Photo Promo idea

This is an answer to "BARRY" some posts down that turned into a different subject so I thought more folks would like to hear about this so I posted it up front. Maybe some of you "photogs" in the group can use;

One day when my wife and I were seeing someone off at the Aspen Airport...we decided to go out and stand at the end of the runway and take a photo of the plane taking off with the beautiful mountains in the background.

I was just thinking about taking a few shots of this ONE plane....and when I looked thru my viewer and this magnificent shot with the plane in midair and the mountains and deep blue sky in background I was AWED.

Then...private planes started taking off and I decided to take shots of the with this gorgeous backdrop.

THEN...an idea hit me;
Because I could trace the owners of these planes thru the numbers on their tails...why don't I send them a black & white copy with a sales letter and price list.

So....I spent the next 3 hrs taking shots of planes IN MIDAIR....which ANY plane owner would LOVE to have.

I spent the next few weekends out there taking photos and it turned into a pretty lucrative summer for me.

Also...along similar lines. A year later, I was sitting in the locals donut shop one morn in my home town of Carbondale (downvalley from Aspen) when I overheard the new Pharmacist talking to some friends about the fact that he wished he had SOME WAY of getting people INTO HIS drugstore.

THEN....I had another one of my brainstorms. I had been doing Aerial Photos for some realtors and I was just in the air the day before and remember a thought that went thru my head;

"I wonder if any of the folks who own those homes would want an Aerial of their property?"

So...I started banging away at homes at random.

Now...hers's what I decided to do;
I would go up today...take shots of as many homes in town as I could get...then...here's what I would do;

Have them developed into regular 3x5 prints... place the prints on large, free-standing screens and place the screens IN THE BACK of the drugstore...have the pharmacist run a big ad saying..."AERIAL PHOTOS OF CARBONDALE HOMES! IS YOUR HOME HERE? COME ONE DOWN FOR A FREE PHOTO OF YOUR HOME FROM THE AIR!"

Well...when I told the druggist what I had planned, he went ballistic and thought it was the greatest thing he had ever heard. And, YES...he would do it.

I told him I would ALSO offer enlargements that they would have to pay for. Which was OK by him.

So...he ran the ad...I put up the display the night the paper came out (it was an evening paper)

And...since he opened at 8:30am I thought I'd meander over to the drug store around 9 and see what was happening.

WELL....when I rounded the corner to turn onto the block the drug store was on I was SHOCKED at what I saw; Here was a LINE of people stretching all the way down the block from his store.

A HUGE crowd.

I parked and went in the back door. The pharmist saw me and came over and hugged me. He could NOT believe the traffic. Neither could I.

Anyway...sales of the enlargements were HUGE and I was very pleased with the whole thing. I probably could have carried this to other towns but...for some reason...never did.

So...knowing that people are very proud of their homes and CURIOSITY will cause them to WANT to see a shot of their home FROM THE AIR...anyone within eye distance of this COULD put a similar program together and make some BIG bux and have some FUN with it and get some traffic for a retail business. It doesn't have to be a drugstore.

Anyway...thanks for reminding me of a pleasant and profitable experience.

Don Alm

P.S. Feel free to ask me any questions about this.


$3,000/wk from Restaurants