Business Breakthroughs for Photographers: Part XIII

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. 
Henry Ford 

by Skip Cohen

I started the SCU blog in 2013 with one goal in mind: helping artists build a stronger business. Over the years, usually in late winter, I've done several different series to help photographers break through the chaos and noise to reach their target audience.

This current series, Business Breakthroughs, started at the end of January. I've covered so many key topics, but today's is one of my favorites because it sets the stage for so many artists to stop acting like lone wolves! Partnerships are the answer to so many challenges in growing your business, brand, and recognition in your community.

​Stop thinking you have to always fly solo with every great idea!

This is one of those topics that requires no explanation - so, like a cookbook, let's go right to each component!
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• Direct Mail is as strong as ever, especially when you consider how much email we NEVER read. Snail mail can still get you through the noise and be noticed. I've shared this concept before - design an over-sized postcard and bring in two other partners. For example, a wedding photographer, a florist, and a limo company - each get 1/3 of the card and share the cost for the mailer and postage. A boudoir photographer could partner with a lingerie shop and makeup artist or spa. But here are the real benefits - all three partners get the advantage of each other's reach; each partner becomes an ambassador for all three entities, and your cost is reduced by 1/3 of what it would be if you were a solo act! (Note: Need help designing your mailer? Call Marathon Press!)
• Sharing Gear: I'm not talking about your day-in-day-out camera gear, but the more exotic things you need to grow your business. A large format printer, exotic lens or lighting equipment are all high ticket items - why not split the cost and share the use with a colleague?
• Studio/Office Space: There's nothing wrong with working out of your home. In fact, with fifty percent of professional photographers being part-time, most of them have a home office. However, depending on your goals, especially for a studio, partnerships with other photographers might get you to the space you need much faster. Again, sharing the costs gets you a level of business development that might be years away from you being able to support on your own.
• Exhibit/Gallery Space: My good buddy Kevin A. Gilligan is a member of the South Bay Artists Collective in Hermosa Beach, CA. Twenty different artists share the space, exhibit time and the costs with some incredible benefits: They inspire each other's creativity; they share expenses; they get increased exposure through each other's exhibits; they motivate each other, and they benefit from everyone's network! 
• Community Events: A few years back, I shared a guest post by Bruce Berg, the Lane County Children's Contest. It's been going on for over forty years with three competing photographers launching a children's photo contest during the first quarter of each year - the slow season! And Bruce was very open about the revenue the contest brought in at a time when most markets experience the slowest income of the year.

The bottom line? Stop thinking you have to do everything alone. Your greatest marketing tool involves relationship building. Strategic partnerships are one of the very best, most efficient, and effective ways for you to grow your business! And you're still early enough in the year to design some spectacular cross-promotions with 2-3 partners to make 2025 one of your very best years yet!