Piconect builds 'trustworthy' biz listings for India photography
In India, the photography market is an unorganized one. In this competitive market, several photographers attempt individual Web and social media presences to showcase their portfolio and generate business leads. Much of the discovery and enquiry happens via word-of-mouth.
Piconect is a new service which intends to organize the photography market in India. It claims to provide business listings suited to showcase the work of photographers with not just portfolio, but also their equipment, testimonials, and reviews from past clients.
According to Nidhi Jha, the co-founder and CEO of Piconect, the service is geared to be provide organized, verified, and trustworthy user-generated listings like "Zomatos of food and Magicbricks of properties".
"We phone-verify our registrations, and urge them to update [the] right contact details so that people can have a believable experience when they contact one of the photographers out there," she added.
Apart from business listings, the service also has a unique section of leads for the photographers. The photography-focused leads serve as a job board. The company believes that the job board is Piconect's unique proposition.
Rajiv Jaitley who owns a photography studio in New Delhi finds this proposition interesting. "My showcase is only the wedding albums or corporate films I've done for my customers. These customers show the albums to their friends and family, in turn generating leads for me. With Piconect, I'll also have a way to market my capabilities and pitch for assignments."
It would be interesting to observe the adoption of the service amongst professional photographers. While the niche focus and unique offerings distinguish the service from generic business listings services like JustDial and Getit, Piconect's business model is based on one offering that they aim to provide--find a photographer.
"Finding a photographers and photographers getting registered will always remain free as essential features. However for people wanting to opt for our service of matching the right guy for their assignment would be chargeable in the coming future. In the present beta, all the services are essentially free," Nidhi explains.