Today I had a realy fun and interesting conversation with Aaron Soares on Twitter.  Aaron is a photographer who happens to live on an island that is 5 square miles.  He basically has no competition, but his market is also very small.

His question today was “How much do you charge for a 4hr wedding shoot & what does it include?”

I responded and tried to teach why you should never charge for your time.

After a few tweets, I realized that I just couldn’t do the conversation justice via Twitter alone.  So, below you’ll see our Twitter conversation.  Afterwards, I share the details of how you can charge a lot more for your photography services.  By the way, this applies for all photography services, not just wedding photography.

So, let’s break this down.  The first thing I’m trying to stress here is that you NEVER want to offer your time in exchange for money.  The reason is because time is a limited resource.  For example, another photographer responded to Aaron’s quesiton and said “five hundred non weekend and all they get is the time and the DVD”.  Ok, so let’s say you charge $500 for a 4 hour session and you do two of those per day 5 days a week.  That would be $500 X 2/day X 5 days/week = $5000/week or $260,000 per year.  That’s actually not bad.  But realize, you could never make more than that unless you start working weekends.  You’d have to be extremely efficient to do two/day every workday.  And, that doesn’t account for any overhead (DVDs, computer, software, office space, studio space, props, lighting, etc).  Anyway, the point is, if you charge people for your time, you eventually run out of time and can’t make any more money.

The second point is answering the question “Ok, How to I charge for my services if I’m not charging for my time?”  It all comes down to marketing.

Good marketing is about what’s called “message to market match”.  Here’s an example: If you just ran 10 miles and I offer you a Gatorade for $3, I’ve got a really good chance of you buying from me.  You’re super thirsty.  I have what you need.  You’re not worried about the price even though you know you can buy a Gatorade for less than $3 at Wal-Mart.  You need it NOW!

Marketing is all about offering exactly what a person wants (the right message) at exactly the right time (the market is prime).  So, if you’re going to be shooting wedding photos, or familiy photos, or photos of tourists on your 5 mile island, you FIRST need to find out WHAT the prospect WANTS and WHY they want it.

If I run into a tourist that wants a photo taken, my first question would be, “What are you going to do with this photo?”

If the answer is, “We just want to document our trip.  It’ll go it a picture album.”

Then, I’d say, “Go to the nearest West facing beach just before the sun sets.  Wait until the sun is just on the horizon.  Stand with your back to the sunset. Find another tourist.  Hand him your point-and-shoot.  Make sure your flash is on. Ask him to take your picture.”

There’s no reason for me to waste my time with someone who doesn’t want something more than a snapshot.

But, if the repsonse is, “We’re on our 25 year anniversary trip.  We’re renewing our vows.  This vacation is special to us because we’re remembering our first 25 years and we’re looking forward to the next 25.”

Now, I’ve got ammo.  I’m going to go for the jugular.  “How long are you here for?  Where did you come in from?  Where are you staying”  etc. etc.  I know these people are probably a good fit, but by asking these types of questions, I’m trying to figure out how much money they have.  Sneaky, I know.  But, if you’re going to sell something, you need to first understand and KNOW your market.  If they came from half way around the world ($$$) and they’re staying for 10 days ($$$) and they’re staying at the 5-star resort on the best beach in town ($$$) then I know I can play hardball with them.

The next step is to dig a little deeper and find out what they plan on doing with this picture.  Will it be framed?  Will it go in a prominent part of the house?  I want to know how signifcant it will be to them.  Then I’m going to ask them what they want to capture in the picture.  I’m hoping they say something about memories again.

Now, its time to paint the picture.  This is the “message” part of the “message to market match”.  I know my market now.  I know what their DESIRE is.  Now, I’m going to feed that desire.  I would tell them:

“Look, I don’t want to just take a snapshot of you two.  My expertise is in capturing a moment in time that represents unforgetable memories. I want to create something for you that will encapsulate your 25 years of marriage.  But this moment isn’t just about memories.  Its about capturing your youth, vitality, and love for eachother at this special moment.  If you let me spend a some time with you on XYZ Beach this evening, I can use my skills in using natural lighting to create an image of you two that will be something you’ll be proud to display.  It will represent your love & devotion to eachother.  It will express the joy that you share spending time together.  It will convey the vows you made to eachother 25 years ago and your renewed commitment at this time.  By the way, you both are probably a little more radiant (from the sun tan) right now than you normally are at home – so, I’m sure with the sunlight at sunset we can create very nice skin tone in the picture that will bring out your youthfulness & warmth.  For $X, I can deliver the highest quality image of you two on this special day.  What time is best for you?”

This way, I’m not exchanging time for money.  I’m exchanging a fulfllment of their dream for money (and a lot more of it).  And, I can probably shoot that shot in 30 minutes.

Pricing should never be about what your time is worth.  Price is always about what the fulfilment of a dream (or the elimination of a pain) is worth to the prospect.  That’s the key.

On a side note, if you really want to leverage your time & effort, you could contact this couple afterwards and tell them that their picture turned out so amazing that you’d like to sell it as stock. Get them to sign a consent form (offer a $100 back on what they already paid you) and then go sell it as high end stock. Now, that picture will continue to WORK FOR YOU over and over again. Selling stock may not be your thing. That’s fine. There are still other ways to leverage previously shot photos. Get creative.

I teach these and other sales & marketing tips for photographers in my course Over[Exposure].

Please comment below.  Ask further questions if you need or share your examples of creative pricing for your photography services.