The First One is Free. But You'll Have to Pay for the Next.

One of my professors from school had a funny story in class one day (it's not lol funny, but more like "nod your head and grin" funny): He was meeting with a potential client for his B2B marketing consulting company and the potential client, a CEO of the firm, straight up asked him how to fix his company.  My prof was quick to ask if he would give away his product for free every time someone asked him.  Obviously the CEO said "no".  My prof then responded "then you'll have to pay me to get that answer".

I, on the other hand, give away advice willy, nilly.  Probably why I don't have much money.  So, as the title says, I'll give a few quick thoughts on the Photojojo website and one neat idea to generate buzz to the store.  But if you want more, you'll have to pay (i.e. hire me).

Just a warning, when I get analytical, any sense of humour disappears (just ask my wife):

Overall

• Really like the design of the website. There are a few quirks, but overall it looks really cool
• Photojojo brand is really fantastic. Everything on this website and other related online spaces really remain true and consistent. Very engaging and fits the target market well.
• Copywriting is especially good.

Navigation

• Not an easily navigated website:
• Buttons & badges hidden
• No way to get back to home/newsletter/etc. from store page

Home Page

• Opportunity to really take advantage of this page:
• Widget of the newsletter
• Widget of the forum (most active topic, newest topic, etc.)
• Twitter Widget and take advantage of other social media sharing capabilities
• The above needs to be added in a simple and clean look so as to not clutter the page
• Need to clean up the content a bit – text heavy
• In the photography market – no photos on the home page?

Newsletter Page

• No opportunity for the community to talk about the items except by going to the forum. Extra step discourages discussion
• A bit confusing about when a newsletter begins and where it ends. Not obvious that you can click on it to read more.
• Should be able to “like”, “retweet”, etc. each newsletter from the website

Forum

• Really nice looking forum
• Seems like a really active and engaged community

Buttons & Badges

• Really neat section that seems hidden
• Opportunity to really increase brand engagement

Photojojo Store

• Individual product pages are really well done. Look great, copywriting is typically brilliant, and picture structure is great.
• “Retweet” button for individual products?
• Lack of product organization or cataloging makes for an odd shopping experience for users who are used to shopping online.
• Would be cool to have a section for purchasers of the products to showcase how they used them within the store itself

 The key things to takeaway here is that the brand is super amazing with some real great copywriting and the design is fresh, appealing and consistent with the brand.  My "nitpicks" are really around the fact that there is some really cool stuff contained here on this website and reorganizing and re-prioritizing will allow users to find and engage even further.

And finally here's my thoughts on a campaign idea for the Photostore.  Before that, let me muse on what the Photojojo community might be like. Without having intimate access to Photojojo's customer base or any stats on them, I'm guessing it's a group of people who are mostly young (18 - 40ish), live in densely urban locations mostly in the US, not just computer/internet savvy but very active users of social media, yadda yadda.  That's probably pretty obvious.  Some distinguishing characteristics would probably be that they value experiencing situations.  They consume based on increasing the quality of experience in their lives.  They like to go places, be social, be active.  And the way they engage in photography is similar.  They're not gear snobs, they just like to be creative and take images in ways that look aesthetically pleasing to them without knowing how the sensor in their digital camera works, or how quickly their lens auto focuses.  They like photography because they like to create images and memories and capture the experiences that they crave and share them with others.  And Photojojo gives them tools, gadgets, and generally fun things that increase the level of those experiences and be creative without breaking their budgets - because these people won't spend $2000 on a lens that gets them an extra stop of exposure, but they will spend $60.00 on that Diana Lens so that they're images remind them of something else, some other time, some other experience.

I want these people to further connect their life experiences and photographic creativity with Photojojo.  Set up 10's or 100's of "picturesque" photo spots around the U.S. (or even global) on a location based service like foursquare where if they "check in" from these great photo ops, they get something in return.  This could be a discount at the Photostore or maybe Jojo Points in the form of a loyalty program and even connect that with the number of posts they create in the forum.  We're directing them to great photo spots where they can be really pleased with the pictures we take, enhancing their experience there.  And also create a section on the website where everyone's photos from those locations are uploaded to, further encouraging sharing and discussion on the site.  The more you can connect great experiences with the brand, the more brand evangelists you'll create.

There's more ideas up here in that lump of mass sitting on my shoulders.  It's just waiting for a phone call...