How To Set Yourself Up To Make Money With Photography
CULTIVATE A BUSINESS-FIRST ATTITUDE Know who you are and create consistent branding. Get in touch with WHY you do what you do. Forget the amateur photographer mentality. Donʼt confuse personal spending with business investment. Create systems for as many tasks as possible. Become a master of time management.
USE SMART AND EFFECTIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES Present only your best photographs in marketing. Use testimonials to highlight your unique selling points. Be seen everywhere in your community - online and offline. Use a website designed and built for lead generation. Demonstrate your business personality with your blog. Get social with your clients and show you care about them. Kick the emergency marketing habit - plan instead. Embrace the value of content marketing.
MANAGE ALL CLIENT COMMUNICATION Send mainly customer-centered emails. Be seen as a valuable go-to source. Consistently under-promise and over-deliver. Surprise your clients to create a more positive experience.
Help your clients to promote you to their friends.
TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR PRICING Know your cost of doing business. Focus on your prices and not your competitors. Understand that you are not your client. Be in complete control of when prospects learn your prices. Think incentives instead of discounts. Stop tinkering with your price list.
LEARN TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH SALES Use planned pre-booking consultations to set expectations. Donʼt delegate the sales job to your website. Avoid random sales, discounting and daily deals. Remember : Sales means helping clients get what they want.
Real Ways To Make Money From Photography
Sell Your Prints
This is the traditional and most reliable way to earn money from your photography. If this is the path you want to take, then focus on taking high-resolution photos, invest in getting them developed with a good service, and start promoting them.
You can look at displaying your photos in art galleries and local councils, but the best way would be to promote your prints on your website. This way your clients can order your copies directly from your site, and it also helps with spreading the word.
Collaborate
If you have observed the photography niche for some time, you must know the importance of promoting yourself on Instagram. This social media platform has created a HUGE opportunity for many photographers to collaborate and make money from their art.
You can create a profile on Instagram and post your photos, and depending on the niche, you can collaborate with related brands. There is another advantage of this social platform if you love traveling and photography. You can showcase your unique photos and land sponsored trips.
Please keep in mind that, as with any other method, it takes time to grow and build an audience on this platform. Too long, if you ask me.
Teach Workshops
These days you have probably come across many online photography workshops or classes. This is another way to teach the skills you have and share your talent.
There are two ways you can do this. Firstly, you can teach online classes on websites like Skillshare and Udemy. This is a more straightforward process because everything will be online. It is also a very passive way of earning.
Another way is to have live workshops. For example, in landscape photography, you can host a workshop in a particular travel destination and teach your students about all the nuances of landscape photography, giving them a lot of practice.
Get Hired for Photography Shoots
This is another way of making money from photography. No matter which type of photography you like, you can do live photography shoots. Wedding photography, newborn photography, fashion photography, food photography, family photography, etc. are some of the most popular genres of photography.
Like every form of photography, doing photo shoots does take time. You need to promote yourself to do this with a blog or website to get exposure.
Sell Stock Photos
Probably the easiest way to earn money with your photos would be to sell your stock photos on websites like Alamy, Shutterstock, SmugMug, iStockphoto, Adobe Stock, etc.
Though the money you can earn from this option might be less, it can increase over time as you submit more photos.
Please keep in mind most of these websites take a percentage of the profits from the photos that get sold.
Start a Photography Blog
All the above ways to make money online from photography require you to promote yourself first. And starting a blog or website is the best way to do it. Having a site to showcase and promote your work can give you a lot of exposure and help you reach your clients.
Having a website can be very convenient for displaying your own courses and prints and for having a shop of your own.
Commercial Photography
As the name suggests, commercial photography is something you do for brands, magazines, adverts, etc. If you specialize in this type of photography, then the money-making potential is infinite.
There are loads of brands and digital marketing outlets that need professional commercial photographers. The work might involve taking photos of food, buildings, people, interiors, etc.
If you work hard and collaborate with the right brands, you can earn a good income as a commercial photographer.
Depending on the niche and genre of photography, you have many chances to diversify and earn money from your art.
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