In this post, I am gonna share my experience on how to run a successful photography business.

Let’s start!

You need two types of experience to run a successful photography business. The first is photography experience, the second is business experience

The first thing is to master the basics of exposure and your camera gear. That means getting out there and taking photos with your camera.

On-the-Job Training

The traditional way to gain experience is to work for another photographer in the niche that you want to be in.

Build Portfolio

Your portfolio is a sample of your best work. You will use it to show prospective clients what you can do for them. It is important to have one and to make sure it represents you and your work accurately,

Workshops and Seminars

Workshops and seminars are a great way to boost your knowledge quickly in both technical skills and business acumen. Workshops are a great way to gain experience and learn new photography techniques. Some workshops allow the attendees to take their own photos of the instructor’s setup. These are usually well-lit and nicely composed, with good-looking professional models.

For example, as a successful wedding photographer, you will probably work almost every weekend during the summer. Most wedding photographers also work at least several evenings each week attending networking events and meeting with potential clients.

Now, let’s come to the business part.

Automate Tasks (Get Out From Busyness To Business)

In order to get out from busyness to business, it's important to automate your daily tasks and activities. Use tools like Hubspot for your client relationship management. To manage workflows, use tools like Trello and Hubstaff. To schedule meetings and events, use tools like google calendar and calendly.

Choosing Your Niche and Market

To run a successful business, you need to have paying clients. Obvious, I know. It does seem like many people who start up a business overlook this, though and are genuinely surprised when they have no business or not enough business, to make a living. It is not enough to be a good photographer; you need to know who your clients are and what market you are selling to.

Networking with Photographers

Networking with other photographers is a great way to gain exposure to different niches and business models, and see how successful photographers work with their target market.

Here are a few places to start:

Professional Photographers of America (PPA)

SmugMug User Groups

Pictage User Groups (PUGS)

Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) International

Canadian Association of Professional Image Makers (CAPIC)

Selling Add-On Products

What are add-on sales or upselling? Anything not included in the basic package. This could be a framed wall print, extra album pages, a parent album, a DVD slideshow, an engagement album, a baby’s first-year album, and so forth. This is where many successful wedding and portrait photographers make most of their money.

In-Person Sales Winning Formula

In-person sales enable you to show clients how their images will look printed and finished. Once you have set up the in-person sales session (also called the ordering session), order a set of print proofs to sort through and create product ideas with the client. The easiest way to do this is to ask the client to sort the proofs into yes, no, and maybe piles.

When it comes to a successful in-person sales meeting, keep the following tips in mind: Make it an experience. Use a projector if possible, offer refreshments, and make it a fun experience.

Make it an experience: Use a projector if possible, offer refreshments, and make it a fun experience.

Have samples: Have samples (or photos) of all the products you offer so you can discuss all the options available.

Ask about usage: Find out if the client wants albums for family members or if they are looking to fill a certain spot on the wall. This helps narrow down the choices and saves everyone time.

To run a successful business, you need to understand how marketing is different from sales and how to implement it successfully. First, let’s start with what marketing should actually do, and then move on to creating a marketing plan.

Let’s start with marketing part now:

Referrals and Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Happy clients can help you grow your business by referring to friends and relatives. What better way to thank them and encourage referrals than by offering an incentive?

You want to offer clients something of value (something such as a service or product that has high perceived value) but that doesn’t cost you much.

To build a solid referral stream of business, let your clients know through repeated messages how much you appreciate their referrals. When you say things like, “my business is based on referrals from happy clients,” and, “the greatest compliment you can give me is a referral,” you are letting your clients know what you would like them to do that for you. As with any marketing, it takes time to build up a good base of referrals.

Blogging:

A blog is a great way to communicate what you are all about and what you can offer your audience. Your blog is a blank canvas on which you can express creative ideas, most recent work, share bits about your personality, educate clients, and share products you can create for them. A blog is the marketing time well spent.

It’s a major project, but you can start quickly and simply with a WordPress (Blog Tool, Publishing Platform, and CMS — WordPress) blog.

Email Campaigns and Newsletters

Email newsletters work well when they offer a good mix of promotions, education, and human interest. You can share information about upcoming seasons, give clients pointers on preparing for their sessions, announce events, and feature a different type of portrait session each issue, highlighting one client’s experience.

Free Online Listings

Not only do online listings help customers find you online, they also give your blog or website more authority according to Google, meaning they have a positive impact on your SEO rankings.

This is the one to do right this minute because it gives your website a nice burst of SEO immediately.

All you have to do is check that your business information is listed in online directories like Google Places, Bing, Yelp, and so forth. You can complete this process easily in about 15 minutes or less (more if you add photos), and it is well worth the time.

Find Out The Key Decision Maker in Group:

If you book a group of friends for the portrait shoot then I would suggest you find out the key decision-maker of the group. It means the captain of the group or the person who leads the group. Make a good relationship with the key decision-maker, offer him/her more photos than the actual price. Connect with him/her in your WhatsApp or WhatsApp group. Do regularly share about upcoming seasons, give clients, pointers on preparing for their sessions, announce events, and feature a different type of portrait session each issue, highlighting one client’s experience.

Tagging

If my client posts his/her photography on Facebook, Instagram and other social media network then I always request them to tag my page on social media or write a text (Credits…). 80% of my clients accept my tagging request and tag my photography page which ultimately transfers their friend’s traffic to my page. With the help of a simple booking/scheduling system on Facebook and messenger chat-bot, I am easily able to convert those visitors into my clients. It’s natural and the most trust-able way to promote your business through your clients.

Super Categorized SEO:

Break down the services you offer, and market those to specific clients. For example, if you want to offer family portraits as a holiday gift idea then you need to make sure that the marketing hits when people are starting to think about the coming holidays, like September and October. For example, You can focus on terms like “Miami children’s photographer,” “London sports photographer,” or any other similar terms that you think prospective clients might use to find you.

Micro Videos:

The best way to market yourself is through micro-videos. The videos having a length of 2–5 mins max. You probably know that today’s user attention span is less than 8 seconds. So, you need to prepare your content accordingly and engage with people on social media through micro-videos. For example, you only shoot for baby and having expertise in baby photography. Record a video while shooting for your client and show the after results in the video. Post that video in social media, post in Facebook groups as well related to baby and parenting. For more, try running ads on Facebook and target recently married couples and parents. Like the micro-video method, just start experimenting new things in the market, show your work, portfolio, results through video way. In that way, you would be able to beat the competition and grow your photography business.

Upselling Through Vendors:

Do you remember the scene when you bought your camera from the store? Did the salesman try to sell your memory card, lens hood, lens, flashes, extra batteries? Did you notice? In simple words, it’s called upselling sales method. Now, the question is how you can use the upselling method to scale up your business.

Let’s take the example of a wedding photography business. You probably know that a wedding requires a lot of vendors. For example, decorators, hotels, salon, anchors, makeup artists and many more.

What you gotta do is create a relationship with the vendors and deal for upselling and referral. Give 20% commission to the vendor who referred your business and lead got converted. It’s kinda creating an ecosystem.

Or you can also deal on the basis of cross-selling. If the vendor and you get regular work and orders together. It will create a relationship which has immense value in the future. So, make your vision broad and start thinking for long term benefits.

Valuable Sources:

What is the best way to market and advertise my new photography business?

How to promote yourself as a photographer?

What are some good ideas for promoting a photography business?

Now, let's end up this post.

Follow your passion, believe in yourself, learn entrepreneurship skills and see growth in yourself.

Be an action taker, comment and engage in discussions for better learning.

Love & Respect

Gaurav Chatwani