Our clients DO value photography!

I’ve been in the middle of a LOT of conversations with other photographers that boil down to someone exclaiming “Our clients just don’t value photography!” and then there are lots of nods of agreements from others listening and perhaps several others launch into their own woe-is-me-I-lost-another-client-to-a-newbie story.

For a long time, I agreed with this. And I made an effort to educate my clients, but my client base is small compared to all the clients that exist in the world and my efforts at education were barely noticed in the grand scheme of things.

So then I began thinking… and decided that part of the issue was with the newer photographers who didn’t value their own photography. Perhaps it wasn’t at a level yet where it could be valued as highly as a pro photographer, or perhaps they just hadn’t crunched the numbers well enough to realize they weren’t making minimum wage.

And that’s why I started Wootness.

BUT, back to the subject….

This morning I was thinking to myself about this whole “value of photography” conundrum. And suddenly it hit me.

Our clients DO value photography!

If folks didn’t value photography, would the newbie down the street be booked solid with appointments for their $50 everything on CD special?

Nooooooo.

It’s not that folks don’t value photography, it’s that:

• they don’t realize that at times it needs to be an investment
• they can’t tell the difference between amateur and professional photography
• if they can tell the difference, it doesn’t matter enough
• they just plain can’t afford professional photography prices

So, the next time you’re tempted to exclaim that people just don’t value photography, stop and think a bit.

• If no one valued photography, there would not be so many photos uploaded to Facebook.
• The new photographers would not be so busy.
• There would not be chain photography studios popping up all over the place.
• Digital camera sales would not be so high that every department store has a large area devoted to their product lines.
• People would not be standing knee-deep in the WalMart photo kiosk area at 7:30 AM. (True story – last week I swung by WalMart very early in the AM and the ONLY department with more than one or two customers in it was the photo department, and there were about 20 people in line).

If you have a client that goes elsewhere for photos, stop and think. How much did they spend the last time they came to you? $500? $750 $1000+? Thank your lucky stars that they came to you, and accept the fact that you photographed their important moments and that perhaps the budget was tweaked so that you could be afforded. Ignore the fact that the not-so-important moments were captured at a chain studio or with someone more affordable. And welcome them back with open arms when they come back again next year for their family portrait.

We cannot expect to corner the market. Sure, it would be nice and sure, there’s photographers out there that speak across the USA and tell you that your client base should be small and clients should return for multiple sessions per year. Uh-huh. Then why are they out speaking about it and not doing it? And did you notice that they were based in a major metro area where the expendable income was double what it is in your community? We are not all in that same situation and those types of business goals are not only lofty, they are damn near impossible. Let’s get realistic.

So, here’s the plan:

• Ignore when your clients go elsewhere for photography. As long as they were happy with your work, you don’t have an issue. Stay in touch with them and think about offering a “loyalty” bonus of some sort for returning clients.
• Make sure that you are offering what the clients want. If they are going elsewhere for affordability purposes, that’s one thing, but if they are going elsewhere because you don’t offer what they want, then take a look at our offerings and see if your product line needs tweaked. Again – stay in touch with your clients so you are aware of this.
• Work on a promotion that will help introduce folks to your studio. Maybe a mini-session that’s reduced time, poses and offerings, but only slightly more expensive than the more affordable folks will be enough to convince folks to give you a try. Don’t make your reputation into the one of awesomely good photographer but hellaciously expensive, so don’t even bother checking the prices. Don’t purposely erect barriers between yourself and potential clients.

I’ll be back with more thoughts along this line, but for now, this is plenty to get you thinking.