Why is pricing so hard? There are many variables when it comes to pricing your services and it can be overwhelming and tempting to just see what someone else is doing and copy that, so today I’m going to give you 3 tips for how to set up your photography pricing in a way that not only is profitable but also sustainable. To be honest, pricing does not have to be as scary as we sometimes make it out to be.
Tips for Pricing Your Photography Services
Tip 1: Know your numbers.
You may have heard someone say “know your numbers” when talking about business data and financials before, but I’m talking specifically about your numbers in two ways: First, knowing what it costs to run your business. These are your expenses like your website, CRM, and any subscriptions you may pay for. Secondly, you must know what you need to be making based on your lifestyle. Essentially, how much do you need the business to pay you? These questions are key for successfully pricing your photography services based on your own specific business and life situation and not accidentally falling into a plan that sounds good or that someone else is doing and that doesn’t align for you.
What we focus our attention on grows. This is true in all areas of business but I’ve found it particularly helpful in the money side. Become comfortable opening up your business banking accounts and taking a look regularly. I promise you this becomes less and less scary the most you face the hard things like money in your business.
Tip 2: Take into account your capacity when setting your rates.
You may have come up with a number after calculating your expenses. Let’s say for example you decide $2,000 for a wedding is profitable, but capacity means we also must take into account how many weddings you can do, (*or want to do), per year both due to the seasonality of weddings but also your ability to do them.
When you establish your capacity for portrait sessions, or weddings, you can start to crunch some numbers. More weddings may mean more outsourcing to make it possible to shoot that much. Many photographers outsource their editing to keep up with the workload (which i highly recommend!) but this is anther cost you will have to account for as your business scales.
Tip 3: Simply and clarify your price list with a simple grunt test.
Confused people don’t make decisions. That’s one of the best and most impactful pieces of information I have learned from Donald Miller (the Author of Storybrand.) If your pricing is complicated, confusing, or simply leaving them with way too much information to process, you could be losing the sale. How long does it take a potential client to understand the options in your pricing? This is where simplicity WINS. I recommend as a general rule to offer 2-3 collections max when it comes to wedding pricing for this reason. If you want to test this out: show someone your pricing options and ask them for their feedback and to explain the options that are placed before them. If they cannot clearly and quickly tell you how they can work with you and hire you for a portrait session or wedding, then you know it’s time to clarify and simplify.
Setting profitable and sustainable pricing is absolutely possible and with these simple tips I know you’re one step closer. If you’re thinking about raising your prices, I have the 5 steps you need to take before you raise them, and I’ll link to that here.
I’d love to hear about what your best takeaways are from this video and what you’d love to see more of on the channel! Leave a comment below to let me know!
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