Setting up your own photography business is easy, you don’t need office space, you can do it from your own home. However, this is not the easiest type of business to market, especially if you are new to the business. Very often, to market this type of business, you need specialized contacts, and your newness to the business prevents you from having these contacts, unless of course your last name is Eastman.
Don’t underestimate the power of marketing, because it is the tool that can make or break your business. Marketing is the business aspect of transferring property from one owner to another. Without this tool, you are lost, but don’t despair, there are effective avenues you can explore to successfully market your business.
First of all, you need to decide what form of business you are going to establish, there are only two basic types: assignment photography and stock photography.
Assignment photography covers jobs for which you have been hired to photograph. In other words, you have a specific goal to photograph. An example of this type of photography is to cover Mr X’s wedding. This type of photography is the bread and butter of photographers, however, it is unlikely to win the Pulitzer Prize for photography.
The photographs will have limited appeal, in the case of Mr. X’s wedding; no matter how technically perfect those photographs are, they will have limited appeal. They are simply not marketable outside of the field of Mr. X’s family.
Stock photography is exactly what the name suggests, you have a stock of photographs and you have to market them. You have taken the photographs without having a buyer. This type of photography is much more speculative and can waste a lot of resources. You may have to spend a great deal of time or film, depending on whether you are using an SLR or a digital camera. Non-professionals think these photos happen when you are in the right place at the right time. However, there is actually an element of advantage to being in the right place, who can forget Napalm’s burning boy running out of a village in the Vietnam War? they are often a particular photograph taken from a series of hundreds. While these photos are often more exciting to take, they can also be boring, and you may never get that “says it all” photo.
There are effective ways to market these stock photos, which is great for the beginner because you don’t bear the cost of marketing. There are several stock image libraries online. You submit your photos to these libraries and then they sell the rights for others to reproduce. The pricing structure for this type of photography depends on its content and also where it is sold. It can appear on the cover of an encyclopedia with a circulation of half a million, and it can appear on someone’s private website. There will be a different rate depending on the type of photography and its market. When your photo is sold, the library will deduct a percentage of your commission for marketing and, of course, profit.
Most photographers, when starting out, will combine these types of businesses to varying degrees. There are several ways to boost your marketing profile without spending any money. Joining a local photography society is one way, another is to go to your local town hall and see if your local chamber of commerce has a group of professional photographers. Another more complicated way to market your business and give it a higher profile with the local community is to offer to teach photography for free. Yes, I know you will most likely be working from home, but why not offer to do it at a local school?
The SLR vs. digital camera debate is still going strong, and it looks like it will be for some time.
It’s still fair to say that most photographers want great images, in a compact and affordable package. Improved design techniques for the digital camera now offer a viable alternative to 35mm film, but one of the drawbacks of bringing this type of film to market was the time it took to produce digital photographs at home. Housing development often does not give a professional finish. There are now online photo developing agencies that will give you great images. You upload the photos to the chosen site and they will print them and send them to you. This way you can ensure sharp printouts of your instructions. Kodak Gallery allows you to share your prints online later by providing storage space, meaning you don’t even have to scan your images. Don’t forget to check out our other articles for great tips and advice for every step of building your business. Make your business work for you!
While marketing is a very important aspect of business, it doesn’t make up for a lack of quality. Clear, crisp prints sell, others don’t. Make sure you invest in good quality basics like a tripod. It is not necessary to invest in products that you will use once a year, if you need them then hire them, especially when you are just starting out. Even if you use digital, it’s still a fact that the lens is more important than the camera. Make sure the equipment you buy works for you. The extra time spent asking questions before you buy will pay dividends later, in terms of money saved. Everyone wastes money at some point or another, but being thoughtful and doing your research can cut it down substantially.
