Photographers: You need to work on this right now if business is quiet

Video transcript:

You’ve been saying for years that you want to work ON your business, and really get into some marketing and business growth strategies, but you just haven’t had the time … until now.

So if you’re in complete lockdown because of the coronavirus, or maybe photo shoots have slowed down, let’s go through the one thing that you should be working on as hard as you can if you want to make the most of this forced break and build a stronger photography business. It’s one thing, and it will change everything.

Now before we get into that I'd like to thank our sponsor for this episode, Urbanimmersive.com, and one of the tools they have that could help you increase revenue and broaden your product offering is a thing they call pocket websites, which are like a 3D tour of a home.

So it works a lot like some of the other tours you've seen, but the setup costs are much more affordable so well worth checking out.

How to make the most of this time:

So if you’re stuck at home at the moment and not able to get out and shoot then you could put your feet up and just wait for your clients to start calling again.

Or you use this time to go big on setting up your marketing and business systems. What I mean there is that you could go all in on content creation, SEO, brand building, researching your market, build connections with dream clients, be active on social media and get all your systems in place for when this thing goes pop and business shoots up again.

So you can do all of that and that would be great, but here’s the extra little ingredient, the extra spice in your secret herbs and spices, that will take all of this up a notch:

As you work on everything, focus on the positioning of your brand, and work on elevating the position your business holds in the eye of local clients so that you transition from where you are now to high-end luxury brand. If you were to apply that criteria across every area of your business then you’ve got something substantial to work towards.

What establishes your position in the market?

So when we consider a typical photography business, and what it is that establishes the position of that brand, we’ve got these categories:
- Your business name and logo
- Your website
- Social media
- You and how you present yourself on the phone, on email and in person
- All of your marketing material
- And finally your service delivery, which covers your photos, videos and anything else that you do.

So what could you do?

Well, I’ve created a worksheet that you might like to download, and it’s pretty simple:

In the left column we have the category that we are reviewing. Then in the next column across you review where your business sits for each of those categories today, and you want to be objective and as realistic as possible in your self-assessment.

So take a look at your business name and logo – does it give the impression that you’re a low-cost brand or a luxury brand? Make some notes on that and be brutal if you need to, ok.

Then look at your website – does it present you as a low-cost brand or a luxury brand? Again, be really critical and make notes on how you think you come across for someone who is visiting your site for the first time when compared with a luxury brand.

Then do the same thing for your social media channels, you and how you present yourself, your marketing material, and your service delivery and the quality of your work. Does it all look amazing, or does it look like you’re trying to do everything as cheap as possible?

So once you’ve reviewed everything, in the next column you want to outline what a luxury brand would do in each of those categories, and maybe include some links to appropriate brands, the kind that you want to emulate.

So what does a luxury brand do with their logo? What about their website, their social media, and marketing material? Make notes on what those brands do, and then in the fourth column you want to write down your plan for how you need to move from where you are today, to where you want to be.

So what changes do you need to make to your logo, your website, the way you present yourself, your marketing material and anything else you do. How will you make the shift from A to B, from low-end brand to high-end brand?

So you’re still working on your business, just as you might otherwise do, but now you’ve got a destination that you want to get to and you’re applying it across your business, and that is going to make the road ahead of you much more defined, and the actions you take over the next couple of months much more consistent.

Get in touch

I hope that helps, and please feel free to message me and let me know how you go with that.

Alright, take care of yourself wherever you are, let me know if you would like me to help you with anything, and I’ll see you again in my next video.