I hope you enjoyed our photography pricing event a few weeks ago, Pain-Free Pricing. After talking about pricing, it got me thinking. Back when I started my photography business in 2001 I had no clue what I was doing. I wasn’t profiting and had no idea how to run a profitable photography business. I learned a ton of things the hard way, but you don’t have to.
Here are a few common mistakes many people make when setting their photography pricing:
The Big Guess: I would not even consider this an option. Some people don’t know the value of their time or don’t know the price of their costs. They are just happy that someone is willing to pay them to do their craft and leave the pricing up to the customer. Unless you get lucky, this method of setting prices won’t make you profitable. So do your self a favor and start crunching those numbers.
The Competitive-Based Photography Pricing: Many businesses base their prices on what their competitors are doing, but regardless of the business type you are going to get yourself in a hole that you will not be able to get out of.
The truth is you will never win with competitive based pricing.
If you go online to see what your competitors are charging, you will find prices ranging from high to low all across the board. If you are using this strategy to price your products or services, you’re trying to justify the price of a product as if it is a commodity, and not taking into account your operating expenses, the relationships you build with your customers, or the value of your time, service, and expertise. Think about that when you see someone charging $10 for an 8 x 10.
Cost-Based Photography Pricing: With cost-based photography pricing you add up the costs of everything that goes into making your offering (including your time) and add some profit to arrive at a price.
This is where small businesses fail. They don’t add enough profit because they don’t account for the unexpected like having to fix a mistake or not having time to pamper each and every client. In real life unexpected expenses come up all the time your child breaks her arm, a tornado hits your house, it’s time for a new car. The list can go on and on.
Photography pricing is tricky. Trust me, I understand, but if you create a demand for your products and perform excellent customer service and thrill them, I promise photography pricing will become easier.
I hope this photography blog post was helpful for you, my team and I at Photography Business Institute work hard to help photographers charge what they are worth.
Want to learn more?
Are you ready to change your pricing from a fear-based reaction to a business decision?
The profit is in the pricing! Your prices even help you attract your model client while scaring off the clients that just don’t fit.
Join me in this free 60 minute webinar to learn how to profitably price your photography. Seating is limited. Reserve your spot now!
