PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Photography is art; it is capturing a moment, an event, an age and a memory. Photos are also used to illustrate products and services.
Photos are important for both pleasure and business. I use photos in my blogs and books like crazy so whoever is trying to jump in this business on a larger scale is on the right path because pictures are the only way people can show off what they are wearing today to someone at a distance, and believe it or not to some that is a need.
Allow me to admit that I do not know everything and I invite comments from you. Criticize and add on, I love it because at the end of the day we review the business from different perspectives, making this article rich with the pool of knowledge.
Here we are not talking about stopping someone who is passing innocently asking them if they want a passport size photo, we are not standing outside banks or at colleges waiting for people who need passport size photos, and we are not attending graduations and taking pictures of people who haven’t asked us to do so.
We are going deeper and a little more technical.
TARGET MARKET
You can’t compete with veterans in town who wear a cargo vest and have a big old camera. Those guys are stationed and frankly are not making the money I want to talk about. I want us to talk on another scale of business. So let the market you select be one that drops a lot of money because a dream job is a job with a lot of money right. I am looking at you targeting newly engaged couples that are going to have weddings, Company’s looking to have some professional shootouts of their premises, and I am looking at you doing professional adverts. Photography is not limited to photos but also video shooting. This market is big and ideas are unique. No single company can monopolise this industry, that is why you have a chance.
Summary of markets
§ Weddings
§ Business adverts ( Photos and Videos )
§ Workshops
§ Events
§ Parties
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
DO NOT OVERCHARGE WALK IN CLIENTS
Most professional shoots are too expensive. K35 ZMW to K50 ZMW per soft copy of a photo to your flash or phone. I see no need in being very expensive. A photo is digital, it has zero costs to produce. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to shoot a photo. The photographer takes many shots and lets you select one and send it to your phone or flash.
This is why most studios are not busy. Remember business is psychology, and psychology has taught me that people are not stupid no matter how stupid you think they are. They think and debate within themselves. They may want a picture but are discouraged to come all the way to your studio to get one photo in their new suit or dress.
I say let them get as many as they like in fifty kwacha. From now on don’t charge per photo, charge K50 ZMW per 5 minutes. Let the customer take 70 pictures if they want in those five minutes. This way people can do 20 poses and take many pictures in five minutes. Then you can send them on their phone. Maybe you can limit the pictures to 25 pictures per five minutes. If there is some editing involved, you could limit it to just one or two edited pictures and send the rest to their device as is. This applies only to soft copy pictures for hard copies charge as usual.
Your fixed costs do not change whether you give someone one picture or twenty pictures. Your labour is fixed, your rent is fixed and it still takes 5 minutes to shoot one photo. In fact, it takes longer to give one Picture because the customer will have to choose, so giving them everything under 5 minutes is the way to go.
Customer loyalty will increase and you will be giving people value for their money and people recommend friends and relatives who see their pictures. Besides it's their photo anyway, what is the point in keeping it?
DO NOT PUT SIGNATURES ON PEOPLES PHOTOS
Personally, this annoys me. I pay you to take a picture and you advertise your business on my picture? Pictures are special memories. We don’t want to see your signature on our photos. Signatures should be put on free stuff that you do, not on paid stuff. I personally feel that a buzz is taken away from my picture when there is InvestCorp Studio Production logo on it.
If you are advertising YES! Not on paid photos.
Don’t worry, people don’t even read signatures, this has a reverse effect, someone will personally ask where the person shot the photos from and your customer will tell them all about you. If you want to put signatures ask pretty girls and cute boys to come to get pictures for free for advertising purposes.
GET ONLINE
Join sites which allow photographers to upload their content. These photos are downloaded for free and used in articles. This actually helps you identify what style people appreciate from the number of downloads people make.
Photos of Africa and nature are rare on these sites. If you get some and they seem professional, you might just get a contract to take photos for some company abroad making a documentary about Africa. On these sites, you can also follow fellow photographers and gain some inspiration from their styles of photography.
Good examples of these sites are Pixabay and Pexles.
Have a Facebook page where you engage people, in today’s business, if you have no page you are running at a disadvantage. Especially for small business in Zambia.
SHOOT VIDEOS FOR WEDDINGS, EVENTS AND PARTIES
Your biggest customers will be brides preparing for weddings, shoot professional videos that capture the dances, kiss the bride part, parent’s speeches excellently. Also, tell the bride that you can help them sell the wedding video to relatives on the same wedding night of which you can get 20% or 30% of the total sales revenue. It’s either you burn the wedding video to a disc or find a way to make it happen.
This is good because the couple will earn some money and drunken happy relatives will support them by buying their nieces’ wedding video. Make a plan to make sure it’s at the wedding not after because people will lose that energy and hype after the wedding.
Because of competition, you want to find out about the couple getting married fast. Offer free newly engaged couples shootouts at your business so that you attract young couples getting married and from then onwards. You can make your move to convince them to use you for their wedding photo and video shoot. Show them samples of what you have done before.
EQUIPMENT
BUILD A NICE STUDIO
You need a nice, well-ventilated and well-lit studio. You want to have all sorts of items and costumes that people can pay to have a photo with.
For example, have a sword, fake guns, trophies, superhero costumes and so much more in the studio that a client who has already paid K50 ZMW for five minutes can pose with. You can charge an extra K10 ZMW for it. Just imagine earning a K100 ZMW or more per day from a sword by customers simply posing with it, which is K3000 ZMW per month.
The items you choose should be hard to get and eye-catching, also you can have free stuff that people can pose with/on, such as a swing, chair etc. You can even have a power Fan that blows air that makes clothes and hair flow one side and Charge more for this feature.
You can also ask customers if they want the photos printed and framed of which you can charge for both.
Your studio should be spacious such that you can move things in and out and be able to make videos indoors on a green screen.
If you can, engage a makeup artist who will make clients look beautiful before the shoot. Also be a beautician, if you know your client has a big nose don't shoot them from the side, and if they have no teeth in front don't allow them to smile. Find a way of tactfully telling them that. They will appreciate and trust your opinion.
NEW AGE CAMERAS
Get the best cameras for your business no matter what they cost. They will payback. Buy a camera for photos and a camera for videos. Buy all stands and equipment that help you shoot from different angles.
If you have knowledge in this area, help a friend by commenting with the best cameras and how much they cost.
GET A DRONE
This will help you shoot videos that some of your competitors won't make. A drone escorting a vehicle, shooting the premises from above, etc.
PHOTOSHOP SOFTWARE & COMPUTER
Get some software to help you edit photos and polish them to perfection. Other features are also available for this.
You will need a capable computer to process all the photos and run your software smoothly
What other equipment can we add?
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