What are You Doing for Your 2012 Prices?

It's always busy around the holidays from a sales perspective; booking for the following year if not already the year after that. With this in mind, I'd like to begin to set my 2012/2013 prices now.

Business has been good, I have about all that I can handle (at least while doing this part-time), and I do a very satisfying business in albums. I'm not cheap, but I'm certainly not expensive either; I'd probably call it about the lower to middle end of the middle market into which I would include many successful long-time established studio-based photographers in the area.

So it begs the question; do I look to raise my rates to shoot? Or my price on albums (I don't receive info on price increases from my provider until ~1/1). Or both? Or neither?

Just curious to hear about the plans of others.

I was originally planning a small overall package boost though I've noticed that I have been having a harder time this year finding couples with a realistic budget for photography. Lots of inquiries are coming in but most have a budget significantly lower than what is currently my cheapest package. So I am now considering just keeping my 2011 pricing model for another year.

My opinion, If you are happy with the amount of bookings that you are getting then I would raise your album prices...but if you feeling like you would like a few less bookings then boost the package prices to whittle it down a bit.

BTW...not that I keep track of these things or anything...but this is my 1000th post.

I always raise pricing by $100 every year... when I do, I also make remaining dates available at a discount...
so basically, a few weeks ago, I bumped up everything by $100, and dropped the remaining 2012 dates by $200, so it looks like a $300 savings... only 2012 dates I have left open are Nov and Dec, and those are typically slow months so if I pick up 1 or 2, it will be great!
and that's how I've set my 2013 pricing....

I raised prices this year, but I'm still too low. Raising them again and working on my portfolio and marketing!

I raised my prices not so long ago, so i'm going to leave them as they are. I'm midrange to upper midrange for my area, and while i'd take on another few weddings on the right dates i'm about as full as I want to be for the coming summer.

tim wrote in post #13214256
I raised my prices not so long ago, so i'm going to leave them as they are. I'm midrange to upper midrange for my area, and while i'd take on another few weddings on the right dates i'm about as full as I want to be for the coming summer.

I'm 90% booked for summer 2012 - including 9 weekends with multiples
And about 30% for summer 2013

I consider summer to be May 1 to Sept 30

SMP_Homer wrote in post #13215285
I consider summer to be May 1 to Sept 30

Don't be silly, that's winter!

tim wrote in post #13215292
Don't be silly, that's winter!

It's way too hot to shovel during that period....

I don't generally wait for a year end or financial year end to change my prices. If I think I need to change them then I will do it whenever.

I am probably going to keep my existing pricing for 2012.

There's no real seasonal weddings for me anymore with 3 in December and 3 in February!

I've upped my prices this year to stifle demand. I'm still cheaper than most by several hundred but I consider others overpriced. Becasue of this I don't expect to up them any further. At least not until 2014.

The economy is very depressed in the midwest. Minnesota is better that a couple other neighboring states but not by a lot. First bridal show coming up and i can tell you that the brides back here are on tight budgets. No seconds on the homes back here. 70% owe more than they are worth so everyone is watching the bottom line.

Im a little worried. Last bridal season i saw newbs coming into the shows and offereing all day coverage with a cheap album for $1600.00. Just insane and the girls were lining up to talk to these people. Part timers, she worked at a bank and they did this to supplement their income. So with that in mind, we are holding tight on the pricing for 2012. I really dont want to compete with price points with these guys. There is a big quality difference. Myself and a few others that have been doing it for a while looks at these people with disbelief, but its still just very tough in the midwest and its tough to sit there when a brides walks up and says, What can i get for $1500.00, does that include an album. There's several out here doing it. Basically its a shoot and burn and they ship 55 files to this album company who puts it together for them for $250.00. So their only out of pocket expense is $250.00 plus time. They are probably netting $1250.00 for a days works in their mind.

I know these people are not our market but its still tough to watch whats going on. Im sure other are experiencing the same thing.

The average price for a newb with an album is $900 here in the UK with some as little as $500

I kind of raised prices. I jacked up the pricing of my A La Carte prices in hopes that people would buy more packages, which I kept about the same. Thus far it's worked! My last few shoots (not weddings) have generated at least $500-1200 in package sales.

I've started raising prices slightly to cover the cost of an assistant, but I am not currently booking past the first half of next year. I expect to be transitioning into a new long-term job and then only doing a select few weddings.

What are some of the different packages you have?

is there such a package for you where you shoot and just give them a DVD with the photos?