Marketing and Business for Photographers: Top 10 posts of 2020

Looking ahead to a better year! Photo of me courtesy of Steve Gerrard Photography.

I started this website/ blog in 2018, buried under blankets on my couch, sick beyond anything I’d ever encountered. I could barely work my part-time job at a local nonprofit, and was turning wedding clients away. About 6 arduous months later I would be diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, but as I tried to manage between medical visits, tests and being barely able to even leave the house to do any of that, I languished for hours at home, my mind racing but my body unable to keep up.

I found myself on Facebook late at night, endlessly scrolling as my health issues kept me awake. I found myself answering a ton of marketing questions on photographer forums - before, I had been too busy to notice that so many struggled with it. And when I had done this over a course of weeks, trying to find a previous thread to copy and paste some of my thoughts to a new question, I wondered why I didn’t just write the advice that I was giving into a central spot. I was receiving amazing feedback that my responses were helpful and easy to understand, so I first created a Wordpress blog which eventually led to this website. I also created a Facebook group so that members could specifically talk about marketing and now we are about 6000 members! Even when down and out, I found a way to be productive, and it actually helped me in my healing process to focus on something positive that I was able to do.

I appreciate everyone who has supported Marketing and Business for Photographers, and it makes me happy that I’ve been able to help many. When I left my career in marketing, I thought that was the end of that chapter for me, that I was out of that field and left it behind me for new things ahead. And now I am grateful that those marketing agency years, some of them very challenging and very demanding, are of value to transfer to an industry that I absolutely adore. Over the years I have received such positive feedback and love from those who found help from my posts, the Facebook group and through my paid guides and services, that I know I’m making a difference in helping others find success in their photography careers. What a wonderful gift to have sprung from a dark time in my life, proving that adversity can make us stronger. 2020 shovelled a heap of adversity onto all of us. I remain positive that out of this dark time we can also emerge stronger. We must keep the faith.

2020 didn’t stop many of you from learning and growing. Here is a list of the top 10 blog posts as determined by the brave marketers who have visited the site. If you haven’t already taken a look, grab a coffee, tea, or beverage of choice, and read on for some inspiration to bring you into a new year.

Move Month: SWOT analysis. What’s that? It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. While marketing can seem nebulous and ambiguous to many, a SWOT is a concrete tool you can use in many ways to benefit your business. If you feel you’re floating in a sea of marketing mystery, the SWOT is like a life jacket to get yourself grounded, and get you working to bring in those bookings!

For a sweet start to marketing your photography business, read this. If you’re new to photography and to business and marketing, this post outlines a few crucial steps to starting that journey.

Are you everywhere but feel nowhere with your marketing? This post is for photographers who feel they are on the hamster-wheel of a marketing loop that isn’t getting them anywhere. It’s sort of like busy-syndrome, and it is very real that we can be doing a lot but of the wrong thing, which keeps us stuck in that loop.

Prices on the website: Who are they really for? A different perspective on why you may want to give high-level pricing details to qualify leads, but not give the whole shebang. Transparency doesn’t mean you cannot be strategic with how you present this crucial piece to your business. Includes 2 case studies: Tiffany’s and Old Navy to demonstrate how pricing strategy matters beyond the price tag.

The important missing link when you price your photography. Price highly depends on your business model and we don’t just sell time and files. Your financial objectives depend on more than just saying “it’s this much for that”. How you want to serve clients and how you want to build your career, your brand and your legacy all factor into the greater pricing strategy.

Why it's good to repel people. I think the title makes many curious because the first reaction may be - what do you mean repel people? While it sounds counter-intuitive, you DO NOT want everyone or just anyone. You want the right people that will be a pleasure to provide your talent and work to, and that will appreciate and value that talent and work back.

Can you afford to be affordable? For the answer, look at who your future self will be. Oh, the amount of times I’ve seen this in forums - I want to be affordable. Many take the long, hard, and often wrong road of pricing low to be affordable, and placing themselves in situations where they are losing money themselves, and their lives become unaffordable as a result (photography is an expensive industry to maintain yourself in!) in the attempt to be accessible to others. The road to affordability for others starts with being able to sustain yourself FIRST.

Photography price-increase fear. Are people getting less for more? If you raise prices for the same or less images, have you removed or added value to the transaction? The answer may surprise you.

Elevate to your desired pricing; don't drop and flop! Why is it that if a photographer isn’t booking, their first thought is to slash price? Instead of allowing yourself to fall a few rungs down on the ladder, could you dare to fortify your grip, find your grit and climb that thing to the top? Let me ask you how getting to the bottom of that ladder would feel versus being at the very top? That sense of accomplishment can be the driver to be brave and tackle the unknown instead of being victim to our fears.

Why ‘affordable’ pricing is misleading. This is the third blog post I wrote when I first started, and consistently popular. If you’ve ever started to change or think about changing prices based on other people’s finances, you need to read this. Imagine any service provider trying to alter prices based on hundred’s of potential customers’ financial means? Sounds a bit ridiculous, and yet us photographers seem to be supremely affected by this. We don’t know the financial means of others, and besides billing for our services, it’s none of our business to get involved. You need to be profitable to exist and so you have to make your choices around that. And then leave others’ choice of using your services up to them, and only them.

I am much healthier these days with my medical treatments working wonders and like you, ready to tackle a new year with new light and new hope. My wish for you all is to continue to find value in my content, and in return I will be here to continue producing a variety of tools for your brave marketing kits. Wishing you all love, light and peace for 2021,

~Lucy