A new photo booth business needs more than a booth. You also need to learn how to market and sell it, and a way to run bookings, contracts and payments without losing track. Photo Booth Marketing covers the skills and marketing side. TalleFlow covers the business side. Here's how the two fit together, and why we're proud to work with Photo Booth Marketing.
Photo Booth Marketing and TalleFlow are partners. Links to Photo Booth Marketing in this post are partner links.
Why do the right partners matter as much as the right gear?
Gear gets you to your first event. People are what keep the bookings coming. Our co-founder Jordan Nguyen learned that early.
While he was still in high school, Jordan built his first photo booth himself, using his camera, the family computer, some lumber, spray-painted fabric and poles. His parents lent him the car to haul the booth to his first gig, on October 31, 2014. Over the next decade he kept the booth business going alongside a mechanical engineering degree and then a corporate career.
When it came time to decide whether the business could grow, he had the bookings and the equipment, but those weren't what made up his mind. As he told Photo Booth Marketing:
"The biggest thing I had going for the business was the connections. That meant the brides and grooms, the event planners and the other creatives I'd worked with along the way."
That's the lesson for anyone new to booths. Choose the people and partners around your business with as much care as you choose your camera.
What does running a photo booth business involve beyond the booth?
There are two jobs sitting next to the booth itself.
The first is skills and marketing. That means getting found, pitching wedding and corporate clients, and having content that shows your booth at its best.
The second is the business. That means answering inquiries, sending proposals, getting contracts signed, collecting deposits and keeping clients in the loop before the event.
If you're still in the planning stage, our guide on how to start a photo booth business, step by step covers the setup, and our breakdown of what to budget for when you start covers costs. This post is about who can help you with each of those two jobs.
How does Photo Booth Marketing help with marketing a photo booth business?
Photo Booth Marketing gives photo booth owners training and ready-made marketing content, so you don't have to build everything from scratch.
Its training includes a live Zoom session every week with the chance to ask questions. There are also ebooks with setup guides for websites and social media, guides on marketing for weddings, editable proposals to pitch wedding and corporate clients, email templates and sales training. The video training library covers topics such as marketing for weddings, attracting corporate jobs and using Google Business Profile.
Photo Booth Marketing also offers courses, including How to run a successful Wedding Photo Booth Business, and a content store. In the store you can pick videos, photos, animations, overlays, welcome screens, pitch decks and event assets for weddings, parties and corporate events.
If you want to learn how to run a successful photo booth business and marketing isn't your background, this is the side Photo Booth Marketing focuses on.
What if you want one-on-one help as you grow?
Photo Booth Marketing offers 1-2-1 coaching with Ursula McKinley, who runs a photo booth business in Ireland and brings two decades of marketing experience. The coaching is personalized to the needs of your business.
Photo Booth Marketing memberships combine monthly marketing downloads with live group coaching sessions, and some membership levels add business and marketing coaching sessions with Ursula. Their site has the current details for each option.
How does TalleFlow handle the business side of a photo booth business?
TalleFlow is a CRM for creatives, built for photo booth businesses and event pros. It covers the work between a first inquiry and the event itself.
Lead forms and booking pages capture new inquiries as client records. Proposals present your packages, and contracts go out for e-signature. Invoices and payments let clients pay by card or bank transfer through Stripe. Clients can see their documents and message you in a branded client portal.
If you're comparing tools, see our overview of photo booth business software.
How do marketing and a CRM work together, from first post to paid deposit?
Marketing brings in the inquiry. The CRM helps turn it into a booking.
Say you post a wedding video on social media. A couple sees it, fills out the lead form on your website, and lands in TalleFlow as a new client. From there, the proposal, contract and deposit invoice go out from one place, and your project pipeline shows where each booking stands.
For the tactics that win early events, read our guide to getting your first photo booth bookings. For what belongs in the paperwork, see what to put in a photo booth contract.
What does TalleFlow cost?
The Freelancer plan is free, with no monthly fee. It includes client documents, scheduling, projects and a client portal.
When you need unlimited invoicing and workflow automations, Early Adopter Essentials is $25/mo or $249/yr, with a 30-day free trial (card required). Lifetime access is listed as Contact Us. See pricing for full plan details.
Why are we excited to work with Photo Booth Marketing?
Jordan's booth business grew because of the people around it, and TalleFlow is built on that same idea. Photo Booth Marketing helps booth owners with the skills and marketing side, and TalleFlow helps with the business side. A new owner can lean on both.
Jordan put it this way in Photo Booth Marketing's feature on TalleFlow:
"It isn't just about partnering for growth. It's about building up the creative industry. We want to support people starting out and let the big players keep scaling while still connecting in a meaningful way."
We're looking forward to meeting more new booth owners along the way, together with Photo Booth Marketing. You can read about our other partnerships too.
FAQ
What does Photo Booth Marketing offer new photo booth owners?
Photo Booth Marketing offers training for photo booth owners, including weekly live Zoom sessions, ebooks and editable templates, courses, a content store with videos, photos, overlays and animations, and 1-2-1 coaching. You can join a membership or buy some content and courses on their own.
What does TalleFlow do for a photo booth business?
TalleFlow is a CRM for creatives, built for photo booth businesses and event pros. It handles lead forms and booking, proposals, contracts with e-sign, invoices paid by card or bank transfer, and a branded client portal.
Are Photo Booth Marketing and TalleFlow the same company?
No. They're separate companies that work together. Photo Booth Marketing focuses on training and marketing for photo booth owners, and TalleFlow focuses on running bookings, documents and payments.
Can I use TalleFlow before I have regular bookings?
Yes. The Freelancer plan is free with no monthly fee, so you can set up client documents, scheduling and projects early. When you need unlimited invoicing and workflow automations, you can move to Essentials at $25/mo or $249/yr.