How to position your brand and skyrocket your photography business

If you’re taking the time to build a brilliant brand for your photography business, you should also be thinking about how you want your brand positioned in the market place. This is the key to attracting your perfect client.

The way you position yourself should reflect the type of clientele you want to work with and the number of bookings you can handle.

High-end, low-volume positioning

So for example, my studio is high-end low-volume. This means I attract a smaller number of clientele but they spend a higher dollar amount with me per session.

It’s a luxury product that not everyone can afford, and even if someone can afford my services, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll buy it. You see, I don’t expect to attract every single person in my market, just the ones who fit within my brand, are my ideal clients, and value what I do.

Low to mid-end, high-volume positioning

Let’s say you specialize in volume photography like school or sports photography. In this case, a high price tag and fewer clients won’t work for you because no one is going to pay premium dollars for school photos.

But, with lower rates, more schools will buy from you more frequently. In this case, your brand needs to be positioned on the mid to high-volume spectrum meaning you take a larger amount of customers at a lower price point.

So which positioning is right for you?

Well it comes down to what fits in with your life, how much time you have to do the work and what type of service you feel comfortable providing. But whatever you choose the strategy and the rationale has to be carefully thought out.

If you position your high-end photography business in the high volume area, you won’t be able to command higher prices because you’re casting a much wider net to bring anyone and everyone in.

If you go the high price, low volume route, your net will be much smaller and designed specifically to catch your ideal clients. You’ll also have more time to provide a high-end experience for your clients.

Think of it this way. You’re a school yearbook photographer and you’ve decided to charge a premium for your services because you use Photoshop to get rid of braces and blemishes and make the students look amazing.

Right from the get go the amount of time you’ll need to spend retouching each photograph (and there’s lots of them!) will chew up any profits you’ll make.

On top of that, the people you’re serving in this market all have wildly varying attitudes, beliefs and values. Not all of them can afford it, or even want this service and it’s too hard to try to narrow out the small group of people in that market who do.

In this scenario you run the very real risk of alienating the majority of your clientele with the school looking elsewhere for another photographer next year.

Targeting the right clientele, with the right services, at the right price will ensure you continue to have a business that works.

Do you want to work for that dream client that you only need so many of for your business to thrive? Or, do you prefer to be busy with a higher volume that involves less one on one time?

If you choose to run a high-end studio there will be a big focus on customer service because part of working with you is buying an experience.

So, keep in mind how you want to work and how you want your business to fit into your life.

There are more than just the two options of high or low volume – you can find your happy place somewhere in the middle where you take a middle range of clients for a middle range price – nothing too expensive or super cheap. I go over this in a whole lot more detail in my Brand Brilliantly program and give students a process for figuring out exactly what’s going to work for them.

Which ever way you choose to position yourself in the photography market it’s important to remember it’s not only the photography that positions your brand.

YOU play a big role along with the experience you provide to your customer so it’s up to you to make sure it works for both of you.