Single handedly, the absolute best way to increase your photo booth profits in the new year (and for the remainder of this year) is with AI. Aka Artificial Intelligence. Aka turning people into diverse characters set in unique scenes that appeal to everyone’s inner child. Top this off with advanced customization and branded options in the photos, scene, galleries, etc. and you’ll be well on your way to 5-figure events (and then some).
What’s the deal with AI Photo Booths?
Ever since the first mention of using AI in Photo Booths by (ahem) yours truly… the industry has been going crazy for it. When I first introduced this concept a year or so back, owners were chomping at the bit to be the first to offer this to their clients, and clients didn’t even know this was possible. Nowadays, clients know all about AI and with it being the number one trending word of 2024 (maybe), if you throw an event without AI, you might as well go back to doing coffee runs. Because, clearly, you are not cut out for events.
AI: Where we started
While I wasn’t the first person to use AI (far from it), I was the first to publicly use it in a photo booth. At the beginning, things were pretty basic, being able to manipulate an image by using a process called img-2-img, which in essence, used pixel similarity and creative AI direction to generate a new AI inspired picture. This led to the ability to create barbie photos, cartoons, anime, and more. The problem with this method though, is that to generate more creative outputs, you lost likeness. In layman terms, the more the AI image looked the way you wanted, the less it looked like your guest. Enter faceswap. Since the introduction of faceswap AI, you had the ability to generate an image, either stock or using AI, and magically ‘swap’ your guests’ facial features into the final results. This led to a huge boost in AI photo booth events, because all of the sudden you could control the creative output and still create something that mostly resembled the guest (at least in facial appearance). This is when photo booth software providers started getting the hint and began implementing this and developing their own solutions.
Where we are now with AI
Of course, things have quickly evolved since the days of img-2-img and even faceswap AI. Today, there are solutions on the market (and some that aren’t 😉) which allow you to get super creative, describing an entire scene to put the guests into, while changing the very essence of the photo itself. Using the magic of AI, the guest likeness could be maintained (for the most part) while creating an output that is totally different than the photo itself. This level of creative AI meant agencies and brands were all the more seeking solutions that they could customize to their liking, making their event truly 100% unique. Not only are these types of solutions publicly available in popular software, but they are super easy to implement and cost fractions of a cent to process an image in most cases. However, don’t let the ‘simplicity’ and popularity of this fool you. The money is not in the margin, it’s in the value you can generate for the client.
How to profit with AI photo booths
What do I mean by “the money is not in the margin?” Most inexperienced owners will look at the cost of something (say prints) and decide, if a print costs .50c, they should charge $1 per print in order to be profitable. Sure, $1 minus .50 is a .50c profit (not including any other costs) – by why would anyone do that kind of math when figuring out what to charge? Frankly, it’s the entirely wrong way to go about it. You are not selling a product, you are selling a unique service, therefore your costs should only be a minor part of the equation. Now when it comes to AI, the same principles are in place (and the same problems). Inexperienced owners look at the cost per image, and say, “Hey if it costs me just $50 to add this, then I can charge $300 and make money!” Sure you can, but why charge $300 when you could be charging $3000 for the EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE?
Seriously. And that is an understatement. In fact, our average AI photo booth is run as a drop-off service, completely unattended, with digital delivery only, and we charge $5k for this.
But Matt, how do you do that?
Well, there’s a lot more to that question than I can go into here. Which is why I created an entire stream of content in my course dedicated to helping answer just that. But here’s the gist:
Clients want experience, and a guarantee that you are the right choice. Sometimes cost matters most, but in my experience, cost is the lowest factor on their decision totem. If you can deliver the goods how they want it, when they want it, and provide something that others can’t (hence AI), you can stand out and book events with massive profits to boot.
How do I add AI to my Photo booth?
There are a lot of ways to add AI to your photo booth. I have a course giving you some ways to do the ‘old’ AI as well as custom Faceswap AI. But honestly, there are better solutions out there today that are fully integrated into your software like Snappic and Breeze, which accomplish more without needing the technical expertise. My advice, go research those manufacturers and others on Google. Consume their content, download their apps and play around. But keep in mind, while you don’t need to be an expert in AI, you can’t sell something if you don’t know it exists. Once you have spent adequate time to understand what’s out there and how you can implement it, start pitching it!
We are the top player in the AI photo booth space primarily because we were the first to offer it. In fact, my content SUCKS compared to others in the industry, but it doesn’t matter, because we have the best SEO and consistently rank for AI photo booth searches. If you start posting content now, using samples you create, you can begin marketing to new and existing clients and pitching them on your AI photo booth as a completely transformative event experience. Even if it doesn’t seem that fascinating to you, to the client, the magic lies in the mystery.
To your success!
