If you’re passionate about photography, but don’t know where to start, then you need a good business idea for photographers. This business idea has two main goals.
A photography biz plan is important because it describes every aspect of your photography company and helps you plan and execute everything from start to finish.
A clear and thoughtfully-crafted photographic marketing strategy will help you identify the steps you need to take and the benefits you gain from them. It will also help you define your strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur.
7 Steps to Write a Photography Business Plan
If you want to write a photography business plan of your own, here are the seven things to think about:
1. Executive Summary
Your photography marketing plan begins with the executive overview which gives an overview of your company. It will include the mission and vision of the company.
Provide the details of the legal structure of your photography business. Is it going to be a partnership, sole proprietor, limited liability corporation (LLC), etc.?
If you’re running a photo business from your own house, mention whether it’s going to be a full-time job, part-time, or something else entirely. Or if you’re planning to open a studio, specify which kind of space you want.
List the equipment you’ll need for your business.
Briefly mention your goals in this photo business and how you plan to reach them.
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2. Select Target Market
You need to know who will be hiring you before you start looking for clients. If you don’t know who they are, then you won’t know where to look for them.
You should have an idea about the current state of the photography business. Try to figure out who works where, what services they offer, how big the local market is, and so on. Also, make sure to learn about the size of the overall market in your area.
There are some broadhead arrows for the different parts of the photographic industry.
a) News/Editorial
This target audience is people who want to be involved in taking pictures for the media. If you’re able to follow current events and take photos well, then you could have a good chance at success in this business.
b) Advertising
Market advertising consists mainly of ad agency companies that employ photographers to take pictures for various types of ads. Photography has become an important part of advertising because there is no doubt that people prefer seeing images rather than reading text.
Advertising firms often use photos taken by professional photographers to promote their products. Therefore, if you’re interested in photography, then you could start working as a photographer in an advertising firm.
c) Events
Event photographers can take advantage of the growing popularity of digital cameras and the internet. With the help of online services such as PhotoBucket and Flickr, event photographers can upload their photos to share with friends and family.
In addition, the availability of high-quality software tools such as Photoshop allows them to edit and enhance their images before posting them online.
d) Industrial
The images of different factories, buildings or industrial setups, or sumptuous resorts are required by advertising agencies or public relations (PR) agencies.
e) Sports
Sports events cover an enormous number of people and offer a huge potential for sales. You could capitalize on this by specializing in sports event photography.
To understand your customer better, you should pay close attention to where he lives, what kind of lifestyle he leads, his habits and preferences, and his family composition.
You must also get to learn about his likes and dislikes, and then try to cater to these needs. Do not forget to take note of his favorite brand names, and the products he buys regularly. This will help you provide him with quality services.
Find out which areas have a shortage of photographers, meaning areas where there is a lack of people who offer photography services. These could be areas that haven’t been explored yet by photographers.
Once you’ve done some market analysis, you can figure out who you’re targeting. Knowing your target audience helps you develop your product or service.
Remember to include your unique selling proposition (USP) when creating your marketing strategy for your photography company. It’s important to explain why clients will hire you rather than someone else.
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3. Write Products & Services of your Photography Business
After defining the targeted audience and describing your product or service, now you need to describe them in detail. For example, if wedding or event planning is the niche where you’d like to place your service, then describe your offerings in detail.
For this example, your products would be photographs, photo albums, and USB sticks. You’d need things like cameras, tripods, lighting equipment, development infrastructure, and image editors among others.
If your business requires an outdoor or out-in-the-open space mention that too along with the cost involved.
If your target audience is any website or blog then you won’t necessarily require the photos. You could use digital ones instead.
4. Document Operational Plans
If you’re a photographer who works from home, mention your operational strategy in your photography business plan; for portrait photography, a home-based photo shoot will suffice. If you require a professional setting or equipment for client shoots, include that in your business plan.
Be sure to think carefully about your services and write down everything you need for each service. You may want to include an estimate of the time required for each service.
5. Mention Marketing Policies
A marketing policy defines how you will sell your products in the market. You should identify why the consumers would buy your products rather than those offered by your competitors.
Your strategy should include ways to get into the market and conquer it. These are the key points to highlight:
a) Pricing
You should make sure that your prices cover not only the costs involved in running your service, but also allow for a small margin of profit. Make sure you mention how much you charge for each photograph in your photography portfolio. It could be a flat rate, per image, or per minute. Also, mention what method of payment you accept.
b) Profile
Depending on the type of photo shoot, you may want to set your profile so that people can see your portfolio and contact info. You can also set up a website where they can view samples of your work and contact you directly.
For commercial shoots, you may want to consider joining a professional directory or signing up for promotions to get clients.
c) Promotional Program
If you want to mention the promotional program in your business proposal, then mention it here. You could include email campaigns, referrals, loyalty programs, paid ads or even blogging.
d) Social Media
Discuss your social networking strategy in your marketing business proposal. You may utilize social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, etc., to market your business.
Explain the plans you’ve made for advertising and promotion. Usually, Instagram is best suited for small businesses. Additionally, include provisions for advertisements on Facebook, too.
e) Community Contact
In order to succeed in any industry, you must know how to market yourself. Marketing is about building relationships with people who might help you reach your goals.
You should also consider marketing yourself through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. These sites allow you to interact with potential clients and customers directly.
6. Accounting Plan
Every successful business requires a good accounting system. So, tell us what kind of bookkeeping software you’ll use in your photography business.
Tell us if you’re hiring an accountant or not. Also, add up the cost of the services mentioned above. Consider them when calculating your price tag.
7. Financial Plan
Your photography business plan should include a thorough description of how you intend to market yourself and what kind of clients you expect to attract. Be sure to take into account any special needs such as equipment, space requirements, and marketing strategies. Also, consider whether you can afford to invest money into advertising and promotion.
- Project the targeted monthly revenue which is the sum of the booking fee and sales of products.
- Include the variable costs incurred when performing your job. These include laboratory fees, transportation costs, etc.
- Add up the fixed costs. These are constant and don’t change based on the volume or type of work being performed. They include the cost of equipment and software, marketing, accounting, and tax payments. Divide the total by twelve to find out how much you’ll pay each month.
- You need to calculate the Gross Sales figure by adding up the Total Sales figure and then subtracting Variable Costs. The resulting figure is your Gross Sales figure.
- Gross profit is the total sales revenue minus any costs associated with selling the product. Monthly fixed cost is the sum of all expenses incurred by the business every
You should always look into ways to fund your startup if needed. For example, you could look into business loan programs, grants, or crowdfunding.
Always remember, the very first thing you must do when planning to start a new photography venture is to write down your ideas regarding the type of photography work you would like to offer to clients.
After that, you should think about how much money you can spend on advertising and marketing your services. You should also decide whether you would like to invest in equipment or not.
Finally, you should determine what kind of clientele you would like to attract. Once you have done these things, you can get started right away.
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