Photography Marketing & 'Value'

Photography Marketing 'Value' Is Determined By You The Photographer

One of the most consistent photography marketing difficulties for many photographers is setting their prices so that they’re competitive and profitable. One of their greatest challenges, in my opinion, is that there is a considerable amount of misunderstanding about ‘value.’

Value is very misunderstood by many people, not just photographers. ‘Value’ is challenging because it only exists in the mind of the person buying. There really is very little difference between real value and perceived value. As an example, two identical products, when marketed differently, one is perceived as having a different ‘value’ than the other – although they’re both identical products.

Lessons From Starbuck’s

Often, value is established by marketing techniques. Starbuck’s sells very similar coffee to many other cofee businesses. Yet, people stand in line to pay from $4 to $7 for a cup of Starbuck's. Do we really think that Starbuck’s coffee is 5 to 10 times better than coffee from a ‘traditional’ coffee shop? Regardless of your answer, lots of coffee drinkers do feel that Starbuck’s coffee has that much ‘value’ – and they stand in line to pay Starbuck’s prices. And, if we were able to interview those paying for that Starbuck’s ‘value,’ they would all feel that they paid for superior quality!

Although it is the perceived value of the customers, that is the actual value – especially as far as the customer is concerned. If they didn’t see the value, they would not agree to the pricing. Starbuck’s marketing establishes value in the minds of current customers and potential customers.

Lessons From Starbuck’s And McDonald’s

Photographers could learn some very good lessons on photography marketing by observing and studying Starbuck’s advertising. McDonald’s also markets their hamburgers in methods that photographers could learn some very good strategies for marketing their photography. Both, Starbuck's and McDonald's, establish the 'value' of their products in their marketing strategies.

When it comes to marketing photography, there’s another aspect to consider. The products of Starbuck’s and McDonald’s are consumable. Photography, on the other hand, is kept for a considerable time. The longer the photography is kept, the more valuable it becomes to the photography customer. Focused photographers recognize this aspect and factor that in when assisting their customers to ‘perceive’ the value of their work.

You determine the ‘value’ of your work.

Your photography customers will pay your prices when you assist them to see the ‘value’ of your work. Sometimes, you can enhance the perceived value with packaging, quality of advertising, consistency of advertising, consistency of marketing, etc. It doesn’t happen accidentally. It is intentional. It doesn’t happen because of the “awesome creativeness” of the work of the photographer.

Continue to take great photos. But, you create actual value by your marketing efforts. This is a very critical factor to your profitability as a photographer. There is no escaping it, photography marketing is needed because photos don’t sell themselves.

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