Business in December

[dolphinz8]

Are December's typically slower than other months of the year? I have been booked solid....but have nothing in december. Do others experience this as well? I sometimes still wonder if i'm charging too much....but with month's like Oct. and November...they were such good months. So I don't know??

[tracknut]

Wouldn't it depend on what you shoot? Water skiing versus kids on Santa's lap... ?

Dave

[Karl Johnston]

Could also depend on your location, your area, your business, your marketing, your advertising, your services,.......you in general....everybody else....your clients and potential clients...the universe, the stars, cosmology...

This is where statistics comes in handy..and then fails horribly.

:D Welcome to the bell curve effect! Sometimes its good, sometimes its bad...who knows why (i sure dont) but chances are if you're still breaking even at the end of the month then there's probably nothing serious to worry about. Take the time to learn more about marketing, advertising, internet branding or just catch up on a good book or whatever else you want to do.

If you're just starting your business then it comes to a bit of a shock sometimes...some months you don't make any money...some months you grossly under or overbudget and then you work for months to break even again.

To answer your question, though: it depends on your productivity and activity that will tell how well you do. Generally though a lot of people-personal portrait businesses (owned by people I know) report a decrease in clients between the late winter months (November-February) so you're probably not alone. That said, there's no reason why you should settle for a drop...go out there and do something, anything, something to create more business. Companies spend millions of dollars around the world, and some billions, on just that feature of their business.

It's pretty mind blowing when you think about it.

I suggest trying reading up on advertising and how to target new clients. I also suggest following up with old ones and taking the list of all of your previous clients and sending them a note that you will be doing a 10% off deal on personal maternity portraits between Nov 20-27th..or whatever.

Take the extra time to get on top of things, or learn a new technique, or try to learn some new processing techniques, or build a website or a blog (you should do this and link it to the forum; your SEO will skyrocket).

[turbo212003]

Not having a studio, I have expected the drop in sales during the colder months. I'm going to spend my time researching new ways to market myself. I work as a photographer at a bookstore(full-time), so I don't need a certain amount of income from my own photography business to make it.

[dolphinz8]

Good points. Thank you! I have been offering 30% off for the past couple of weeks....but still no takers. I'll do some researching and see what I can do. Thank you for everyone's input!

[sapearl]

Hi Aubre - Judging by your site I assume that you're mainly a portrait photographer; nicely done work by the way. It looks like your clients have a fun time. Do you shoot any December parties, holiday events, company parties, festivals.... that sort of thing?

Also, don't mean to nitpick but you may want to consider a more obvious on/off switch for the music on your site. Looked at your site on my lunch hour and the music was a loud surprise ;).

[MJPhotos24]

It depends - there's x-mas sales but they are slow for youth/high school stuff. However, the winter months are my best for stock sales of pro sports by far! Depends on what you shoot, where you are, etc. but I would say yes winter is slower...but we're under a few feet of snow usually.

[camz]

Ever tried holiday shoots for family portraiture? Some other pros that we know are quite booked for these gigs.

[Karl Johnston]

Try getting on board with a local org. about fundraising for their organization...advertise an affiliation with them and get them to market your work, your business and your name. Try doing a promotional shoot in the spirit of helping them out say 10% of all shoots go towards the org.

Be creative with it, make it fun. Take a risk, try something new..try hitting up nurseries and daycares with advertising for portraiture with kids. I could go on but you probably know your market better than anyway to know what would work and what wouldnèt

[PhotosGuy]

Good answers above, so I can put in my two-cents worth...Be creative with it, make it fun. Take a risk, Book a two week, non-refundable vacation in Margaritaville. The bookings will start rolling in! ;)

[MJPhotos24]

Ever tried holiday shoots for family portraiture? Some other pros that we know are quite booked for these gigs.

Thought about this myself and know people do well with it - it's kind of assembly line photography bringing people into a location set up prior to their arrival - get in get out, next kind of thing but could be good. I got asked a LOT last year to do this but just never did. If no studio available maybe hook up with the local elementary/middle/high school and use their location a few nights a week to do it as a fundraiser or something. Really wanted to go all out could hire someone that looks like Santa and do elementary portraits of kids with him.

[sctbiggs]

hibernate...

December and January... for me, catch up on post processing. Spend time with the kids... yada yada yada. This December, completely overhaul the website which I've been trying to do here and there for the last few months but haven't had time.

[camz]

Thought about this myself and know people do well with it - it's kind of assembly line photography bringing people into a location set up prior to their arrival - get in get out, next kind of thing but could be good. I got asked a LOT last year to do this but just never did. If no studio available maybe hook up with the local elementary/middle/high school and use their location a few nights a week to do it as a fundraiser or something. Really wanted to go all out could hire someone that looks like Santa and do elementary portraits of kids with him.

It really is a great plan and that's exactly what they're doing. They schedule 20-30 minutes shoots in on location for a very decent price and book maybe 5-7 sessions in a day.

Your idea about giving back to schools sounds great too!

[Karl Johnston]

Ever tried holiday shoots for family portraiture? Some other pros that we know are quite booked for these gigs.
I'm doing one of these for charity in a couple of weeks, as a matter of fact.

They let me include a markup on my prints, though, so I can get a little bit of profit but its mostly a goodwill/promotional campaign for me and my business.

Good experience, something new and I'm wanting to see how creative I can take conveyor-belt photography.

[MJPhotos24]

It really is a great plan and that's exactly what they're doing. They schedule 20-30 minutes shoots in on location for a very decent price and book maybe 5-7 sessions in a day.

Your idea about giving back to schools sounds great too!
I'm not a fan of kickbacks, and don't offer them at the moment but have been asked about them by one potential client that would use it as a fundraiser. Problem is cost of business doesn't go down so prices have to go up to cover it.