How to Make More Money as a Photographer This Year.
Let me say this before adding anything else: Reading this will not guarantee you success. Taking action is only what will guarantee you success. And this is no magic formula, it’s hard work. If I’m going to be honest, I don’t think you need to be reading things like these, because you already know how to do them, you only refuse to do them because you do not want to. It’s as simple as that. You know well that to earn more as a photographer, you ought to operate as a business. I don’t know much, but I know enough to share my insights.
Let’s kick it off. How do you make more money as a photographer this year?
1 — Learn to communicate the value your business will bring to your clients.
If you do not know how to communicate how your photography will help your clients, then you’re not going to gain any clients.
Yes, people reach out to you because of what they have seen on social media or your website or referrals but make an intentional effort to communicate how your photography will help your clients.
Secret: Clients hire you to help them save time, make them look and feel good, or make them more money.
Where does your photography fit? Can your photography help your clients save time, make them look and feel good or make them earn more money?
2 — Be a person of your word.
Whatever you say, you do. Clients have a lot of things to worry about. If you make them worry about you, they are going to look for a different photographer.
If you say, “You will get your images in the next hour,” make sure you deliver!
3 — Move from being a commodity to a category of one.
If you are a commodity, you compete on price. If you’re a category of one, you don’t compete on price. This means you have a strong brand, you’re an expert in your niche and you have a unique value proposition.
Maybe you did not get it right since I did not go much into what I mean by being a commodity. Being a commodity means that you can be purchased from many places and you are not differentiated; meaning that what you sell as a photographer is available to everyone and when this happens it will be difficult to charge more for your services. Why?
Because everyone is doing what you do. It’s available to all, and if your service is different from the others, and the differences are not known to the market or valued, you’ll still be a commodity.
I should write another article on this. But in the end, this is what you should take away; if customers believe it doesn’t matter whether they buy from you or someone else, you are a commodity.
4 — Stop seeing yourself as a freelancer but as an agency.
This way you can easily double your rates. Clients are not going to see you as a one-person guy who is selling. To just be a freelancer is to do the business alone; well mostly.
You’ll be seen as a product and you’ll have to be competing on price daily.
When people come to hire you, they are hiring a person, but when you brand yourself as an agency, they come with the mindset that they are hiring an agency or an organisation, not one person.
What do I mean? I mean you should reframe your identity. Instead of being a solo freelancer, see yourself leading a team of experts. Develop an agency persona — have a mission statement, core values, and a brand identity that reflects your agency’s expertise and unique value proposition.
Most freelancers do not do this because they do not see themselves as businesses, but just, you know, a sword for hire. To be more than that and to earn more than what you do now, do what businesses do; be a business.
5 — Ask for referrals.
If you love particular clients, you should want to work with more like that. People walk with people who are like them. They say, “Birds of the same feathers flock together.” If you continue chasing bad clients, then bad clients you will have.
Ask them to introduce you. Ask the pre-existing clients you have already worked with to introduce you and your work to their peers, and if they love it, they will come hiring.
People are generally nice. You assumed if you walked up to a stranger to talk to them they would ignore you, but 8 times out of 10 they will listen.
90% of customers, if asked, would refer a friend.
Finding value in this article? Then there is more if you’re not much of a reader.
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