Making money as a professional photographer is vastly different from being a talented hobbyist with good equipment and technical skills. To make the transition from enthusiastic amateur to professional means a lot more than simply charging for your photography.
Unfortunately, a lot of amateur photographers jump straight in at the deep end, under the mistaken impression that they can make a good living from their cameras. The sad truth is that a lot of real talent is lost from the industry every year when photographers like this go out of business after quickly discovering the harsh reality of running a business in a strongly competitive market.
It’s a shame because these photographers would have been a great asset to the professional photography industry if only they had learned how to run their businesses more effectively…
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Photography Business Ideas
marketing, photography business, professional photographer, selling
How many times have we heard this question, “do I get a CD of all the photos?”
The answer is not an easy one for many photographers. First off, there’s the simple peer pressure that “all photographers are doing that now” and, leading to the inevitable fear that we could lose business if we don’t follow the rest of the pack.
Secondly, it’s hard to come up with an answer that we think will satisfy the potential client and then we feel that we’re being forced into having to justify ourselves, or our business policies (who’s running your business? You, or your clients?).
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CD/DVD, intellectual property, professional photographer, selling
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…
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Photography Business Ideas
marketing, photography business, professional photography, selling
One of the biggest, but less often considered, challenges we face as photographers selling our work is the choice between selling images straight from the lab or as finished framed pieces ready to hang on the wall.
It doesn’t seem like a big challenge on the face of it, just another of the many business decisions we have to make.
But, there are consequences that stem from either choice – consequences that truly affect how we’re perceived in the market place.
So, we’ll start with a quick question…
Do you sell framed photography, loose prints or a mixture of the two?
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framing, portraits, professional photography, selling
“Location, location, location!” – the often-touted necessity for a successful business. But how true is that statement really? I’m not really talking about the fine detail of location here; after all, common sense would dictate that an office located between the city dump, county jail and the water treatment facility might not be a great choice. I’m referring more to the perceived differences between one city and another, or between different parts of the country.
Any photographer that studies or learns from other successful photographers eventually hears or even speaks the objection, “that won’t work in my town!” It’s very tempting to think that most marketing tactics that work in one part of the country simply won’t work in our own locale, for a variety of (false) reasons:
- Our town or city has no people with money
- People are different here
- I live in a bad market
- There’s too much competition in my area
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Wedding photography is not an easy service to sell – we have to work hard at attracting prospective clients before we even have a chance to try to book them. Bridal shows, advertising, marketing campaigns – and many more avenues – all require huge amounts of effort just to get brides to notice that we’re there.
Then, the really hard work starts.
If we’re lucky enough to get a living, breathing, talking bride on the telephone we have the chance to find out as much as we can about their wedding plans, the kind of client they might be and whether or not they would be a good match for our business.
After all that hard work, we arrive at the end of the conversation and suggest that they meet with us for a consultation only to hear the response, “I need to talk to my fiancé or parents about this and then I’ll call you back to set up a time…”
Many of us at this point say, “Oh, okay, no problem. Talk it over and then call me back. I look forward to talking to you again soon. Bye.”
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professional photography, selling, wedding photography
If you’re a wedding photographer, you don’t need to be in business very long before a prospective client comes back to you with something like this: “I have an old friend who wants to get into wedding photography and has agreed to photograph my wedding for a great price…
What can we say to this? Is there anything we can do to win this client back? Or is the sale lost forever? Worse still, can we rescue this client from the possible dangers of working with a non-professional?
I believe the best solution to this issue is to be proactive and deal with it before it happens. This can be achieved through the process of educating our prospects about the reasons why it’s a good idea to hire a professional rather than a friend, family member etc.
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professional photography, selling, wedding photography
In order for us to remain in business as professional photographers, we need paying clients. Convincing prospects to turn themselves into paying clients is where most of us experience difficulties, and we feel forced to become salespeople.
I’ll be honest; I used to hate the idea of being a salesman of any kind. Unfortunately, my thinking had been colored by incorrect stereotypes of the “typical” salesperson, and I saw it as a black art involving trickery, manipulation and dubious integrity.
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If you earn your living from pointing your camera at people (or things) and creating photographs, you might disagree with the rather odd-sounding title of this post. If I listen carefully I can hear you protesting your innocence – “of course I’m a photographer – I take photographs all day of weddings, families, products, children seniors etc. My camera has practically become a part of my body and would need to be surgically removed to get it away from me…”
I understand totally but, sorry, you are still not a photographer – not if you earn a living from your camera; not if photography is your primary source of income.
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marketing, professional photographer, selling, success
I encourage anyone working as a photographer to check out the new blog by Mr. Charles J. Lewis. I have been a student of Chuck’s now for about two years and have found his teachings to be solid and based soundly on proven experience. One thing is certain - I would not be in business as a photographer right now if it wasn’t for Chuck, and I know of many others who can say the same.
If you’re looking for information on the latest gear, the newest Photoshop tip or what f-stop to use, Mr. Lewis’ blog may not be for you… but, if you’re interested in the business of being a photographer, marketing & selling then I would advise you to hurry on over to http://www.cjlewis.com/blog/ as fast as your mouse will get you there…
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Photography Business Ideas
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I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that getting confirmed bookings for our wedding photography services, no matter how long we’ve been in the business, can be a very challenging and often frustrating task.
How often have you gone into a sales presentation with an apparently ideal prospect, who seemed keen and enthusiastic, only to come out of it feeling let down because they didn’t end up making a booking? It’s very annoying and frustrating, not to mention confusing and painful. It’s certainly happened to me more times than I can count, and I know it will undoubtedly happen again in the future.
As hard as it can be to deal with sometime, we’re in the people business, and being able to handle rejection is one of those “necessary evils” that come with the territory.
But what can we do to make sure that we keep rejection to a minimum? How can we raise our booking percentages and make each one of our sales presentations count?
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