Raising Your Photography Prices For Crowd Control

One of the most common ways of determining a price for your photography is to ________

How would you fill in the blank?

Pricing your photography is one of the most difficult parts about your business. Now with the Internet, you don’t actually have to price shop. You just visit Google and find out what others are charging for a shoot similar to your own.

And that’s how many photographers handle the pricing issue. Yet when you price low, you attract a low paying customer that has high demands and little budget. You stay busy. And you stay broke. There is simply no way you’re ever going to create a successful business that gives you a great lifestyle at less than minimum wage.

Once you have your prices set, its time to monitor your business by raising your prices at the appropriate time.

Raise them by the season. Wedding photography is the perfect candidate for season price increases. Create a price list now for your 2011 season – you may start booking weddings for early next year now. Automatically increase your pricing by a certain percentage across the board. While you may not choose to raise the prices of your 8×10’s, raise your package or sitting fee instead.

Raise them by time frames. The best way to get people to take action is to give them a time limit on how long your pricing is good. Especially for wedding photography where the client can book 6, 12, even 18 months in advance, it could easily be a couple of years before you see an order. We always put in a clause that allowed them to order at their stated pricing guide for 60 days after delivery of the “proofs”. Any time after that was subject to our price increase.

Raise them to change your client level. A $100 portrait client is completely different than a $1000 portrait client. Different mindset, different requirements. If you are ready to reach out to a new client base, put together a new pricing structure to reach out to the new level. Keep in mind that your referral base will cut off almost completely when you make major jumps. Do it as quickly as possible if you want to move into new income brackets.

Ready to learn more about Pricing Your Photography?

Print Friendly
clientexperience@todaysgrowthconsultant.com' About Virtual Photography

We're the co-founders of VirtualPhotographyStudio.com and have been writing on this blog since 2004. We started Virtual as a way to help photographers stretch beyond a part time income, and develop strategies to become a Five Figure Photographer or a Six Figure Photographer. Ultimately its all about lifestyle, and if your goal is to live as a photographer 24/7, we think you should have the knowledge and the tools to do so. Welcome!