marketing 8 - Behind the Shutter

$6,000 Weddings in a $2,000 Market

Post author:Jeff & Lori Poole
Post category:Shutter Magazine Wedding Photography
Reading time:11 mins read

In many markets, wedding photography has become a commodity. A commodity is an item or service for which the market will accept only a specific price. Most of us know the current price of a gallon of gas, and we would not go to a gas station that charges a dollar more per gallon, no matter how much better the station claims their gas is. Quality is perceived to be the same, and the distinguishing factor is price alone. If the market accepts only a certain price and that price is not profitable, how do we succeed?

Changing Gears as Elopements Take Over the Industry

Post author:Dawn Kelly
Post category:Shutter Magazine Wedding Photography
Reading time:13 mins read

In 2016, when my business started to struggle again, I was not going to let it die. I still had that hustle. I knew it was time to innovate, but I didn’t know why or how, and I needed to come up with something quick. Then a couple hired us to photograph their elopement in Yosemite. As I shot their ceremony at Cathedral Beach, with El Capitan looming over us, I knew how I was going to save my business.

How to Market in the Second-Busiest Time of Year

Post author:Skip Cohen
Post category:Marketing Shutter Magazine
Reading time:10 mins read

It’s spring—time for you to start claiming a few customers of your own. Unless you get busy grabbing new business, all of it’s going to be going on around you rather than walking through your door. As Tina Fey once quipped, “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” With the second-quarter seasonality come some amazing opportunities for great content, direct mail and partnerships. There’s a lot to think about, and although you’re coming down to the wire since it all starts ramping up in the next few weeks, you’ve still got time to do a lot. I want to help you thrive in 2018, not just survive.

Getting Started in Destination Wedding Photography

Post author:Sal Cincotta
Post category:Shutter Magazine Wedding Photography
Reading time:11 mins read

Do you like to travel? Do you like adventures? Do you love different cultures and cuisines? Do you want to see the world? Then maybe you, like me, will love destination wedding photography. Sure, you have to work and you are not going to spend your time tanning, but if you are going to work, why not have the world as your backdrop? That’s pretty much been my philosophy for the last seven years. Seeing the world is one of the single most enjoyable things I do in my life. I just love it—the culture, the food, the people. Knowing that I have made new friends all around the world is such an incredible feeling.

The Unforgettable Senior Experience

Post author:Alissa Zimmerman
Post category:Senior Photography Shutter Magazine
Reading time:7 mins read

High-school seniors, especially girls, are thrilled to get the chance to be a model for a day with our studio. It’s not always about the pictures for our clients and their parents, however. The main reason our studio has been so successful with high-school seniors is the unforgettable experience we provide from beginning to end.

Unconventional Marketing for Senior Portraits

Post author:a href="https://theblumes.co/">Phillip Blume
Post category:Senior Photography Shutter Magazine
Reading time:10 mins read

Our studio’s senior marketing has been unconventional. It’s easy to shower your market in direct mail or buy sponsor banners on the varsity football field. Those tactics are not necessarily bad, but everybody’s doing it. So how are you going to stand out to your target audience?

3 Keys of High-End Weddings

Post author:Vanessa Joy
Post category:Shutter Magazine Wedding Photography
Reading time:6 mins read

One of the goals on the vision board of a lot of wedding photographers is the high-end wedding. Depending on where you are in the world, this can have a very different connotation. I’m in the New Jersey and New York City area, one of the most expensive regions to have a wedding, where high-end means multimillion-dollar weddings at places like Cipriani and The Plaza. Whatever high-end means to you, you have to find a way to appeal to more luxurious clients. This isn’t easy, especially if you don’t run in those crowds yourself (I sure don’t). But there are ways to position yourself and your brand so you get in front of those clients and make them happy when you do.

More Building Blocks for a Stronger Business in 2018

Post author:Skip Cohen
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:10 mins read

I started 2018 talking about the "slow season," and the wealth of opportunities it brings to set the stage for the new year. Just because business might be a little light this time of year doesn't mean you can sit back. It's time to get busy building future business. We've hit on your skill set, website and blog. I want to wrap up the first quarter with a mixed bag of ideas to help round out your business and set the stage to make 2018 your best year yet.

From Commodity to Invaluable: 3 Steps to Elevating Your Perceived Value

Post author:Joey Thomas
Post category:Marketing Shutter Magazine
Reading time:12 mins read

Value is a term we hear quite a bit with packaged deals and pricing. Perceived value is what people believe something is worth. It has nothing to do with physical value. It is what our work intrinsically means to our clients. If adding value has such a strong impact on how our businesses are perceived, what can we do to systematically integrate this practice into our client experience? Supercharge your client’s perception and create immense value by focusing on: Your brand (the why), Your relationship (the who), and Your craft (the what). Here’s how to tackle each of these pillars of value perception.

Convincing the Unconvincible: Client Education That Works

Post author:Phillip Blume
Post category:Business Shutter Magazine
Reading time:12 mins read

If we’re honest, client education is probably the scariest thing about running a photography business. Always having to justify our value to a bargain-hunting bunch of incredulous consumers just seems cruel. Welcome to the professional world, my friend. Don’t let it get you down. But do get ready to work hard and reshape the way you communicate. As business owners, we wear so many hats, including “director of public relations”—perhaps the most important of all. Convincing the unconvincible is an art and a science. To become anything more than just another starving artist, you need to become an expert at convincing. Here’s how and when to do it.