How to Build and Grow a Successful Photography Business
Are you looking to grow a successful volume photography business?
Have you ever wondered how, when, or where to start scaling?
In this blog, we’ll provide you with photography business tips to set your professional photography business up for success.
Is It Time to Grow Your Business? | Necessary Growth Questions to Ask Yourself | Logistical Questions Before Building a Team | Which Roles to Hire First | What the Photography Market Looks Like | Growing Your Brand Online | Efficiency in Photography Workflow | Learn More
Meet Our Volume Photography Experts
Kris and Lindsay Walters from Black Iron Photography have firsthand experience in building a thriving photography business. After 12 years in weddings and portraits, they switched to high-volume sports photography in 2020, and have skyrocketed their results since then.
Now, they’re ready to share transformational tips that work across various photography niches, including sports, dance, gymnastics, and schools.
Keep reading for key insights from their masterclass to help you succeed in the world of volume photography.
Is It Time to Grow Your Business? Here Are Some Questions to Ask Yourself
Feeling overwhelmed by the demands of running your professional photography business? If you answer “yes” to any of these, it might be time to grow:
- Have you ever had to miss an important family event because of a shoot?
- Have you gotten to the point where you’re so stretched that marketing has taken a back seat?
- Do you find yourself shooting nonstop but still not hitting the revenue goals you made for yourself?
- Are you having trouble keeping up with emails and phone calls on a daily basis?
- Do you have yet to set up a CRM system to streamline and automate your email communications?
These were just a few of the tell-tale signs that spurred Kris and Lindsay to make a change and begin scaling their photography business.
After you’ve answered “yes,” consider:
- How much can I handle?
- How much do I want to be shooting?
- How much post-processing work will be involved with each type of shoot?
- What type of work/life balance do I want to achieve?
To discover why these questions are crucial, along with more considerations, be sure to check out the full masterclass here.
Logistical Questions Before Building a Team
One crucial step to scaling involves building a team. Before you start the hiring process, here are a few questions you should consider:
- How much staffing will I need to grow?
- What roles do I need to fill to grow?
- Who is our competition?
- What type of back end systems will I need?
- What segments do I want to go after?
- Should I establish my company as an LLC or S-Corp?
For even more things to consider, check out our guide on how and when to grow your photography team, full of expert insights.
Which Roles to Hire First
When it comes to building a team, there are specific roles you will want to consider first.
Depending on your current stage of business growth, our experts recommend consulting the following list in the order presented:
1. Posing Assistants
“Typically you’re going to start with your posing assistants first. Teaching them as you go, you can then turn your posing assistant into a photographer.” -Kris Walters
If you want this role to evolve, be sure to ask candidates during the interview if they’re interested in advancing in their position.
2. Photographers
You can start with one, but as you continue scaling, you may want to consider hiring more photographers.
3. Administrator
Once you have a posing assistant and additional photographers, you will experience an increase in workload, making an administrative position essential.
An administrator’s role will take care of scheduling, client communication, and other important tasks that run weekly operations.
4. Editing Team
Once you have established your team, bringing on editors will help streamline your post-production process, ensuring a quicker turnaround for clients.
5. Sales Team
A sales team can drive revenue by managing inquiries, following up on leads, and converting potential clients, allowing you to focus on your creative work.
6. Account Managers
Account managers maintain client relationships, ensuring satisfaction and fostering repeat business. They can handle contracts and renewals, making your workflow smoother.
For more strategies on whether to hire full time or part time, along with key indicators for business growth broken down, access the entire masterclass here.
Don’t Be Overwhelmed: What the Volume Photography Market Looks Like
When taking your business to the next level, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed by competition.
While there is competition, our experts, Kris and Lindsay advise that there are also many opportunities to continue growing in this market.
Here’s what our experts reassure us with in the masterclass:
“Sports photography has really exploded in the last couple of years. There’s a lot of people doing it now, but there is so much work out there.”
“Between the number of schools and organizations, don’t get overwhelmed and think, ‘there’s no business’ or ‘I can’t compete with anybody.’”
“You should definitely think this is an industry you can get into and be successful at.”
Growing Your Brand Online: Showcase Your Work Through Social Media
Social media can be one of the best places to showcase your work when growing your photography business.
Here are a few ways you can effectively leverage social media to grow your photography business:
1. Be willing to shoot for free to build your brand
When Kris and Lindsay jumped into the world of volume sports photography, they asked friends for permission to shoot their kids and showcase their shots on social media.
2. Create bite-sized video content of shoots
To bring your photo shoots to life, create Reels that sync with music and include only your best shots.
Real-life examples of content are available in the masterclass here. If you’re spending too much time editing, consider utilizing apps to help you streamline your editing process.
3. Aim for 20-second to 1-minute clips
Lindsay aims for 20-second to 1-minute clips, but often creates even shorter reels.
4. Tag schools, locations, and subjects
The more you tag schools, locations, and subjects, the more visibility you will get on each post, growing your brand presence.
5. If you aren’t social media-savvy, hire someone
Having a good social media presence is key for any business. If you don’t have the time, energy, or expertise in social media, be sure to prioritize hiring someone out to help you build yours.
For more social media tips, check out our social media marketing guide for volume photographers whitepaper, paid social media marketing guide, and unpaid social media marketing guide.
Efficiency in Photography Workflow
When growing a photography business, efficiency is everything.
Knowing what systems and processes save you time is key, especially if you are striving for a healthy work/life balance.
Here are a few processes Kris and Lindsay found to be helpful when increasing efficiency and scaling:
1. Cutting down on environmental shots and increasing extraction shots.
“One of the things we had to consider was, could we do photo sessions where Kris didn’t have to physically be there?” – Lindsay Walters
Training new team members to take high-quality environmental shots takes significantly more time, which is why Lindsay and Kris cut down on environmental shots.
2. Having multiple shoots running simultaneously
One secret to scaling is being able to have multiple shoots going on at the same time.
For example, two of the Walters’ team members could run extraction shots while Kris ran an environmental shot at a higher price point.
Want to learn more about scaling without burnout? Our experts dive deeper into specific strategies in the masterclass.
3. Finding a reliable ecommerce platform
Having a reliable ecommerce platform is crucial to effectively and efficiently communicate with new customers, offer promotions, upload photos, and manage orders seamlessly in one place.
Kris and Lindsay highly recommend GotPhoto as an ecommerce tool to boost efficiency and maximize sales.
Click here to see what GotPhoto is all about and start your free trial today.
Ready to Learn More?
The strategies above just scratch the surface on how to grow a photography business.
This is just a sneak peek into a few of the topics covered by Kris and Lindsay in this FREE masterclass. To dive deeper into the topics above, along with more training on making photography a business, click here to access the entire masterclass.
Our experts will walk you through understanding volume photography, building a client base from scratch, modernizing sales processes, improving client communication, the stress of growth and workload, and so much more.
