The March edition of Shutter Magazine is all about seniors, one of my favorite subjects. It’s about the ability to create with a client who, for the most part, actually wants to be there, wants to be photographed and is willing to try new locations.
Branding: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product or business from other products or businesses in the same market.
With this month’s theme being “Seniors,” it’s the perfect opportunity to talk about diversity in building your business. Seniors can be an incredibly strong revenue component, and they can push your creativity.
There was nothing flashy about my senior portraits—well, perhaps the borrowed tuxedo top I wore over plaid shorts against a blue backdrop. (The image, of course, was cropped above the shorts.) Yet my mom remembered and coveted those portraits throughout my life.
The biggest obstacle we face as senior photographers is keeping ourselves in front of our target audience, the seniors. There are so many photographers out there vying for the same business that we can get lost in the masses.
Everywhere I go I hear the same thing: “Senior photography is not a thing here.” It’s not? So, you live in a part of the world where teenagers are not rebelling? Don’t want to be cool? Aren’t going through an identity crisis of some kind? Wow. You must live in a very unique place.
This article deals with the unspoken rules that most beginning photographers follow only by accident. These rules, when broken, will easily get you blacklisted by your peers and colleagues.
Newton’s first law states that an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. If things could just automatically stay in motion, all businesses would be set. Unfortunately, we are always faced with an unbalanced force. To remain successful, you must possess the ability to continually change and adapt to the marketplace.
The art of in-person sales is a terrifying beast for many photographers. I never wanted to be in the sales room because selling is very low in my skillset. Like many photographers, I didn’t have a choice. Even though I was thrust into this role, many photographers don’t have a choice because their businesses just aren’t profitable without in-person sales. If I can do it, so can you.
When it comes to sales, there are a million ways to skin a cat. In photography, there are a million and one products you can use to sell that cat. My studio is product-based. We sell digital files, but they are the last option for our clients.
