35 Expert Marketing Ideas to Stand Out in an Oversaturated Market

By Mark Rossetto

Are you tired of losing money because you don’t stand out in your market? Are you getting left behind by your competitors?

Getting the attention of clients can be quite difficult. Even more so when you face a lot of competition. But, you don’t have to be the one biting the dust they leave behind.
In a crowded room full of people offering the same services, do you want to be the first pick of the clients?

You hear it all the time: “There’s just so many photographers. There are so many people around taking photos. How am I going to stand out? How are they going to find me? How are they going to choose me over someone else?”

Well, when I was photographing with my studio in Melbourne, we had about 500 families per year, 200 of them were pregnancy and newborn.

It’s my job as the owner to make sure that our marketing is consistent and we get the bums on seats for myself, and the photographers to photograph the people we need.

This is to build the business we want to have, to make the money, and to sell the wall art.

So, it’s really important that you continuously market and you are continuously seen by your clients.

They say you need to be seen seven times. If you just do one promotion and wonder why you’re getting crickets, it’s because they don’t know you and trust you.

You need to build rapport, you need to build trust, you need to build desire. You need to excite, delight, entertain, and inspire your clients to come in and see you and be photographed by your company and your brand.

Here are 35 tips to stand out:

1. The Basic of Basics, Referrals

Go out there and get referrals. Ask for the referral when the client is at the peak of their excitement.
It’s when they collect their artwork, not four weeks later or two weeks later, and when they see it for the first time.


2. Thank You Cards

Anniversaries, first birthday cards…
There are some awesome companies, like SendOutCards, Cardly and a number of other companies, that have cards with templates.
You can drop it in and they will print it and post it for you and personalise the card at the same time, which is awesome.


3. Calendar Marketing

Christmas, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day… There are lots of calendar events throughout the year to market to your clients. Make sure that there are five marketing campaigns before you’ve even done anything else.


4. Facebook Strategies

Make sure that you’re being seen on Facebook. But with Facebook, when posting content, just be careful. Don’t just go, “Pretty picture! Here’s another one! And another pretty picture!” We know you take pretty pictures.

Excite, delight, and entertain your clients.
Show behind the scenes, show picking up artwork, show finished products, do a poll on whether you prefer colour or black and white…
Just find ways to entertain your clients and get them interested in you and your photography business and the brand.

80% is to excite, delight, and entertain, and 20% is the sales message for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas which is a buy now offer.

5. Third-Party Marketing or Alliance Kind of Marketing

You buy a car, you get a gift voucher. You build a house, you get a gift voucher. You build a kitchen, you get a gift voucher. You’ve been to that hairdresser so many times and you’re a VIP, so now you get a gift voucher.

Align yourself with brands with the same price and kind of value and quality that you offer.


6. Kinders, School, Fetes and Fairs as Auction Items

When you do an auction item, just make sure it’s not a raffle item. Raffles are a massive no-no. Your photography is worth a value.
Make sure that you have a minimum spend – if it’s a AUD$500 gift voucher on the silent auction or for the live auction item, it’s at least AUD$100 or something. People need to value photography from the very start.


7. Repeat Clients

Are you re-target marketing your clients to be repeat clients so they’ll come in and do it all over again when they have the next child?
Or when they’re growing up?
Or when their families are in town?
Or when it’s a generation shoot?

Make sure you’re continuously marketing to your previous clients because it’s easier to market to those who already know and love you, than continuously going out and finding new ones.


8. SEO

Is your website SEO-ed? Can you be found?
A really fantastic platform is Yoast SEO. It’s brilliant. Look it up, WordPress users especially.

9. Email Series

Do you have an email series that your clients can sign up for? Not for a newsletter because no one is going to subscribe to it.
More like an ebook and then they get put into your email sequence, where you’re constantly educating your clients on what you do.


10. Expos, Portraits, and Weddings

This is a great way to get a massive influx of clients into your business.
They’re expensive, so be careful. Do it properly.


11. VIP Facebook Groups

They’re good, but you have to really nurture them.
They’re fantastic for boudoir. Boudoir Photography, I’d highly recommend that.


12. Networking

Get out and meet people. Go and shake some hands. Give away some business cards. Get in the face of people, especially if you’re doing personal branding.
Join a BNI group, join these networking groups. There are heaps around town.

13. Wedding Anniversary Cards

Same as a thank you card, schedule a wedding anniversary card one year after the wedding day.
Why is that?
Because the one year anniversary is paper. So why not send them a piece of paper in a card to say happy anniversary?

 

14. Mini Sessions

Christmas is very common for mini sessions. Why not do a pop-up booth mini session for Halloween?

If you’ve got a home studio that opens up to your driveway and your front yard, do a spooky setup just for shits and giggles and fun. Do it as a community and connection thing, not to make money.

They come in all dressed up, you take the photos, you put the photos up on Facebook, and they like your page and take the photos and link themselves.


15. Social Media

Be careful. Make sure that your social media is rented space. Believe it or not, in October 2018, Instagram crashed for a day.
If you put all your eggs in someone else’s space that you’re not in control of, you can lose your business just like that.


16. Street of the Week

Street of the week is when you go to a street around your studio and give them a special offer on a flyer.


17. Headshots

Then you do a headshot, is it about the headshot or getting business owners and directors into your studio space to then show them the family portraits that you take?

 

18. Fridge Magnet

When you’re booking a shoot, does it come with a nicely designed fridge magnet with your logo, your name, and your photos?
With a note talking about your experience at a particular time?
And that’s all on your fridge?

Whenever someone comes to your house, your fridge is a billboard for you.


19. Your Book Projects

Book projects are a fantastic way to do something over a long period of time – three months, six months…
But if you are doing a book project, commit to it and finish the book.


20. Educational Videos

Do videos because you can connect with your clients, chat, say good day, and they get to know you and your personality.
Talk about what to wear, what to bring, finished products, how to book in your shoot, different locations.

Get on camera, people.

 

21. Business-to-Business Relationships, Specifically for Photographers

There’s a photographer who’s literally 100 meters down the road from me, but they did outdoor portraits and not in the studio.
We did studio portraits, not outdoor. So, we used to refer each other all the time.


22. Email Signature.

Make sure it’s hyperlinked – that they can click on a phone number and Facebook and they can kind of contact you directly.
Not as a JPEG because that drives me nuts.


23. Text message marketing

We all know that when you send an email, you might get 50% people opening it, and that’d be a really good day.
But if you do text message marketing, you know that everyone will see your text message.


24. The Cake Smash.

The cake smash is always fun.

If you’re a newborn photographer and you’ve got 100 newborns photograph per year, imagine if they just came in for a cake smash and you get to photograph them all over again. It’s just a way to reconnect with your clients and it’s offering a service that your clients would love to have.

They’ve seen the cake smash photos in the studio when they came in for their newborn shoot.

 

25. Collaboration with Other Suppliers

If you’re going to do a special offer for, say, Mother’s Day, then speak to the beauticians, someone who gives a haircut, the tanning salon…
Offer a dinner for two, buy a bottle of wine…
Create the mother of all Mother’s Day gifts and do that as a special offer for Mother’s Day.


26. Selling Your Gift Vouchers

If you’re at a pet store and you do pet photography, put your gift voucher in the pet store.
For them, it’s a point of sale. It’s like a collar. It’s like a lead. It’s a doggy bed. It’s like a doggy toy. It’s just another product.


27. A Uniform

If you don’t have a uniform, I recommend that you have one. It doesn’t mean you wear it every day.
What you could do is have a jacket, coat, or something that you put on when you pick up the kids and drop them off at school, when you watch them play netball or soccer…

Your brand will be constantly seen by those people around you.


28. Same-Day Slideshows For Your Wedding Clients

A good way to stress yourself out, but there’s nothing better than showing your wedding photos to your wedding clients on the night at the reception of their wedding day. It just blows their mind that you can turn around so quickly and get such brilliant photography.

But then guess what we’re doing?

We’re marketing to the 200 other people in the room who have seen you run around all day, who know the couple that have been photographed, and who’ve seen you as the photographer.

The number of referrals I got from that was ridiculous.
I love same day slideshows. Stressed yourself out but it was good fun.

 

29. Soup Thursday

There’s a client of mine that lived in a really cold part of the world and their studio was in a district with lots of businesses around them.
They cooked up a pot of soup and every Thursday, between 12:00 and 12:30, they invited the businesses around them for soup. It was a great way to connect and build rapport with people.


30. Christmas in September

Put your Christmas tree up in September, because what will happen is people go, “Mate, you’re a bit keen on.”
I’m like, “Yeah, I know. Christmas is only three months away and if you don’t order your family portraits now you won’t get it in time.”

“Oh yeah.”

It’s also a great way in your design appointments throughout September, October, and November to say, “Have you thought about gifts for mom and dad for Christmas?”
They’re like, “Well no.”
I’m like, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have one less thing to think about?”

“How much is that little booklet or brochure or flyer or album?”


31. Photography Awards

There are so many brilliant companies out there doing photography awards. Get yourself to an awards-standard, because, from a marketing point of view, it helps you stand out from the crowd.

I am a double master with the AIPP, the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, and I’ve won over probably 80 photography awards.
That is in my marketing everywhere.


32. Create a Meme With Your Photos.

We all had babies who do funny things and funny faces.
Create a meme, have some fun with it, but make sure you ask the parents for permission first.

33. Get Certified

I’m in the AIPP. I believe in having an industry to back myself up.
So if you can, get certified with your governing kind of body. It just separates you from everybody else.


34. If You’re a Pet Photographer, Buy Nice Stainless Steel Dog Bowls

Get beautiful stickers and put your logo around the outside of the dog bowl. Take the dog bowls and give it the cafes in your area to put out with water for when clients come to them with their dogs.

All of the sudden people see your dog bowls everywhere and you’re branding when they walk down the street.
You can have some fun with this.


35. Talking About Having Fun, The Last Are Tattoos

No, not real tattoos. I’m talking children’s fake temporary tattoos.

Every expo, fete, carnival, or fair, just every time we were in the kids’ environment, we would have little camera tattoos with a little logo on the inside of the lens. We would put them on the kids, and they loved it because it’s a tattoo.

Now, if anyone’s got kids out there, you will know that those tattoos will not be washed off for at least a week.

So, you could say we were getting into kind of personal branding.
Get it, personal branding, tattoos.

 

The main part is to go be seen, make sure people can see you, make sure you’re visible as a brand.

Remember that time when you got your website for the first time and you put it up and you were like, “Oh my gosh! It has to be perfect because everyone’s going to see it!”
And you launch it, and the phone rings and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, the phone’s ringing! The website’s working!”
And then … “Hey, mom. Yeah, I’m glad you love the website, mom. Thank you. I’m glad you support it. Thank you. Bye-bye.”

You need to be constantly seen.

Those are 35 tips on how to be seen and how to stand out in an oversaturated market.

Go out there, go be seen, and go get some clients.

Mark Rossetto,

Photography Coach
www.markrossetto.com

Ready to get started?
Contact Mark Today for a FREE Strategy Session.
www.markrossetto.com/coaching-application

Read More by Mark Rossetto

How In Person Sales Can Dramatically Increase Your Profits

By Mark Rossetto

In any business, there are two main ways to generate more revenue – you either increase your volume and take on more clients or you increase your prices.

As a photographer, increasing your volume means booking in more sessions and shooting more.
Now that may be the simple solution for most photographers, but not always the best option … particularly if you’re already fully booked or you’re a parent balancing home and work life.

So the next option is to increase your prices or your average sale per client. This is where the brilliance of “In Person Sales” comes in.

In an increasingly digital world, it has never been easier to send our clients an online proofing gallery. By doing this, however, you’re limiting the buying potential of each customer … and ultimately your overall sales.

Clients have incredibly small attention spans. Once they’re over the initial excitement of seeing their images for the first time, the novelty where’s off and the emotional attachment to the photos subsides. This ULTIMATELY reduces their desire to purchase.

To make matters worse, “digital” and online also has a lower perceived value. Even if you’re providing them with a printed product, all they have in front of them is a digital image. They don’t have your products in front of them to see, touch and smell them.

So what’s the answer?

There’s so much to say about in person sales. It’s a bit of a buzzword at the same time.

But the difference is that in-person sales really is a hand-holding situation for your clients. You look after them from the inquiry, all the way throughout the shoot, and all the way through to the design appointment where they see the images for the first time.
Then you help them choose and select the right artwork and images to suit their home and style, and design something specifically for them.

It’s also a greater experience for the client, because if you just got a web link and went onto a gallery and saw your photos, most likely that client is looking at it through a device – an iPhone, an Android, or a screen.

There’s no big emotional attachment to the photos.
There’s probably a watermark on it as well.
They’re also probably looking at it by themselves, and not with their partner.
They’re not sharing the experience.
They’re just scrolling through the pictures on their phone.

I just feel that you’re not giving your clients what you deserve to give them, which is a full client experience.

Give them a professional photography experience to help them in every step of the way to choose the right artwork to suit their home and style.

The other part is a perceived kind of value.
The perceived value of clicking on an image and downloading it is a lot lower than picking up a beautiful piece of artwork and hanging it directly on the wall, ready to go. When I mean a full service, that’s what I mean by the finished product.

You wouldn’t go to, say, a professional restaurant, where you sit down at the table, you look at the menu, you ask to be cooked a certain meal, and then the chef comes out with the ingredients and says, “there you go. Cook it yourself. You can do it.”

Artwork is not just in the pretty photos that we take in the files. It’s in the products we choose and the quality of the products to suit your brand and style of photography.

Because you know that you’re going to take those digital files and go down to your local department store, and it’s going to be printed with all sorts of funky colours. When you speak to the 16-year-old behind the counter and say, “Hey, this doesn’t look so good.” He’s just going to go, “that’s what you gave me. That’s on the USB. Not my problem.”

Where when we can actually look after our clients every step of the way and do the finished artwork, that’s where the true value is at.

So, online value. Most of them looking on their phone. Most of the time, both parents won’t even see the pictures, and only one parent will order them.
There’s a lack of building rapport, and there’s a lack of “how do you create your images?”

Imagine going, “I want number 6, 12, 18, 24, 32, and 16, to look just like this.” The client is going to look at you and go, “um, I can’t imagine that, no,” because a confused mind will just kind of say no.

Whereas with in-person sales, you can sit them in the room and show them a beautiful slideshow on a computer or a projector (I recommend projector) where you can wow them with the slideshow to start with. 

Help them pick and choose their favourite images that they’ll love to have. You might have a gallery of 50, and it gets down to 20 to 30, okay?

But then with the power of ProSelect and also Fundy, you can do room views, collections and layouts, and they can take a photo of their house. We import it into the software and then we put the room view onto the screen.

We can say, “That’s the images that you’d love to have. That’s too big. That’s too small. That’s with a frame. That’s with no frame.”
And we can create beautiful artwork specifically designed for the clients in mind.

You’re there to help them in every step of the way to produce your finished artwork that you’d love to have, which will therefore dramatically increase your sales.

Because, all of a sudden, a downloadable gallery of 30 images for, AUD$800, AUD$1,000, or AUD$1,500 cannot compare to a AUD$4,000 masterpiece of a collection we used to sell all the time, or the beautiful 30-inch metal high gloss definition, beautiful print that’s created.

Our clients can’t create this stuff.

This is the stuff we need to make sure that we look after for our clients every step of the way and create beautiful artwork and images that they’re going to love to have forever.

Trust me, it will dramatically increase your profits.

Because you’re going to be selling artwork, and that artwork needs to be priced accordingly to have greater profits at the same time.
You’re not going to sell a AUD$600 circle, a metal print for AUD$750.
That’s not the idea.

If you price your products accordingly with the artwork you want to sell, with albums, boxes, and gift prints and up-selling and value-added products, you will dramatically increase your sales.

So, my encouragement to you is to sell artwork and look after your clients in every step of the way.
We’re not just here to take pretty photos.
We’re here to give the clients a full, proper service that they will love to have.

Bedazzle your clients with the skills and knowledge you have, not just with your photography, but the finished artwork that we produce as well.

Mark Rossetto,

Photography Coach
www.markrossetto.com

Ready to get started?
Contact Mark Today for a FREE Strategy Session.
www.markrossetto.com/coaching-application

Read More by Mark Rossetto

Slideshows For Photographers

By Miranda Hayek

Visual art is one of the most impactful and influential means to bring change in our world.
Now more than ever, as artists we have an opportunity and often responsibility to share hope, give testament to events, evoke action and bring awareness to causes and needs in our community.

As a photographer with an editorial focus, I often use slideshows to showcase my images and combine video and stills to convey a story, message and sentiment from my body of work. At first, it was a bit overwhelming (and if I’m honest scary) to incorporate other presentation tools but since doing so it has helped elevate my work and provided emotionally compelling experiences for my clients. My only regret is not starting sooner. If you are tinkering or struggling with slideshows or video here are a few of my go-to tips to help you succeed.

Play Video

Capture:

  • Be mindful in your captures to include images in a horizontal orientation which work best in both slideshows and video presentations. If you find that you mostly take images in vertical orientation practice switching it up to give yourself more options for full-frame in your presentation that result in a more seamless viewing experience. 
     
  • Keep in mind that filling your frame can also result in losing parts of your capture so step back and give your subject(s) room to breathe, avoid cropping in camera. This is not only helpful for video and slideshows but also later for printing purposes.

  • Remember to capture a few environmental stills and video clips which make a great introduction, ending and transitional sections to your story. When I first started to do this, I often was too flustered to efficiently do this during a session so I started dedicating time before and after a session to get what I needed. Now that I’ve had more practice I’ve become more fluid and intentional with shooting hybrid so it has become easier for me to capture what I need throughout the session. Often clients aren’t even aware that I’ve capture video or detail stills until their reveal, which greatly enhances the emotional factor. 

  • Capture movement, let it unfold before you at first to minimize shake or blur (be still). Use your environment (wind, water, gravity etc) have patience and allow your subject time to offer movement to your story. Play with camera settings to achieve beautiful motion captures, for example, a slower shutter speed will give water a dreamy look, give faster moving objects or subjects a sense of speed and higher frames per second gives you options to slow and enhance movement in the video. Practice grounded body mechanics to incorporate tiny smooth panning movement to video. This is like salt, a little goes a long way.  

Curate:

Choose images with intent, not all images are created equal. One of the biggest struggles is narrowing down the number of images we use in slideshows. 

  • Instead of “keeping” all the good ones, think “selecting” the best of the best. 10-15 images are all you need for an impactful presentation-Confidence and decisiveness goes a long way. 

  • Select images that are unique from one another, using too many that look alike diminishes their impact and also can make it harder to distinguish one from the other.  

  • Include a few images or video clips that showcase the session details to establish a tone and tell a story.  

  • Keep your slideshow short, ideally less than 1 min for stills only presentations and under 2 minutes for hybrid still and video films.
Play Video

Create:

Use the right music! Music can greatly enhance or detract from your visual presentation. As a photographer, it’s often one of the most challenging pieces of creating a presentation, therefore keep it simple and choose wisely. 

  • When using slideshow software or services avoid templates that don’t give you options over your music selection.

  • Ask for help-I’m often asked how I go about my music selection and I honestly have to admit I’m lucky because that I have access to artists in my life to help me with this piece of the puzzle and although we sometimes still disagree over the “chicken or the egg” when it comes to music first or presentation first we all can agree that the right music selection is crucial, so I allow them to help guide me to find, create and or modify the right piece. 

  • Choose ONE song instead of several to set the tone and mood of your presentation. Not only will this keep your slideshow short but will keep it seamless.

  • Instrumental songs tend to be easier to work with and minimize distractions.

  • Collaborate with other artists, music, video production and post-production artists are looking for ways to showcase their work as much as you are looking to showcase yours. Join forces and get the best of all worlds. 

  • Use royalty-free or original pieces that give you full sharing and selling rights. Many companies specialize in royalty-free music and offer single song purchase or memberships. Free options can also be found online but make sure you understand fully your usage rights. Always give credit to the work of other artists. 

  • If you incorporate a spoken message (i.e wedding vows, adjust the music to allow for words to be clearly understood).  

  • Be mindful of transitions both in speed, sound and visibility. Subtle movement is always best for a seamless presentation. Avoid overdoing a transition, effect or action.

  • Keep font usage to titles and credits, do not clutter or distract from your beautiful images by placing font over them. Create a blank slide for words and messaging, use one consistent font at an appropriate size and test the readability both in pace and clarity. 

  • Keep your slideshow or video clean by minimizing advertising type of verbiage. You will have an opportunity to include this type of language in your post or Ad. A clean logo or website is fine but avoid cluttering your beautiful presentation with too much information.  

  • Keep colours and fonts consistent with your branding

  • When using template services invest a little to remove their branding on your presentation.

  • Proofread text and give extra attention to details in images and clips, take the extra time to clean up stills and clips.

  • When complete, export and save your file in the size and format to best fit the viewing platform you plan to use (For example Facebook vs Vimeo etc.)

Captivate: 

AND the final and most important tip I can give you is… no matter what have fun & JUST DO IT! Make one today, don’t wait until it’s all perfect because it will just never happen. Start somewhere and give yourself grace. 

Making slideshows and videos has been one of the smartest most fruitful chances I’ve taken in my photography career and it took time. In the end, I’m really glad I took a chance because my clients love them and it sets me apart in a very saturated market.

Miranda Hayek,

Brand Strategist & Visual Artist 
Blossom Blue Studios, Long Beach CA

More about:
Editorial Fine Art
Business Portraits & Branding

For news, updates & workshops follow us on social media:
Facebook
Vimeo
Instagram (Editorial Fine Art): @blossombluephoto
Instagram (Business & Branding): @blossombstudios

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You Are A Professional Photographer

By Bernie Griffiths

So why do you want to have your own photography business? Do you like the thought of having more spare time? How about just working the hours that you want? Having a holiday whenever you feel like it? Having freedom? Making a great income? Working the hours that you want?
When you become a professional photographer, you are no longer just a photographer! You are a marketer, salesperson, accountant, Photoshop and Lightroom expert, copywriter, customer relations person and business owner.

Your destiny is well and truly in your hands!
Photography is becoming increasingly competitive, so it’s essential to be savvy with your marketing to keep a constant flow of customers coming in the door. Many people think they’re a professional photographer, but they cannot manage to maintain a steady flow of income. Having creative talent is just not enough – there are too many struggling photographers because photography can be a tough and competitive business. Photography, like any business, requires a good marketing plan, expertise in handling customers and have good sales skills.

I have owned a photography studio specialising in weddings and portraits, for over 40 years, and now I am an International Photography Business Coach.
I feel that today’s photographers trying to break into the industry, do so without learning the basic business principles needed to succeed. So many people pick up a camera and with little or no experience in the photography industry call themselves professional photographers, simply because someone commented on Facebook that they take amazing photos and could make money from it. To experienced professionals, this is one of the leading causes of frustration as it creates a lack of respect for the industry.

There are many different ways that photographers operate their businesses. It may be from a commercial property or their home, but the principles for business success remains the same. A solid business foundation is vital if you are starting a photography business if it’s to be successful in the long run.

So what are the materials that we have to gather to build that foundation for a successful business in photography?
You should have a simple structured price list that leads the customer to buy your core products, which in turn will help maximise your sales.
Forget what you would like the customer to buy. Let them decide on what they want based on the information that you have given them.
Do not prejudge what the customer can or cannot afford. Don’t think that the customer doesn’t have the money to invest a lot in photography. This is a big mistake. I have known a customer deprive themselves of a new car, choosing to rather spend thousands with me, on family photographs.
By not prejudging a customer, you can open your mind to the possibility that this customer will come back again and again over the years. Let your presentation be carried by this excitement, enthusiasm, and belief.

If you dress for success, the customer is more likely to take your higher prices seriously. I don’t mean over the top, but I do mean that you should dress professionally. Whether you are male or female dress appropriately at all times. It will have a positive effect on you, your business and your value.

You must practice your selling system. I used to role-play with friends or staff members, to perfect my presentation, right up to getting the money. You must build your confidence before you present yourself to your customers.

In my own business, I developed a very effective yet simple Soft Sell System, which I now as a photography business coach, I teach my clients around the world with fantastic sales results. A holistic approach is necessary because a photographers success depends on a multitude of factors all being present at the same time.

So what constitutes a solid foundation? There are four key areas to focus on to give your photography business base it needs to facilitate growth.

Positioning

You are trying to sell something intangible… something that doesn’t exist until you press the shutter and take the photographs, so you have to build trust. What is positioning, and why is it so important?

It’s about defining yourself and your business. It’s about being professional in every aspect of your photography business. We live in a world where we are exposed almost every minute with thousands of images, messages, ideas, and other people’s opinions. You need to define yourself and your business so that you will feel more comfortable in your business and will have a clearer direction.

What is special about what you do, how you do it, what you believe in, and what you produce?
What makes you different from everyone else?
Do you offer a special service, or have a unique way of taking the photographs that give all of your images a different look.

I know in the good old film days I used to use a square format Hasselblad camera but so did lots of other photographers, so I bought a Hasselblad X Pan camera, and I used to shoot panoramic images throughout a wedding. In my advertising material and all of my displays, I used these photographs to give me a point of difference.

Do you have a specific genre that you photograph?
Maybe you have an unusual studio location like in a church, or maybe you are on a large acreage in the country.

The general public is more and more feeling that they don’t need a professional photographer. Maybe it’s because of all the “selfies” and such being taken with phones – the style of photography people are looking for has changed.

Products

Once you have your positioning in place, it is easier to choose the right products you want to sell.

With so many products available, like prints on fine art paper, framed collages of wall portraiture, boxes of matted prints, or silk canvas, you may find it overwhelming to try and pick the right products for your business.

Try to select products that suit your positioning and your branding. In considering the types of products you should offer to your clients, it is also important to keep in mind the profit that you want to achieve. Could you maybe sacrifice a little bit of quality in buying a slightly cheaper product, for more profit?

You just need to source a product that your particular target customer wants.

One of the best suppliers I have found is Global Image Products. Their products stand out from the competition because they are price competitive, and also because of their uniqueness and quality. The Signature Portrait Box is the best selling product for my clients, and the white gloss lacquer finish which radiates a rich quality is the most popular choice of the many portrait boxes available.

A lot of hard work needs to go into finding out what customers want, and this can be done by simply keeping a record of what each customer purchases, and then seeing what are the most popular products.

Pricing

Are your customer’s price-sensitive?
So the big question is … How do you set your prices?

Well, now that we have Positioned our business in the marketplace, chosen the Products that suit that positioning, we can now go about Pricing the products that suit your positioning. Your pricing should be an evolving thing – just like the rest of your business.

At present, you probably aren’t charging enough.
Ok there you go again saying “but Bernie my customers are already whinging about my prices, how do you expect me to put them up?”

Put your Positioning up, which will put your perceived value up, which will start to get you a different client that values your photography. If you simply don’t charge enough, it is unlikely that you will ever be able to make a profit.

Another reason photographers are hesitant to increase prices is their lack of confidence when setting their prices. They don’t believe that they are worth it. And let’s be honest, some photographers are not worth what they are charging.

It is all about balance. Be realistic in fulfilling the needs of prospective customers and don’t fall into the trap of charging a little less than your competitors. It is not a very strong business strategy and can lead to disaster. The key to charging what you are worth is to make sure you deliver on your offering, because if you charge a lot and under deliver, your business probably won’t be around for long. Don’t compete on price but rather start separating yourself from the pack. If you can create a Point of Difference, your odds of converting your leads and getting good sales are way higher.

Getting your prices right is a key component in making money in your photography business. I am often asked if you should put your prices on your website, and I don’t think that you should. Not a full price list anyway. I would have a products page with images of your products in situ, and a starting price for each of those products.

Give more value (whether perceived or otherwise) than price, and the customer will pay the price.

Photography

Your photography needs to be compelling and fresh and to stand out in the crowded marketplace.

The state of photographic art is under fire right now – and many photographers are wondering what to do about it.

The art of taking photographs is changing, and photographers are asking me what’s going on. It seems that clients are looking for VERY specific things, and it’s causing some concern in the photographic industry.

To run a successful business in today’s competitive environment, you have to acquire skills in all areas of your business. You have to be not only a photographer, but a psychologist, accountant, time management expert, Photoshop wizard, an advertising expert, and an advertising executive, to name just a few. That’s a lot of hats!

It took me a few years to realise that my photography was only a small part of my business, and that to create a comfortable income, I had to get customers. Then I had to learn what sort of photographs to take, that my customers found irresistible and that they would buy.

Working from Home

Many starting photographers are choosing to work from home, and this trend is set to continue, as more and more photographers take control of their passion for photography to create a profitable small business. Photographers are willing to juggle their business and family life for a more simplified lifestyle that can bring rich rewards.

In making your decision to work from home, you have to realise that your personal or home life could intrude on your work, and vice versa. The fact is that operating a photography business from home does need some know-how and discipline is needed to push you to focus on your work.

The good news is that working from home can provide you with a fulfilling career while being constantly around the family. There are many other benefits, of course, and the best one is that if carefully planned and executed, your business can give you a high income.

Sure it’s a competitive market. Of course, we’re dealing with budget brides and price shoppers. And yes it will require hard work and solid commitment.

I have learnt so much over my many years of running a photography studio, that I was motivated to write a book – called “Success Secrets of a Professional Photographer.” In the book, I reveal my strategies and secrets on how I sustained my own successful photography business for such a long period of time.

If you are a passionate photographer, simply having creative talent may not be enough for you to build the photography business of your dreams.

Photography can be a tough and competitive business, and like any business requires a good marketing plan, expertise in handling customers and having good sales skills.

Having owned a photography studio specialising in weddings and portraits, for over 40 years, and now as an International Photography Business Coach, I feel the challenge for today’s photographers is trying to earn a good income from their photography and to learn the business principles that are needed to succeed.

Despite all the doom and gloom that lies around the photography industry at present, I believe that there has never been a better time than now, to build a Successful Portrait Business.

There are great financial and satisfying career rewards for those who persist, get the right advice, and follow their dreams.

Bernie Griffiths,

Photography Business Coach
www.berniegriffiths.com

Over 40 years of owning three successful wedding/portrait photography studios, Bernie Griffiths educates, coaches and mentors photographers around the world to help grow their businesses and create a better life.

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5 Tips to Increase Wedding Averages with Album Sales

By Jeff Poole

Every wedding is different. And yet, as photographers, our approach to them is often the same, dictated by our own predispositions. These predispositions cause us to miss important images and important stories that could be costing us in sales and referrals.

We often see two common types of photographers: The Epic Shot Photographer and the Instagram Photographer. Each photographer is driven to shoot the types of images they feel others will admire most, but they often neglect crucial parts of the wedding day. Epic style photographers often focus most of their time on the wedding day creating stunning images of the couple whereas the Instagram photographer may spend their time styling beautiful details that are Pinterest perfect. As a wedding photographer, we need to look at the wedding as a whole and shoot for the story in order to build beautiful wedding albums that our clients are willing to invest thousands of dollars to have.

At Indigosilver, our average wedding album sells for between USD$3,000-$4,000 . That’s just the album! If you’d like to see results like this, here are 5 tips to help get you on the right path!

Become A Storyteller

The first step in improving our wedding game is to stop thinking of ourselves as Epic Photographers or Instagram Photographers and start thinking of ourselves as Storytellers. When it comes to a couple’s wedding story, we can break down a basic outline of the day and sub-stories we’ll tell. 

When we think of the wedding day as a series of sub-stories, we begin to photograph with greater intent. A story commonly has a beginning, middle, and end. A story has a setting and a main character. The main character has an emotional experience. A transformation occurs.

If you were to approach each sub-story of the day with these elements in mind, would it change how you approach wedding photography? Would it make you more thoughtful? More observant? Would you begin to put more creative effort into portraying each sub-story?  

In order to capture the full story, it would require both careful detail shots and hero shots. But it would also require intentional attunement to the client to provide excellent photojournalism. We are telling our clients’ stories, not our own. This automatically requires that we talk to our clients about what is important to them and that we listen and deliver.

Common wedding sub-stories usually include:

  • Bride/Groom preparation
  • Ceremony
  • Family Formals
  • First Dance
  • Cake Cutting and/or Toasts
  • Open Dancing
  • Grand Exit, if applicable

Capture those wedding-day sub-stories, and you have a solid foundation for a storytelling wedding album. Structure your wedding album to tell each sub-story, and your clients will be no longer concerned with page or image counts. They will be willing to invest in having their story told.

Even if you’re already capturing the majority of the sub-stories listed above, are you investing as much creative energy into them as you are into your favourite parts of the day? Are you capturing them with as much skill as you put into your couple shots?

Sell By The Story, Not By The Image

Now that we’re shooting for the story and not the image, it’s time to shift how we sell. For years, we sold albums based on the number of images or the number of spreads. By changing the way we shoot, we can change the way we sell and that means more money and larger wedding albums. When you can approach an album and sell by the story, the couples are now emotionally involved in the process, picturing their day in print.

Start by offering a base number of spreads in your album, we recommend 10-15 Spreads (left and right pages) to start with. Now, regardless of the physical size of the album, the base number of spreads will remain the same. So for example, an 8×8 album will start with the same number of spreads as a 10×10 or 12×12. This gives us two opportunities for up-sells, the physical size and the number of spreads.

From there design a worksheet that outlines every possible story you can think of from the wedding day. Here’s where we should break down each story to sub-stories, or micro-stories. For example, a wedding with a bride and groom, it would look something like this:

  • Bride details
  • Groom details
  • Bride Hair and makeup                                                               
  • Groom getting dressed
  • Bride Getting dressed                                                                   
  • Groom fully dressed
  • Bride Fully dressed

And many more.                                                                             

Each story should have a line to denote how many spreads of that story they would like. Schedule an album planning meeting with your client and walk through the worksheet with them. If you’ve photographed the wedding based on the stories on your worksheet it will be very hard for them not to include at least one spread from each story! Our worksheet has about 30-40 stories that we shoot for and often our couples include multiple spreads from each story. This means our average album has 80-100 pages! Can you start to see how the numbers start to add up? For each spread above the included 10-15, an additional cost is incurred. Determine a set scale of perks to incentivize additional spread purchases. For example, for every 5 spreads, the couple receives a USD$100 cover upgrade credit that they can use towards custom debossing or upgraded leathers.

By putting your couple in the driver’s seat during the design process, they become much more understanding of what stories should be in the album and more likely to purchase more spreads. Say goodbye to the days of “oh, 30 pages should be enough” and hello albums that are much more profitable!

Show What You Want To Sell

The old adage “you have to show it to sell it” is truer than ever when it comes to wedding albums. If you show 20-30 pages albums, you’ll sell 20-30 pages albums. However, if you show large albums with custom covers and 80-100 pages, it will normalise that in the client’s mind and you’ll sell those larger albums!

In our studio, we have nearly 20 studio sample albums of all styles and physical sizes. We use albums from both Miller’s Lab as well as Vision Art Fine Art Books. We offer over 100 different fabrics and leathers to choose from and we’ve selected the more high-end options to display on our samples. We’ve also designed custom patterns and debossing that are unique to our studio and for that reason, our albums look completely different from any other photographer in our area.

But sample albums are expensive! That’s true, but most labs and bookbinders offer sample albums at 50% off so stock up! If that’s still not feasible, consider quoting a slightly longer turnaround time for client albums and use them for a week or two before delivering them. It works but keep in mind that if something happens to the album, you’ll need to replace it ASAP!

The goal is that each time a couple comes into your studio have a fresh sample for them to see. Welcome them into the studio and offer them something to drink. Before heading out of the salesroom, place an album in their hands and tell them a little about it.
“Hey guys, check out this new album. This is our 12×9 size with a rustic leather and blind debossing with the couple’s names. Take a look through it while I grab your drinks”

Again, the more times they can see and touch an album and smell the leather, the more they are going to want one! This is the art of subtle selling and is one of the easiest ways to sell. In fact, I only ask our couple if they want an album twice, once at booking, and once at the final consultation prior to the wedding if they haven’t already added one. The vast majority of the time, clients are asking me about adding them rather than me having to sell!

Offer A Client For Life Program

When selling a wedding album it’s often helpful to give a small nudge in the form of a value-added incentive. This could be anything from a free cover upgrade to additional pages if they add the album at the time of booking. I prefer to give a value ad that gives back and our client for life program does just that. Year after year our clients are coming back and spending thousands on family portraits. This keeps our calendar full in the off season and generates family portrait referrals from past wedding clients.

Since our business model is based solely on an a la carte sales approach, not everyone will choose to purchase a wedding album. We decided that our value add incentive would be enrollment into our client for life program. We explain that all our wedding couples to purchase an album will receive a complimentary family portrait session each year so that as their family grows we want to be the photographer to capture it. After all, we already know their styles and personalities so why let that relationship end after the wedding!

Here’s where it gets good (and we’ve actually had brides tear up). After the wedding, we deliver the digital files to our clients in a beautiful Signature Folio Box from Global Image Products. Inside is a crystal USB drive with their files and three matted images. We tell them that the keepsake box only includes just a few images from the wedding because each year when they return for their family session, we’ll print and mat their favourite image to add to the box. This way, the wedding album is the story of the wedding day but the box will become the story of their family!

This means that your couples are coming back year after year to make sure they fill their box. Each year the session fee is free as is the matted print. Additional prints, products or digital files are purchased separately which means additional income for you!

Speed Up Your Turnaround Times

One sure way to kill a sale is to have the couple waiting months to see their images. Strike while the iron is hot! Turn your weddings around in less than two weeks and your chance of selling a large album will increase significantly. When your couple is still excited and still on the high of just being married, they are much more likely to add more spreads, upgrade the cover, or purchase parent albums. Below are a few companies we’ve partnered with to help with our turnaround times.

Evolve Edits is our preferred partner for post-production. Evolve can turn a wedding for us in 3-5 days! The best part is that their premium membership is only USD$199 per month and includes unlimited jobs with up to 800 colour processed images per job. I can tell you it’s the single best decision we’ve made in our business. All jobs, not just weddings go to Evolve which allows us to work on our business and not for our business.

For album design, we use Fundy album designer. No more spending hours in Photoshop or dealing with complicated revision edits. With Fundy, I can design an 80-page album in less than an hour, and changes take only minutes! With Fundy’s Pro Enhancements, we place the album in their online proofer and the client requests changes in an easy online interface that catalogues those requests into and way that makes it painless for us to finalize the album!

Faster turnaround times for weddings and albums does more than increase your sales and lower your production labour costs, it gives you happy clients that will rave about your for years to come!

 

We hope you’re able to incorporate these tips into your business and start selling larger, more profitable albums. If we can sell albums for USD$3,000 or more in a tiny little beach town full of elopement style weddings, there’s no reason you can’t do the same. Start working your storytelling and design a worksheet for your clients to take part in the design process. When you make it easy for a client to say yes, it’s magical what can happen! 

Jeff Poole,

indigosilver studio
www.indigosilverstudio.com
info@indigosilverstudio.com
+1 910-399-6790
North Carolina, USA

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Get out of your own way! Stop thinking like a photographer and start thinking like a business owner

By Johl Dunn

The most common problem or block I typically see with my clients is that they are too heavily in the mindset of being a photographer/artist and not enough in being a business owner. How many times have you seen truly amazing photographers go out of business or start working for someone else and average photographers dominating and having great business success?

It’s not your photography that is holding you back, it is your mindset coupled with your marketing and sale acumen that is halting your business success. The big question is how do we switch the thinking to turn that around? I have come up with key areas that I think if you address will help you make the mindset shift to improved productivity and profit.

A quick warning that some of what I am about to discuss might trigger you, might anger you or you might not agree with. If that is the case, then good, it means there is some truth to it, and it is challenging the way you see yourself and the world. Instead of getting your back up, I would challenge you to question your thoughts around it and look at it openly.

Over Editing Photos

This is one of the biggest things tripping up photographers. Let’s start with retouching, if you are a portrait photographer your whole editing process for each client should not exceed 2hrs and ideally should be closer to 1hr and outsource the final retouch. If you are editing every photo before the clients see them, stop! If you are showing more than 50 photos, stop! (Could be more for different styles). Your client doesn’t care it’s just you that cares, they don’t see the extra effort.  

To prove this point I recently had a client who used to edit all 60 photos before each purchasing appointment & took her over 4hrs. I challenged her to not edit at all which she was very nervous about, but she did it and there was no difference to the sale, so she now doesn’t edit at all before the sale. 

Now she is saving 3.5hrs for every shoot; now when you multiply that by over 100 shoots for the year it equates to over 350hrs that she is saving and making the same sales! It is your fear leading you to do this so stop and step out of your comfort zone.

Products

This one always comes up. . . I will look at my client’s price list and it will give me a headache, 5 different albums with 6 different covers, a box set of 5, 8, 12, 16, 20 matted prints etc and 15 different combinations of wall art in acrylic, wood, metal, canvas, frame and the list goes on. A confused mind says no and once again you are only pandering to your creative soul, while your client doesn’t care that much. Keep it simple and stop thinking like a creative and more like a businessperson. You want no more than 3 options for each product offering – for off the wall products have one album, a set of 5 matted prints and a box of 10 – that is it. For wall art, pick three finishes only – canvas, acrylic and framed all the same price.

Global Image Products’ Mats and Folio Boxes are fantastic sellers at our studio because we set up our price list to make it easy for our clients to buy these products.

Price Point

Stop undervaluing what you do! You are not only giving clients photos, but you are also giving them memories and an experience to look back on for generations. These are tailor-made for them and their family and that is worth more than a few hundred dollars. Clients won’t value what you do until you value yourself, your time and what you create. 

Work out what you want to average per sale and create sweet spots and price points in your offerings to hit that target. Start with simplifying your offerings and pricing them accordingly and let your clients buy – don’t get in your own way!

Also, remember that 90% of photographers are charging under $400 for their services. When you move this up to over $1000, make it an amazing experience and offer products you are only competing with 10% of photographers. Then when you promote and market well you are creating your own market.  

Not Taking Aligned Action

This is a big one for photographers! How often have you had a marketing idea or needed to approach another business or call a lead back to discuss price etc and put it off? “I just need to edit these photos first”, “I really should send those emails”, “I will get to it tomorrow”. It’s all fear-based, and it is avoidance. Successful business owners take action despite the fear, it is like a muscle the more you use it the easier it gets.

When this happens or comes up have the self-awareness to stop and ask yourself why? What am I scared of? Is it rational? What is the worst thing that can happen? Do I want to be successful? Then take action despite the fear – this is what will get you out of your comfort zone and build your business. Sometimes it might not go to plan but at least you actioned it and next time you can change your approach and go again.

I have heard so many times where my clients had a bad experience, or it didn’t go as planned like launching a Facebook ad, so they don’t do it again. Tweak it and go again, tweak and go again, try a different approach but don’t give up, your dreams and ambitions are too important to give in to that fear.

Getting Caught Up In Limiting Beliefs

This is a big topic but one that is important to address, we all have limiting beliefs some we are aware of and others we are not. These usually stem from childhood and are shaped from an event or series of events and are influenced by parents, teachers and family. We carry these beliefs whether good or bad around into adulthood even though they were formed when we were kids and so much has changed since. 

A few common examples: I’m not good enough, I can’t charge that, money is evil, and this list goes on. These show up in business because business is just a reflection of your life, people don’t have business problems they have life problems that show up in their business. If any negative thoughts that pop up, firstly become aware of it and change it at the moment.

Eg – you think to yourself “I’m not good enough to charge $X for my work” – stop at that moment and reframe it to a positive – “I am an amazing photographer and worth at least $X”

This is a simplistic solution but a powerful one, when practised over time, will change your reality – we are our thoughts and our thoughts become our lives so guard them carefully. Some of the stuff we say to ourselves daily we wouldn’t say to our worst enemy so cut that sh*t out and cultivate some self-love – you are unique and have so much to offer the world.

Not Investing In Yourself and Buying Camera Gear Instead

It isn’t a coincidence that successful business owners invest heavily in their personal and business development. If you want to improve in an area you have to invest time and money into it. You don’t get fit by thinking fit thoughts on the couch watching tv you get it by joining a gym, building a healthy mindset, getting a personal trainer, learning what foods and exercise work for your body etc. 

Same goes for business, you can only grow as a business in direct proportion as how much you grow as a person. This can be in the form of a business coach, books, seminars, workshops, podcasts, YouTube videos, the list goes on. You don’t need a new camera or lens; it’s not going to make you any more money. Instead, you should take that money and invest in your self-education and watch your business soar. 

I have invested over $100k into this over the past 10yrs, I don’t say this to brag but to show you I walk the talk. I also spend over 8hrs a week on personal development.

If you want big results, you have to be willing to put in the time and improve yourself to get it. There is no quick fix or Facebook ad that will change it, you need to show up and do the work consistently. Do it and the rewards are epic.

Johl Dunn,

JD Mindset Coaching
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If you want to know more about how Johl can help you reach your personal and business goals then click on the link to organise a chat –
 https://www.jdmindsetcoaching.com.au/bonus

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Johl is offering 5 x free price list assessments to our clients so to claim one click here – first in best dressed.

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Failure Can Be Your Friend

By Mark Lait

Google has had a success rate of about 1% for the successful products they have bought to the market, that means that around 99 times out of a hundred, the things they have tried, failed and they stopped doing them. Can you imagine how much it costs for their development teams to create, test and launch these ‘sure things’ and then they don’t work, or don’t work as expected … but they don’t stop trying – and neither should you.

Don’t stop what you are already doing, but start taking your first steps, and I’m talking about those calculated risks which will add to what you already have – as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is any sustainable business.

Unless you already have the funds to grow your business you’ll need to keep doing what you are already doing and build your success incrementally – it really is the tortoise and the hare.

I’ve developed a set of instructions to help you with this incremental build, things that you can do one at a time so that it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. This system is what we use to maintain a 7 figure income.

Failure is not a bad thing, imagine there were several gifts on a table, inside one of them is a prize called Success. You can choose only one at a time. So, as you’re unwrapping the gift you chose, you find that there are several layers of wrapping paper, you don’t know how many and each one that doesn’t reveal the prize is a failure, but you know that the prize is under one of them, so you keep peeling off layer after layer or – failure after failure and each time you peel off a layer, it costs you money.

Some people get the prize after peeling off one layer – that’s called life, some people win some people lose. Some of the ones that lose, won’t go back to the table and choose another gift, they will walk away and say ‘oh well, I tried’ and they are right, they did try, but only once.

Yes, it costs money but money always comes back, opportunity and time never do – never.

Google has killed off 149 products in its 21-year history, now when you think about Google, you think of a search engine, maps and possibly Gmail, I know there are more successful products but they’re the few that spring to mind, so more than 20 years for a scorecard of 3/149 – how would you like that on your school report. The point is, they just don’t stop trying – it’s that kind of thinking which led to their spectacular success.

Failure can be your friend because when you try something and fail, you learn what not to do next time.
A lot of people see opportunities as scams, thanks to the internet … I know there’s been plenty and we’ve all been affected by them, I had someone working for me once who clicked on a link in an email thinking it was someone’s resume and the result was a crypto locker virus that cost me thousands to get fixed. We ground to a halt, we couldn’t access our customers, we didn’t know who was coming in that day, all the financial records were locked up and it was very scary.

I didn’t shut my business down when that happened, I got up, dusted myself off and carried on. I learnt what not to do next time, I created a process for it and now all of my staff know what to do if they see something like this again.

A lot of people are unwilling to deal with stressful situations like this and if they get hit once, they then consider that everything is a scam, and that kind of thinking will keep them exactly where they are for the rest of their lives, they won’t take those calculated risks and make those incremental changes because they’re afraid it mightn’t work.

If you don’t see that failure can be your friend you will never grow and if you think that all the good opportunities are gone, that they’ve already been taken then you’re right; they are – for you, but they’re not for others.

If they didn’t do what had already been done, Google and Facebook would not exist, and just on that point, Google was the 17th search engine on the market, not the first – so why would they do that when it had already been done? They saw an opportunity to be different and started trying and failing which ultimately lead to their spectacular success.

We make money from photography because we know how-to, we’ve learnt from the failures and I’m sure there will be plenty more, but if we hadn’t started, we never would have known whether we could have.

Failure can be your friend, so go out there and try something new!

Mark Lait,

Director of Freedom Photography Group & Make Money From Photography Coaching

Check out the instruction book at www.makemoneyfromphotography.com.au and make sure you subscribe to this channel and ring the bell to stay up to date with what’s going on.

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