Stephen Honda

Orange County Photographers Need to Prioritize their Growth Efforts

Professional OC photographers need plan their growth strategy.

As a quick search on Google will confirm, there are a numerous directions in which a professional photographer can grow his business. This article looks at some of the possible growth paths and some of the issues that should be considered when choosing a particular path.

1.       Increase your reputation and raise your prices until you are serving high end clients with high end products. This is often the path of people who like to emphasize the word “photography’ in the term ‘photography business.’ These Orange County photographers are usually artists firsts and business people second. These photographers would do the work for free if they did not have to make a living. This type of photographer matches this growth model well because they are willing to spend time on an image until it is perfect or near perfect and only high end clients will pay prices sufficient to spend that kind of time on an image.

2.       Another type of Orange County photographer tends to emphasize the term ‘businesses in the phrase ‘photography business.’ These people tend to see a photography business less as a way to provide art but more of a way to provide a valuable product to a number of people at a reasonable cost. They focus on value and make adjustments not based on what will make the most beautiful piece of art in the world but what would the client value enough to pay for. This type of photographer will often be excited about growth and expansion into new markets. Often photographers with this mindset will build a business not based on their personal reputation as a premier artist but rather a business reputation of great service at a reasonable price. These photographers will often move forward with a business plan that emphasizes volume.

Neither of these paths is exclusive. In fact it is most common for photographs to find a mix of these two philosophies. In addition photographers will switch back and forth between the two in the course of their careers. For example, a photographer who would really like to be following the first business model may need to follow the second business model to make ends meet while they build up their reputation to the point they can make a living following the first business model.

While there neither path is necessarily better than the other, a photographer would do well to consider these issues when planning his career.

Article Tags: Orange County Photographers, Orange County, County Photographers, Business Model

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