks advertising (FB, Twitter) with targerts are people who interested in travelling, photography or tours.

The first year objective will be to make between 72-98 sales. (1 tour per month, 6-8 people per tour). The cost will range from $2000-$6000 per person depending on location. I roughly estimate this so far, has the potential to net between 90-120k the first year after expenses if these sales goals are met (excepting the marketing budget which is not yet determined). The business will scale by hiring additional photographers to lead additional tours at additional locations, but this is the first year objective.

for this point, I'd suggest you try google ad for fast results and you can get revenue in short time.

For marketing in long term, I would you learn and start SEO for your site ( if you have one website about photography tours), it will give you stable traffic and revenue monthly wihout spending more...

So my question is, what are going to to be the most effective outbound marketing channels I can employ, and how can I estimate those total costs, as well as a per customer acquisition cost estimate? Esp. how much can I plan on needing to spend the first year?

Besides the ways I suggested above, you could try these marketing techniques

Forum marketing
Blogging
Online video marketing
Social bookmarking
Infographics
Email marketing
Comment marketing


Try to spend on marketing for a day or a week so you will know how much you will spend for a year, also estimate the results you can get.