BACKGROUND: I started MostValuablePlayer.ca 10 years ago. As a small community-based photo company we focus on providing services for community based youth sports organizations. We negotiate contracts with the volunteer executives of a sports association (baseball, soccer, football, hockey, ringette, lacrosse, dance) and coordinate MVP Trader Card & PHOTO DAYs to take photos of the membership players. We then take orders for products (trader cards, portraits, combos, photo buttons, etc.) Sales are roughly $100,000> annually.
I am continually revising the structure of the business to adapt to new technology and this is what I would like to discuss. My eventual goal is to develop an APP that addresses the changing needs of these community-based sports association groups:
THE ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVES: As the volunteer-base continues to shrink it is difficult for association executives to allocate volunteers to help coordinate Photo Days. My goal is to simplify the process whereby information about an association's pending Photo Day service is streamlined into an APP based information/distribution method. It would inform the membership and allows them to arrive on Photo Day fully prepared.
COACHES AND TEAM MANAGERS: Photo Day is just another of a stream of annual events that coaches need to organize for their teams. It is very common (and understandable) to find that volunteer coaches fail to convey the appropriate information to parents and players prior to their Photo Day. This failure on a coaches can sometimesaffect sales and makes the service occasionally appear to be "clunky". My goal will be to cut coach involvement in organizing the team's Photo Day to the minimum. Let them do what they do best: Coach.
THE PLAYERS/CLIENTS: Moving from a written form (where parents/players download a form and arrive on Photo Day with the completed order/registration form) to a new model allowing parents to complete their form online (through their iPhone or desktop) makes more sense. Parents can pay for products and arrive on their Photo Day where we would call up their data and sync it to the photos we take on Photo Day.
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Here is where it gets interesting. I have recognized that some parents on the fields are actually pretty good photographers. They could be taking their own team's photos (and many of them do) but they don't have the means or interest in collecting the data and developing a process whereby they can produce the trader cards, combos and other products associated with this fast-paced niche market. Generalized Pro or "hobby" photographers sometimes stay away from a youth sports association assignment because it requires specialized work flow methodologies and presents product production issues. Photographers who aren't currently focused on this market (and many are) would now have the support of an experienced service provider. We would also have scalable methodologies for setting prices regionally, negotiating sponsorships with the hiring associations and providing follow-up sales and services. It would provide a means for talented photographers to accept occasional sport association contracts knowing they have the support of a company that can produce their customized end products. (Eventually we would provide a matching service for photographers and associations.)
SOME THOUGHTS ON APP DEVELOPMENT: Youth sports photography has been around for decades provided similarly by community photographers working within their regional areas. New technology is making it possible to network these photographers and offer a product-specific service with a wider reach. What I find disappointing is this: Talented APP developers tend to be young and blind-sided when it comes to applying themselves to existing business models. They tend to hope to develop the next popular game or trivial social media APP experience. Or they re-create a business model without fully understanding the market they're hoping to service.
UBER is a good example of a successful modification to an existing market that needed a re-set. For all its growing pains UBER has shaken up the traditional business model. An APP at its best is a network that fulfils an existing need. What APP attempts in my industry have lacked is a fundamental understanding about how to address already existing need. Association executives, coaches & team managers, parents & players and photographers already have working methodologies and considerations. An APP shouldn't try to re-invent the relationships. Rather, it should make them easier to navigate.
YOUR FEEDBACK? Sports organization/volunteers may relate to some of the challenges I am describing. As I adapt my business to this new model I would be interested in hearing from those who have experience in niche market/business applied APP development as well as hearing thoughts from those who have done their time as sports association volunteers. It would also be interesting to hear from photographers who may have thoughts about work flow and contract fulfilment for the market I am describing. I am not particularly concerned about giving away "trade secrets" since ideas flourish best outside a vacuum so please feel free to ask questions or offer an observation.
Have an excellent weekend.
No comments:
Write comments