As a wedding photographer, what is the one thing you spend the most time creating and delivering to your clients? Your images! The bride and groom seek you out and book you based on the quality of your images, and whether your style matches their vision. The images you provide your couples can help you meet your business goals by increasing your overall profit. Another way to reach your business goals is to create pricing that matches the quality of your images. How can you improve your images and make a higher profit off of each booking? Check out these eight methods and increase the value of your images starting today.
1. Shoot for your Ideal Client
Although there are thousands of couples who are looking for a wedding photographer, many of them are not in your target market. For instance, if a couple lives in a different state and you do not travel, you would not want to invest time in trying to book that couple. Or, if you are a destination photographer, but a couple wants to get married in a local location, that can also be a time-consuming process that will not help you define who you are as a wedding photographer.
Related: How can you discover your ideal client on Facebook?
For you to increase the value of your images, shoot photos that will speak to your ideal clients. These clients are looking for specific attributes in you as a photographer, and will use your images to determine whether you are who they want to work with. The images you shoot and share should give your ideal clients an idea of what their final product will look like. Remember, booking clients who are not perfect for you can derail you from your business goals (which include increasing the value of your images).
2. Develop a Signature Style
Even when you decide who your ideal clients are, there are many photographers who could work with the same audience. Standing out from photographers who have similar skills as you can help determine your worth, and increase the value of your images. A quick way to achieve this is to develop a Signature Style for your images that lets your clients know that you are the photographer for them.
If you are sending your images to a wedding photography post processing company, your post-wedding workflow will be taken care of, meaning you can spend your time adding in your artistic edits. Adding your Signature Style to your images gives you an opportunity to showcase your creativity and deliver photos your clients will love. The more diverse your style is from others, the more ideal clients will want to work with you.
3. Price your Images at their Worth
One of the most important parts of creating pricing for your business is knowing exactly what you and your images are worth. Think about the time you spend during every event, from any preparation you do before the engagement and wedding shoot, to the traveling and communicating time, to the post-wedding work you put into your images. The prices you set for your images should reflect the time spent on each process.
Related: Find inspiration to create the best images possible with legendary photographer, Joe Buissink!
To help increase the value of your images, and in turn raise your prices, only share photos that are the top from each wedding (and that speak to your ideal clients). When you treat every shoot as if it is a $10k wedding, then you can create prices that are more suitable for your business needs.
4. Create Image Galleries
Whether your ideal clients hear about you from a referral, or through an Internet search, chances are they will land on your website. Your website is the first touch they have with you, and the first thing they will look for are your images. When your ideal clients access your website, they should immediately see an impressive image gallery on your homepage. This gallery should feature 3-4 of your top images from separate weddings. The goal behind this is to capture their attention immediately, and make them want to look at the rest of your images.[ninja-inline id=14322]
The more time you spend organizing and placing your image gallery on your homepage, the more professional they will look. When you choose higher quality images, your clients will see the value in you as a photographer, and the work you provide.
5. Master your Shooting Techniques
When you are shooting the bride and groom during their engagement shoot or wedding day, are there skills you possess that make you stand out from other photographers? For instance, do you have the ability to shoot and pose your clients in any scenario? When you show clients that you can shoot in any location, you are going to increase the value of your images because your portfolio will be stronger.
Related: Learn how to quickly create a Signature Style for your images with Lightroom Presets
When you have a unique shooting style, it will translate through your images. Potential clients can tell you are a photographer who is invested in creating stunning photos, and will book you (regardless of the price that you charge).
6. Develop a Blog Strategy for “Wow” Images
Another important page to share your images on is your blog. On your blog, you can feature the best images from each wedding. You have the ability to place them in a way that tells a cohesive story of the wedding day. All the images you share on your blog should be your top, “Wow,” images that relate to your ideal clients.
A benefit of using your blog is that you can create a strategy to help you organize your images, as well as who you want to share them with. The stronger your strategy, the more ideal clients will want to view your blog. When you feature “Wow” images, you are automatically increasing the value of what they are worth to your ideal clients. Potential clients will desire to have their images featured on your blog for everyone to see after their wedding day.
7. Avoid Discounting your Prices
Regardless of how many weddings you shoot per year, it is important to create value for your images that match what you are worth. The best way to increase your value is to believe in yourself and what you provide for your clients. Discounting your images, products, and services decreases the value of you as a photographer and the photos you produce. Each time you lower prices or give discounts, YOU are decreasing the value of your work. When clients see that you often decrease your own value, why would they want to pay full price? If you desire to increase the value potential clients see in your images, you have to showcase your confidence in the experience they will have.
8. Offer Additional Products and Services
Another way to increase value is to add on additional products and services with your images. You can create a wedding album for your clients that feature the important images from the wedding day. When you want your clients to share their photos on social media, create a slideshow of their images they will want to share with their family and friends. Also, suggest printing images to create wall art they can place in their homes for visitors to see. Adding items that enhance the already stunning images helps you increase their value, and helps you bring in additional profit.
Related: Watch our Fast Album Design Techniques Webinar with Andrew Funderburg from Fundy Software!
Creating the best images possible for your ideal clients is the fastest way to increase the value of your photos. Learn more tips and tricks to creating stunning images that improve your business with our Pro Photographer Lighting and Posing Guide!
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