SkipCohenUniversity
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us

the SCU Blog

Creating Your Own Seasonality and Growth in Photography

5/23/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
by Skip Cohen

It's Marketing Monday, and we're right in the middle of Spring seasonality, with the last little fury of activity coming up on Father's Day. But what's your next target? What are you doing to build a more substantial business after those seasonality milestones?

In 2004, I met Vicki and Jed Taufer for the first time. They were on vacation in California, and we had lunch together. That was when I was introduced to her calendar for memory-making. She showed me her holiday card for the previous year - it was an accordion-style calendar with special themed events she had created for the entire year for photographing children. (I've included two of the pages in the four-panel card below) She even included a section about her travel in 2004, planting the seed for additional portrait sessions while she was on the road.  ​ 
Picture
Here's my point - this industry has always relied on the natural seasonality of the demand - the Spring holidays and the big holidays in the fourth quarter. But everything has changed - for the better! Thanks to social media, you can create your own seasonality. With just a little creativity and organization, you can create more demand for your services - all on your own.
​
  • Legacy Events: With that renewed sense of family I'm always talking about, put together a package that includes a portrait session with a video piece to capture Grandma and Grandpa's backstories. This could start right now with Father's Day and creating a program to capture Grandpa's history.
  • Summer Memories: Everyone is different today from last summer or the year before. We're all getting out more, and the reality is that nothing can slow down the way kids grow. You've got to remind Mom that her kids are a day older and changing every morning - they're growing up. It's time for a new family portrait.
  • Furry Friends: The pet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. I know from my own household, Lucy and Belle might be four-legged, but they're with us 24/7 and important members of the family. We're convinced they know and understand just about everything we say. That's why pets are number three behind brides and babies when it comes to why people hire a professional photographer. Are you offering pet portraits?
  • Food Photography and Restaurant Decor: The pandemic put every restaurant on notice they needed photographs of their food, especially for websites and carry-out. And if they were now serving outdoors, when they were only set up for indoor dining, they need help decorating the side of the building where tables were now set up. That gives you an opportunity to meet the needs of a new client base for both food photography and decorative prints outside. (I'm a huge fan of Bay Photo's Performance EXT Metal prints - here's the post.)
  • Throwback Thursday: I rarely miss a Thursday post sharing old throwbacks, mostly about friends in the industry. But for you, it's an opportunity to remind your clients that time never stands still. It's like the old SNL routine of Subliminal Man. You've got to plant the seeds with your clients for ideas of capturing memory-making events. Whether in a blog post or just shared on your Facebook page - use Thursdays to turn back the clock and remind your clients that it's ALWAYS time for a new portrait.
  • Headshots: The market is enormous, and these days, partly because of the pandemic, everyone in business needs to be seen in the very best light...pun intended. This is where owning your zip code plays a role. Get out and introduce yourself to every business in the community! They need to know you're the local expert regarding imaging.

No one post could cover all the potential business out there, but it's a you-snooze-you-lose scenario. Over the last couple of years, everything changed, but business is out there, and leadership opportunities are everywhere.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Click to visit Platypod.com

      Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Our Partners

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    "Why?"

    Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

    Categories

    All
    Beyond Technique
    Business
    Clean Up Series
    Customer Service
    EDU10
    Excire
    F64 Lunch Bunch
    Faculty
    Fast Food Friday
    Guest Post
    Humor And Sarcasm
    Hump Day
    In The News
    Lessons Learned
    Lighting
    Luminar
    Lumix
    Marketing
    Mark's Corner
    Mind Your Own Business
    Miscellaneous
    Motivational
    One Step At A Time
    Photodex
    PhotoShelter
    PhotoTexting
    Platypod
    Podcasts
    Profoto
    Sales
    Search
    Skylum
    Social Media
    Sunday Morning Reflections
    Tamron
    Tamron Recipes
    Technique
    Throwback Thursday
    Wedding Photography
    Westcott
    Why?

Categories​

Business
Marketing
Technique
Sales
Fast Food Fridays
​

Podcasts

Tamron Recipes 
Beyond Technique
Why?
Mind Your Own Business
Pro Photographer Journey

 Partners

Tamron
PhotoTexting

​Lumix

Marathon Press
​Platypod
©  2019 Skip Cohen University
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us