Photography Pricing: Income is more than a price tag
Image by: @barcelocarl
Photography pricing is a multi-dimensional concept, because money is underpinned by powerful beliefs
We have a lot sensitivity around money and because of this, it is a challenging subject to address. It often makes us uncomfortable, and it can cause big feelings. We may hold beliefs that money is the most important thing to people, or that people only ever want to pay the lowest price for goods and services. But money is not that straightforward and neither are people! We only have to take a look at the luxury sector to see that people trade A LOT of their money to obtain things that give them joy, status, ego or mental health boosts, enriching experiences etc. Luxury purchases also tell us that there is a good portion of people who aren’t looking for lowest price but look for things like higher quality and good craftsmanship. Even in lower and middle socio-economic levels, we see a range of purchasing — some will scrimp on certain things, and will spend on certain things. You’ve done it yourself. Is everything you’ve ever bought the absolute cheapest? Our psychology plays a big part. Anyone who has bought a home can tell you that the budget may have been set in advance, but they become willing to stretch it when they find the home of their dreams. Or your inner voice will talk you into an impulse purchase. There are a lot of factors at play that both determine cost by the vendor, and determine purchase by the buyer.
Those who know me know that words matter. Words convey a lot of different messages, and can also help teach us valuable lessons. So let’s talk pricing. Pricing isn’t just a number displayed to a client that they must hand over. To you, that price tag represents income. And what is income?
Let’s split it into 2 parts: In-come. Like the word “incoming” it means something is on its way to you. If you reverse the 2 parts of the word, it becomes “come in” which is an invitation or a welcome! You are welcoming people into a journey with you. When they book and pay for a session, you receive in-come, and they receive out-comes. There is an entrance and an exit. They come with money, and exchange that money for service and leave with beautiful and meaningful photographs in hand.
Putting things into this kind of perspective can help us see that money exchange comes with an association to service and good experience and obtaining wonderful items that we desire. Money in an of itself only ever points to those things. Dollars in a bank account don’t do anything except sit there as mathematical values. It is the transformation of money that is key. It’s inert until it’s activated by a trade. In our case, it’s traded for photographs. What’s the conclusion here? That a person is willing to make the money trade for something meaningful for them. In terms of the amount, people don’t only look for the number but seek the value in the number. Will it give them joy, status, a boost, an experience they will cherish, an item to enjoy?
If we consider pure trades that exchange no money, people seek balance — value on both sides that is relatively equal and both parties are then happy to make the exchange. When you add money, that fundamental doesn’t change. So if you are able to demonstrate an equal value to the outlay of the money, that’s when a sale happens.
The problems start to occur when one or both parties don’t bring an equal value or fail to demonstrate the value. Imbalance between income and outcome. It could happen on either side — a discounting photographer, a client trying to negotiate a price down, or marketing messaging that doesn’t clearly convey value relative to the price tag.
If you believe you have set your income as a balanced and welcoming message to clients, and have been able to properly communicate that through your marketing and selling, then this is when magic starts to happen. But first you need to believe in your income - that the money you’re requesting is a valuable invitation for that client. Too many of us price low not necessarily because we don’t believe in the income, but rather we don’t believe we may deserve that income or we are scared to death of it. Have you ever done a cost of doing business calculator and it has spit out a number that horrifies you? That you couldn’t possibly charge to other people? Here is where your work must begin.
The one thing that’s certain is that money isn’t just paper or a digital transaction once it is activated as a price for services. We’ve infused it with so many powerful beliefs and in large part, those beliefs work against us receiving valid and deserved income for what we produce as outcomes. It’s time to shift into belief that your income is its reverse - a coming in. Coming into your art, coming into your confidence and an invitation for your clients to do the same.
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