How to Get Paid What You’re Worth as a Photographer

Photography Tips

Do you find it difficult to get the pay rate you think you deserve as a professional photographer? Do you often hear from potential clients that they love your work, but then they book someone else to do their shoot? Photographer Spencer Lum has some advice to help you raise prices without creating resistance:

In this video, Spencer talks about Marketing and Value Shifting.

He believes that when people or companies hiring a photographer say they just don’t have the budget, more often than not, it’s just not true.

If the client is not willing to pay more, then maybe you should take a closer look at how you’re presenting yourself and your work. Most likely, you’re not creating enough value or you’re not making people see your value.

It’s our job to educate our clients so that they can see more in us other than price.

When photographers say their main problem is that people love their work but not their price, they’re reducing business problems down to two variables: quality and price.

But the truth is there are tons of reasons people don’t buy and all kinds of ways to change their perceptions that have nothing to do with quality or price.

Spencer has a few tips for photographers running into what seem to be price problems. Most importantly, he says you should focus on needs because that’s the real reason people buy. Then, take a look at the market as a whole and redefine the way you fit into it.

Find out how you can expand your market’s definition of quality and look for the real opportunities to create value. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

• Do you do something that other people don’t?

• Do your pictures address something other pictures aren’t addressing?

• Are people looking for something no other photographers are supplying but you can?

So, how do you show value?

Spencer’s advice is to look at every part of your business and redefine what they mean to your potential clients.

Create an experience, a vocabulary and a way of doing things so unique that no one would ever think to compare you to anyone else.