How to Grow Your Photography Business

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Getting your photography business to grow is an important part of both established pros and anyone just recently starting out in a professional photography business.

Some of the answers for how to grow your photography business will be similar to any small business, while some things are pretty specific to the photography business world.

Let’s go through some quick tips on how to get your business off the ground.

Advertise Your Photography Business

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One of the cornerstone ideas for how to grow your photography business is that people need to know that it exists in the first place. There are many ways one could advertise: word of mouth referrals, social media, printed ads, and some form of cold calling.

Social media and printed ads will cost more than the other methods, but you will have the potential to reach a lot of people with them. Organically growing a social media account has been proven to have the most effect in the real world as far as actionable results, but it takes time and continuous effort to have this happen.

For printed advertising, you should research what types of media will be most likely to benefit your photography business. Niche marketing might work best, such as buying ad space in a magazine targeting pet owners if you’re a pet photographer, or a high school yearbook if you do senior portraits, and so on.

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Offering incentives to a current client for them to refer others works marvelously. Not only is there a possible new client, but the existing client will want to use the incentives you give. Physical prints and specialty enlargements make great products for which to offer these kinds of incentives such as a discount on one for bringing in a new customer.

Nothing beats the impact for a potential client as them seeing you in person. Again, research is the key. No need to stand around at a builder supply giving out business cards for boudoir sessions, but a beauty salon might have interested people. You get the idea, which leads to our next thought for how to grow your photography business.

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Networking with Other Businesses

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Networking with other businesses is a tried and true for any small business owner and is a great key for how to make your photography business grow. Instead of hanging around a shop, hoping you don’t irritate the shop owner or manager, go in and talk to them about trading out business incentives.

Taking that beauty salon idea, if you are a wedding photographer, talk to them about referring their clients to you for specific packages and vice versa. Make the trade out of networking worth everyone’s while, including the potential new client.

Look for Reseller Pricing Accounts

Another successful and proven method for how to grow your photography business is to offer better pricing for your packages than your competitors. Offering physical prints is an avenue of increasing your revenue that you should already be doing, it works for almost any genre of photography business.

One of my places for providing physical prints, including specialty enlargements such as metal prints (shown above) and canvas wraps, is Artbeat Studios.

They have a loyalty pricing structure that gives you, the photography business, deeper discounts the more prints you buy. Be sure to add in a reasonable profit margin for yourself when reselling!

You have seen some of my previous articles talk about ArtBeat Studios. They are one of my top places for providing very high-quality physical prints, having won our Metal Print Shootout in 2020 and 2021.

Artbeat Studios not only has impeccable products, but they also have excellent customer service. You aren’t just an order number - you’re a valued customer. That’s worth something when you’re putting your trust in a company to treat your images the right way!

Use E-Commerce Integrations

If you have a website for your photography business (and who doesn’t?) you can make it easy for your customers to purchase physical prints by including an e-commerce solution. Again, take a look at the wonderful program offered by Artbeat Studios.

I can tell you from personal experience that it is well worth your effort if you are serious about how to grow your photography business. It works for brand new photography businesses as well as established professionals.