“Things are slow” is a phrase I hear a lot at the moment.
Along with “enquiries are tumbleweed”, “bookings are down”, “I’m worried”.
And let me tell you – I am not immune to this! I’ve heard people say before that it’s alright for people like me who are established and stuff. And I can categorically say that’s not the case.
So I thought I’d give my thoughts and opinions on all of this, and I’ll spread it over a little mini-superchARJ-series because I think I need to split my thoughts across a few key areas.
This week… the MARKET.
A while back a photographer by the name of Lukas Piatek shared a reel talking about “the gap year”. I’ve never met Lukas but he’s a well known name on the educator circuit and he had some interesting thoughts.
The gap year refers to the fact that based on averages and statistics, fewer people are at the engagement/marriage stage of their relationship at the moment because fewer people were able to hook up during the pandemic. That’s the long and the short of it.
So not as many couples are in “the market” for a wedding photographer.
Plausible.
Possible.
By the end of this year I’ll have shot 23 weddings. That’s about average for me.
Right now for next year I have 7. That’s about on track for where I was this time last year, so based on that I’d expect to hit my personal goal of 18-25 weddings.
At the same time I do see people posting about being almost fully booked for 2025, last few slots for 2025, opening books for 2026 and all that stuff. And while I know some of this will be scarcity marketing “bullsh”, some of this I know is also true. If you’ve not read my issue about “bullsh” you can read that here: https://supercharj.co/newsletter/new-year-new-bullsh/
So clearly not everyone is struggling. But lots are. So there has to be a reason for that.
It’s easy – too easy – to blame the market. And while I admire the intelligence behind the gap year theory it doesn’t do us much good because it almost gives us the excuse we need to rest on our laurels and… wait.
So let’s say the market isn’t down, maybe it’s just somewhere else than where you are?
Footfall to high street shops reduced when shopping malls opened. Up where I live, The Trafford Centre opened and that’s where we all went from that day forward. Those high street shops would’ve maybe said the market was down… but were the same number of people in the market, just shopping elsewhere? Then the internet happened, and now most people shop there and more people are shopping than ever. The “high street market” is almost zero, the “shopping mall market” will be down.
I’ll talk about marketing the week after next, but for now just think about that… how hard are you (and me) looking for where the market exists instead of just hoping it comes back to where it used to exist?
While we (me included) sit here hoping that we don’t have to get on TikTok, bemoaning Threads, ignoring Pinterest… have you checked the stats on Pinterest lately? We’re too good for wedding shows, wedding fairs, open days… We know and are comfortable on Instagram and doing a bit of blogging. Both important by the way, don’t abandon the stuff you’re doing.
Now I’m not saying the market isn’t affected by the gap year, or the shift in some societal norms since the pandemic. It will be. It has to be.
But knowledge isn’t always an excuse. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to rethink, reposition, morph and change with the times.
The wedding market still exists, and the market is still phenomenally huge and our job as business owners is to put ourselves in front of that market in as many ways as possible.
And just to add some of my own personal opinions and thoughts based on 15 years of worrying about bookings every. single. year…
– I always worry in mid summer when my mental health is eroded by wedding season
– I always worry when other people are worrying in mid summer when… as above
– I get most of my bookings during the off season between October and March
– Despite an illustrious destination wedding career, I get almost zero destination enquiries
– More couples are using planners now
– Video often gets booked first, we aren’t top of the tree any more
– Market trends come to life, change, evolve and then die quicker than ever before
– Lots and lots and LOTS of people still care deeply about photography for their wedding
– Whether you like it or not, short term our work is seen by many clients as “content”
– Rejecting clear signs that the market is shifting is not a good idea
Have a think about that. I’ll have more thoughts in a couple of weeks. The next few issues in this mini-series will be based on solutions in a few different areas, but with “the market” you can’t solve it, you can only be guided by it and aware of it.
Thanks for reading.
Adam
PS – I heard a term this week: “rage-engagement”. This is a real phenomenon taking social media by storm and another quite rubbish tactic being employed especially on Threads but also on Instagram and TikTok to a lesser extent. The tactic is to say something that gets peoples backs up and makes them “rage engage” in a fit of temper OR to correct a very obvious and deliberate mistake. That gifts the poster engagement in the form of comments (oh so many comments) and those in the know say all engagement is good engagement… so yeah, that’s a thing. So next time you feel the need to rage-engage, don’t! It’s what they want!!
