HunterThinks.com

The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry

Posted: 02 December 2014
Updated: 16 December 2017

Cairo tourism, business for a photographer

  1. Hotels need wall hangings
  2. The wall hangings could be photos of
    1. Local places to visit
    2. Non-local places to visit in Egypt
    3. Food from local restaurants
    4. Clothing from local stores
    5. Any object that could be purchased
    6. Anything that would require a tour guide or the explanation of an expert or the sale of an entry ticket
  3. Photos of such things would be subtle advertisements for those products and services
    1. The photos should capture the customer’s interest and cause him/her to ask the hotel staff, “How do I visit this location?” or “What is this food and where can I eat it?”
    2. Then the hotel has the opportunity to make a referral sale
    3. All of the photos would depict existing relationships between the hotel and other retailers.
      1. If the photo represents a tourist destination, then the hotel must have at least one existing relationship with a tour guide that can provide an excellent tour of the place
      2. Alternatively, some destinations do not require a tour guide, but do require transportation. Therefore, the hotel must have relationships with clean, reliable, honest transportation companies, such as taxi drivers
      3. If the photo shows food, clothing, or another object, then it is from a specific restaurant, shop, or artisan. Therefore, the hotel would have a relationship with those locations.
      4. All referral sales would generate a commission for the hotel.
    4. Furthermore, the photos would be artistic quality, limited quantity, framed, signed, numbered, authenticated, have a placard, and the customer could purchase the specific wall hanging.
      1. The price would be non-trivial: it would reflect the price of a limited edition artistic print.
      2. If the customer enjoyed their visit to the place in the photo, then they would have an emotional reaction to the photo that would increase their willingness to purchase it from the hotel.
      3. The hotel would have already purchased it; therefore the sale would be pure profit for the hotel.
      4. The hotel would have an existing relationship with a packer/shipper of delicate objects and could
        1. Give the wall hanging to the buyer
        2. Give the wall hanging to the buyer and give directions to the shop that can properly pack, and ship, the wall hanging
        3. Arrange to pack and ship the wall hanging as part of the purchase
    5. Photos of non-local destinations are opportunities for multiple types of referrals
      1. Refer to a travel agency that will arrange one-stop shopping for travel, lodging, and tour guide
      2. Refer to specific services near the destination: lodging, tour guide, taxi
      3. Refer to tour guide that includes transportation to/from the destination
      4. Refer to transportation service to the destination
  4. Parties
    1. Photographer (me)
    2. Archive quality photographic prints
    3. Authentication service and certificate issuing
    4. Archive quality framing
    5. Packing and shipping of wall hangings
    6. Hotels
    7. Tour guides
    8. Taxis
    9. Other transportation services? Airlines? Boats?
    10. Restaurants
    11. Clothing retailer or tailor
  5. Issues
    1. Shipping purchased products to foreign countries
      1. Import costs?
      2. Customs
      3. Time to ship (airborne vs. not)
    2. Affiliation with different business and people
      1. I only want to affiliate with those who I believe meet specific standards
        1. Quality
        2. Honesty (not ripping people off, changing prices, changing terms of the deal, etc.)
        3. Stability (taking a picture of restaurant that fails is useless)
        4. Experience should promote the sale of my work
    3. How to authenticate a work
      1. Authentication/registration services
      2. Preventing hotels from unauthorized duplication of my work