Zenologue

One of the biggest mistakes made by photographers new to the business (myself included) is to literally give their work away for little or no profit. People new to the business often mistakenly believe that to become successful they need to compete only on price. I was once naïve enough myself to think that if I could penetrate the market by offering cheaper products than the competition, I could gain ground and then raise my prices once my name became better known. Unfortunately, that’s probably not the best way to go.

Buy A Porsche Today – 50% Off:

The world economy might be in complete turmoil at the moment, with the news full of doom and gloom, and it’s true that some people are spending less because of it, but that has little to do with the actual prices of things. A Porsche is still an expensive buy, as is a Rolex watch (a real one, that is). Can you imagine how the consumer’s view of these items would change if they were suddenly available at a half or a quarter of the original price? People would be suspicious of them, lose faith in the brand, and consider them a bad investment.

A Porsche car or a Rolex watch is viewed by some as a highly valued status symbol; with its value being quite separate to price. The value lies in what it gives to the person purchasing it, the price being what the purchaser is willing to pay to own the item.

Investment = Value:

I’m assuming that you, as a professional photographer, hold your own work in high value, and are proud of what you do. Now, the only way that your prospective client can assess the fairness of the price you charge is by the value you place on it, and the value it is going to give them in terms of capturing the emotions, personalities and relationships of their family, wedding, graduating senior etc.

Photography, especially portraits and families, is an investment – the value will increase significantly over time because those memories will become more and more precious as time goes by. In addition to the way you present your photography (the way you display it, handle it and talk about it), the price you charge for it definitely communicates something of the value of your photography to your client.

When a client learns the price you charge, they will attach a perceived value to your work. Some clients may not be able to afford you – but that’s okay, you can’t work with everyone (another mistake we sometimes make is trying to book everybody) – but the ones that can afford you will be happy to pay your price as long as the perceived value is worth the investment in their mind.

Too Low To Be True:

On the other hand, if you charge ridiculously low prices for your work, those clients who would otherwise value it and hire you will probably walk away, because you’ve put too low a value on it.

Consider this. Would you buy a $50 bill for $45 off a man in the street? Probably not, even though the $50 bill is perfectly genuine.

I myself have lost at least one wedding booking in the past (and probably more that I didn’t know about) because my prices were too low. That’s right – too low! My fees were not ridiculously low, just somewhat lower than the average. I was able to ask the client which studio they ended up using and what they paid, only to find that it was almost double what I was asking for at the time. I was stunned.

So take a look at your prices in context with other successful studios and see where you fall. Don’t try to compete directly with them on price, but on other other unique factors instead. Give true value to your work and let your clients know that you value it at least as much, if not more, than they do.

Sales Pricing, professional photographer, selling