This month we are highlighting Mike’s Camera, one of our favorite photography customers. Mike’s Camera is a mid-size retail camera store chain with 12+ stores located throughout Colorado and California. We spoke with our contact there, and in his own words here is what Mike’s Camera offers its customers:

“We strive to be a complete destination for everything photography, from gear and lenses to accessories, printing, framing as well as classes and education. Our company philosophy is to find a way to say yes to every customer, no matter how large or small their need is. We have on-site photo labs at each of our stores, as well as a central production facility in each state that produces signage, video transfer, archiving services, canvas & metal printing, book production and more. We like to say we can put your photo on anything!”

We also asked our contact a few questions about how packaging helps them connect with their customers. Hopefully this helps other photographers out there get some ideas for what they can do to create a great brand experience for their customers.

I think we’re unique in our approach to give an unequivocal “yes!” to any request and then find a way to get it done. We try to take care of every customer, and as a result, we end up doing some pretty extraordinary jobs.

We package all of our photo enlargements 8”x 10” through 12”x 18” in ClearBags Protective Closure bags and chipboard. We like the Protective Closure bags because it keeps the adhesive facing away from the print, so the customer can reuse the packaging over and over. ClearBags custom prints thebags for us with our logo, as well as our Smile Club logo and URL to reinforce our branding messages.

We also use the FB52 5” x 7” boxes for packaging greeting cards and envelopes. We have an entire stationery department that produces folding graduation, wedding and holiday announcements and our standard presentation is the box with a belly band (see below).

Because many of our customers are photographers, they love the look of our packaging and want to buy it for themselves. ClearBags has retail resale packs that we also sell for standard photographic sizes.

We’ve been working with ClearBags for 11 years.

Have a consistent brand identity throughout your presence, both online and in printed materials such as advertising and collateral. Packaging should carry that through. Wherever possible try to “Wow!” your customers with the presentation of your services with a consistent and beautiful presentation. Our customers and staff love being able to see their pictures as soon as they pick them up!

Instagram: @MikesCamera or by using #mymikescamera

Facebook: MikesCamera