How to compete with other photography

[pgriz]

The business issue is to find the right niche where:
1) Your clients are willing to pay what you need to charge
2) Your skills are adequate to deliver what your clients are willing to buy
3) Your competitors cannot take away the reason your clients are buying from you.

JerryVens makes some very good points in terms of having those issued defined in your business plan.
KmH as usual has some excellent links for providing the background to your question.

Of course, assuming you've found an appropriate niche, also know that it will constantly be changing due to demographics, competition, and styles/fashions. So really knowing what your clients want becomes the way you stay in business. Every business I've been in (and I've been in business for more than 40 years), has had major parts of its revenue stream change on the time-scale of 2-4 years (of course, some sectors change more slowly than others). So being nimble and constantly adjusting your pricing/marketing/product delivery strategy is the way you succeed.

 

[bribrius]

who is your client base and what is the range they can afford?

you cannot run a business, out of the range of your client base. you wont have clients.

if your area is middle income, charge accordingly. higher income, charge accordingly. lower income, charge accordingly. The lower the price the more traffic you need and the lower time and quality you can have with each as you need to make up for it in numbers.

also, advertised price and end price are two very different things. you can advertise a 25 dollar shoot. offer a range of 400 in packages available and a lot of 25 dollar sign uppers might end up in the 70 dollar range once you sell them on the packages.

in any business you hear of people saying "how can they do it for that price?" (advertised price)

answer is, they really aren't. Most wont end up settled at that price.

value added sales, if you ever delt with sales. The best way to ask more for products is a value added approach. You need to separate yourself and your products in the eyes of the customer with KEY differences on why your product is more valuable, or the increasing packages price adds more value.
And this Is completely legit. you are explaining to the customer the value of what they are purchasing. Normally customers have no idea of the difference between something costing 25 dollars and something costing 50 dollars without a little research and guidance. Selling value added is perhaps the best way to increase your prices (and in all honesty educating your customer at the same time for their own benefit in what they are purchasing).

 

[bribrius]

Don't compete with them.

You can't beat a "hobby"* which is earning a little pocket money and only calls itself a job because its got a facebook and maybe website page on the internet. Most of those will only be trading within friend's circles and only a very tiny number will ever actually try to function as a major company with prices that low (at which point they often find themselves working like crazy to make very little actual money - they also tend to skip on taxes which can leave them very open to trouble).

So they aren't the competition; they are servicing friends and people who can only afford a $15-25 product. So target your advertising and focus your market attention on people who can pay and who want to pay more for a higher quality product.


* in price

I would be careful with this in premise. In lower end In retail. Everyone is a sale. Everyone not a sale is competition. Everyone you see should be a potential sale and if they aren't you need to be asking yourself what you can do or offer to change that. There is a point where a certain type of customer can not be beneficial. But I wouldn't encourage one to think that way.

Everyone you see, you should consider a potential customer. If you cant compete on price, compete with them on quality or what is offered, your expertise. And remember you are giving these people something in return. Make sure they are happy with what they purchase and you will make repeat long term clients. You aren't going just for one shoot. you walk by someone on the street that is a potential client. That is a sale. But much more than that you need to establish a long term relationship with that person as a potential customer and repeat customer. Establish customer loyalty at the time of sale, giving something of value THEY want, and follow up phone calls to be sure they are continued happy (encourages repeat business as well).

See EVERYONE that way. They wont all work out that way. But if you don't see it that way you will be losing business. And a lot of this is your outlook. You walk by that person on the street. That is your customer. Make it so.

just generalizing a entire group of peoples as "not your customers" I wouldn't suggest. Many of these people are your customers, they just don't know it yet as you haven't helped them understand the value of what you are offering. Just because someone pays 25 dollars does not mean they cant afford to pay 500 dollars. This is a HUGE generalization. This is like stating everyone that goes to the dollar menu at mc'donalds cant afford to lay out a 100 dollars on dinner in a regular restaurant.

 

[pgriz]

@ bribrius: the point of defining a niche is to select the portion of the market where your chances of success are much higher than in other places. So your niche market is always going to be a small segment of the overall market. One of the business lessons I've learned over the years is that there's such a thing as a "wrong" customer. That's true at both ends of the pricing spectrum. A business needs to know what it is good at (ie, good margins, reliable performance, satisfied clients, support needs appropriate to the organization), and stay away from the areas it is less good at.

 

[astroNikon]

There are low income people that I know that spent alot on family photographs. A one time thing. So never discount any demographic / population segment. But I do agree that there are demographics that are more willing and able to purchase your product, a higher % of probability of buying your services. For instance if you do high end weddings, you are more likely to work with a high end wedding service than places that are clearly low income demographics.

The key is your marketing in general. You are marketing/selling the quality of your photographs. That is your product. Your product will attract customers.

If you price your product to compete with the low end then it will be a rush to $0.00.
The low end is full of people who just got a camera for christmas and their friends tell them they are great at photos and should be in business. Alot of past threads on this.

Price your product accordingly to competition in the level of product that you produce and your costs.
Then market yourself.
Then market yourself some more, and more.
That is how you get business and be profitable.

 

[bribrius]

@ bribrius: the point of defining a niche is to select the portion of the market where your chances of success are much higher than in other places. So your niche market is always going to be a small segment of the overall market. One of the business lessons I've learned over the years is that there's such a thing as a "wrong" customer. That's true at both ends of the pricing spectrum. A business needs to know what it is good at (ie, good margins, reliable performance, satisfied clients, support needs appropriate to the organization), and stay away from the areas it is less good at.

totally agree. reading the o.p.s post and seeing the facebook page I surmised this is primarily portraiture retail photography. I didn't see mention of anything else. you wouldn't consider that segment already small enough without finding a "niche"? If anything I would be more inclined to think they might want to expand the services.

 

[bribrius]

There are low income people that I know that spent alot on family photographs. A one time thing. So never discount any demographic / population segment. But I do agree that there are demographics that are more willing and able to purchase your product, a higher % of probability of buying your services. For instance if you do high end weddings, you are more likely to work with a high end wedding service than places that are clearly low income demographics.

The key is your marketing in general. You are marketing/selling the quality of your photographs. That is your product. Your product will attract customers.

If you price your product to compete with the low end then it will be a rush to $0.00.
The low end is full of people who just got a camera for christmas and their friends tell them they are great at photos and should be in business. Alot of past threads on this.

Price your product accordingly to competition in the level of product that you produce and your costs.
Then market yourself.
Then market yourself some more, and more.
That is how you get business and be profitable.

yep. Not to mention when you see fourty thousand dollar pickups going through the mcdonalds drive thru and the occasional bmw and lexus...
I was asked to shoot a kids b-day party which happened yesterday. I declined. Friend of a friend. Considering the money laid out for the party I believe if a local photographer had a "bday party special" known they would have been called on to shoot it. Unfortunately local photographers here haven't realized the amount of $$ some of these people are laying out in b-day parties which FAR surpass a 25 dollar facebook shoot. so i'd like to add to the above "know your client".

 

[pgriz]

Another aspect to this discussion is that perhaps the customer isn't buying images but an "experience". High-end salons know this and while they cut hair, everything else is about pampering and coddling. The prices may be ridiculous, but if the clients keep coming back for the "experience", then the business model works. The big challenge in marketing is to sell the benefits, not the product. Notice how the insurance companies always have gorgeous models in beautiful settings that have nothing to do with the insurance policy itself? And yet, it works, because people make the connection that having the policy somehow allows them to aspire to the lifestyle the advertising paints as a benefit of the policy.

 

[Overread]

just generalizing a entire group of peoples as "not your customers" I wouldn't suggest. Many of these people are your customers, they just don't know it yet as you haven't helped them understand the value of what you are offering. Just because someone pays 25 dollars does not mean they cant afford to pay 500 dollars. This is a HUGE generalization. This is like stating everyone that goes to the dollar menu at mc'donalds cant afford to lay out a 100 dollars on dinner in a regular restaurant.

It's not so much excluding groups as knowing where to focus your attentions upon. You don't want to focus your avertising and marketing strategy on lower income households or those who are scrimping and saving and who are less likely to be able to afford your services. You certainly don't turn people away when they come to the door; but you do establish market targets to advertise and pitch to to maximise your chances.

The other element is indeed negotiation of prices - for that though you've got to know your cost of doing business; you've got to know how much your time is worth and at which point you're doing them a favour changes into you paying to complete the shoot. Many of the hobby businesses, if they counted the money out and were paying tax and other charges would likely be operating at a loss. A company can take some loses, but you need to aim higher to ensure that you can run at a profit.

You can certainly use such tricks as "prices starting from " and then using a lower value and then up-selling - but that only works if the person you're selling to can be upsold to. Some are just too tight some can't afford it and some just don't value your services enough to pay more. Which means you ideally want to target the higher incomes. A key part of running a business is learning when a customer is a customer for you and when they are not - many a salesman has spent hours trying to sell something to people only to find that even though the customer is really interested they just never had any intention nor chance to purchase

 

[bribrius]

just generalizing a entire group of peoples as "not your customers" I wouldn't suggest. Many of these people are your customers, they just don't know it yet as you haven't helped them understand the value of what you are offering. Just because someone pays 25 dollars does not mean they cant afford to pay 500 dollars. This is a HUGE generalization. This is like stating everyone that goes to the dollar menu at mc'donalds cant afford to lay out a 100 dollars on dinner in a regular restaurant.

It's not so much excluding groups as knowing where to focus your attentions upon. You don't want to focus your avertising and marketing strategy on lower income households or those who are scrimping and saving and who are less likely to be able to afford your services. You certainly don't turn people away when they come to the door; but you do establish market targets to advertise and pitch to to maximise your chances.

The other element is indeed negotiation of prices - for that though you've got to know your cost of doing business; you've got to know how much your time is worth and at which point you're doing them a favour changes into you paying to complete the shoot. Many of the hobby businesses, if they counted the money out and were paying tax and other charges would likely be operating at a loss. A company can take some loses, but you need to aim higher to ensure that you can run at a profit.

You can certainly use such tricks as "prices starting from " and then using a lower value and then up-selling - but that only works if the person you're selling to can be upsold to. Some are just too tight some can't afford it and some just don't value your services enough to pay more. Which means you ideally want to target the higher incomes. A key part of running a business is learning when a customer is a customer for you and when they are not - many a salesman has spent hours trying to sell something to people only to find that even though the customer is really interested they just never had any intention nor chance to purchase

agree with the highlighted. Especially knowing your cost. cant with the rest. Depends on where you are, client base in area. too many variables. I was also trained in sales that "we have a product for everybody and if we don't we will make one" philosophy.
As we covered a wide demographic.

Not that everyone will become a customer but keeping the outlook to ensure the sales push and traffic. Low end, high end. If the margin is there, we make sure the product is. Sometimes lower end actually has higher margins. And more traffic the lower the codb is. People with less money or middle income are larger in numbers than people with more money. More clients to start with. They purchase less but there is much more of them. I would just be careful with this select market approach. This week a customer may only spend fifty dollars. Next year they could call you up willing to spend five hundred dollars. In five years the couples daughter could be getting married in they are willing to spend 5000 dollars. The generalization I would be very careful with. These are general principals of establishing any long term clientele. Different philosophies we have I think. Being in a higher income area, I would lean toward your methods, middle income probably mine.

 

[Tee]

OP: You'll never compete with the $25 mini session unless it's hobby income. If you queried the photographers who charge this, I'd bet a bottom dollar they are stay at home mom's who's primary source of income comes from the spouse. Thus, charging $25 is a fun way to feel legit. While they have a cool business name like "cutie patootie photography" they are not paying taxes and all the other legal hassles that come with running a bonafide business.

There's some good advice above. The only thing I'll add is that often new photographers don't have the talent to back charging what they need to survive on a real business. I haven't seen your portfolio so I'm not targeting you but in general. Thus is the challenge of making the leap to the next pay bracket.

Lastly, get a real website. Only having Facebook screams fauxtographer. I second Squarespace and you can get up and running for $8 a month until you have the money to pay for a custom site. You need a legit site to direct people to. You can get Google Business for $5 a month that will set you up with a business email ([email protected]).

 

[pgriz]

What people can "afford" really depends on the need. I've a son-in-law who told me how the corner store in a part of town with character, where he used to work as a part-time job, sold crack pipes to the local junkies. The pipe was a tube of glass and his job was to stuff a ball of scouring pad material into one end. Each "pipe" sold for $5. The owner bought the glass tubes for about $5 for about a thousand, and the scouring pads were about the same for a packet. During the two months he worked there, he saw the same people come in every few days for a new pipe. They couldn't afford food, or other unimportant stuff, but they could afford a new pipe.

"Afford" is relative to need.

 

[bribrius]

What people can "afford" really depends on the need. I've a son-in-law who told me how the corner store in a part of town with character, where he used to work as a part-time job, sold crack pipes to the local junkies. The pipe was a tube of glass and his job was to stuff a ball of scouring pad material into one end. Each "pipe" sold for $5. The owner bought the glass tubes for about $5 for about a thousand, and the scouring pads were about the same for a packet. During the two months he worked there, he saw the same people come in every few days for a new pipe. They couldn't afford food, or other unimportant stuff, but they could afford a new pipe.

"Afford" is relative to need.

odd I even get involved in these threads. I don't even have a photography business im a hobbiest myself. Turning down work. But with my background and my mentality on high pressure competitive sales and gaining market share, I could probably hire a bunch of mwac's, put them through a sales crash course and become the local Walmart of photography. :mrgreen:

 

[Designer]

There is a good reason the competitors offer a $25 "mini session". It is because once the client is there in front of the camera, they then sell the client an "enhanced" photo session for which they will charge more. There's nothing quite like getting clients in the door, even if you are offering them a loss leader. You have to bone up on your sales techniques as well as your photography skills.

 

[astroNikon]

There is a good reason the competitors offer a $25 "mini session". It is because once the client is there in front of the camera, they then sell the client an "enhanced" photo session for which they will charge more. There's nothing quite like getting clients in the door, even if you are offering them a loss leader. You have to bone up on your sales techniques as well as your photography skills.

That reminds me of JCPenney/Sears places that advertise a reduced price/free photo (back when I used them once or twice). You come in and then they try their sales tactics on you to spend alot money.

but I think the OP is just trying to develop a more legit business model. One based on a fair product for price paid and not complete against the $25 "I got a camera for christmas" business model.

but improving once sales and photography skills is key