Most of these case studies come from emails my readers send me. With their permission, I share them with the names changed. I do this so that others can learn from what worked and what didn't. Have a story of your own? Share it with me.
- 0 to 214flyer scans in 6 weeks
- 17sessions booked, incl. 2 team days
- 500 to 120flyers printed
The cafe owner handed Wes a stack of his own flyers, rubber band and all. “These were on the counter for a month. Nobody took one.”
That stack was part of 500 flyers Wes had printed in one go for his small headshot studio in Richmond, Virginia.
As a headshot photographer flyer campaign, it had cost him $180 and a lot of walking.
As far as he could tell, it hadn’t brought a single booking.
Six weeks after he changed it, a much smaller stack had been scanned 214 times and booked 17 sessions, including two full office teams.
The camera, the studio and the prices stayed the same. The flyer, and where it hung, did not.
The problem
Wes runs a one-person headshot studio in a converted warehouse near downtown.
Most of his clients are local professionals, plus a few actors from the community theater.
When bookings slowed one winter, he decided to try flyers. He designed one himself, printed 500 and left them all over town.
Looking back, the trouble came down to three numbers.
9 small photos
The flyer showed a grid of nine headshots from his portfolio. Each one was smaller than a postage stamp.
From more than a step away, the grid looked like a page of passport photos. Nobody stopped to look at any of them.
1 design for every wall
The same flyer went to cafes, a laundromat, two gyms and a hardware store.
Its headline said “Professional Photography Services.” It spoke to nobody in particular, so nobody felt it was for them.
0 ways to tell what worked
The flyer listed his website address in small type at the bottom. There was no code, no special page and no question on his booking form.
Even if a flyer had worked somewhere, Wes had no way of knowing which one, or where.
The solution
Wes started again with a different idea.
Instead of one flyer for everywhere, he’d make a small version for each place where people actually think about their careers.
He picked five spots and one mailing, and wrote a slightly different flyer for each.
The coworking board flyer
This one had a single large photo of a freelancer, used with her permission. The headline said “Your website needs a better you.”
Under it sat three numbers. From $175, 30 minutes and photos in 3 days.
The office lobby card
For two office buildings, Wes asked the building managers if he could leave cards at the front desk.
These were small trifold cards aimed at office managers.
They showed a messy team page next to a matching one, with a price per person on the inside.
The career center flyer
The college career center got a flyer for graduates.
“Your first professional headshot, before the job fair.” It mentioned a student rate and the date of the fair.
The library job desk flyer
The library flyer spoke to job seekers. “Look ready for the interview.”
Wes added a small line about a reduced rate on weekday mornings, when the studio was usually quiet anyway.
The librarian pinned it right beside the computers people use for job applications.
The process that worked
Wes kept the whole project cheap. Three simple tools did most of the work.
A free code maker
He gave each location its own QR code, each pointing to a slightly different page on his site.
The coworking code went to one page, the library code to another, and so on.
Each page showed open times, the price and one big button. Nothing else.
A question on the booking form
He added one short question to his booking form. “Where did you hear about me?”
People who’d taken a photo of a flyer instead of scanning it still had a way to tell him.
A spreadsheet with six rows
Every Friday he wrote down the scans and bookings for each spot. It took about five minutes.
By the end of week three, the pattern was clear enough to act on. Two spots were doing almost all the work.
A headshot photographer flyer that moved
Wes pulled the flyers that weren’t working and printed more for the two that were.
He also refreshed the coworking flyer with a new face halfway through.
The SBA’s marketing guidance notes that print is one of the harder things to measure.
That’s exactly why the separate codes mattered so much.
| Spot | Scans in 6 weeks | Bookings |
|---|---|---|
| Coworking board | 96 | 9 |
| Office lobby cards | 41 | 2 team days |
| College career center | 38 | 4 |
| Library job desk | 27 | 2 |
| Cafes | 12 | 0 |
What we learned from here
A headshot photographer flyer works when it’s made for one wall and one kind of reader, and when you can see what each wall brings.
Wes printed fewer flyers the second time, around 120 in total.
They brought far more work, because each one was written for the people walking past.
| Flyer choice | Earned its pin | Earned the recycling bin |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | One large, friendly face | Nine tiny thumbnails |
| Headline | Written for that wall | “Professional Photography Services” |
| Offer | Three plain numbers | No price at all |
| Next step | A code for each spot | A small website address |
| Placement | Where careers come up | Wherever there was space |
The office lobby cards surprised him most. Only two managers booked, but those two bookings were 31 people between them.
The cafes did the opposite. People there were relaxing, not thinking about work, and the scans showed it.
The career center was a nice middle ground. Scans came in waves, right before each job fair, and then went quiet again.
Wes still uses flyers, but only in a handful of places. He checks his spreadsheet every Friday and swaps the photo every couple of months.
The plain flyer layout he settled on fits on half a page. One face, one headline, three numbers and one code.
The old 500 are gone. A few ended up as scrap paper by his printer, which he says is their most useful job yet.
More case studies
Brand Photographer Dominic Swapped a Busy Flyer for a Small Card and Booked 3 Shoots
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The Hospital Bag List That Made Bea’s Newborn Photographer Flyer Book 11 Babies
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- 11newborn sessions booked
- $96print cost for the whole batch
Portrait Photographer Tobias Prints 180 Fewer Flyers and Books 8 Sessions
- 2 to 19calls and messages
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- 8sessions booked
Where to Hang a Flyer? Maternity Photographer Marguerite’s 4 Spots Booked 10 Sessions
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- $74total printing cost
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Personal Branding Photographer Roz Cut Her Flyer to 5 Things
- 14inquiries in 8 weeks
- 3booked shoots from flyers
- 5things left on the page
Gone in 9 Seconds. Headshot Photographer Bianca Rebuilds and Gets 15 Inquiries a Month
- 4 to 15form inquiries a month
- 6s to 2shomepage load on a phone
- 11 to 5form fields
Take 3 Was the One. Headshot Photographer Teo’s 52-Second Video Lifts Bookings
- 30% to 48%of inquiries booked
- 11new clients who mentioned the video
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Who Took This? Headshot Photographer Rosa Moves to LinkedIn and Books 2 Team Days
- 1 to 9social inquiries a month
- 140 to 690LinkedIn connections
- 2team days booked