Building Blocks for 2024 - Part VI: Growing Your Business

by Skip Cohen

Growing your business is no different than caring for a plant. It needs water, sunlight, the right temperature, and nutrients regularly to grow. Your business needs the same attention with new products, communication to your subjects, a great skill set, demonstrated trust with clients, and everything needs to be "seasoned" with your enthusiasm and love for the craft.

Today's post is about just one aspect of growing your business—diversity in your product line. If we've learned nothing else from McDonalds, creating added value should be at the very top of your list. There's no way to initially order just a burger. We're all used to the pitch, whether it's fries, a drink, or a combo meal, and most of the time, we always ramp up our order.

Even at the supermarket, we're trained to look for added value. We may not always save money, but we always get more bang for our buck. Knowing that, why are there still so many of you who sell the minimum?

Why is what you're offering the same as it was last year and the year before? Would the products/services you offer put a rock to sleep?

Most of you, if a potential client calls or writes to ask how much something is, are going to answer without any additional pitch. Think about this for a second—you've already got the customer on the phone or in an email, and they've asked you for the cost of something. They already have an interest; otherwise, they wouldn't have contacted you. You've got the "fish on the line," so why not set the hook?

If my using that expression bothers you, then it's time for you to step out of this business and consider whether photography is really your business or a hobby!
​

• Let's start with your album company: I'm a huge fan of Marathon's Bella Albums, and there is an infinite combination of products/designs to offer every client. There's always the core book, be it a wedding, event you're covering or a Day-in-the-Life on-location shoot of a child. But what about the rest of the family?
• Book Publishing: I'm back at Marathon for their in-house book production. With a 50,000-square-foot production facility, they're geared up to exceed your expectations.
• Image Boxes are the perfect sidekick to an album, containing individual prints on single-image mats ready to be shared and displayed. But it doesn't stop there...
• Image Boxes for Marketing: In the image box, you should include a certificate to help capture additional memories. For example, a wedding photographer should include a free anniversary sitting a year later. Another certificate might cover the birth of the first child, followed by other certificates for significant events in the child's life, e.g., the first Christmas, the first family portrait, the first birthday, etc.
• Framed Prints? In Joe Buissink's book, "Weddings from the Heart," I wrote about how Joe when meeting with a couple he's photographed, has hanging on his office wall a large framed and signed print of one of his favorite images from their wedding. It's signed because he wants to remind them he's an artist, and it's his gift to them. It's just his way of saying thanks for the privilege of photographing their wedding. It's done as a complete surprise. And Michele Celentano includes a frame in her pricing that fits with the client's decor. She's a full-service photographer, even helping to hang the print if needed.
• Holiday and Boutique cards: I'm not talking about your own cards, but cards for your clients. Holiday cards are one of those items that so many people procrastinate about. Here's an opportunity for you to do them for your client, and it's going to be a professional-looking card, way ahead of the CVS special! Then you've got thank you notes, stationery, and a full line of novelty items, from bookmarks to posters!
• eCards/Videos: Technology has given every photographer the ability to provide clients with electronic messages, but don't think of them as only applicable at holiday time. There are anniversaries, birth announcements, engagement sessions, business cards, and graduations—the list of how to use this new technology is endless. ​

Suzette Allen's video below is seven years old. It was done in celebration of the client's tenth anniversary, but there is no expiration date on good ideas! This is not a new concept, but so many of you miss the opportunity.

• Prints: From canvas to wallets and everything in between, you have the opportunity to put together unique offers for your clients, but you have to sell the concept. We live in an instant fulfillment digital world. It's up to you to remind clients of the value of printed photographs.
• Presentations: I've got a good buddy who gets everyone involved at every wedding. He starts projecting images at the beginning of the reception, and by the end of the night, he's got a complete collection of guest email addresses. And if he can't project images, he's got a continuous show playing on a monitor. It might seem old school at this point in time, but people love being part of the story. And, if you limit yourself to just a blog, TikTok video, or Facebook post of the event, you completely miss the opportunity to get the guests you photographed into the buying cycle! 
• Cross Promotions: Don't underestimate the power of working together with other vendors like florists, venues, spas, travel agencies, tux and bridal vendors, etc. Together, you can help each company grow.

Look for added value and do your best to stay away from making price the issue. I've only hit the tip of the iceberg in products/services you can offer your clients. You need to develop a plan so that you can be proactive instead of reactive!

This is March 20, and Easter, Mother's Day, graduation, and Father's Day should all be on your radar! Having a plan in place and gradually adding new services and products can help you focus your marketing energy on finding new clients instead of being reactionary to every client who wants to know if you'll drop your prices!

​Remember one key issue - the entire discussion on added value is a moot point if your skill set as a photographer sucks!

You've got to have a skill set better than Uncle Harry's. You've got to exceed client expectations and make yourself habit-forming. Anyone can get their first customer—the key is to get those first clients to not only come back but also tell their friends!