A wedding costs more than $30000, and a large amount of that money goes to wedding photography. Yes, wedding photography is a profitable business. If you love to take pictures and want to start a business in this sector, you are going in the right direction.
1. Understand the business:
The very first thing you need to do is understand how the wedding photography business works, what type of strategies work, what the pricing should be, and so on. You can’t grow your business overnight. You have to study it for a long time and then offer something unique.
There are thousands of wedding photographers around you. Why should anyone hire you among all the others? The answer is simple, quality work. If you manage to deliver quality work, offer unique style and pricing, they’ll surely hire you. Be the best at what you’re doing; you’ll shine.
2. Plan your business:
Before rushing into anything, come up with a proper plan and start your work. You should know what gears and equipment are required. You have to invest some money and buy those things. Keep track of the costs because you will have to make a profit.
Design your packages and keep the pricing reasonable. The total cost of photography with your required profit should be the pricing. In short: (cost + profit= Pricing). Offer bonuses for the higher valued packages because these attract customers.
3. Work free with other photographers:
It might sound a little annoying but trust me, you need this. Working free is not a shame. You are working free for your own sake. Think about it, if you’ve never been to any wedding photography events, how would you know how to handle clients. How much should be the profit and pricing, and how much is the cost. You’ll get all the answers if you go with other photography events and click some images for free.
4. Look for opportunities around you (Friends & Family)
If you got the gears, you know exactly how to start, and you have to show your skills to others. You should seek working opportunities around your friend circle and family weddings. Once you manage to take the first contract and deliver them excellent work, you will be recommended by many for the upcoming events. It will open the path to the business you are trying to establish.
5. Create a team:
You take good pictures, and that is your only best skill. In a wedding, videography, lighting adjustments, carrying all the lenses and tripods, etc. are required. You can’t do it all alone. You should create a small team at the beginning. Divide the work among the team members.
After the photography session, you need someone to edit the photos too. That’s why you also need another person in your team to handle the photo editing works for you. Nevertheless, you can always take professional Photoshop services online if you want so.
6. Build a brand
Building a brand is hard. You might grow your brand with higher benefits, but surely it will take a lot of time. You need years of experience and trust. A brand should be unique. It has to be 100% professional and trustworthy.
At first, give it an original name. Make a logo of your brand that defines your service the best. Create business cards and receive online reservations by creating a website. Increase customer support. All of these are necessary for developing a brand.
7. Build a portfolio website
A portfolio website is where you showcase the awesome images you took. It will make your business image to the next level. Suppose someone wants to talk about your packages, your quality of the pictures and you give them the link to your business website.
It is professional! Besides, getting online visits are comfortable than regular office visits. While browsing your site, if people find your pictures stunning, they’ll surely contact to hire you on their next wedding event.
Make sure the images you showcase are the best picks. You should edit them to match the theme, resize them as necessary, and use the clipping path in Photoshop to fully control the look of the images.
8. Focus on marketing
Your business needs to spread among the people. Without marketing, that isn’t possible. You have to pay attention to the marketing strategies to apply to your business. Hire someone who is a digital marketing specialist.
You should also be active on social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are some of the best social media platforms where you can tell people about your business. You can also create a community. The people who you previously worked with can help you to gain more clients. It is also an online marketing method. If you focus on marketing, your business will increase.
9. Share your story to wedding bloggers
Many bloggers talk about weddings. They review event planners and also talk about photographers. They share stories of others to millions of people around the world.
As a wedding photographer, you can share your story with the world by contacting some bloggers. They will talk about what you do, what you have done before and they will promote your business. Of course, they’ll charge you money for this, but hey, this is worth it.
10. Meet with other professionals
The wedding photographers around you are the competitors, but if you contact them, some of them will surely collaborate. You can talk about new strategies, get photography ideas, learn from their mistakes, and also share your experience with them.
Ask them for solutions if you face any trouble while doing your work. It will create a good relationship between you and them. If their photography genre is different than yours, they can also recommend you if they get wedding photography offers. You can also do the same for them.
11. Paid advertisement
No business runs without paid advertisements. You can create commercial ads and publish them on online magazines, TV channels. You can invest in banner ads. Google ads are also there if you have a website. All of these methods are paid advertisement methods. They perform pretty well.
Wrapping Up
That’s all you need to start the wedding photography business. If you follow all the steps from the beginning, you will see a good outcome. Always try to apply new procedures. Take risks, follow the trend t, and keep patience. You will succeed.
Author Bio: Salim Ahmed is the founder of Graphic Experts India, an offshore graphic house for Photoshop services. Besides, he is a Photographer and Blogger. He likes to share tips and tricks on photography, photo editing, and graphic design!