A conundrum:
One of the fastest ways to gain traction as an early-stage professional photographer is to tighten your niche: who specifically do you serve, and in what unique way?
But…how do you know what niche you want to serve if you haven’t worked with enough clients?
Coaches of coaches Greg Faxon and Toku McCree were talking authentic sales and marketing last week, and Greg brought up the concept of the niche spiral:
Instead of looking at choosing your niche as a final and inflexible sentence, look at the process of defining your niche as a spiral. You start on the outside with a rough idea of what kind of niche you want to serve, and as you do shoots and gather data, as you work with different kinds of clients, you begin to circle in on the kinds of clients you most love and want to serve.
Start with your obvious preferences: if you hate kids, don’t be a family photographer. If you love kids, start with them. If you love moody, emotional, moving black and white relationship portraiture, make that. If you hate that moody stuff and love wild colors and pillow fights and big laughter, well…make that.
If you have no clue, try this:
1. What kind of photos are you drawn to? If multiple kinds or styles, how could you synthesize and remix those styles together for your own vibe?
2. Think back to a time when you experienced and overcame a hardship. How can you connect that experience, those emotions, to the kinds of clients you might like to serve? This offers built-in empathy and understanding with your clientele.
3. What are your hobbies and interests outside of photography? What’s your best friend’s personality like? Where does he or she shop or hang out? Build an avatar of your ideal client from the people you most like to spend time with.
From here, make something up and test it. Form a thesis: “I like portraits of kids having fun being kids, with lots of color. I remember being the nerdy but creative theater kid, and what that was like in school. I love music and video games. My best friend and I love to crack wit, solve problems, and talk about health and fitness. We shop or hang out at Starbucks, Vitamin Shoppe, Planet Fitness, Barnes and Noble, and Texas Roadhouse.”
That paints a pretty vivid picture of a niche to test, right?
Do what works for you to get some clarity:
– Mind map these words and ideas, see how it all connects for you;
– Print out a bunch of images that represent these truths for you, lay them out on the table or floor, and start moving things around to see the relationships;
– Talk this out with a good friend and see what they see that you can’t see clearly.
Once you have a grasp on the niche you want to serve, just keep that front and center: make sure your art communicates your love for that niche; also your portfolio, your web site, your blog and e-mail newsletter, your business cards, the places you advertise and leave your flyers and volunteer.
Test for 3-6 months. See what hits, what misses. Iterate.
And when and if you want, change it all up. Remember, this is your business: you can change anything and everything you want, anytime. Test. Learn. Adjust. Pivot. Grow. Change.
Your niche is a direction, a focus, a love letter. It’s neither a cage nor a death sentence. It’s a way of telling yourself, and your market, “FOR NOW, this is who I serve, why I serve them, and how I am the uniquely right photographer for them.”
What’s the biggest challenge holding you back today? E-mail me and and let me know.
James Michael Taylor
www.parttimephoto.com
The site I’ve been looking for! Incredibly helpful and informative. Trying to make that decision to go with part time or not. I’m my own worse critic! Your insights and knowledge that you made available is extremely helpful. Looking at portrait photography, however have done a number of event photography shoots (local bands, costume events, etc). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
https://www.jaymorrisonphotography.com/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/79564207@N05/
Jay, thanks so much for your kind words! The “own worst critic” situation is one of the most common amongst us artists-turned-professionals. Your web sites look great, with lots of great photography on display! I’ll e-mail you my thoughts shortly. 🙂
This is a great article. Very helpful. I will give some of the ideas a try and see what surfaces. I work as an assistant for a pro photog here in CT. Sometimes I get paid a lot and other times I just learn lots. I am learning more about the type of photo gigs I do not want to do mainly because they are physically demanding, a little dangerous and the clients can be rude, not pay, steal your work and get a cheaper photog to replicate the job. So far, I have learned what I do not want. I’m a little discouraged, but I hope to eventually find my niche. Hopefully something other than landscapes and seascapes.
To Jay Morrison, your site looks great. You do really, really nice work. Congrats!
Thanks so much Greg! Always happy to see you’re still in the game! The only way to win is to keep playing. All the experiences, good and bad, make you a smarter artist and professional. Don’t let the feelings of discouragement deter you; where others turn away lies the opportunity to strive forward and achieve success. Nobody who’s already enjoying success today turned back during the harder times. Peaceful persistence, brother! 🙂