With budgets shrinking everywhere, marketing and design teams are forced to be even more creative when it comes to sourcing low-cost photography. For conference marketing collateral, there are a number of great sources ranging from free to just a few dollars.

Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus — Most cities have a convention and visitor’s bureau and many, especially larger cities, have a fantastic media library with city themed images. Generally, the usage rights on these photos allow use by meeting planners and those hosting an event in the city. Some sites do require approval of registration and/or approval of the use of the photography, so make sure that is factored into your production timeline.

New Orleans CVB

Microstock Sites — Unlike a traditional stock photography site, microstock sites source their photography online, and are willing to accept photography from amateurs or hobbyists. These sites, including www.dreamstime.com or www.istockphoto.com, sell images from between $1 (for a web-quality image) to up to $20 (for a large, high-resolution image).

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Traditional Stock Photography Sites — In order to compete with the microstock sites, some traditional stock photography sources, including veer.com and punchstock.com, have opened up a microstock option on their sites. Like a traditional microstock site, the images range from $1 to $20. Unlike a traditional microstock site, however, these images are not necessarily from amateur photographers; often these images are from their traditional photographers, but are a slightly older shot, or a shot that is an alternative to a higher priced image.

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Subscription Photography — If your organization uses a significant amount of images every year, a subscription plan may be the right choice for you. Subscriptions are usually available by the month, with lower pricing for full-year subscriptions. The images tend to be microstock, but cost the same whether you download a low- or high-resolution image, and regardless of the number of images downloaded. In addition to images, some of these sites have fonts and videos included in their subscription costs. Shutterstock.com and Photospin.com are both good options for subscription photography.

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Flickr — Many photographers choose to make their photography available under a “Creative Commons” license, a customizable alternative to a copyright. Users choose the rights which they want to protect. For example, attribution means: others can copy, distribute, display, copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit. Since there is no cost to use or download images from the site, these images are free. But, you should make sure you give credit appropriately, and honor the creative commons license.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-o/ / CC BY 2.0

Before using and printing any image downloaded from these sites you should read the licensing agreements, and consult your in-house counsel if you are unclear about the proper uses.

The design is perfect. Beyond every expectation. It folds. Things slide. There’s foil and embossing and silver and gold and if you leave it alone long enough, it would probably mop the floor. Ah yes, the dream project. But in reality, your budget doesn’t support folding, sliding, floor mopping brochures. In fact, you are grateful that your brochure isn’t being printed on the office laser jets and folded by an intern (and it’s ok if it is!).

It doesn’t hurt to dream though, does it?

For Print Only, a blog published by Under Consideration, describes itself as: “a blog dedicated to both the visual stimulus and the detailing of the development and production of printed matter: Annual reports, books, business cards, stationery suites, collateral materials, posters, packaging and anything else where ink meets substrate.”

The projects vary from the budget-busting (2 books for $1500 or $750 each) to the budget-saving (150 oversized posters for $325 — a mere .46c each) but all are gorgeous examples of design and printing.

According to a Northwestern University paper, “Innovating through a Recession,” businesses who maintained or increased advertising spend during a recession sold 256% more than those who decreased.

It’s no surprise that ad revenues are down for publications. A Publishers Information Bureau report finds that the total number of ad pages is down 28% for the first half of 2009  — which accounts for an overall decrease in ad dollars of 21%. But, that loss varies greatly. For Country Home magazine, their ad dollars are down over 73%. For W magazine, 41%. Us Weekly, a mere 4%.

But, it’s not all bad news. In fact some publications ad pages (and dollars) are up — way up. A recent NewsWeek article showcased twelve well-known magazines, and what they’re doing to attract advertisers. Here are the two that we think did it best:

Before

After

Fitness Magazine redesigned the magazine creating a look more appealing to a younger audience. Included in the redesign is the addition of editorial on food and an increase in editorial on beauty. This new editorial opened the door for advertisers who previously did not fit in with Fitness magazine’s audience and content. Additionally, Fitness added one additional issue — in January — when resolutions and fitness are top of mind for New Year resolution makers. Combined, these changes resulted in an 18.4% increase in ad pages.

When looking for ad space, the cover is often the last place publishers look. Not in the case of Scholastic Parent  & Child. They added a subtle, yet profitable, ad block at the bottom of the cover. The cover ad is sold out for the entire year. Additionally, they created integrated packages for their advertisers — print advertisers can easily bundle web based ads into their ad buy.

A complete redesign may not be in your future (or budget), but adding new editorial and thinking creatively about available ad space are both great ways to make an immediate impact on ad sales.

You want to hire a designer or an agency for an upcoming project. Sounds easy enough, right? Just like any other vendor you work with, you need to be sure that the individual or firm you select is qualified to complete your project. This series of blog posts will help you find the designer or agency that is the perfect fit for your project.

With many marketing budgets being slashed, cost is often the first consideration when looking at design consultants. Since freelancers do not carry the overhead that agencies do, they can typically charge less. However, because a freelancer is only one person, there is a limit to the amount of work they can take on. An agency will often have multiple designers on staff and can take on more projects at one time. Think Tank Creative, and other start-up agencies, are often hybrids of the two — since Think Tank Creative does not have a designated “office” space, we have low-overhead and pass the savings on to our clients; and since we maintain relationships with other freelance designers in the area, we can bring on other designers to support our workload when necessary.

Each agency and individual has their own formula for calculating budgets. The type of project (print vs. web, flyer vs. catalog), the lifespan of the piece, and the man-hours involved in developing the piece all factor into the cost of the piece. Some designers will work on an hourly basis, while others prefer to work on a per-piece basis. If working with a designer on an hourly basis, consider asking for a cap on the number of hours as a form of insurance that your project will not go over budget.

It is important to remember that the lowest cost designer or agency may not be the best choice. They may lack the proper software, technical skills, and relationships necessary to properly execute your projects. In our next post, we’ll explain what software your designer should be using to complete your project. Check back next week, or click here to sign up to receive our blog posts in your inbox!