Online creative marketplaces seem to pop up often. Most are laughable jokes that devalue creative wo...

1. Togally Leverages The Online Dating Business Model To
Connect Photographers With Clients
Online creative marketplaces seem to pop up often. Most are laughable jokes that devalue creative
work to the point of absurdity. They all seem to promise great things, in theory, but in practice they
are just filled with potential clients looking for professional service for the price of a latte.
Togally, which launched in early June of 2015, is a bit different. They seem to be leveraging a
business model similar to online dating rather than the spec work style systems most creative
marketplaces seem to love. This allows them to keep prices a bit higher (only a bit) than your usual
creative marketplace.
Currently,Togally is only operating in Los Angeles and San Diego which pigeonholes their reach
quite a bit but it seems they are eager to expand when they are ready. At the time of this article they
have 56 photographers in Los Angeles and 106 in San Diego.
Similar to a free online dating site like Plenty of Fish, photographers are given profiles where they
attach a short description and some images to allow them to begin looking for potential dates (err I
mean clients) using search tools and algorithms to match them with the most suitable clients.
Togally seems to have done a great job of attracting photographers to their service but dont seem to
have done nearly as good of a job finding clients, unfortunately. At the time of this article there were
a total of 53 available gigs in their system waiting for photographers which means the ratio of
photographers to jobs is almost 3:1. Togally almost certainly is not going to be getting you much
work http://www.afscme1185.org/we-are-human-beings/ unless they vastly increase their
photographer toclientratio.

2. As aforementioned, Togallys business model is designed to, somewhat, preserve the value of the
photography they are helping sell. Togally isunlike most marketplaces which devalue creative
services to almost nothing, instead operatingat only modestly, ridiculous, prices.
For example, their standard headshot session costs $100 for a 1 hour shoot that includes 10 final
images. Which is certainly much lower than usual professional headshot pricing but if they actually
could deliver on their promise to eliminate any need to ever worry about marketing, sales, billing,
etc they would vastly lower a photographers cost of doing business and increase his or her billable
throughout.
Unfortunately,however, the pricing is probably still too low to be business viable for most
photographers looking to earn more than they would byflipping burgers, especially once you
consider that Togally drains 20% off the top of each gig as a fee.
Beneath Togallys beautifully crafted interface and wonderfully branded exterior it does have a few
darker corners that I couldnt help but notice. The main one being the Terms of Service which has
some pretty concerning clauses:
Photography Personnel may have the option to upgrade their account and obtain additional services,

3. such as a more prominent profile, targeted advertisements, and other special promotions or offers.
This one specifically concerned me as it seems like a part of their business model eventually will
involve some sort of additional fees to photographers to boost their marketing within the Togally
platform. Tools like this are staples of the online dating world and Togally seems to be planning to
embrace it. Unfortunately, this undermines their claim that they will eliminate the need for
marketing, rather they will simply shift it to having to be done on their domain, at their prices.
Note: At the time of writing this article Togally does not appear to have offered any additional
services yet.
By submitting User Submissions for publication on the Services, you irrevocably grant us a non-
exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual right and license to use, copy, modify,
adapt, publish, translate and distribute such User Submissions
This clause is relatively consistent with a lot of social media and online dating sites but seems very
concerning, to me, in regard to a company designed to market photography. Im not sure how
comfortable I would be granting Togally an unlimited license to do anything they want, forever, with
any photos I upload into my portfolio on their website.
Note: Togallys terms and service is very long, I would recommend anyone considering signing up
read through it completely before signing up.
Togally seems like a, better than usual, creative marketplace to connect photographers to clients,
but upon closer examination clearly still falls miles short of
http://www.solace-cardiff.org.uk/matchmaking-versus-online-dating/ being a viable option for most
photographers who are looking to earn a livable income in the photography world.
Like all services that boast to magically replace your need to market and search for clients,Togally
seems to befilled with smoke and mirrors while plagued with little substance to deliver on their lofty
promises.
https://fstoppers.com/opinion/togally-leverages-online-dating-business-model-c-
nnect-photographers-clients-82166