Marketing your photography business by the holidays (71 ideas) for April
It's springtime, which should have your photographer heart going pitter-patter. I looked outside this evening when I got home from putting the newspaper out, and saw the first green buds appearing on the trees in my yard.
Spring has sprung!
Now is the time to look ahead to April, and what marketing opportunities you're going to build a campaign around.
From helping to engage the public on a variety of causes, to fun wardrobe and mini-shoot opportunities, to countless good excuses to make new contacts and connections, holidays are a powerful tool for growing the scope, depth, and community awareness of your photography.
Here's an outrageously big list of ideas to play with:
The Month of April Is...
National Oral Health Month: Co-op with your local dentists on a Smile campaign. Photograph their top clients with big, beautiful or cheesy smiles (especially kids), and hang these prints in their waiting rooms and exam rooms. Heck - photograph the dentists and their staff! Encourage them to use the photos on their web site and social media (with your byline, of course). Do a co-op marketing campaign in the local newspaper with all your partner dentists, sharing the ad bill. Give each dentist a gift certificate or three to gift to their top clients - full shoot and CD of hi-res, processed photos. Have each dentist gift a certificate for No Session Fee to every client for the month.
March for Babies: Fundraiser for March of Dimes, which benefits babies born too soon. Great focus for newborn and baby photographers. Do photo stories of kids in your community who were born premature and have grown up strong and healthy - combine with family photos taken when the baby was born. Do photo stories of your area hospitals' neonatal intensive care units, and the wonderful nurses and doctors who serve there. Share these photo stories online and with your local newspaper. At the end of the campaign, host a big play day in the park to celebrate the lives of these little miracles and those who helped them to grow up healthy and strong. Educate your community in how they can donate to March of Dimes or other local non-profits which serve the needs of newborns and their parents. Do a fundraiser mini-shoot and make your own donation.
National Occupational Therapy Month: Occupational therapists enable those with physical and mental challenges to live full lives. Tell the stories of these professionals and those they serve with great photo stories. Coordinate and share these photos with their places of employment to hang on the walls and use in their own marketing and PR. Connect with pediatric clients and offer their families a free family photo shoot. Tell stories.
National Child Abuse Prevention Month: Make a series of photographs which creatively, subtly, but powerfully communicate the realities of child abuse - share these as a powerful message to encourage the community to get involved.
Stress Awareness Month: Co-op opportunity with your local massage therapists and spas. Create a series of Before and After photos: stressed (frazzled, crazy hair, bags under eyes, grumpycat faces) and relaxed. Campaign theme: Unstressed. Get cheeky: "We want to see you get unstressed." "You look so good unstressed." Alcohol Awareness Month: Again, use your creative and artistic skills to create images which tell the story of alcoholism and its effects on families and the community. Release them with statistics and information, such as from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, as public service announcements. Connect with your local Alcoholics Anonymous group and explore how you can use your photography (such as with a photo story) to create awareness, education, and empowerment. Sexual Assault Awareness Month: On many of these awareness campaigns, your goal is to connect with the people involved in these areas within your community, and learn how you can use your creative photography to serve their cause. Choose awareness campaigns that are close to your heart, that you have a personal connection to, and involve or impact your target market. Be a liaison between these entities and your local media, and use your photography and storytelling skills to grow awareness. If you do nothing else, tell stories. Reach out, and you will find subjects who are willing to tell their story in order to empower others. For example, one PTP reader offered her services to her local women's shelter, doing family photos for several women and children staying there. Jazz Appreciation Month: Connect with local jazz musicians and make their portraits - they will invariably be some of the most interesting and stylish characters you will meet. Spend some time at the places they play. Hear some stories. Share those stories. Narrow your focus to jazz musicians within your niche: high school seniors who play jazz, kids whose parents or grandparents play jazz (imagine the wardrobe opportunities!). Mix in video and create a highlight reel or mini-documentary of your subjects. Ask if you can be the official photographer for your local jazz festival. Organize a free jam session for the community. National Car Care Month: Co-op with your local auto businesses, from dealers to detailers to car washes to mechanics. Work with them to identify clients with awesome cars, and let your co-op partner gift those clients with a free photo shoot of them with their ride. Hang these portraits at the businesses that serve them. Work with your local car groups (classics, race cars, demolition derbies) to do mini-shoots of owners with their rides. Set up an informal car show and photo day at the park. Do photo stories within your niche: a high school senior's first car, the road trips and adventures a family has had in their vehicle. Partner with auto dealers to give every new car buyer a free photo shoot. Facial Protection Month: Another dentist-driven awareness campaign. Co-op with these local professionals, with a focus on outdoor activities safety, such as helmets and mouth guards. Co-op with your sports teams, including portraits of kids in their safety gear, and enjoying their favorite sports. Rare opportunity to focus on your local skater community and earn your way into their circles. Create some action-packed 'sportraits' of youth in action in their gear. Do a mini-shoot focusing on youth athletes (Mom will always - always - love a portrait of their child in a T-ball uniform). National Humor Month: Seek out the comedians and comedy troupes in your local market. Especially in a nice-sized metro, you'll find some of the most interesting and awesome people to get with and shoot portraits of. Combine your portraits with their jokes for a great social or meme campaign. I've worked with comedians on the small-time circuit in my market, and from experience, you will be hard-pressed to find a more appreciative group of fellow artists. Mathematics Awareness Month: Co-op with your local schools, including charter and private schools. Math can be one of the hardest subjects for kids to pick up; try doing videos of teens or adults who can identify what moment, idea, concept, or teacher made math 'click' for them. (for me, it was Drafting class in high school with Mr. Flink!) Run with photos as a PSA (Public Service Announcement) in your local newspaper, linking to your campaign online where folks can watch the videos. Share on social with your educator and parents friends. Don't forget homeschoolers. National Arab American Heritage Month: Co-op with a knowledgeable fellow small business owner. Do mini-shoots with traditional props and wardrobe for the culture you're celebrating, and use it as an educational opportunity. Do photo stories of local leaders. National Poetry Month: Do a series of photos and videos of local poets (of all ages) reading their poems. Collect and share their stories of how they got into writing and performing poetry. Arrange a poetry slam at a co-op partner's location and invite the community. Make connections between artists. Ask poets to submit a short poem that speaks about the importance of and feelings they have about photographs of their family, either direct or historic. Share those photographs and poems on your blog and social. Baseball Kickoff: Professional and most Little League baseball seasons kick off in April. Co-op with your local league, teams, and athletes - as well as coaches, youth sporting good stores, high school athletic leaders, footwear stores. Do baseball and softball mini-shoots with wardrobe, props, and scene. Co-op with your local leagues or teams to do a fundraiser mini-shoot at the field. April Fact - The birthstone for April is the diamond. Co-op with a local jeweler, give them gift certificates to gift to their top customers, run a drawing for a free photo shoots with their customers and walk-in visitors. April Fact - Zodiac signs for April are Aries and Taurus. Run some fun promotions reaching out to these 'personality types.' April Fact - The birth flower for April is the sweet pea or daisy. Co-op with your local florist or garden center, do mini-shoots in their gardens and featuring their flowers. April 1 - April Fools Day: The opportunities for fun (and foolish poor taste) are multitude. Let Google Images be your guide - hunt up an idea you can crib and localize for your target market and community. Hard to go wrong with #selfie jokes: how about you offer to rent out your camera equipment and lights and offer your services as art director so clients can make their own professional-quality selfies? April 2 - Autism Awareness Day: Co-op with special education teachers. Photograph, collect, and share the encouraging stories of your clients or community members with autistic friends or family. Great awareness resources at Autism Speaks. April 2 - PB&J Day: Get messy. PB&J-themed mini-shoots; co-op with a local restaurant, grocer, or health food store. Co-op with a non-profit that serves children, serve PB&J sandwiches with volunteers from the non-profit and do mini-shoots of kids getting super messy enjoying the good eats. Get free press for the event with your local paper and radio station; invite the TV folks out, too - they love cute kids too. Arrange a PB&J Championship Spread-off event (just like a good barbecue cook-off), hold as fundraiser for local hunger and nutrition non-profits. (Almost every day is a 'food day' of some kind: find one close to your heart at TheNibble.com.) April 3 - Walk to Work Day: Focus on sartorial street fashion photography. Who's out and about in interesting duds and styles today? Co-op with a downtown businesses with good outside foot traffic, and offer free street fashion photos in exchange for an e-mail address. Meet interesting people! April 3 - Movie Release of Furious 7: I won't list all the new movie releases for the month, but introduce here the idea of tying some of your promotions, co-op marketing efforts, and mini-shoots into popular movie releases. Heck, co-op with your local movie theater! Do fun photos of moviegoers, have movie-related props and/or wardrobe, and focus on your target market (kids, seniors, families). Couple examples: For Furious 7, co-op with your local hotrod club to set up in the theater parking lot and let moviegoers do stylish photos with the featured car(s). For Disney's Monkey Kingdom, have little monkey-ear headbands and bananas at the ready. April 4 - Vitamin C Day: Co-op with a local grocer, farmer's market, health food store on an orange or orange juice mini-shoot or in-store promotion. Do a headshot or environmental portrait with a co-op pharmacist partner and produce a ready-to-run article on the benefits of Vitamin C supplements to share with your blog readers and the local newspaper. April 4 - International Carrot Day: Co-op with grocer, snap photos of kids snapping into crisp, fresh carrots. April 4 - Full Moon: Time to get wild. Pet photographers, run a special for local pups who look like their wild wolf cousins. Moonlight couples portraits. April 5 - Easter: Always a popular holiday for mini-shoots with colorful eggs, easter bunny stuffed animals, and live rabbits and chicks. Try bunny ears and bunny costumes too. A great way to get face time with first-time clients, mini-shoots offer a low barrier of entry and a 'great excuse' to have professional photos done. Work with your local newspaper on a "cutest bunny" contest, with kids in bunny ears or costumes. Get ahead of the game so the newspaper can publish the week of Easter, and so parents and grandparents have their purchased photos delivered in time to post on Easter day. Connect with your local churches and photograph their special Easter services - the rituals can be very powerful and visually interesting. April 5 - National Read a Map Day: A map makes for an interesting and fun background for photos. Do a map mini-shoot for kids, and have them tell you about where they want to visit one day and why, and what their coolest travel experience has been in their lives. Share these on social. Co-op with your local geography teachers. April 6 - Tartan Day: Celebrating Scottish-Americans. Go for kilts and bagpipes. Host a Scottish-themed party at the local pub, inviting folks out in their finest kilts. See if you can get a bagpiper to participate in the festivities. Do a mini-shoot with kilt, bagpipe, and cap wardrobe for kids. April 7 - World Health Day: Focused on food safety, so co-op with your local grocer, a mom and pop restaurant, culinary arts school, health inspector, or other food-related entity. Tell the stories of the people behind the food. April 7 - No Housework Day: French maid boudoir mini-shoot special (beats taking out the trash). Co-op with your local hardware or cleaning stores on a household cleaning products / tools promotion. Co-op with a maid or house cleaning service to give away a free house cleaning and photo shoot in a contest. Offer discounted or free staff headshots for your local maid or house cleaning services. April 7 - National Beer Day: The anniversary of Roosevelt's first steps toward ending Prohibition. The co-op opportunities are many: bars, breweries, restaurants with great beer selections, home brewers, bartenders, clubs. Prohibition-era clothing, cars, and style. April 8 - Draw a Bird Day: With roots going back to a World War II hospital in England, this day has more a more poignant background than you might think. Hold a Facebook contest for a free photo shoot. Have fans draw a bird, post to their Wall, and tag your business page for an entry into the contest. Ask them to share with their friends so they have a chance to win as well. Co-op the promotion with a local pet store or retailer that serves bird owners. Co-op with a local birding or nature group. April 9 - Winston Churchill Day: English bulldog mini-shoots. English bulldogs dressed as Winston Churchill contest. Co-op with pet store or pet food retailer. April 10 - Sibling Day: Sibling photos mini-shoots. Come dressed the same (the exact same) and get your photos for free. Come up with a funny theme or funny poses to show both sibling love and sibling rivalry. April 10 - International Safety Pin Day: Reach out to your crunchy local moms who cloth diaper their kiddos (although they rarely use safety pins these days). Rare and fun opportunity to reach out to your local alt community, your tattoo artists and piercers, and those who love them. April 11 - Barbershop Quartet Day: Photo stories on your local quartets. If none exist today, did they at one time in your community? Who was in them? Are they old men now? Do portraits of them now, and collect photos of them then from the men themselves, to share on your blog, social, and with your local newspaper. April 12 - National Library Week: Co-op with your local library, literacy group, school librarians, book store, and/or teachers. Do mini-shoots at the library of kids reading their favorite stories. Super cute young readers? Do videos of them reading their favorite stories out loud. Do mini-shoots of kids dressed up as their favorite book characters. April 12-18 - Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week: Work with doctors and nurses to tell their stories and recognize their service, and/or work with patients to tell their stories, especially those who have recovered and whose stories can provide encouragement for those undergoing treatment now. April 12 - Licorice Day: Co-op with grocer or retailer. In-store mini-shoots of people enjoying their favorite treat. Do cute Lady and the Tramp-style photos of couples sharing a licorice stick all the way to a kiss - and capture the resultant laughing kisses. April 13 - Scrabble Day: Host a Scrabble tournament for your target market. Top winners take home gift certificates for photo shoots. Do Scrabble and other board game photos of kids playing together in the park. Co-op with your local game and card shop. April 13 - Thomas Jefferson's Birthday: Founding Fathers mini-shoots, periwigs and all. Co-op with local library, teachers, or independence-minded groups. April 14 - Equal Pay Day: Advocating for equal pay for women, red clothing is the official color for this day. Host a red-wardrobe focused mini-shoot. Do portraits of local women in positions of leadership in civic and business positions. Collect their stories of how they overcame challenges to earn their positions, and share these on your blog, social, newspaper, and teachers who mentor or serve young women. April 15 - That Sucks Day: Also the last day to file income taxes, one of the most universally despised dates in America. Co-op with local tax preparers to help their clients "turn That Sucks day into I Filed Early! day." Before and After photos: pre-filing, post-refund. Good to combine irreverent portraits with a tax preparer co-op partner for a marketing campaign. April 18-23 - Consumer Awareness Week: Educating consumers to their rights and protections, this is a chance to show how you go above and beyond the requirements as a business owner, especially in the arena of guarantees. If you have a satisfaction guarantee, talk it up. If clients have complained about bad experiences with other photographers, talk about how you differ and strive to create an exceptional, risk-free experience for your clients. April 16 - National D.A.R.E. Day: Another collaboration opportunity for children's photographers. Work with your local D.A.R.E. law enforcement officer to reward kids who say no to drug abuse. Shoot a series of children with D.A.R.E. posters, stickers or pins for the local organization to use in their newspaper and social media campaign. April 16 - High Five Day: Offer a free street portrait for anyone who hooks you up with a quality High Five (and an e-mail address). Get funny photos of friends high-fiving each other. Hold a contest for people to post and tag you in their most outrageous, funny, or awesome high-five photos. April 17 - World Hemophilia Day: World Federation of Hemophilia offers materials and information to help spread awareness about bleeding disorders. Again, as with most awareness campaigns, use your creative, artistic, and storytelling abilities to educate and empower your community to support the challenged and less fortunate. April 17 - Bat Appreciation Day: Almost anywhere you live, there is a nearby bat cave. Grab some gorgeous photos of these invaluable creatures leaving their homes, and send the shots and a good educational story to your local newspaper. Share on social. Co-op with teachers to do educational coloring pages about bats - both what bats do for us, and how they shouldn't be touched even if they appear sick or dead. April 18 - Pet Owners Independence Day: Pet mini-shoots, with and without owner. Even if you don't normally shoot pets, earn some dollars and/or e-mail addresses with a pet mini-shoot. Co-op with your local pet store, pet food store, and/or animal shelters or animal groups. April 19 - Bicycle Day: Do street photography of bicyclists and their rides. Show them in the context of the community they ride in. Do a marketing campaign to build up attention for the day in your local community of cyclists, and set up at a promoted location to do rider + bike photos. Co-op with local bike shop or riding groups. April 19 - World Circus Day: Three-ring circus mini-shoots - wardrobe from ringmaster to animal costumes. Have locals who work or have worked in the circus? What are their stories, and their special talents? Have a local upstanding, ethical, animal-friendly circus? Tell their story. April 19-25 - Administrative Professionals Week / Day (April 22): Seek out local co-op partner businesses large enough to have administrative professionals (secretaries, receptionists), and offer 'the boss' gift certificates for photo shoots to present to staff for their special day. If you're hustling for bookings, offer the certificates for free, or for an e-mail address; if you're hustling for dollars, offer the certificates BOGO - when the boss buys one for his family or to give as a present, he gets a free certificate in the same value to gift to his staff. April 20 - The Boston Marathon: Co-op with local sporting goods or footwear stores, gyms, fitness trainers. Create an inspirational video (a la Nike) that features local runners of all fitness levels. Arrange a Moving For Beginners event where beginners can learn about how to walk, jog and run safely and injury-free - work with experienced runners to present information, tell stories, and give examples. Do a series of educational videos leading up to the marathon, such as Running 101 In Mills County, featuring the advice of local runners - both on the basics of running, and on the best and most beautiful trails or routes in your area. Do some promotional photos showing off your sportrait skills and build a campaign inviting local athletes and trainers to use you for their promotional photos. April 20 - National Princess Week: All Frozen, All The Time. Princess costume mini-shoots. Princess for a day promotion, co-op with your local spa. Street photography - how many people can you get to wear a tiara and make a funny princess face for your camera? April 20 - Chinese Language Day: Co-op with a local Chinese food restaurant, hold a fortune cookie eating contest and submit the funniest photos to your local newspaper. Work with area Asian-American business owners, tell their stories. April 21 - Kindergarten Day: Connect with local kindergarten teachers. Do photo stories of "a day in the life of a kindergarten teacher." Do 'photo day' for the kiddos, raising funds for the classroom or just collecting e-mail addresses. Do video interviews with kindergarteners, getting "kids say the darndest things" type responses to edit into a highlight reel to share on your blog and social. (Mommas almost automatically share this with their circles) April 22 - Earth Day: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose. How about a mini-shoot shot entirely with a pinhole camera? Or work with your local electronics or camera repair shop to have people bring in their old or broken cameras for repair and redistribution to local kids and photography students. Or, host a Kids Day craft event, teaching kids to make their own pinhole cameras, photographing them working as little photographers with their pinhole cameras, and then holding a contest for the most interesting and artistic photo produced from those pinhole cameras. You could charge as little as $5 per child for materials, or do it as a loss-leader to get face time with kids and parents, and get them on your e-mail list for future family or children's photo shoots. April 22 - Jelly Bean Day: Hold a kid and pet costume contest for Cutest Jelly Bean. Do a Facebook contest to 'guess the jelly beans in the jar'. Do mini-shoot portraits at your local grocer: have a kid sit in a chair, give them a jelly bean, and tell them as soon as they put it in their mouth and take a bite, you want them to make a face that shows what they think of the flavor. Get a mix of faces with different flavors - sweet, sour, weird. Capture those faces, and capture parents' dollars or e-mail addresses. April 23 - Talk Like Shakespeare Day: Set up in the park or a high-traffic area in town. Have signage and tell folks what day it is - ask them to talk like Shakespeare (extra points for quoting The Bard himself). If they'll do it, take their photo, get an e-mail address, and send them your lovely portrait. One notch better: record people talking like Shakespeare, give people your card and direct them to your blog, make a funny highlight reel, post to Social, then publish a blog post talking about your efforts to get people to Talk Like Shakespeare, and direct people to click over to your post on Social to see themselves and their friends invoking The Bard. April 23 - Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day: Do mini-shoots of parents and their kids dressed for the same profession or work. Promote the day and encourage locals to participate, and to swing by your portrait setup at the park or with a co-op partner (such as a local bank) before or after work for a portrait, parent and kid(s). April 23 - National Architecture Week: Feature local architects, and if also local, their designs. Tell their stories. Share their photos and drawings of their work. April 24 - Arbor Day: Co-op with your local gardening store. Do portraits of gardeners in their award-winning (or should be) gardens. Co-op with local orchards for orchard tours and photos, and telling their stories. Co-op with a local sustainable logging and lumber company to show how they do what they do - tell their story. April 24 - Pig In a Blanket Day: Co-op with your local bakery. Give away free pigs in a blanket in exchange for a quick portrait and e-mail address. Have wardrobe on hand and do photos of kids wrapped up in blankets with piggy noses and ears. Every participant gets a free pig in a blanket. April 25 - Hug a Plumber Day: Co-op with your local plumbers. Do funny photos of these plumbers getting big hugs - from kids, from pretty women, from their wives, from the cashier at the grocer, from their banker, from a police officer, etc. One step beyond: do a funny photo series of plumbers getting hugged by their clients while in awkward positions doing their jobs (under the sink, crawling under a house, with water spraying in their face) - over the top hugs and smiles from their clients. "April 25 is Hug a Plumber Day. While we encourage you to hug your plumber - please wait until they're done working." Have fun with it. April 25 - National Frog Day: Co-op with your local zoo. Do froggy mini-shoots and costumes. Do a kiss-a-frog contest, and share those photos of squinched-up faces on social. April 26 - National Pretzel Day: Co-op with whoever sells pretzels in your market. Get funny photos of couples being goofy - ask them to try to tie their bodies into a pretzel. Snap photos. Get e-mail addresses. Share on Social. April 27 - Morse Code Day: Do a mysterious post on your blog and Social with nothing but dots and dashes. Have the message read something like: "Happy Morse Code Day! Call 555-555-5555 to be entered to win a $200 photo shoot gift certificate!" Find out who in your community can write or read Morse Code - do a photo story on when, how, and why they learned. Tell stories. April 29 - International Guide Dog Day: Great day for pet photographers. Feature local guide dog owners, their pets, and even their trainers. April 29 - International Dance Day: Co-op with your local dance teachers. Do 'sportrait' style, mid-action or mid-performance dance photos. Do a funny dance photo contest - set up in a high-traffic area or hit the street and ask people to give you their funniest, best, or worst dance - do photos and/or video, collect e-mail addresses, share on Social. April 30 - National Hairstylist Appreciation Day: Co-op with your local salon, barber, hairstylist, hair and make-up artists. Do street photography of ladies and gentlemen with those most exquisite and interesting hairstyles. Now get out there, get social, connect with your community, tell stories, and earn your reputation as a creative and engaged artist.Next Steps
72 ways to rock your photography marketing campaign online, on social, in print and in person
In the February 2015 edition of Inc. Magazine, Lexus advertises on a double-truck spread their Lexus NX Turbo with the headline:
This is a great theme to borrow for a marketing campaign as a part time professional photographer:
Go Beyond Good Enough
You may look around your market at other photographers and consider them your competition - from the amateurs doing extensive portfolio building at low prices to boutique artists serving the luxury end of the market.
But do you know who is really stealing your clients?
Canon.
Nikon.
HTC.
Samsung.
More than anyone?
Apple.
First through low-cost prosumer digital cameras (the same you may be using yourself), and now through always-on-hand smartphones, it has never been easier to get good enough portraits.
Good enough family portraits.
Stylish enough senior photos.
Cute enough baby photos.
In the digital realm, consumer-photographers can spray and pray - just shoot a thousand photos and hope one comes out good enough to hit Share.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
With enough apps and filters, good enough is more than good enough for most people. They're getting Likes on Facebook and Instagram, so they must be good enough, right?
You know what?
They are good enough.
It's not up to you or me or any artist (note the lowercase A) to criticize the taste of the market.
What the market will bear is what the market will bear, from the price of a cup of coffee to the price of a professional photo shoot.
So how do we convert the 'good enough' crowd into clients?
By going beyond good enough.
Not just with our art - odds are, if you're a PTP reader, your artistic skills are far better than that of your average Jane Doe selfie.
(I recognize that isn't saying a whole lot, but it's something to acknowledge as truth.)
As part time professional photographers, we rarely fail to try hard enough with our art - have you ever stayed up half the night reading Photoshop tutorials or lens reviews or photo lessons? Have you ever laid on the ground or made a goof of yourself to get a smile out of a kid in front of the camera?
We can Create Value. We can produce art well worth our clients' dollars, especially at the startup end of the market.
If we fall short, it's in Communicating Value and Commanding Value.
A good marketing campaign - which I'd define as either a short-term or long-term effort to communicate a specific message to your target market - is all about communicating your value.
It's about why what you do and how you do it is worth more to a potential client than the $0.00 she's spending on professional photography right now.
It's not just about how you're different from your competition, though that Unique Value Proposition is vital to know and share in your marketing messages.
You have to authentically and compassionately communicate how you go beyond good enough.
Lexus, in their advertising, takes a stand: We are not Ford. We are not Kia. When your reach a station in your life where you're ready to grow beyond your to-do list to your wish list, we're ready and waiting for you.
Go Beyond Good Enough
That's a powerful message to get into the minds of potential photo buyers in your community.
Roll Out
[Read and act on this list directly, or follow the 72 featured links for a robust education: I hand-picked every resource and how-to myself.]
A part time photographer's marketing campaign might look like:
- Fresh copy and branding across your digital platforms.
- Collect and share photos and testimonials from your past clients talking about how you Go Beyond Good Enough.
- Video testimonials of the same (one longer highlight reel of clients and photos, shorter individual ones to share weekly on blog and social, and 15-second or less sound bites to share on Instagram, Twitter.
- Create a custom Facebook cover to run throughout the campaign (or a cover theme and graphics that you can change out weekly during the campaign).
- Change up your Instagram and Facebook profile photos to match campaign, such as a headshot of yourself holding a sign that says "Go Beyond Good Enough."
- Make sure the lead photo and copy on your web site match your campaign. You don't have to change your business tagline or elevator pitch, but make sure all your digital platforms reinforce and promote your campaign.
- Insert a few photos with overlaid text and graphics promoting your campaign throughout your portfolio on your web site.
- Plan and pre-write weekly blog posts on the theme of your campaign - educate potential clients about how you go beyond good enough. Tell that story. Incorporate photos, behind the scenes photos, testimonials from clients, and your stories that illustrate and authentically show how you live your campaign.
- Plan a series of posts and contest to engage your Facebook fans. Your contest should involve and reward your target market; if you do newborn photos, have fans tag a pregnant mother they feel is Going Beyond Good Enough for their baby or family; if you do high school senior photos, have fans tag and share a short anecdote about a senior they feel is Going Beyond Good Enough; if you shoot family portraits and it's around Father's Day, have fans tag a local dad they feel is Going Beyond Good Enough.
- Take fans behind the scenes of your business and art on Instagram to show them how you go beyond good enough (especially if your target market is teenagers or their parents, or crafty / artsy types).
- Create and share a Pinterest board full of how-to's showing your target market how they can go beyond good enough: as parents, as high school seniors, as moms, as dads, as business owners, as stage actors, as artists - whatever your unique target market may be.
- Create a photo story series on individuals who go beyond good enough in your community, especially focusing on your target market. Who is really going beyond good enough to do better and be better? Great opportunity to recognize volunteers and professionals. [protip: pitch these features as a weekly series to run in your local newspaper, as short inspirational stories with your radio station and local TV news - on their web sites if not on print or over the air.]
- From your photo story series, create a gallery of portraits recognizing those who go beyond good enough in your community, with a one-liner about how they do so. Work with local high-traffic businesses to hang and show these portraits for a month at a time, and rotate between hosting businesses. Promote these gallery showings across all your platforms. [Think a local high-profile business like your community bank might even sponsor these showings and partner with you for expenses and promotion?]
- You can do the same photo story series for any group in your community. Want to network and build friendships with other local small business owners? Seek out the stories of those going beyond good enough in your town and tell their story in photos and words.
- Create a series of motivational posters and/or memes to share across social media, such as with the free and fantastic Canva.com. These should feature your photos, maybe specifically taken for this campaign: think fitness, parents with kids, military, handicapped, volunteers, emergency services, law enforcement, beloved local public figures. Extra points: get an inspirational quote from the subject to incorporate into the final piece, and tag them when you post.
- Apply the paid advertising multiplier: use a supporting ad campaign in print and with targeted Facebook ads to drive traffic to your best pieces in your marketing campaign. Promote your contest, your photo story series, your gallery showings and hosts, your co-op partnerships. As always, spend efficiently, but effectively - get the eyes of your target market onto your campaign.
- Be sure your e-mail newsletter talks about your campaign, why you're running it and your personal story behind it, and directs your readers to the best and most interesting pieces in your campaign every week. These folks are 'in the circle,' so treat them as a valuable part of the campaign - ask for their input and suggestions (especially for photo story subjects), and engage and involve them creatively and lovingly.
A fun, interesting, engaging marketing campaign looks nothing like the used car salesmen yelling from your TV or radio about last-chance inventory blow-out sales.
Get out there, get creative, and get social with your marketing campaigns.
Next Steps
- Have an anxious fire in your belly to get out and kick arse with a cool marketing campaign? The moment you're in right now is absolutely crucial: are you going to do it or not? Here and now, while your energy and fear and excitement are at their highest - commit. You don't have to know all the answers, or what to say, or who to approach, or how to make it happen. Just commit. You want success, you want bookings, you want impact and progress. Commit to making it happen now.
- Brainstorm session Part 1: Get out your pen and paper. Fired up? Start brainstorming about marketing campaign ideas, right now. Make lists. Free write. Draw mind maps. Scribble all over. Draw illustrations. Go over the top, no idea is stupid or too much right now. Just brainstorm and fan that flame until you absolutely exhaust your ideas, inspirations and thoughts about potential marketing campaigns and campaign actions you can take. Trim and shape and explore and expound until you have something that looks and feels like a plan. Guess what? You have a marketing campaign on your hands.
- Brainstorm session Part 2: For this one, don't file this away in your brainstorms folder: this one is going to do some work. Write out your action plan - all the baby step actions you're going to take to make this thing work. Schedule the time you'll need to work on your campaign, don't just leave this awesome campaign to die of inaction. Identify the preparations you need to do, and for Pete's sake, get them done hard and fast so you can invest your best time and energy into the meat of your campaign: creating, sharing, and promoting. Get up an extra 10 minutes early every day of this campaign, and spend that 10 extra minutes reading over your notes and action plan, making new notes and changes and scheduling and rescheduling the work however you need to to get it done and get this campaign active in the world.
- Want to be more marketing savvy than 99 percent of your competition? Set aside a Saturday or Sunday, go to the top of the Roll Out list above, and click through every single link - you will enjoy a tight, curated education in small business marketing, online and off.
- And if you want to get a robust education in small business marketing, some of my favorite books are John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, and Duct Tape Selling; Michael Port's Book Yourself Solid and Beyond Booked Solid; and Gary Vaynerchuk's Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- What's the biggest struggle holding you back right now? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough today.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use these ideas to better your part time photography business!
Confidence comes with acceptance
The seemingly never-ending insecurity we photographers experience is born from our stubborn, fearful refusal to accept where we are in our journey up the mountain of success.
We don't accept that to get where we want to be as artists and as business owners, we have to start here, where we are today - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that our art, prices, marketing, web site, business cards, client rapport, social skills, Photoshop skills, selling skills are not as good as they're going to be in the future, but are more than good enough to give our very best effort starting today - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that our photographer heroes are human beings who climbed the same mountain that lies ahead of us. Every path may be different, some may have been blessed by exceptional talent or opportunity, but every successful artist has had to climb the same mountain - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that right now, sitting in front of this computer or this tablet or phone, we have everything we need to be part time professional photographers. Our present talent, experience, skill set, camera gear, is more than good enough to bless clients with our art and be blessed by their investment in us - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that our clientele will grow with us - that we are at the startup end of the industry and for now will gratefully serve the startup end of our market. Our clientele will grow with us as we grow as artists, marketers, and business owners - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that our fears are unfounded, and what we fear and stress and worry and suffer anxiety over rarely if ever comes to pass. If we spent as much time taking action to move the needle in our art and business as we spend wondering, wishing, rationalizing, making excuses and justifying our fear-driven procrastination (tomorrow's going to be the day!), we wouldn't even recognize ourselves three months, a year, five years down the road - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that taking action is a choice, that luck is made, that we're in complete control, that we are solely responsible for our future, that change isn't a bus that's going to come pick us up while we wait for life, and that life isn't waiting for us - there is no stagnation, no standing still. You're either getting ahead or getting behind, and while yesterday was the best time to get started, today is second best, and today is in your control - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that what we're going to accomplish tomorrow and ever is a result of what we choose today. Do you have a shoot booked for this weekend? Get on the phone or social today and get booked. Do you want to study and take action on that latest book / blog post / video / e-mail / course / e-book you discovered? Get on your calendar, schedule the time, add half as much again as you think you'll need (for Pete's sake give yourself margin so you can succeed), and commit to it with the resolve of a hugely important date with your SO or meeting with your boss. Do you want to practice shooting tomorrow? Get a friend (read: guinea pig) booked, get your camera gear cleaned and charged and bagged, get gas in your tank, get some sleep tonight, plan an energizing healthy meal and light workout for the morning, figure out what encouraging podcast or audiobook chapter you want to listen to, and schedule the time you need and add half as much again. You have to get yourself set up for success tomorrow by prepping for that success today - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
We don't accept that the hurdles, roadblocks, walls and fears we encounter are not negatives, they are positives - they are opportunities, the chance to persist and strive onward where others would lose heart for their dreams and quit - and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to be.
Get real with me. Aren't you tired of feeling mousy and scared and disappointed?
Take a deep breath and really imagine with me: What would it feel like to let go of all this negativity in your chest and just accept the truth that you're doing your best and your best is more than good enough?
What would it feel like to feel good, proud, at ease, peaceful, encouraged and driven about your art and business?
This Resistance, this insecurity we suffer, is stress - stress that discourages, disables, and distances us from success.
The drive we feel in our most inspired moments is eustress - a positive pressure, a motivating discontent that pushes us to climb out of our ruts, shrug off our chains, overcome our weakest selves, and strive to do and be better, to become our best selves and create success with our own two hands.
Hold your hands palm up and look at them.
You are looking at limitless potential. Limitless possibility. Limitless power.
You absolutely, positively hold power and dominion over your choices, your actions, your success.
And in equal measure you hold undeniable power over your indecision, your inaction, your failure - which by my life philosophy is to quit without quitting, to let the dream die, not by proactive and willful choice, but by slow, insidious, quiet, distracted, disappointed, depressing, allowed idleness of heart, spirit, and thought.
True failure is when you numbly let go without choosing to, wanting to, or admitting to.
You bring yourself one step closer to peace and confidence with every freeing truth you accept about the journey ahead - about your climb up the mountain of success, about where you are today and where you can be in the future if you accept yourself and your art and your business and these truths.
Accept success, not failure.
Flip the polarity on your thinking and use the newfound energy and capacity you've been wasting on worry to fuel your journey up the mountain.
Next Steps
- Every time you feel disappointed in yourself or discouraged by your progress, lift your hands, look at them palm-up, and really study them. Let this action be a totem, a touchstone that gives you the opportunity to pause, recognize that you are empowered, and that the Next Step is always your choice.
- Get out your sticky notes. Tear off five, and on each, write: Acceptance. Peace. Power. Stick these where you will run into them every day, over and over again, including at the start of your day. Every time one catches your eye, pause a breath, absorb and accept your freeing truths, and carry on empowered.
- Brainstorm session: List five actions (or inactions) that you feel you're sabotaging your own progress with - could be the inaction of not shooting more, could be the action / inaction of hours of study with zero hours of practice, could be the worry you allow yourself to indulge in, and so on. Now choose from that list The One Thing that would make the biggest difference in your progress as a part time professional photographer if you could just focus on and overcome it. As of this moment, it is your mission in life to flip the switch on that problem and overcome it. It may take a week, it may take a month of daily purposeful, proactive attention and choice. It may be something you will have to remind yourself of every day for the rest of your life. But as of right now, you are claiming dominion over this problem, instead of the problem claiming dominion over you. It's power, it's influence, is null and void. You are in absolute control. Get out five sticky notes and write down just one or two words that will remind you of this focused effort, and stick these where you will see them every day, over and over again, including at the start of your day. The rest, file away in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- What's the biggest struggle holding you back right now? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough today.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use these ideas to better your part time photography business!
How to run a gift certificate sale on Facebook
"Want to save on your next John Doe Photography photo shoot?
I have a few open bookings on my April calendar, and I'd like to get those filled - even at a deep discount.
So I have two half-price gift certificates available: normally valued at $200, today you can pick up a gift certificate good for a 30-minute session and 10 hi-res, fully processed files on CD for only $99.
If you've been thinking about a professional photo shoot for your family, or you need the perfect, thoughtful, custom gift for a family member or friend, this is the opportunity you've been waiting for.
These 50%-off certificates go fast, so send me a PM with your e-mail address quickly and I'll e-mail you a simple PayPal invoice to make your purchase.
Thank you for welcoming my art and business onto your Facebook timeline!"
If you've ever needed to generate a little extra cash flow, or book up some quiet dates on your shooting schedule, a gift certificate offer on social media can get you back to booked solid with paying clients, even if those folks are paying less than your typical rate.
You should stay booked solid year-round, even if a portion (large or small) of those shoots are discounted or portfolio-builders (slash testimonial magnets, slash social media share-makers, slash referral-generators).
I'll do two gift certificate sales a year, once for Black Friday when the market already has a fever to spend money, and once whenever I want to (admittedly, when there's some tech 'thing' I want to spend a few hundred dollars on).
Timing is important:
- I'll try to post a sale like this when my clients are home with their spouses (after work and commute but before dinner) so both decision makers are present;
- I'll post around the first or second of the month (most everyone is paid on the last day of the month or first of the month);
- I'll post when the weather has been nice (makes the thought of a location shoot more attractive), and;
- I'll post when there's a 'good excuse' to buy (usually within a week of a big holiday for a last-chance, fast-turnaround solution).
It's more common sense than insight, more art than science, but it makes a difference on your returns.
The verbiage and numbers used above are just an example - plug in your name and prices and certificate details accordingly.
I like to go all-digital and offer a shortened session time for gift certificate shoots so my overhead is minimal on a discounted shoot. If I'm getting amazing shots or I'm really connecting with the client or I feel like getting more practice and experimentation in, I'll extend the shoot out as much as I want - after all, the more great images I make in greater variety, the more reasons my clients have to spend a little extra and get a full CD of images or upgrade to some nice wall art.
Next Steps
- Brainstorm three low-cost, high-value gift certificate packages that you could offer to potential clients, each at a different price point: low, medium, and high ($49, $99, and $199 for example). How long would each session be? How many images would be included? How many locations can you shoot in that time? Use Microsoft Word or Canva or some other simple tool to create some attractive certificates with those packages.
- Considering those decision maker (time), paycheck (date), and 'good excuse' holidays (time of year), schedule three gift certificate sales for the next 12 months; for each sale, offer only one price point of certificate - either low, medium, or large - not all at every sale. Consider when, why, and for whom each price point is most attractive and schedule your sales when and how you can best reach those target clients.
- If nobody is asking you for a donation to their silent auction or fundraiser, you're not reaching out enough and showing what you have in place to help your local non-profits. Do a little legwork, watch your local newspaper, and see where there may be opportunities to donate your gift certificates to do good for those non-profits - and really work the opportunity. Have a great display, limit the number of certificates you donate each year (more based on how solidly you're booked than anything else), get every ounce of networking out of each donation as you can, and be creative in finding mutually-beneficial arrangements: who does the portraiture for the church leaders? Who does the board's annual portraits? Can you be the official photographer for the fundraiser event? Can you set up a 'photo booth' and collect e-mail addresses to later send the photos to the subjects?
- Brainstorm session: Get out your paper and pen. Are you booked solid? If you're trying to get 52 bookings a year, how many short of that goal are you? How many free booking dates could you potentially upgrade to paid shoots with a gift certificate sale? Are there more you can spin off as gift certificate donations? What local non-profits would you love to help? What local non-profits involve your target market? Where are the opportunities to get booked solid doing more than just free portfolio-building shoots? File this away in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- What's the biggest struggle holding you back right now? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough today.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use these ideas to better your part time photography business!
Mailbag: First steps to learning marketing
Would you like to read more Reader Q&A posts? Leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail to let me know!
Hi!
I ran across your blog and it’s inspired me to dust off an old dream of mine of being a pro photographer. I’m a newb when it comes to marketing however. Most of my advertising efforts and marketing would be through social media. Do you have any pointers or tips, or references to books or articles that would help me figure out where to get started?
Thanks in advance,
W.K.
Marketing 101
W.K.,
Thank you so much for your e-mail and your readership! Excited to hear you're going to make a go at the dream of being a pro photographer. It's never too late - my 'most experienced' reader is 88 years old and still learning and hustling!
The best books I know on advertising and marketing for part time photographers are:
And specific to social media:
Combine books like these with this process, and you will learn more faster than you could have imagined.
Not just learn it, but put that learning into action and see real-world results.
Don't limit yourself to just social media, especially unpaid social. Facebook has all but killed the value of having a business page for the purpose of generating leads without paid promotion.
Any good marketing campaign is going to earn you multiples of what you spend on it, from newspaper to Facebook ads to business cards, but I'm all about bootstrapping: make your business pay for itself. If your art or your message isn't strong enough for you to earn someone's business with a handshake and asking for it, then the more time and money you put into marketing is just echoing an ineffective pitch.
Most artists are introverts, and it's super challenging for us to show people our art and ask for their business - hard enough online, even harder in person, but the latter is where you really get early traction; you have to F8 and Be There, to be where your clients are. Building up a great web site, photo blog and social media channels is useless if you're shouting at an empty room.
Nobody wants to hear, but I have to tell the truth: cold calling and in-person networking (not the smarmy kind, but the F8 and Be There kind, like volunteering and co-op marketing campaigns, always focused on connecting your art with your people out there waiting to be blessed by it) are by far the best way to get paying clients early on.
So many PTPs get discouraged after putting in hours and hours of work marketing online without earning a single paying client because they're missing the basics of in-person, old-fashioned handshake marketing.
I hope this helps W.K.! Thank you again for your readership!
-jmt
Next Steps
- Brainstorm Session: Get out your pen and paper. Are you shouting at an empty room online because it's easier and less risky than getting offline and meeting your target market face to face? Who is your target market? Where do they hang out? Do you know someone who knows someone you'd like to work with? Whose business could you ask for, either directly or with the introduction by a friend? Who do you do business with as a consumer? What vendors, salesmen, stores, shops, schools, service providers do you patronize? You're doing business with them - start your cold calling practice by asking them to do business with you. Schedule actions on your calendar based on this list, then file it away in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- What's the biggest struggle holding you back right now? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough today.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use these ideas to better your part time photography business!
It's time to Do The Work
It's time.
Not for another kick-off-the-new-year ra ra cheerleader post.
Not for another "this will be the year that you make your dreams come true" pep talk.
Not for another January where you get excited, make some awesome to-do lists, then get to March or August or next New Year's and realize with numb regret how little you've done.
(You know you're not living right when you're so used to disappointing yourself that your don't even feel regret anymore.)
It's time to reframe the entire discussion, in your head and with those whom you've told your dreams, into one of excitement and conviction.
Damnit y'all, you and I and everyone in this position where we have a camera in our hands and a dream in our hearts are blessed.
We have the opportunity to exercise our art to create a side income for ourselves and our families.
We have the opportunity to earn benefits artistic, financial and social through our work.
We are lucky. We are envied by those less fortunate across the globe.
Living your dream of being a part time professional photographer is just a choice away. We have no one whose permission we have to ask - the opportunity is there if we want to take it.
But we aren't acting blessed, are we?
We're not acting lucky, or graced with opportunity, or empowered to make the choices that will shape our future.
Instead, we choose through inaction to be scared.
We choose through inaction to be unworthy.
We choose through inaction to be weak.
We choose to read another book and another blog post, to hack through another Photoshop tutorial, to pour over a dozen more camera body or lens reviews or sample shots.
We choose to do none of the things, take none of the actions, which we perceive as introducing the chance of discomfort or failure. We choose to fear discomfort (which is not unhappiness) more than we fear disappointing ourselves.
It's time.
It's time to choose. Proactively and consciously.
This year is another chance to stand up, move our feet and our hands, and be the better human being we aspire to be: as artists, as business owners, as makers and creators.
Fact: You have never been more prepared, more ready, more wise or more capable of achieving your dreams of professional photography than you are right now. Right this moment, as you read these words, you are the most mature, capable and empowered you have ever been in this life.
It's time.
It's time to take baby steps, no matter how small, and get your business off the ground.
You know what to do. You know where to start. And if you don't, make it up - continue to learn as you go: Ready, Fire!, Aim.
I'm not here to kick your arse - even though a good arse-kicking is what most of us need when we get stuck in a rut of doing a lot but getting nothing done. Trust me, I need it as often as anyone.
If you've got a plan and you're working that plan and it's just not time to launch yet - I respect that fully; you guys know how much I preach that you're the boss of your business and every decision is yours to make.
But if you're reading these words and feeling convicted:
It's time.
It's time to recapture those mixed feelings of guilt and fear and excitement as powerful energy so you can Do The Work and make 2015 a year you don't regret.
Next Steps
- Whether you've got a knot in your gut or your sword raised high after reading this, capture those feelings on paper as a set of commitments: In 2015 I Will... In 2015 I Will Not... When was a time you made a brave decision and felt powerful last year? When was a time you didn't choose bravely, and how did it make you feel? What Will you or Won't you do in 2015 so this time next year you can look back with pride and self-respect for all the brave decisions you made? Review this list every single morning of 2015. If you don't have a morning routine yet, start by getting up five minutes early tomorrow and reading this list. (And bless yourself with a copy of Hal Elrod's The Morning Miracle - it is a huge part of why 2014 was my best year yet.)
- Brainstorm Session: What milestones or majors steps stand between now and launching your professional photography business? What baby steps are those major steps broken down into? If you don't know, make it up - what would you write if you did know? What baby steps do you feel unprepared for? What one, single thing can you do that would make you feel prepared for that step (read a book, ask a mentor, discuss with a friend)? For every one of those things, put it on your schedule for the very first opportunity - right now, this evening, tomorrow, this week. It's time.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- What's the biggest struggle holding you back right now? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough today.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use these ideas to better your part time photography business!
14 ways you're NOT ruining the photography industry
If you're tired of being spoken down to, degraded, discouraged and treated like a cancer on the photography industry - this one's for you.
PTP exists because of posts like this:
"Dear cheap-but-good photographer: you are ruining my life and this industry", by the talented and tenacious photographer Jamie Pflughoeft of Cowbelly Pet Photography up in Seattle.
Jamie is a wonderfully talented artist, a leader in the pet photography niche. She is worth every penny she asks and her art is a true blessing to her clients, a value we should all strive to give. Let me be clear: I absolutely respect Jamie and the work she does, for her clients and fellow photographers.
But in her post, and in much of the established photography industry, there is a frustration that is violently misdirected toward startup and low-end photographers like you and me.
That discouraging voice greatly slowed my growth as a professional photographer throughout my career, and is why for five years now I've been writing PTP, to give startup photographers a voice of encouragement and realistic guidance as they embark on the amazing journey of becoming a working artist.
Folks, Jamie is frustrated.
As most grognards are - nobody without a fear of scarcity reacts so strongly to aggressive competition, either manifest presently or the perceived potential.
With lower barriers to entry in the portraiture industry (the digital revolution), there has been a flood of newcomers offering, as Jamie frames it, "cheap-but-good" options in every market.
Jamie, with intense frustration, contends that those cheap-but-good photographers are ruining her life and the photography industry.
Whoops...let me slip my hand up. Duly convicted.
At least by the numbers she shares in her post, which would put me easily in her classification of "what is not a profitable business for anyone, regardless of what your monthly expenses, costs-of-goods-sold or initial investment are."
Well...
Horsesh*t.
I've been a part time photographer for 15 years, and I've only had three years that weren't bottom-line profitable: my first two, and a third in 2009 when I made a go at a retail studio space.
Every year I wasn't profitable was because I made huge investments in equipment. If you spread that expense out over the years I've used it, or if you count the value of those assets, I have never had an unprofitable year.
And not just a small margin of profit. Jamie quotes a PPA benchmark of a 40.7% high-end margin. On an average year, my margins are closer to 75% conservatively - including Cost of Goods Sold, insurance, equipment repair, self-employment taxes, and additional tax preparation. All this in mind, I put in my pocket close to $60 per hour I invest in every aspect of my business from marketing to booking, shooting, sales, and follow-up.
This factually, completely invalidates the scarcity arguments the grognards make when they say if you don't charge $X, you're working for peanuts or at a loss.
You don't know my expenses. You don't know my margins. You don't know my market. You don't know my clientele.
So don't tell me, or anyone else, what we should or shouldn't charge.
Let's bust some myths
Myth: You don't make profit off of session fees, you make profit from selling products.
Fact: I've made a profit every which way, with and without session fees, with and without product sales. I've made a profit with all-digital flat-rate packages, I've made a profit with session fees and upselling in the sales session. So long as you are honestly and compassionately serving your client, there is absolutely no wrong way to do this business.
Myth: Every 'professional photographer' should have read the Professional Photographers of America benchmark study to know what a real photography business looks like.
Fact: But for investment years when I put 100% of my business income into equipment (most of which later I learned I never really needed), my expenses have never looked anything like what the PPA says is the average. From the beginning, what the PPA defines as the 'ideal' business model (high-end, boutique, luxury portraiture) has had no relevance to my boots-on-the-ground experience.
Myth: You have to work 60-80 hours a week to earn a $30,000 take-home income working full time. 'Cheap-but-good' photographers are most likely making $0.00 after expenses.
Fact: Even at 60 hours a week, these numbers come to $9.62 an hour pay. My take-home is $60 an hour charging what Jamie contends are unprofitable prices. I know PTP readers who are making more than I do per hour, and I know readers who are making much less - but that $10 an hour, or $20 an hour is a huge blessing for their families. Never let anyone tell you you're doing anything wrong by earning a humble wage that betters your life. [Not to cloud the issue with facts, but The Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs the median hourly income of a professional photographer between $13.70 per hour and $14.08 per hour. This may be skewed toward photographers as employees and not as entrepreneurs, but recognize, there's nothing magical about photography that makes you entitled to multiples of real, honest wages.]
Myth: If you teach the market your work is only worth $X, you have ruined that market for every other photographer charging more.
Fact: I have a lot of local competition, and most of my fellow photographers are very good - several are far better artists than I am. Some charge more, some charge less. None have ever affected my bookings. Some of my lower-end clients found a better fit with a less expensive option, some of my higher-end clients had a better fit with more expensive offerings, but I have never struggled to book clients I love who are happy to pay what I'm worth. Your people, the clients who perfectly fit with your personality and art and prices, are out there - great, targeted marketing makes that win-win connection over and over again.
Myth: A client won't pay $1,000 for what they can get for $175, all things being equal (art, quality, service, experience).
Fact: Well, okay, I'll give you that one. As a consumer, I'd be an idiot to pay five times as much for the exact same product. But art is subjective, and so is the experience we create for our clients - we differentiate our value in our markets through our unique art, message, and personality. Your people are out there, and if they can afford you, they will hire you for what you uniquely mean to them - but if you aren't out hustling, shaking hands, telling your story, finding your people and getting your art and message in front of them, that's not my fault or anyone else's fault - that's on you.
Myth: Cheap-but-good photographers are destroying the industry, which may already be ruined.
Fact: The cheap-but-good photographers in my area (cheaper than me, to be clear) haven't hurt my business. Nor has Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG, who all make fantastic camera phones. Nor has Canon or Nikon, who make powerful consumer and prosumer cameras. Again, the blame is misplaced here: viable, competitive, 'good enough for me!' alternatives to a talented, expensive, worthwhile professional photographer will have no affect on that photographer so long as he or she knows their market and how to communicate their value in the ever-growing landscape of options every potential client has.
Myth: If you aren't running a profitable business, you're destroying an industry many photographers who came before worked hard to build.
Fact: The vast majority of my new clients have never had professional portraits made - those who have were typically photographed as children at a chain studio. My very customer-friendly pricing and policies aren't hurting anyone - but they are enabling an entire segment of the market to afford professional photography. Nobody used to paying a super-talented boutique photographer is knocking on my door, and that's okay - I'm not that guy. In my area, I know that guy, and I refer out to him often - like Jamie, he charges multiples what I ask, and he's worth every penny.
Myth: If you can't do X, Y, and Z, then you have no business being in business.
Fact: Welcome to the Free World (America, specifically, in my case). Welcome to capitalism. I can run my business any way I see fit, with or without a profit, with or without insurance, with or without a dSLR, with or without a web site or Facebook page or business cards or even an ounce of experience or professionalism. My art can suck and I can still get paid. My personality can be abrasive and I can still get paid. Within the law, I can do anything I damn well please - the onus is not on me as a rights-bearing business owner to conform to your vision of the ideal; the onus is on you to run your business so well that there's nothing I could ever do to affect it.
Myth: To make $30,000 charging $175 session fee which includes images on CD, you have to work 12-14 hours a day.
Fact: With my margins and at that price, I'd have to work right at 16 hours per week to earn $30,000 in-pocket - that includes everything from marketing to delivery and follow-up. Fair enough: this is after 15 years of streamlining my workflow. But the numbers Jamie is using are based on models with extremely high expenses and time-intensive workflow, which may be reality for her business - but they are by no means realistic or necessary for the rest of us.
Myth: I need my income, therefore you should charge more than I do.
Fact: What I do as a photographer should have absolutely no effect on your business, unless your business model is unsustainable in the face of aggressive competition... Which is not my fault, nor is it my responsibility. A competitive market doesn't negate a successful boutique offering: Apple, the most valuable brand in the world, proves this. Here's the truth: if Apple didn't curate a customer experience, a brand loyalty, a culture that uplifts it to this status, it would be just another manufacturer. If Apple didn't establish and maintain its market position, that's Apple's fault: not IBM, not Microsoft, not Nokia or Samsung or Motorola or Dell or Gateway or any other player in the industries it touches.
Myth: Photography is the only industry where inexperienced people try to sell professional services.
Fact: Every year there are fewer and fewer barriers to entry into almost every industry, which is naturally going to cause an influx of lower-end offerings. Notice I say lower-end, not cheap: there is plentiful room in the market for startup photographers, who have less developed skill and less experience and charge less because of this. Just like a model may trade for images early in her career then fetch hundreds of dollars an hour years down the road; just like a good mechanic with a great reputation can charge more than the guy fresh out of vocational school; just like every other industry with a low-end, a middle, and a high-end segment of clientele.
Myth: If you charge $100 and hand over a DVD of images, you're a glorified non-profit.
Fact: What if I charge $100 and hand over a DVD of images on a 15-minute headshot shoot? What if I'm a school photographer and shoot 90 kids an hour at only $25 per kid? What if I'm already doing that with high school graduation ceremonies with an average sale of $65 per graduate? What if I run a lean business and streamline my workflow? What if my chosen lifestyle means I need less income than you? What if I live in a one-bedroom studio apartment and you live in a 3/2 home? What if there is absolutely no way you can make a factual statement about the profitability of my business without knowing my numbers?
Myth: If you're a cheapo photographer, you'll get cheapo clients who will be a paint in the butt and make you miserable.
Fact: Hey, you can talk trash about me all you want, but don't dog my clients. I can't tell you how many of my now good friends started as photography clients, and they came from all walks of life and income levels. There are good photographers and good clients at all levels of wealth and affordability.
Myth: If all these 'facts' have you freaked out, you need to go back to being a hobbyist.
Fact: This is the exact kind of sick discouragement I have fought against for years.
Grognards are frustrated. They're pissed. They're scared because that they don't know how to maintain their market position in the face of aggressive, low-priced competition.
Welcome to reality: there are no guarantees.
Ask IBM, ask Lehman Brothers, ask Pan Am, ask Kodak, ask Atari, Ask Blockbuster, ask Woolworth's, ask Circuit City, ask RadioShack, ask Borders - ask any business of any size that ever got it's butt handed to it by innovative competition or changes in the market or industry.
Then go ask Apple, ask Southwest Airlines, ask Nintendo, ask Netflix, ask Amazon - ask any business of any size that ever toppled its bigger, more established competition through innovation or recognizing and adapting to changes in the market or industry.
Never forget: you're 100% in charge of your business - you're the boss.
Nobody can tell you what to charge: that's price fixing.
Nobody can tell you how to run your business: that's restraint of trade.
In 1711, Lord Smith LC said:
"It is the privilege of a trader in a free country, in all matters not contrary to law, to regulate his own mode of carrying it on according to his own discretion and choice. If the law has regulated or restrained his mode of doing this, the law must be obeyed. But no power short of the general law ought to restrain his free discretion."
Don't let any grognard put the onus of responsibility for the whole photography industry on your back - it's unrealistic, unwarranted, and unreasonable.
You have every right to conduct your business as you see fit.
Don't buy into the scarcity-minded horsesh*t the grognards promote - they are speaking from a position of fear, not of innovative creativity.
And while I definitely promote knowing your numbers and earning a humble-but-worthwhile wage that leaves you walking away from each sales session with a cheshire grin, I am at the same time a huge advocate that those numbers - and that humble wage of your choosing - are yours to define.
Again, I absolutely respect Jamie's work as an artist and teacher in the photography industry, but I have to vehemently disagree with her position - it's the same "blame the new guys!" mentality that I have seen over and over again in my 15 years as a professional photographer.
We photographers aren't special, despite our stamping of feet and crying woe - business is business, and while no doubt it's frustrating as hell when we get underbid or undercut or can't hit our numbers or can't feed our families from our art alone, it's not the fault of the tens of thousands of photographers entering the market over the last 15 years.
If we can't create and communicate our value, it doesn't matter what we think we're worth - the market will decide for us.
That is nobody's fault but our own - not as an industry, but as individual, empowered business owners with agency over our destinies.
A lot less blame and a little more #hustle goes a long, long way.
Author Christopher McDougall, quoting Roger Bannister:
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
Next Steps
- Take a deep breath; take 10 minutes to meditate and clear your mind. This is heavy stuff, and it's easy to bear a lot of weight when someone points the finger of blame at you for their fear and frustration. Center yourself, and let it go - recognize that someone else's crisis is not your own.
- Brainstorm session: get out your pen and paper. Play with some numbers: how much have you spent on your business so far? How much have you earned? Are you profitable? (If you haven't done your first paid shoot yet, project how many shoots at $100 per, then $200 per, you have to do to get profitable.) If not, why? Are you producing a Minimum Viable Product, the least complex and expensive art and experience that your initial clients will pay for? Are you spending excessively on equipment you don't need yet? This is a very, very easy trap to fall into with so much outside pressure to buy this, buy that, go boutique or go home. Focus on what you truly need, then iterate and invest as the money is earned by your business. File this in your Brainstorms folder.
- My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
- What's the biggest struggle holding you back right now? E-mail me your answer (yes, right now!), and let's make a breakthrough today.
- If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I'd love to hear how you use these ideas to better your part time photography business!