How to decide what to charge, pricing for photographers.

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There are several different models for how to decide on a price for your services. We talk about some of the main ones in the show.

1. Charge per hour.
With this approach you decide what you want to be paid per hour. Then work out how much time the whole process takes and work out a price accordingly.

 

2. Look at your competitors
Look at your competitors websites. If you are feeling a little cheeky, phone another photographer and pretend to be a lead and get a price
3. Value pricing
What is the value of your work? This is hard to define. You have to think what value are you providing to someone with your service. For example what is the value of someone having that wedding album for the rest of their life and having had an amazing experience on the day.

 

4. Cost of business model

For this approach out you work out for your business how much everything costs, including paying you the rate you want to be paid. Then work out how many jobs you will do a year. Then divide the total cost by the number of jobs and that is how much that photo-shoot costs.

 

Marcus mainly follows the value based system for his branding photography. But for event photography Marcus just charges on a per hour basis. And then on the rare occasion he does weddings he generally looks at others in the market and charges a similar amount.

New businesses almost always charge too little.

Almost all new businesses charge far too little for their services. Often new businesses can easily double their price and still have a good price. But when you do this you may initially lose customers as you move from the bottom end market into a higher level market. Sam suggests that almost everyone with a new business can increase their prices easily.
Should you display your pricing?

This is a big debate and everyone has a different view on this. Marcus uses the “My prices start from” approach. It is helpful that leads get a ballpark figure. Sam thinks if you have a subscription service these should always be clearly priced. He also suggests that having some packages and pricing them is a good idea. Just make sure your package is not really comparable to other photographers. That avoids direct price comparison.
Subtly showing pricing

The way your website and marketing look already gives subtle ideas about pricing. The customers shown the way it looks already gives leads an idea of how expensive you are.
Stick to your guns

If you give a price do not negotiate. Stick to the price you have offered. If it is too expensive for them offer them less for a lower price. But don’t just drop the price. If the price goes down what they get also needs to go down.
Working for free

Marcus suggests this is a good thing to do if there are specific things you need. For example you need photos for your portfolio if you have a new business. But ensure that if you do this you make it very clear what you want out of the process.