Wednesday Wisdoms

Set aside time for one of our most effective marketing strategies – connection. Specific key clients choosing who to hire are the creatives – the art director and the creative director. Hit them up, and make a dent at least enough for them to consider you when the time is right. They cannot choose what they do not know.

The marketing process for the photography industry can take many forms but can be simplified based on the time available. If there is ample time, we advise you to connect with the creatives such as the creative director and art director, who are usually the ones choosing the photographer. It is important to dedicate time to researching and engaging with these key decision-makers on LinkedIn and Instagram. This type of marketing takes more focus and time but can be well worth it in the end.

Client Management Time

Bidding Prices should incorporate the real cost of the time-consuming back-and-forth process because your business time = money. Just as we charge for the equipment you own, the same goes for managing your time.

Value your time in the bidding process. Part of the bid that is often overlooked is the time spent negotiating with clients and managing their expectations. While this time may not be explicitly spelled out in the bid, it is important to factor it into the overall cost of the project. We recommend adding this time to the creative fee, prep days, or production fee to ensure that it is covered. By doing so, we ensure that we are compensated for the time spent on client management, which can be a significant portion of the project. Ultimately, the goal is to have a bid that accurately reflects the time and effort required for the project, including the time spent managing the client.

Long-term business planning must include the pieces of our career that got us here. That part of ourselves that started us off still needs our attention, and the key is to find those potentially unexpected ways of including satisfying achievements back into our business.

Reflecting on the importance of maintaining a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in one’s career. It wasn’t a long-term business plan that got us into photography, but rather the feeling of satisfaction we got after completing a project. Hold onto that feeling and use it as a driving force for long-term success, even if one’s career path takes unexpected turns. Ultimately, maintaining a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction is crucial for success in any career.

What is your specialty? One CREATIVE FEE component that may get overlooked in fee formula calculations is how much the client needs you for this campaign. The specialization you bring to a project goes a long way, and you should be paid for it. 

When setting a creative fee for a project, it is important to consider how specific and unique your creative skills are to that particular project. This can involve evaluating whether your look or style matches the needs of the project better than others and whether your particular skills and experience make you the best fit for the job. By taking into account these factors, you can justify charging a higher creative fee for your work.

Once hired for a project, you have a role as the creative carrier of a client’s vision to become a reality. They look to you to lead the technicalities, shaping their investment in their best interest. Be that leader mapping out the best way for them to achieve their goals. You’ve accepted this job as their DIRECTOR every step of the way.

As a photographer, it is important to be the director of your shoots, even if you are not feeling it at times. Clients are looking for someone to bring out the vibe they are seeking in the talent and crew, and to feel comfortable and secure. This means overseeing everything, even if there is a producer on set. Being the director is crucial to ensuring the success of the shoot and the satisfaction of the client.

Seize the moment!

Commercial advertising is one of the most fast-paced, busy sectors, creating this norm of not getting responses to all we put out there. Each dialogue situation requires thinking fast on my feet and strategizing for the highest gain in return. My “sales” mind looks for those few golden accessible opportunities to have our valuable resource’s attention to ‘use it before we lose it.’

As a Rep, I want to discuss the importance of seizing opportunities in the moment, and not letting them slip away. This business is fast-paced and full of multitasking, so it’s important to have a handy tool for getting things done quickly and efficiently. We have examples of missed opportunities, such as not following up with a producer for contact names, and not taking advantage of a job opportunity by not structuring an email in a way that could benefit the company. 

How honest should we be when a client asks for our availability? Dates of potential jobs shift and change constantly. How to not lose one job because of a “hold” from another is what we are up against. I have learned that clients present their shoot dates and usually have more flexibility than we are receiving. One way I like to phrase it is, “Right now, we are not officially booked on another job at that time.”

A lesson we learned about holds and availability. A client we wanted to work with had mistakenly assumed that the photographer they wanted to work with was unavailable on certain dates, based on a previous conversation. The client decided to look elsewhere for a photographer. The lesson learned was that it’s important to be honest about availability but also to make it clear that a job hasn’t been bid on yet and that there’s still a possibility of availability. We suggest doing a “first hold challenge” to ensure that the job is secured before cutting off availability. 

As visual business owners, our approach is all about the quick-read impact of reaching overworked and overstimulated clients. I look to trigger all senses to be absorbed and stick to their memory. We have an assorted potential toolkit with our IG, dm’s, emails, and promos to get noticed. Consider your client’s busy eyes and how to set the incoming pace for them to pause and absorb what we are selling.

As business owners, it is important to consider how clients receive our message. One approach could be to use all the senses to help the message sink in. For example, using words on reels with images can enhance the visual experience, while using dashes or capitals in emails can make the message more impactful. Leaving space between lines can also make the message easier to read and understand. Ultimately, it is important to remember that we are in a visual business, especially in fields such as photography.

You’ve been told the potential client’s budget, and you’d like to meet it but don’t want to be held to that amount in the future – use the words “Discounted Rate” as the best excuse not to guarantee that same rate next time. Even better, put a discounted percentage subtracted under your actual total to show the deal they are getting.

“Discounted rate” is a term used to protect oneself from future pricing when bidding for a job that has a lower budget than what it should actually cost. By taking off a certain amount from the total bid, one can still get the job, have the desired images for their portfolio, and protect themselves from future pricing demands. This approach is useful when the client is desirable and the type of images is beneficial for the portfolio. This way, the bidder is protected from being trapped into meeting the same requirements in the future. It is also possible to avoid listing out prices and just providing the total amount to be charged for the job.

Retouching rates leave ambiguity when it’s based on per image, so one way to protect your time spent is to make it a day rate. As you track your time, the client can be aware of the image(s) progression and even try to speed it along, helping them achieve more out of that 10-hour day they are paying.

When pricing retouching fees, it is important to be careful as clients and photographers may have different interpretations of what is being done, what is being supplied, and how many revisions are allowed. Feedback can become intense if not priced accordingly. One way to handle this is to charge a day rate for one 10-hour day, based on time instead of production level or the number of images. This makes it more about the retoucher’s time rather than the amount of images being worked on.