Pricing your photography is one of the hardest challenges you face a photographer. The digital age, cheap SLR cameras and a tough economy has encouraged a huge amount of low priced competition into the market. This in turn has led to prospective clients thinking of photography as a cheap commodity.
There are still photographers earning a great living
The good news is that there are still a lot of photographers who are earning many thousands from their family portrait sessions and weddings. They can command significant prices because they have a complete system in place and pricing is just one important part of that complete system. The one thing they don’t do is worry about what everyone else is charging. You’ve got to get out of that mindset of comparing prices. 95 percent of photographers don’t understand sales, marketing or pricing, so don’t copy what they’re doing. Just worry about what you’re doing. Learn how to price, market, sell and merchandise your photography and you’ll be earning much more than you ever thought possible. It’s all in your head. If everyone wanted the cheapest product then we’d all be driving little hatchbacks and taking our wives to McDonald’s for a romantic meal.
The psychology of pricing
First, I’d like to explain some of the psychology of pricing and then at the end I’ll explain a simple technique that will allow you to set your prices today and forever.
The first thing to realise is that the higher your prices the better people will think that your photography is. You’ll see this principle in action when people are buying wine, in art galleries and in clothing stores. Most people can’t really tell if one item of clothing is better made than another, or whether one bottle of wine will taste nicer. So, we rely on the price to guide us. The same rule applies to photography.
Never forget that you’re not selling a commodity, you’re selling art. If you were selling the exact same can of beans as someone up the road then it’s a little harder to demand a higher price, but your photography is unique. Even the same tin of beans can be successfully sold at higher prices. A high-end supermarket has positioned itself in such a way that people will happily pay a little more per item because they appreciate the better service, nicer surroundings, or even the sense of pride that they can afford to shop there in the first place.
Just like those high-end supermarkets you have to find way to justify the higher prices by providing a better service, a better experience and a better product.
Don’t put prices on your website
The biggest mistake photographers make with regards prices is that they put them on their website. It’s encouraging your prospective clients to compare prices without ever speaking with you. If they never speak with you then they’ll never truly understand how or why your service is better for them. They’ll never get to hear your enthusiasm, or learn from your knowledge and experience. As you know, there’s a lot more to photography than clicking a shutter button. However, most people don’t appreciate everything that goes into the composition, the lighting, the clothing, the location, software enhancements and so on. If they never speak with you then they’ll never understand, they’ll just go with the cheaper prices.
Clients are meant to complain about the price
Two thirds of your clients are meant to complain about or query the price. This may seem crazy – surely you don’t want anyone to question your prices. But, think about this for a moment. If no-one is complaining then you must be losing a lot of extra money that could have been yours – your family’s. If you’re charging a significant amount for your photography (i.e. averaging well over thousand dollars per family portrait session) then most clients will question you initially. This is why you want prospects to speak with you, because you need to educate them about what makes your service so special and why it’s worth the investment.
Show the value of your photography
People like to invest in nice things, from branded handbags to flashy cars and jewellery. You can charge these high-end prices for your photography too, you just need to position your whole business in a way that justifies them.
One great way of showing the value of photography is to only show clients framed photos at a decent size (at least 24×18). Never display anything on tables, nothing small at all. Photography isn’t impressive at that size.
One thing you can do right now is to add a bigger package to your range of packages. You want this package to be really extravagant so it makes the other packages look more affordable. For example, how impressed would your wedding clients be if your top package included a helicopter ride to the reception! They’d quickly start to see you as a serious player in the market.
How to price your photography right now
Now I’d like to give you the best way to set your prices today and for ever more. Set your prices at a level which is just outside your comfort zone and then raise your prices by 10 percent or more every 6 months. There are many reasons this technique works so well.You don’t have to worry about the competition; you’re just focusing on what you feel comfortable with. Since you’re just outside your comfort zone you won’t feel too stressed during the sales process, but you will still be challenging yourself. The system gives you a few months to get used to the higher prices and time to improve your sales and service so that you’re ready for the next price increase.