3 Ways Photography Businesses Fail - And How to Avoid Them
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Starting your own photography business is rife with possibilities. When thinking about your future, it’s hard not to be full of excitement at the prospect of doing what you love and being your own boss at the same time.
But as you plan and prepare to open your business, it’s important not just to think long-term, but to also address common issues that cause businesses to fail.
According to Forbes, about 80 percent of small businesses make it through the first year. That might sound encouraging, but it’s a precipitous drop after that - about 50 percent of small business live to see five years and only 33 percent make it to ten years.
If you want to be one of the 33 percent that makes your business last, watch out for the following ways photography businesses fail.
Ways Photography Businesses Fail: No Protection for Your Gear
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As a professional photographer, you have a ton of money invested in cameras, lenses, tripods, flashguns, and other necessities to get the job done.
Should a critical piece of equipment - your primary camera, for example - get damaged and is inoperable, your ability to work is obviously very limited.
What would limit you further is not having insurance to protect your gear in the event that something goes awry.
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Though it isn’t fun to think about all the calamities that could occur to render your gear useless, it’s something to think about because things can and will happen.
A fire in your studio, an accidental drop of your lens on the sidewalk, or a stolen camera body can put the brakes on your work for days, if not weeks.
However, if you have a photography equipment insurance policy, you can quickly overcome these issues and get back to work.
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For example, Athos Insurance Services has you covered for damage that occurs in a wide range of situations, including:
- Natural disasters like earthquakes
- Fire and smoke damage
- Flooding and water damage
- Lightning and wind damage
- Acts of terrorism
- Explosions
Their policy also covers more common situations - an accidental drop, lost or stolen gear, and gear that’s damaged in shipment. Policies start as low as $175.00 a year.
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These coverages extend worldwide as well, so have peace of mind at home and abroad. Athos Insurance also offers replacement cost coverage, so your gear will be replaced with brand-new or like-kind items.
When your livelihood is your gear, it’s unacceptable to go without insurance for it. Head over to Athos Insurance to learn more and to get a fast, free online quote.
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Ways Photography Businesses Fail: Lack of Financial Focus
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Consider this - roughly one-third of businesses make a profit, about another one-third break even, and the remaining one-third lose money.
There are plenty of reasons why so many businesses only break even or lose money, and one of them is lacking financial focus.
It’s imperative that you know where your money comes from and where it goes if you have any hope of being in the one-third of businesses that turn a profit.
If you aren’t much of a numbers person, hire one. The health of your business is too important not to!
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Likewise, some photographers mistakenly believe that investing in a ton of expensive photography gear is worth it. It’s not.
When you’re just starting out, the last thing you need to do is go out and spend $5,000 on a new camera body when the one you have is perfectly fine.
There are other more important things to spend your money on - paying an accountant, creating a rainy day fund, and investing in targeted marketing to draw in clients, to name but a few.
Keeping a close eye on your finances and making smart investments for the future is a great way to ensure your business is open for the long-term.
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Ways Photography Businesses Fail: You Don’t Stand Out
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Make no mistake - there is tremendous demand for professional photography services.
The problem is that there are also a lot of professional photographers offering those in-demand services, so competition for clients is robust.
Additionally, though many photographers are extremely talented, they might find that their business is just breaking even or even failing because they don’t stand out in the sea of other photographers.
In other words, why should a client hire you instead of one of the other dozen photographers in the area that offer the same products and services for roughly the same price?
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The solution to this problem is simple: determine how you can set yourself apart from everyone else and make that the centerpiece of your marketing.
Branding is certainly part of this equation. You need a business name, a logo, a tagline, and consistent colors and fonts in your marketing materials that help people identify you and your business.
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Likewise, you need to develop services or photography packages that are high-value and unique. For example, you might waive the sitting fee for engagement photos if the clients book you for their wedding too.
The point here is that to stand out, you need to have a customized approach to marketing that captures the attention of clients, and to back that up, you need to have products and services that are attractive and valuable.
Likewise, having unique marketing materials will help you grab the attention of potential clients more readily than the same old social media posts and advertisements.
One genius product that can help you stand out from the crowd is Tripod Flags.
Emblazoned with your company name, your logo, your contact information or a combination thereof, Tripod Flags is an ideal marketing tool that uses a highly visible area to let people know who you are.
The heavy-duty canvas is strong and durable, so you get years and years of performance out of them. They also look great!
You literally don't have to do a thing to promote yourself with Tripod Flags, other than set up your tripod and add your flag. Marketing your business doesn't get much easier than that.
Learn More:
- How to Be a Successful Photographer: 3 Tips You Need to Know
- Critical Photography Business Tips for 2019
Bonus Tip: Prevent Business Failure With a Reliable Website
As a photographer, you have to have a solid online presence.
Sure, social media is important, but you also need a website where you have a portfolio of images that you can show potential clients and convince them that you're the photographer for the job.
Of course, if your website is constantly down because you have unreliable hosting, it'll be difficult to show people the kind of work you do...
Back in the day when PhotographyTalk was just starting, I had all sorts of issues with our hosting company. In short, the website was down all the time.
That's just not a recipe for success, which is why I tried many different hosting companies, some good, some bad, and some just plain ugly.
Then I found OVH...
OVH has been our hosting company for going on four years, and it's been a match made in heaven.
To say that they provide reliable service is an understatement - they promise 99.9 percent uptime, and they have absolutely delivered on that promise thus far. I'm sure you'll find the same to be true!
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Failing in business is an all-too-common occurrence, and if you want to keep failure at bay, you've got to develop relationships with other companies that can help you achieve your goals.
In the case of OVH, they're a global company with tens of thousands of customers, but when you interact with their customer service team, you feel like you're their most important client.
That kind of service shouldn't go unnoticed, especially in today's world of robo calls and automated "help" lines.
Truly, if you want your business to flourish, don't neglect the little things like having reliable hosting so that your website is up and viewable to the world!
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Marketing for Photographers: 9 Hacks
I don't think it's a secret that photographers are a dime a dozen.
When you have to compete against so many other people that offer similar products and services as you do, it's important to find ways to capture the attention of the buying public and entice them to hire you over your competitors.
That, however, can be a bit of a daunting task.
For starters, most photographers are just that - photographers. By and large, aren't marketing experts.
Add to that the fact that photography takes up so much of the workday, and you have a recipe for making all kinds of photography marketing mistakes.
If you're ready to step up your marketing game, give these nine marketing hacks for photographers a try.
Marketing For Photographers: Tripod Flag
One of the difficulties of undertaking marketing on your own is simply finding the time to do so.
But there are plenty of hacks out there that allow you to market yourself without taking time out of your day. One such hack is the Tripod Flag.
As you can see above, a Tripod Flag makes use of one of the most visible parts of your gear and turns it into a billboard for your business.
No matter if you're shooting a corporate event, working a wedding, out photographing wildlife, or something in between, with a Tripod Flag, you'll be able to let anyone that sees you know who you are and what you do.
Tripod Flags are made from heavy-duty canvas, so they not only look great, but they're durable as well.
Beyond that, Tripod Flags fit beautifully, so you're able to put your best marketing foot forward with a well-made, bespoke little billboard of your very own.
You can add your business name, logo, contact information, and so forth, and let Tripod Flags work for you as you get the job done.
There really isn't an easier marketing photography hack for photographers if you ask me!
Marketing For Photographers: Start a Hashtag
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Like a Tripod Flag is a little billboard, so too is a hashtag. The only difference is that a hashtag is a virtual billboard that can help people find you on the internet.
From Instagram to Twitter, Facebook to Pinterest, and all sorts of points in between, hashtags are the key to searching for specific types of content.
By using a hashtag, you can identify who you are or what you do, and also more easily keep track of all your social posts. Better still, you can use your hashtag in your marketing and direct people to explore your work by using your unique hashtag.
Don't be afraid to get creative, either. So, if your name is Wendy Smith and you're a wedding photographer, don't immediately opt for #WendySmithPhotography.
Instead, what about #WeddingsWithWendy? Or #WendyDoesWeddings?
So, get creative, claim your hashtag, and start using it as a means to market your products and services.
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Marketing For Photographers: Use the Client Experience as a Marketing Tool
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When you stay at a nice hotel, one of the most memorable things about the experience is how you felt staying there.
The beautiful room, the delicious room service, the turndown service before bed, and how you felt about those things stand out more in your memory than the building in which you stayed.
The same can be said for your photography...
It isn't just about the quality of the photos you create. Instead, it's about the experience the client has working with you.
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As such, focus on making that experience unlike any other.
If you specialize in weddings, give the bride and groom a simple gift to say congrats. If you photograph newborns, have extra diapers and baby wipes on hand in case mom and dad run out.
In other words, go above and beyond the call of duty with each client. Give them a five-star experience to go along with their photos, and you'll have a winning marketing formula!
Marketing For Photographers: Have a Contest
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Everyone loves the opportunity to get something for free, and you can use that to your advantage to market your photography business.
A contest can take virtually any form...
Use your hashtag to promote a specific type of photo on social media (i.e., spring portraits), choose your favorite, and award the winner by waiving your sitting fees.
To get more emails for your email list, ask people to sign up by offering a free print for one new subscriber to be determined by drawing email addresses out of a hat.
Heck, you could even ask your followers on Instagram to post a terrible picture of themselves and tag you in it. The worst one wins and gets a free portrait session.
There are endless opportunities here - just let your creativity run wild!
Marketing For Photographers: Know Your Customers
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One of the best hacks you can use to improve your marketing is to focus your marketing on your ideal buyer.
This goes for your website, your social media channels, ads in the newspaper - the whole lot should seek to grab the attention of your client base.
You can't be everything to everyone, so it's important to identify the group(s) with whom you wish to work and consider what you want them to think and feel when they see your photographs.
If you can put yourself in your ideal client's shoes, your marketing strategy will be a much more successful one!
Learn More:
- Ingenious Ways to Market Your Wedding Photography Business
- The Do's and Don'ts of How to Find Photography Clients
Marketing For Photographers: Don't Just Focus on Online Marketing
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There is no denying the power of Facebook, Twitter, and other online communities for marketing purposes. But they aren't the only world in which you need to market yourself.
You also need to have some "real world" marketing...
Make arrangements to have your photos shown in local businesses so people can actually see your work. Man a booth at the county fair and meet locals and explain the stories behind your photos. Volunteer for a local charity.
The point is that interacting with people and giving them an actual print to gaze upon and an opportunity to see you and talk to you is a highly effective tool for marketing your business.
Marketing for Photographers: Work With Other Vendors
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Not every kind of photography puts you in a position to work with related vendors, but if you're a wedding photographer, in particular, you can beef up your marketing strategy by working with other wedding-related businesses.
Maybe you work out a referral system with the local bakery. Perhaps you run a joint promotion whereby your customers get a discount at the flower shop and vice versa. You can even do promotional sessions to help drive business to the local bridal boutique.
Regardless of which path you choose here, the end-result is twofold: you get more visibility for your business and you develop strong bonds with other local entrepreneurs.
Learn More:
- Easy Steps to Take to Make Your Photography Business More Successful
- 3 Ways Photography Businesses Fail - and How to Avoid Them
Marketing For PhotographerS: Work on Your CTAs
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A CTA, or call to action, is a crucial component of any marketing for photographers.
No matter if you're writing a blog post or posting a photo to Instagram, your content needs to have some kind of call to action to get people to click over to your website.
The more traffic you can get on your website, the more eyeballs there will be on your work. That makes it more likely for you to turn curious visitors into paying customers!
Marketing For Photographers: Focus on Testimonials
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One of the best ways to market your business is to use the words of your clients.
After all, it's one thing for you to sing your own praises, but it's another thing for your clients to gush about how awesome you are.
The fact of the matter is that most consumers look at reviews before they start a working relationship with a business, so you want to be sure to have a robust collection of testimonials from happy clients for potential clients to peruse.
Your reputation is basically as important as your skill - no one wants to work with an incredibly talented photographer that's a total jerk.
Use these nine marketing hacks for photographers to develop a more thorough marketing plan for your business and watch as your client base begins to grow!