How to Build a Business Plan for Your Photography Business

By Doug Gordon

Being a successful photographer is about much more than taking great photographs.

Your photography may be your passion, but if you want to build a sustainable business, you also need to understand sales, marketing, customer service, planning and the many other things that happen behind the camera.

For me, photography has always been about creativity, storytelling and the connection between people. But I have also come to see the business side as another form of creativity. You have to be willing to think differently, try new ideas and continually look for ways to improve.

The good news is that you don’t need to have everything figured out before you begin.

You need a plan.

Start with a simple business plan

There is a great deal more to operating a photography business than taking pictures.

Whether you’re selling photography, video games or something completely unrelated, many of the fundamental principles of running a business remain the same.

Your business plan doesn’t need to be a complicated document full of jargon. In fact, the simpler it is, the more likely you are to use it.

Start with clear, specific questions:

• What type of photography do I want to specialise in?
• Who are my ideal clients?
• What do I want my business to earn?
• How many bookings do I need?
• What will I charge?
• How will people find me?
• What makes my photography different?
• Where do I want the business to be in one, three or five years?

The important thing is to turn vague ambitions into something you can actually work towards.

“I want more work” isn’t really a plan.

“I want to photograph 30 weddings next year and generate £X in turnover, with enquiries coming through my website, referrals and three specific marketing channels” gives you something you can measure.

Passion matters

I’ve learned from a very young age that few things are achieved without passion.

Photography is a creative profession, and that passion is important. But there is a difference between loving the idea of being a photographer and genuinely enjoying the work involved in running a photography business.

You have to enjoy working with people.

You have to enjoy improving your photography.

You have to be prepared to learn about marketing, sales and finance.

And you have to accept that some days will involve very little photography at all.

There will be emails to answer, enquiries to follow up, albums to design, accounts to deal with and marketing to organise.

That doesn’t mean you’ve stopped being a photographer. It means you’re running a photography business.

Don’t confuse resources with resourcefulness

One of the easiest excuses for photographers is equipment.

“My camera isn’t good enough.”

“I need another lens.”

“I need better lighting.”

“I need the latest software.”

Of course, equipment matters. Having the right tools can make a difference, but having more equipment isn’t necessarily going to solve a business problem.

The same applies to marketing.

You may not have the biggest advertising budget. You may not have a huge studio. You may not have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

That doesn’t mean you can’t build a successful business.

The more important question is: how resourceful can you be with what you already have?

Look for opportunities.

Build relationships.

Improve your website.

Ask existing clients for referrals.

Create useful content.

Learn from photographers who are doing things differently.

Experiment with your marketing and measure what happens.

If something doesn’t work, understand why before trying something different.

Being prepared to adapt is often more valuable than simply having more resources.

Understand your clients

Photography is a people business.

You can have technically perfect images, but if you don’t understand the people you’re photographing, you’re missing a huge part of the job.

Think about what your clients actually want from you.

A wedding client isn’t simply buying photographs. They are trusting you to capture one of the most important days of their lives.

A portrait client isn’t simply buying a set of files. They are buying an experience and images that mean something to them.

The better you understand your clients, the better you can communicate your value.

This is also why the telephone call, the meeting and the consultation are so important.

Every interaction contributes to the way a client sees your business.

Stop competing only on price

If your only selling point is that you’re cheaper than the photographer down the road, you’re entering a difficult game.

There will always be someone prepared to charge less.

Instead, concentrate on the value you provide.

Why should someone choose you?

Perhaps it’s your style.

Perhaps it’s your experience.

Perhaps it’s the way you work with people.

Perhaps it’s your customer service, your albums, your products or the experience you provide before, during and after the shoot.

Your photographs are obviously important, but they’re only part of the overall proposition.

Think about the complete experience you provide from the first enquiry through to the finished product.

Marketing is part of the business

Being a great photographer doesn’t automatically mean people will find you.

You need to make sure your potential clients know who you are, what you do and why they should consider you.

That means having a marketing plan rather than simply advertising whenever you remember to.

Consider the different ways people might discover you:

• Search engines and your website
• Social media
• Referrals from previous clients
• Venues and other businesses
• Networking
• Email marketing
• Local marketing
• Personal projects and content
• Exhibitions, events and industry activity

You don’t need to do everything.

In fact, trying to do everything can quickly become overwhelming.

Choose the channels that make sense for your business and your clients, then do them consistently.

Don’t blame the market

Every photography business will have difficult periods.

There will be quiet months.

There will be clients who don’t book.

There will be changes in the economy, changes in technology and changes in what customers expect.

It’s easy to blame those things when business isn’t going as planned.

Sometimes they really are factors. But don’t let them become an excuse for everything.

Ask yourself what you can control.

Could your website be better?

Could your portfolio be stronger?

Are you contacting enough potential clients?

Are you following up enquiries?

Is your pricing clear?

Are you communicating your value properly?

Are you offering products that people actually want?

Could you improve your sales process?

You may not be able to control the market, but you can control how you respond to it.

Be prepared to change

The photography industry doesn’t stand still.

Technology changes. Clients change. Competition changes. The way people search for photographers changes.

The approach that worked five years ago may not work today.

That doesn’t mean everything you’ve done previously was wrong. It simply means that successful businesses need to evolve.

If you notice something changing, don’t be afraid to experiment.

Try something.

Measure the result.

Learn from it.

Then decide what to do next.

You don’t have to get every decision right first time.

Sometimes the biggest mistake is refusing to make a decision at all.

Make your goals visible

One of the simplest things you can do is write down what you actually want from your business.

Not what you think you should want.

What do you want?

Perhaps you want to photograph more weddings.

Perhaps you want fewer weddings but higher-value bookings.

Perhaps you want to move into commercial photography.

Perhaps you want to build a portrait studio.

Perhaps you want more time away from the business.

Perhaps you want the business to provide a particular income while allowing you to spend more time with your family.

There is no single definition of success.

Your business plan should reflect the life you actually want to live.

Once you know that, you can start making decisions that support it.

Take action

A plan is only useful if you do something with it.

Choose a small number of things you can change and start today.

Improve one page of your website.

Contact a potential business partner.

Follow up an old enquiry.

Review your pricing.

Plan your next marketing campaign.

Create a personal project.

Photograph something outside your normal comfort zone.

Learn something new.

Speak to another photographer who inspires you.

You don’t need to transform your entire business overnight.

Small improvements, made consistently, can have a significant effect over time.

The past is not the future.

What worked yesterday doesn’t have to determine what happens tomorrow.

Your circumstances may not be perfect, and you may not have every resource you would like, but you can still be resourceful.

Have a clear idea of where you want to go, understand your clients, take your business seriously and be prepared to adapt along the way.

Most importantly, don’t wait for everything to be perfect before you start.

Make a plan. Take action. Learn from the results. Then keep moving forward.