Growing your professional photography business can sometimes feel overwhelming. How do you take it to the next level? How do you build a photography business marketing plan? Why is it important to track your sales and expenses? These are all common questions that many photographers have asked us or often struggle with. This topic area is one of our favorites to discuss because it is usually the most foreign to professional photographers. How many photography business owners went to business school or worked with a marketing team? We are here to help!
BUSINESS AND MARKETING
- Where to Begin or Getting Started – We are often asked, “How do you start a photography business?” or “What do I need to do to start my photography company?” If you are just starting out or have been shooting professionally for years and want to take your business to the next level we are here to help you “charge” over any obstacles you are facing. This is a great place to be and we can help you get to where you want to go.
- Business Formation – There are so many ways to begin forming your professional photography business and each state has their own set of rules and business laws. We are here to guide you in the process of forming your entity whether it be Limited Liability Company (LLC), Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), Sole Proprietorship (SP), S Corporation (S Corp), or another form. We can help steer you in the right direction.
- Insurance – With insurance there are so many options, types of coverage, plans, and policies for professional photographers. Sometimes finding the right one can seem impossible. Then, once you think you found the right plan do you know if you have the correct level of coverage? Are you and your family protected against liabilities your business may face? Are your personal assets mixed together with your business property? Insurance is vital to successfully build your business with peace of mind. We can offer guidance to help you pick the right coverage.
- Accounting and Reporting – This is an area that so many professional photographers struggle with. In fact, many businesses do. This can truly be the deciding factor between being profitable and going under. What are the benefits of having accurate accounts and reporting on a regular basis? This is how you can make successful decisions in your business based on facts (not guesses or feelings). Do you want to know how much to spend on marketing? Do you want to know how much money you actually make from your photography packages? We can help you get started with some great tools that will help you be able to answer these questions accurately and grow your professional photography business in the right direction.
- Your Business and Your Core Competency – What makes your photography business run? Is it your photography skills, your network, you? We can help you understand what separates you from other photographers. Finding out what makes your business unique, what are you best at, what is your true niche, are huge factors to making your photography business successful. We can help find or re-focus your core competency at all levels of your business.
- Budgeting, Forecasting, Cash Flow, and Tax – These dreaded words are extremely important in all businesses especially seasonal ones such as wedding photography. How can you plan and have sufficient cash flow for all the months of the year? Here we can give you some important points on ways to be profitable all year round, along with specific things that should be noted and documented that will help you when it comes time to filing your taxes each year.
- Marketing Plans for Photographers – With thousands of options to choose from and to spend money on, where do you start with your marketing strategy? Choosing where to put your money can be extremely difficult from SEO campaigns, paid for click advertising, professional memberships, individual local business chambers – we want to help you pick a plan that is right for you, before you exhaust all your resources.
- Branding – Business cards, logos, all that matters! It needs to be professional- 1st impressions are huge. How does the business card feel as it falls into your potential clients hands?
- Price Points and Packaging – Let’s face it, how many times have you changed, discounted, or re-thought your pricing and packaging options? It is a difficult process and it can be draining to determine what your value is or should be (or what you want it to be). We can help you build a custom price package for all your offerings. With many approaches and strategies from up selling, service vs. product options, to a la cart pricing, price points are important factors and must be well thought out to be successful in any business or industry.
- The Website – This is a huge area and with so many options to choose from, it can be overwhelming to pick or build the right option. There are thousands of photography website template companies, many custom web designers, and free avenues to have a web presence. Let us help steer you in the direction that is best for your photography market and goals.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Facebook, and Social Networking – With so many photography businesses only having an online presence (vs. the physical studio location) being “social” or appearing number one on Google or Bing can provide huge opportunities for growth in your photography business. (NOTE: We don’t have a magic answer to make you appear number one on an organic search and we recommend steering clear from companies claiming to “have a spot for you” on the top of a search results – these are likely scams). The importance or lack of, for Social Networking is an area that many business experts are still searching for data to validate the amount of time you should place on it; however, we have personally experienced a lot of success from using social networks and we want to help you have the same success. Also, we have found many “best practices” for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for wedding and other photography businesses.
- Professional Memberships – So many choices and ways to go about it. How do you know what to participate in and what not to? We can help you decide what is right for you and your photography business.
- Contracts and the Model Release – It is important to have legal contracts for all agreements in your professional photography business. These are helpful for a number of reasons. We can suggest and help you with your photography-based contracts including language that must be in there for sections such as the Model Release.
- Referrals – Getting referrals can mean the difference in making it or failing. We can suggest ways that we have found success to increase your referrals with all types of professional photography businesses.
- Customer Appreciation and Service – Business is business and no matter what your area is all businesses are run by sales. Photography sales are your bookings or shoots with your clients. We have found no more important part to have a successful business then to have appreciation and great service for your clients. We can walk you through a wedding day, a portrait shoot, or give you some great starting points on customer service in the photography world.
- Organization and Time Management – Are you running your photography business or is it running you? We have great tools and resources to help you organize your business and to operate it in a time effective way. Great businesses are built by hard work, but they need to be run in an organized way. Your time as the owner needs to be focused on what is important to grow or maintain your business. We would love to help you with that!
If you are interested in talking more or have any questions please contact the studio. Thanks again for taking the time to view our Brooke Peterson Photography Business Mentoring Program.