8 Common Mistakes in Photographer Business
Are you making these photographer business mistakes?
8 Top Mistakes Made in a Photographers Business (and My Best Photographer Tips)
I see these all the time. I am a digital marketing service provider for photographer businesses and WOW, these things get skipped over a LOT.
Obviously, you want the best for your business—I do too. These are my top photographer tips that you may not have thought of when it comes to improving your business. From your online presence to your client experience, I’m here to help you make sure your business is manageable, sustainable, and authentic from marketing strategies to setting strong boundaries.
Photographer Business Mistakes | Websites
1. You Don’t Even Have A Website
Come on now. You don’t necessarily need a professionally done website to be a successful photographer, but you really should have something. At the very least a landing page.
You HAVE to exist in the online space to run almost any kind of business at this point. You won’t get very far without it. ESPECIALLY because the photographer business world revolves around location, showing up on Google when someone searches for photographers near you is huge.
You should be putting at least some of your marketing time and resources toward that goal. A lot of photographers don’t and lose out on loads of business because people are trying to find them, but can’t. Those are dream clients. Connected to someone else.
2. You Don’t Share Your Location on Your Website
This is one of the biggest mistakes I see photographer businesses making and frankly one of the worst. You should have your location on every stinking page. It should be everywhere. Your ideal clients shouldn’t have to look for it.
Don’t even let them wonder where you do your business from. Don’t let it be a question. Even if you travel. Say that. Say you are a travel photographer and have your travel schedule available or common places that you travel to, and link it everywhere.
It’s even worse on social media. I will look at someone’s Instagram profile and have to search for where in the heck they are. People make snap decisions on the internet. It needs to be clear as a bright shiny day where you are located and who you serve. Otherwise, you are going to be swiped away like that.
You Aren’t Using Your Location as a Keyword
Again, you want to be able to show up in a search for photographers in your area. Your site isn’t going to be linked to those searches if it isn’t typed out on your blog multiple times and in the right spaces. Page titles, urls, copy, headings, know where you need those words to be to make them count.
I wrote a blog post about writing photographer blog posts that has tips for all the best spots to place your keywords in a post. Location is everything. Don’t let anyone have the time to wonder what town, city, state, or countries that you shoot in. Weave it into your messaging. It may seem silly to you to say the same things over and over, but people aren’t listening that closely (lotsssss of research has concluded that people need to hear things 9-12 times before they stick). Don’t go overboard, but you want to make sure you are communicating the things that potential clients need to know.
Photographer Business Mistakes | Social Media Marketing
3. You are Sinking too much of your time into social media
Social Media Marketing for Photographers
Social media marketing for photographers can be quite a distraction. I mean this with the most love and light and hope in the world, okay? You are getting distracted by the numbers. You are letting the trends and the views and the pressure of social media and video content get to you. I have an Instagram highlight full of info about social media, the pressure to create, and the void of authenticity. If you aren’t convinced that you are spending too much time trying to market your photography business on social media, go watch all of that.
You are sinking too much of your precious time into social media marketing. Let me say that again. You are sinking too much of your time into social media marketing. You are losing out on time you could be focused on business education, engaging with clients, improving your client experience, or even better: living your life. You are losing out on time with your family, time to relax, time to do the things that make you feel like yourself. And it isn’t even worth it.
4. You Aren’t Connecting With Your Audience Authentically
Okay, now that my negative points about social media marketing have been made, listen to this. You shouldn’t give up completely on social media. Social media should be a place for you to have fun in your business! You should show your authentic self. You should have honest and real conversations in comment sections and DMs. You should show your work and make yourself approachable, relatable. Create content that you enjoy. Share it authentically. You are not a performer. You don’t have to be a content creator. You just need to put yourself out there authentically.
Photographer Business Mistakes | Marketing
5. You Aren’t Blogging
Oh, girlie pop. You need to get on that blog game. The people who haven’t found you yet will find you through your blog posts and the people that have want to see your work. It may seem outdated and not worth your time, but it will make a world of a difference for your website, social media content, and search engine optimization. Blogging is basically the backbone of a strong long-term marketing strategy.
6. You Aren’t Marketing with Pinterest
Pinterest will be your best friend. Your photographer marketing strategy should include Pinterest not only to increase your visibility there, but on other search engines as well. When people are looking for a service that is a larger investment (like photography!!) they are going to do some research first. That looks different for everyone, but it’s going to start with search engines. Social media is one way to reach people, but it isn’t necessarily where people are actively searching for you.
Pinterest is for the buyers, the planners, and the goal setters. Putting your work on Pinterest is a long-term option for creating content that converts. Posting on social media is short term. That content generally doesn’t live for longer than a week (it exists, but isn’t actively shown in someone’s feed/search). Your content on Pinterest works harder the longer it exists. Pinterest gets a handle on who that particular piece of content is for and is then able to push it out to more of those people.
You want to be consistent with Pinterest, but it isn’t quite as constant as social media. You don’t have to constantly adjust to the newest trends. Pinterest was built to connect creators and sellers to those that want to buy. Social media was built to connect with others. Creating content also doesn’t take quite so much time, especially since you can make so many pins from one shoot or blog post.
Photography Business Mistakes | Photographer Client Management
7. You aren’t using a CRM Software
CRM for Photographers
Having a CRM for photographers (client relation management software) makes giving your clients an immaculate client experience with you a BREEZE. I use HoneyBook for my own business and have heard nothing but WONDERFUL things from photographers that use HoneyBook as well.
You can send contracts, invoices, collect payments, set up automated emails, send out client questionnaires, collect inquiries, scheduling, you name it. HoneyBook really is a game changer. Setting it up is the most difficult part, and they even have a one time setup service where they will take your PDF’s and set everything up for you for free. It is a dream.
Don’t underestimate the time it takes to reply to inquiries, send out contracts and questionnaires, collect payments, and go back and forth with clients. Time is everything to you as a business owner and as a person. All of that time is wasted when you could be spending quality time with your family, building up your business, or engaging with your clients.
You can save your time AND I have a coupon for you! You can get 50% off of your first year of HoneyBook with my link or with code “mara” (case sensitive).
Photographer Client Gallery
Your photographer client gallery deliveries should be professional and seamless. You want to make your client feel special, seen, and loved. From start to finish.
You can use HoneyBook or another CRM (or a more simple email) to deliver digital gallery links—SO much better than a texted or DM’d link. You can also take an extra step and deliver galleries on a physical USB flash drive with your custom logo or in a cute box!
There are sites like USB Memory Direct or even Etsy where you can get them custom made. They end up adding such a wonderful touch. It’s an added cost, but the value that you add to your client experience is tenfold. Obviously, it may not be right for every session—if you host a set of mini sessions that are cost effective for the client, touches like that may not be as necessary. If you are sending off someone’s wedding photos where they booked a huge package with you, you may want to consider how you can make that package even sweeter.
It’s touches like those client gifts or timely responses or a seamless inquiry experience from a CRM that allow you to scale your business and raise your prices. There is a balance between being professional and being totally un-relatable that is absolutely attainable. You are capable of handling it all and then some. The opportunity for your photographer business is endless, you just have to know where to give and take.
Photographer Business Mistakes | Boundaries
8. You work all the stinking time
Now, I know that as a photographer your hours are a bit different from the norm, so are mine. You end up giving up your weekends, editing whenever you can, meeting clients as their schedules allow, etc. etc.
The number one way to bring yourself to business burnout is not sticking to boundaries with your time. Take advantage of when you work best, but don’t spend all of your time working.
We weren’t meant to work 24/7. Even though you have this dream job where you get to create for a living, you still deserve to have a life outside of your work. The life that you live is just as important as the work that you do.
That means don’t let me catch you editing at 3am (the colors are going to be so off in the morning anyway). Don’t let me see you responding to emails at dinnertime. Don’t sacrifice your alone time or family time to work.
There is a balance between being timely and not being able to turn off your work brain. Set up automations so that your clients are well taken care of, and you don’t have to spend extra time working. Responding with a business day is totally fine. Taking more than a week to edit a session is absolutely okay. You are making magic for your clients. Magic doesn’t happen in an instant. Take your time, be gentle with your productivity, and don’t let your business bleed into your life. It will only hurt you both in the long run.
Sometimes in order to put your business and your clients first, you have to put you first. It’s like when you are on an airplane. You have to put your own oxygen mask on before helping anyone else. If you don’t set down the phone, stop scrolling reels, stop responding at all hours of the night, you won’t be able to go on forever. You will get tired. It will ruin the magic of living the dream.
You absolutely cannot work all of the dang time.
Photographer Tips
Your photography business is bringing a unique perspective to the photography industry. You care for your clients and want to find them authentically. The goal is to do the right things for your business to keep it sustainable for the length of your career.
I’ve dedicated my career to making this all that much easier for photographers like you. I want to cheer you on. I want to see your business thrive and make your life more balanced. The value you bring to your clients is astonishing. You take their beautiful moments and freeze them forever. You show them how gorgeous they are, how special they are, and how important even the tiniest of moments are. What you bring to the world is beyond important.
You deserve for your photographer business to be manageable. To allow you to live your life as well as create for your clients. Having healthy boundaries, caring for your client, and marketing authentically shouldn’t be a struggle.
Invest a bit of time into setting up a CRM (don’t forget that sweet HoneyBook coupon code), into finding the perfect service provider to make outsourcing a breeze, and take those breaks when you need them. That is what will eliminate the struggle. Be gentle with your productivity and speak kindly to yourself when you aren’t living up to your own expectations.
When marketing is just one more thing that needs to get done but keeping up with it isn’t worth your time, I have got you. My blog and Pinterest services are built with photographer business practice in mind. I know I can take on those parts of your marketing that take FOREVER to learn to do the correct way and make them run smoothly in the background. I can get you that website traffic to generate new leads. When you are ready, come and find me.
Ready now?! Read all about my services, view my pricing guides, and answer a few short questions to get us started.
8 Mistakes You May Be Making in Your Photography Business
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8 Mistakes You May Be Making in Your Photography Business ✦
