Don't Lower Your Photography Rates!
Until you go through this one check, because it could save you from leaving thousands of dollars on the table.
Are you an overpriced Photographer?
On my S.T.E.P. Pricing course, there is a section where I help photographers find their initial price landing. In order to adjust your rate to the perfect spot, you have to get an idea of where you are on the chart. For example, if you’re way overpriced then there are other issues to solve first. If you’re way underpriced, it’s the same story.
Assuming you have 10 meetings with potential photo clients, we can now look at the charts below. By the way, a “meeting” is considered anything talking about a specific project past the initial inquiry. The “meeting” could be on Zoom, in person, or on the phone.
If you happen to book only 1 or 2 of the 10 meetings, then we have a bigger problem. You are severely overpriced and the market has spoken. Your value does not match your rate. Should you just automatically adjust your price?
The short answer is NO. Like I said, the market does not think your value matches your rate. Instead of changing your rate, let’s adjust your value. What could be the issue?
Maybe you’re not offering enough hours, or you’re not giving enough images at the end. Maybe your website is ugly or there are negative reviews online. It could be a series of things that you adjust without dropping your rate. This is an important part of my S.T.E.P. Pricing course (BTW…STEP stands for Secret To Easy Photography) and we work through every element to make sure you make the smartest decisions.
What if you book about 5 of the 10 meetings. Then I’d say you’re probably fairly priced and in a good range. Can you increase your rates a little? Of course! And I can show you how to do that but it’s important to know you’re not playing out of your league or playing too small. This is a great starting place for any photography business!
What if you book about 9 or 10 of the meetings? Guess what? The market recognizes your value and they hope you never recognize it yourself. You’re too good to be true and they’ll play gatekeeper with you. They won’t refer you because you’ll be their little secret.
Let me give you a scary scenario: For easy math, let’s assume you’re charging $500 for a photoshoot (yikes) and you’re booking about 9 of these per month, 9 out of 10 meetings.
Realistically you’re probably able to charge about $850 for the same photoshoot and probably book about 6/10. At $500 per, you’re earning about $4500 per month. By simply raising your photography fee to $850, you’ll make about $5100 per month (a small increase) but working far less. Doesn’t that sound good, friend? You make more money working drastically less.
That’s why I created S.T.E.P. Pricing course for photographers. It’s the smartest investment for your photography business.
Don’t Lower Your Photography Rate
Yes I spoke in length about pricing but that’s NOT the first component to adjust. There are website changes like the number of images per gallery, the order of the images in a gallery, the branding colors, your About page, the actual photography level, or even the speed in which you reply back to emails.
Reaching for the price tag is a photographer’s first reaction but it should be the last lever to adjust (unless you’re raising the fee).
Small Changes, Bigger Photography Profits
If you consider the middle graphic, it’s a bit similar to what Apple does with their products, particularly the iPhone. As we enter the iPhone 16 era (about a week to go), there is a lot of chatter about the pricing.
Apple does a phenomenal job finding the right price point. We all anticipate the new product, see the price tag and complain, then we line up around the building to buy whatever they’re selling.
Side note and political note: For the health and safety of others in places like The Congo, you don’t have to upgrade every iPhone model. You can purchase used phones that work well, saves you money, and is less devastating to people working in the mines. Most of the workers are children : ( I’m on iPhone 13 right now and it works as well as the 15. Please and thank you.