Getting More Customers

[morabid]

I have been shooting weddings for about 5 years now all based on word of mouth. I have kept my prices pretty low compared to the average wedding photographer which I thought would put me in good. I post flyers, attend festivals/fairs and try to advertise as best as I can. I am not getting new clients...or at least not enough to buy new equipment or attend the $800 a booth wedding expo. Do I raise my prices or does anyone have any tips for attracting clients?

[zelseman]

If you have shot weddings for 5 years and you are still undershooting local pros, then you need to change something.

[Shootfilm]

I get 90% of my work from other photographers either shooting MF for them or standing in when they are to busy. You might try building relationships with others.

SF

[jonwhite]

Sounds like you have learnt the hard way that your prices are not able to sustain your business.

Theres new photographers popping up all over the place with low prices and its pretty clear from the prices that they are charging that there plucked from thin air rather than based on the costs of running and sustaining their business. They seem to look around at what everyone else is charging and pick a figure well below that without understanding why the established photographer is charging what they are charging, at some point down the line reality hits like it has for you.

Rather than looking at what everyone else is charging and choosing a figure less than that work out what your true costs are and what you need to invest in and base your prices on that.

[tim]

$800 is a budget photographer, people may look at your prices and think "we want someone decent, not a cheap photographer". If you charge twice as much, and get half the bookings, you make the same profit for half the work.

[Dennis_Hammer]

I don't think he said he charged $800, just that he hasn't gone to a bridal show which would cost him $800 for the booth.

[tim]

Ah ok I misread. The obvious solution is to raise prices, but that could get less customers. It's tricky.

[Karl Johnston]

Sounds like your business model isn't working; try creating a new brand? I understand the costs but if you're on a sinking ship then what do you have to lose? Use the knowledge that you have to build up a luxury brand, because essentially that's what photography is - a luxury staple. Too many walmart shooters..learn to shoot better and then price yourself higher.

[PMCphotography]

It's a tricky situation. I don't buy into the mindset that just raising your prices will get you more business.

"Hey, groom to be, remember that photographer we looked at awhile ago? I didn't like his work when he charged 1,200 for a wedding, but now that he charges 2,000, I want to hire him!"

It seems to me that you're straddling a fence. You need to decide whether you want to be a budget shooter or a high-end shooter. I don't mean "budget shooter" in a pejorative sense, either.There's a huge sense of Hubris regarding "budget shooter: and most photogs look down their nose at them.
The reality? There's plenty of room for budget shooters and high end shooters.

I tried competing in the high end market when I first opened. I had several terrible experiences with control freak bridezillas. So now, I don't do high end weddings. I target middle-end (for lack of a better word) Weddings, and I've never been happier with my client base or my work.

If you decide High end, remake your albums and redesign your website to target the high end market. If you decide to not do high end, target your website and albums and things to them. You can't be all things to all people.

[form]

I've been on that fence for a while and keep reverting back to budget shooter prices just to get the job. I don't have a reputation of being "great quality you pay for" but rather "great quality at a great price," which makes it difficult to get away from that. I still want to charge more, but when I respond to inquiries with a price higher than the rest of the budget photographers people lose interest quickly.

[sapearl]

Double your price, add a modest album, and remove the statement from your site: "Shoot-And-Burn services available for budget-conscious brides." You are currently targetting the bottom.

Make those modifications for a set period of time and see what happens. Right now you're killing yourself for not much more than minimum wage. Once you start selling more expensive packages they will refer to their friends, coworkers and clients. The business will start self-generating in that higher price tier.

Keep pricing for the bottom and you will stay there. People will treat you the way you price.

I've been on that fence for a while and keep reverting back to budget shooter prices just to get the job. I don't have a reputation of being "great quality you pay for" but rather "great quality at a great price," which makes it difficult to get away from that. I still want to charge more, but when I respond to inquiries with a price higher than the rest of the budget photographers people lose interest quickly.

[form]

Fine, I removed the shoot-burn option, not that anyone ever asked about it anyway. As for the rest, I can't offer albums because I have neither the time nor knowledge to create them. I talked to Sergio Mottola, one of the FM forum regulars, about albums when I second shot with him locally. He's lucky because he learned about album creation by getting a lot of practice making albums for someone else. I don't know what is important or how to put together an album; that's another skill in itself.

[tim]

Albums really are a skill, they take ages when you first start doing them, but you get faster and better with experience. You might be better off to outsource design and construction, but make it worth your while.

[PMCphotography]

Keep pricing for the bottom and you will stay there. People will treat you the way you price.

I don't necessarily agree with that statement.

Back when my starting package was $3,900 I was talked down to by multiple bridezillas, her family, given impossibly long shot lists, and yelled at because of numerous things the caterer, DJ, helicopter pilot, or videographer did wrong. One bride hired 4 photographers and a videographer, another berated me because the "clicking" of my camera was too loud in the church and she though people weren't paying enough attention to her.

In my experience, the more money you charge, the more the bride and her family want to micromanage you and what you're doing- even requesting "progress reports" throughout the day.

I could go on and on. I did 5 or 6 of those and decided I needed a new client base.

And I've never been happier.

[form]

I've heard 9 out of 10 people say that the more you charge, the easier the client usually is to work for. I have personally had almost no bad experiences with budget-oriented clients as far as being demanding, picky, etc. However, that doesn't mean I want to stay "cheap;" I only do it because I don't seem to get any response when I quote someone more than $700 for 6 hours of photography. They always seem to go to the less expensive and better-known alternatives.

[tim]

In my experience, the more money you charge, the more the bride and her family want to micromanage you and what you're doing- even requesting "progress reports" throughout the day.

Wow, your experience is totally the opposite of mine. I find the less someone pays the more demanding they are. My highest paying customers have been the least hassle.

[PMCphotography]

what did I do Tim?

[form]

Tim must be having one of those brain attacks.

[tim]

Brain fart, opened the same thread twice! Must be time for bed...

[PMCphotography]

D'oh!

[jonwhite]

Wow, your experience is totally the opposite of mine. I find the less someone pays the more demanding they are. My highest paying customers have been the least hassle.

+1 on Tim's experience.

[Peacefield]

I've been raising my price from the high end of budget to squarely middle market and it's been magical. I'm actually finding more action now owing, I assume, to the percieved quality and professionalism that comes with the higher price.

I'm also new to albums and really don't find designing them especially difficult. Lumapix's Photofusion is what makes it work for me and there are a few templates you can buy inexpensively which really makes album design drag-and-drop easy. Since I've started offering albums, my net (net, not gross) has nearly doubled so definitely worth exploring.

[form]

I think that I would have to have an entirely new website just for weddings with all that fancy flash BS in order to have any brides see my work as deserving of higher rates.

[sapearl]

Again, you're confusing a flashy site with the type of services and products that many others successfully offer.

I think that I would have to have an entirely new website just for weddings with all that fancy flash BS in order to have any brides see my work as deserving of higher rates.

[AlexMoPhotography]

Again, you're confusing a flashy site with the type of services and products that many others successfully offer.
how much was that 24-1054L? :eek:

[sapearl]

Thanks for pointing that out Alex ..... that's what happens when you can no longer see the spaces that need to accompany small type :rolleyes:.

how much was that 24-1054L? :eek:

[tim]

Don't worry about typos Stu, a pedant somewhere will always find them ;)

[sapearl]

No worries..... thanks Tim :D.

Don't worry about typos Stu, a pedant somewhere will always find them ;)

[AlexMoPhotography]

In all seriousness though, I also recommend offering albums. That way you attract customers who are willing to budget a little more for photographers. Take the time to learn it; I think it's worth it in the end.

[form]

Maybe someday when I have more time.

[sapearl]

But now you know what you have to do to set yourself apart Joey.

Business models are in flux - people have to reevaluate, determine what is effective and makes themselves stand out. You can set yourself apart from the $300-500 shoot and burn jockies that have no PP abilities or clues about offering quality prints. You've got the smarts to design your own site so buillding albums would not be difficult for you. You can either manually assemble traditional, classic matted albums or use any number of s/w packages to offer coffee table products.

I used to be adamantly opposed to including hi-rez disks in my packages. Thinking is this would be giving away the store, with the client running to WalMart with his JPG's. I'm rethinking the process. I may be bumping all of my packages an additional $600, but WITH the INCLUSION of a disk that many seem to want. The client gets what seems to be a common marketplace offering, I and I'm offered in potentially lost print sales.

Maybe someday when I have more time.

[mattantonino]

I do have to say we doubled prices a few years ago from $1200 to $2500 and we doubled our inquiries the following January as well. We were getting better though, too...and more familiar with local vendors ... and advertising more. I think it is more like a snowball than anything else. The more you change prices the less you get referrals though. If you aren't getting creamed with referrals 5 years in, something is wrong.