The Truth Some Professional Photographers Don’t Want To Know
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the photography profession is not in the best of shape right now; in fact, it’s been ailing and sick for quite some time. The end of the so-called Great Recession notwithstanding, business still appears to be slow or non-existent for many photographers, and recovery is taking a very long time to materialize. Many of you possibly doubt that a full recovery is even likely or possible.
Personally, I feel that recovery is certainly possible and that every professional photographer can enjoy success, if only they would treat their business with the seriousness and attention it deserves.
We have an industry with few, if any, barriers to entry, no real code of ethics, pricing is anything but simple or organized, quality standards are all over the place, fly-by-nights come and go, and seasoned veterans are left scratching their heads in puzzlement at the sad state of things.
Maybe there are parallels elsewhere, but right now I can’t think of another profession where such anarchy and chaos prevails.
How Did We Come To This?
Is the professional photography industry dying? Is this the beginning of the end for us? I, for one, steadfastly refuse to believe so. But sadly, I fear that many amongst us do believe it and have become resigned to it. Worse still, there are some in the ranks who really don’t care about the future of the photography industry, perhaps even enjoying the chaos and squeezing whatever [temporary] benefits they can from it before the bubble [as they see it] bursts and the industry suffers irreparable harm.
The last decade has been a rough and painful ride for the professional photographer; with change progressing at rates one normally sees only in the computer industry (although digital cameras technically are computers, so I suppose that’s no real surprise). It’s as though we’re on a storm-tossed sea, being thrown from one giant wave of change to another and on to the rocks.
The Digital Revolution – Death To Film!
First came the digital revolution as new technologies swept away many of the old-school methods, replacing them with a poisonous cocktail of convenience, mainstream accessibility and the ability of our own clients to not only do what we do, but also to actually replace us.
As I write this, the photographic world is anxiously awaiting the photographs taken on the very last roll of Kodachrome – if that doesn’t tell you that film is finally dead as a mainstream medium, then I don’t know what will. Having said that, there might be a small market for professional photographers to distinguish themselves from their competitors by offering retro-style film photography – at least, for as long as film can be had. For how long that will be, who knows?
Personally, I loved film [having started in photography long before digital came along] and I’m sad to see its demise from a nostalgic perspective – but we can either resist the inevitable or embrace the change. Digital came, it conquered, and it’s here to stay whether we like it or not.
No Anti-Socialites Allowed!
Then, just when the breakneck race for megapixels slowed to a more manageable pace, we were forced to run in the all-new social media marathon. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, Digg, Stumbleupon, Mixx, FourSquare and a host of other social media systems have sprung up that demand and compete for our attention. How many of you feel a true sense of “being cut off” when away from your iPhone or Facebook for more than a couple of hours?
Facebook, the 800-pound gorilla of the social media world, can be seen and felt all over the web. Even if you’re one of the very few without a Facebook account, it’s still there on an ever-growing number of other web pages, with their innocent looking “Like” button, just begging you to click it and become a convert.
Twitter, Facebook’s younger sibling, is changing the face of personal communication 140 characters at a time by making us tweet all hours of the day and night. The “Retweet” button is right there alongside Facebook’s “Like”, with the same purpose in mind.
How are we supposed to keep up with all this nonsense?
The simple answer is that we can’t – at least not without going insane in the process. The slightly less simple answer is that we shouldn’t even try. Which elements of social media we embrace depends almost totally on where our prospects and clients go, and they certainly don’t have the time or energy to be everywhere either. If your target market doesn’t use Twitter then why waste precious time and resources on it? If you market to high-school seniors then Facebook is a probable must, whereas LinkedIn is probably not the best fit for you, so why waste time on it?
I see too many photographers, with no clear plan of action, struggling to keep up in the social media race, and spending all their precious time trying to mass-market to people who are either not there or not listening. This leads to frustration and ultimately to a form of marketing panic where they resort to the worst kind of marketing possible: trying to compete on price alone.
Choose your social media outlets carefully, through consideration of where your target market spends their time. By the way, if you think your target market is “anyone with a face” then you might need to refine your scope a little – one of the biggest lessons I learned is that we need to narrow down our target market to specifics. We can’t market to everyone, nor should we try to.
The point I want to make here is that most photographers have hopped onto the social-media bus with no clear destination in mind, in the mistaken belief that if they don’t get on now there won’t be another chance. I get the feeling that many think along the lines that if they post a lot of photos, have as many friends as they can, and tag everyone they can think of, that this will lead to referrals and bookings. Not true at all – people love to see you being social, but they still need a reason to use you or recommend you.
What Makes A Professional Photographer?
Okay, out comes the big elephant that no one wants to eat…
Owning a flashy camera and a few lenses does not make you a professional photographer! No more so than my bread-maker turns me into a baker, or my “Mr. Coffee” machine will turn me into the next Starbucks. As many of my friends will attest, I know how to make a really good pizza, but I’m realistic enough to know that I will never own a pizza restaurant (nor would I want to). I can tell a headache from a cough, and a cut from a bruise, but it takes more than that to be a doctor or a brain surgeon.
In my opinion, the lack of barriers to entry into the photography industry has caused more problems than anything else. Not because I think photographers should be forced to go to school or have degrees in the subject. Not because people are untalented, nor because they can’t make great photographs – many of them are talented and they do produce very good work. It isn’t even because I think they should somehow have a license to practice.
No, the technical skills of these people as photographers are not in question, since the really bad ones probably (hopefully) won’t make it in the long term anyway.
The real issues are ignorance and a lack of understanding of what it really takes to be a professional photographer, as opposed to a talented amateur. They have no grasp of what it takes to create a successful and profitable photography business and they mistake their talent for producing wonderful photographs for the essential ingredient for success.
I, myself, was guilty of the same thing when I started out. I simply wasn’t smart enough to understand the things I didn’t know I needed to know.
Such thinking can be fatal if not treated as soon as possible.
The first thing any prospective professional photographer should learn (far more important than f-stops or shutter speeds) is the 80/20 law:
80% of success comes from the marketing, selling, client relationships, business management and your own personal business education.
The remaining 20% comes from the photography
If you’re spending more than 20% of your time on your photography (capturing, editing, retouching, post-processing etc.) then it’s too much! This means less time is available for the things that will really make you money – marketing, selling, developing good relationships with clients and other vendors, investing in your education and managing the day-to-day running of your business.
By the way, the 80/20 law shows up everywhere when you start looking for it. 80% of your profits come from only 20% of your clients, and so on.
If your response to reading all this is “I became a photographer to take pictures, not to be a salesman or marketer” then my advice is get out of the business right now! You can’t hope to call yourself a professional photographer and yet refuse to deal with the elements needed to act and work as a professional just because you don’t like them. Strong words, I know, and I’m sorry if you don’t enjoy reading the plain truth of it, but that’s just the way it is – deal with it or get out of the kitchen as Gordon Ramsay might say.
There’s no denying that we must start with a passion for photography – it’s essential – but it’s only a beginning. There’s nothing wrong with loving the technical aspects of photography (cameras, lenses, Photoshop etc.) but we MUST be able to deal with the business side of things too, whether we like them or not!
My mentor, the great Charles Lewis, taught me this valuable lesson:
“The successful photographers are the ones who force themselves to do the things the failures just won’t do.”
That means learning how to become a creative marketer, honing our sales skills, being good on the telephone, working on cultivating our relationships with clients and other businesses, and many other things that photographers generally find less enjoyable than playing with Photoshop.
As right-brained visual artists, it’s natural for us to love the photography more than the business side of things – marketing & selling etc. are just not fun for us (at least to begin with). But we need to get over that hurdle if we’re to succeed.
Our cameras, lenses, computers and software programs are only the tools with which we perform our jobs, nothing more. Our personality, business philosophy, integrity, creativity, and a sincere desire to provide what’s best for our clients are the things that will make our businesses thrive and prosper in the long term.
Essential Ingredients For A Successful Business
So what can we do to improve on things? How can we take our love and passion for photography and turn it into a respectful bona-fide business? Here are what I consider to be some of the essential ingredients to start on the road to a successful business:
- Planning
- What makes you unique?
- Business education
- Marketing skills
- Sales techniques
- Services and products
- Pricing
- Smart networking
- Client relationships
These are all HUGE topics, and I could go on forever about each of them, but here’s a short treatment of each to at least get you thinking… and hopefully doing. Don’t procrastinate on this – knowing what to do is not the same as actually doing it.
Planning
There is a rather cute saying that goes something like, “Don’t Plan To Fail”, with its obvious double meaning. But it’s very true. Planning is absolutely essential and every business should have at least a business plan and a marketing plan. The mistake most people make is not having either one of them because they feel they’re too hard to produce or that their business is too small to have them.
My response to that is “Any plan is better than no plan at all.” I don’t care if you write it in a notebook in red crayon, at least it will tell you where you want to go and spell out your goals and how you plan to achieve them. It’s still better than no plan at all.
Keep it simple – not only will it be more comprehensible to you, it will be more fun to create.
Just do it, okay?
What Makes You Unique?
Photographers are popping up all over the place like weeds and the consumer has a huge choice of who to use. The question they want the answer to (even if they don’t verbalize it) is, “why should they choose YOU?”
Think about this for a minute. If a client actually asked you that question right now, what would your answer be? What separates you from all the other photographers in the area? Hint: the answer is not that your photographs are better or that you are cheaper.
The factors that make you different are more intangible than that. They are much more personal and intimate, such as the way you work with children, or the time you spend with people to make them feel comfortable in front of the camera.
Also, and this is very important, the question is not what makes you better than the rest. It’s what makes you unique. These unique factors don’t make you a better person or a better photographer – but they do make you a better fit for your client based on her personal connection to you and how similar you are in your thinking.
Spend some time on this one – there should be at least 10 things that make you different to every other photographer.
Business Education
Learn, learn, learn. And then go learn some more. Contrary to the thinking of most teenagers, our education doesn’t stop when we graduate from high school or college. Invest time in yourself to learn from other successful business people (not necessarily just photographers). We are blessed in this industry to have many people willing to share their knowledge with us, so make the most of those opportunities.
Here are some of my personal favorites (by the way, none of these people pay me anything to say nice things about them, nor are they connected with me or this blog in any professional sense. They have simply earned my deep respect through the ways they’ve helped me):
- Charles Lewis
- Photovision
- Sarah Petty & The Joy Of Marketing
- Sandy Puc’
- David Ziser
- Bruce Hudson
- Dane Sanders
- John Hartman
- Kirk Voclain
These are just a few of the many photographers out there willing to share their knowledge and experience. There are many more, so go out and find them.
Marketing Skills
This might be hard to believe, especially if you’ve never really been involved in marketing before, but marketing is fun! Throw away any preconceptions you might have about marketers, and start afresh.
Many of the photographers mentioned above have many great things to say about marketing, so make the best of it and LEARN! I promise you that you will grow to enjoy marketing when it’s done properly. It’s the lifeblood of your business, it’s that important!
Sales Techniques
Selling has a terrible reputation amongst those who aren’t sales people! Even the phrase “used car” can bring to mind some pretty nasty images! But it’s time to cast aside these notions and forget everything you thought you knew about being a sales person.
Selling is simply the act of helping someone get what they want. It is not about manipulation, tricking people or winning at the expense of someone else. A successful sale is a win-win situation.
Start with Zig Ziglar and other great sales people, and you will soon learn that sales techniques involve a great deal of ethics and a true desire to help people. Again, the resources listed above are a great source of information on this.
Services and Products
What kind of photography do you do? What products do you offer? The answer should not be “everything”. Specialization is a key factor in success, whether it be weddings, portraits, kids, animals, nature etc.
Just because your favorite print lab offers a million sizes and finishes doesn’t mean you have to as well. Choose a well-rounded selection of finishes and sizes and arrange them into easy to understand collections that won’t confuse your clients.
Pricing
What to charge? Oh dear, where can I start on this one? Most photographers are charging far too little for their services. If you aren’t at least a little nervous that you might be charging too much, then there’s a good chance that your prices are too low.
You are a professional and an artist, and your prices should reflect that.
Never try to compete with other photographers on price alone, this can only lead to the spiral of death through perpetual discounting and sales, leading to an erosion of profits and ultimate burn-out and failure. Not only does price-cutting devalue your work, once your clients associate you with discounting, it’s very hard to get them to buy from you unless you’re having a sale, so don’t do it!
Smart Networking
We are in the people business, they are at the heart of what we do, so why do we spend so much time stuck in front of our computers instead of with people? Networking is important in helping us grow our business, from generating new leads to spreading the word about what we do.
But there is a right way and plenty of wrong ways to network… The right way is to learn about others first and do things for others first before expecting them to do something for you. Showing up at a networking meeting, armed to the teeth with business cards, blitzing the room, and then expecting everyone to hire you or recommend you is comical at best and simply impolite at worst.
People work with us or recommend us based on how much they know and trust us. You need to demonstrate a genuine interest in others and a desire to help them achieve their goals before they will return the favor.
So go easy on those meetings and know that it takes time to cultivate relationships and recognize that consistency is also a big factor. You might have to attend a networking group regularly for a long time before the benefits start to pay off, but it’s worth it.
Client Relationships
How many of you ignore your “past” clients with the excuse that “well, they already have a portrait, so why would they want another one?”
Do you treat your clients like family or simply as people who have bought from you? If, like most photographers, you run a small business, then you’re in the wonderful position of being able to treat your clients like royalty, and to spend time nurturing the relationships you have with them.
Not only will they buy from you again, they will be more likely to recommend you to their friends as someone they respect and trust.
There are many ways to be kind to your clients: send them a thank-you card, holiday cards, a letter, chat to them on the phone now and again, involve them in your business by asking for their feedback and suggestions. Send them newsletters, but don’t subject them to a constant barrage of sales letters and offers. Treat them the same way you might your cousins and friends.
Conclusion
If you’ve read this far, then kudos to you – I know this has been an unusually long post (even then, some of these topics could go on forever!). I care very much about the photography industry and believe that everyone has the right to be professional photographers if they have the desire, talent, drive and passion for it – providing that the professional status of the industry is protected in the process.
Dealing with economic troubles and changes in the social and technical landscapes are one thing, but I can’t stand to see the industry being brought down and abused through either simple ignorance or willful harm by those just in it to make a quick buck.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. As always, any and all feedback and comments are appreciated. I’ll close this post with a simple statement that I feel sums up my sentiments:
“Please – don’t just be a professional – be professional…”
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