I talk with a lot of young photographers that tell me how hard they work to try to make a profit with their wedding photography. I can certainly understand their frustration. When you consider the money invested in photo gear, along with the time invested in each shoot, advertising, printing and other expenses, keeping your business in the black can be a serious challenge. Many newcomers to the business end up pricing themselves out of the market or simply give up on the idea of weddings as a profitable idea.
Well, buck up, campers! Times have changed, technology has advanced, and it's easier than ever before to increase profits from your wedding sessions while decreasing the amount of work. Thanks to some bright minds and the power of the internet, there's only one tool you need to add to your business, to dramatically change the entire process.
Think about this: You advertise your services, sell your clients a wedding package and shoot a thousand or so photos at the pre-wedding portrait location, wedding and reception and perhaps the dress-trashing session. You proof them for the clients, then print and deliver the agreed-upon one or two hundred. You've got 900 or more additional, great shots that are going to waste, except perhaps for use in your portfolio, flyers, etc. It doesn't take a genius to see that's not a great ratio for success.
There's a way to market these extra photos as well as deliver the original package to wedding guests without printing, while at the same time promoting your business without any extra effort on your part. In fact, we think this versatile tool is the best thing to happen to the wedding photography business in a long time. Here's how to use it:
Open a KeepSnap account. It's free. Upload some of your best images to a public gallery to serve as an online portfolio. Print out your KeepSnap cards to give to potential clients, so they can access your profile and gallery easily, even on-the-spot, by scanning the code on the card with a smartphone.
When you've completed a shoot and delivered the package to your clients, upload those images and the other great shots to a PIN-protected gallery. Set the pricing for the original images to free (you've already sold those to the clients) and price the others accordingly. Give your clients a handful of your KeepSnap cards with the PIN written in the box provided and tell them to give them to their wedding guests for access to the wedding photos.
You've just created a second income stream with those extra photos, and you can bet that many of the wedding guests will find some they want to buy, especially those that include them. You may be pleasantly surprised at how may of the guests will want a memento of a special moment at the reception or how many of the shots your clients didn't choose will be preferred by relatives or guests. Best of all, you don't have to print them or deliver them; visitors just order and download the ones they want.
Meanwhile, you can add your name to the KeepSnap directory of photographers, so that potential clients in your area can find you. There's a small fee for this part of the service, but you'll make it up several times over with just one new client. You can also continue to print your cards, to hand to anyone you meet and let them have a look at your work. You can even sell any images you choose to in your public galleries.
We think that this is something every photographer should have and for wedding photographers, it can change the way you do business forever. Check it out today!