My emails are usually based on “I’ve been thinking about this thing lately so maybe you have been too” and so this week I’ve been thinking a lot about pricing, and chatting about it to some of my photographer mates. It’s often a subject that crops up a lot at this time of year.
I’ve not really increased my prices since 2015. Last year I did tweak them slightly so instead of just have a single ‘full day’ package I introduced limited-hours packages. So I had 8, 10, 12 and unlimited options.
That worked really well for me both in terms of average booking price, and also setting a nice boundary with my clients. I like it best when everyone knows where they stand.
I just hit 50% of my income target for 2023, so I’ve decided to tweak my pricing again. I’ve increased the price of my 8 hour package slightly, and now I just have a set rate for each additional hour on top. It’s a bit of an experiment, so let’s see how it goes. I’ll let you know.
People seem to like the hourly thing – I guess because they know they’re paying only for what they need, as opposed to some people getting 8 hours and others getting 16 hours for the same price.
Anyway, enough about me. Let’s bust some pricing myths together.
Ah that old chestnut. If I had a pound for every time someone’s told me I’m too cheap, or I’ve heard a respected photographer tell another photographer they’re too cheap… well I wouldn’t be worrying about my energy bills that’s for sure.
I can look at a photographer’s work and think it’s great and assume what they’re charging, or judge what they should be charging according to their artistic quality…
But pricing is purely a business thing, and has almost nothing to do with art.
Without knowing how that person’s marketing is working, without knowing how many enquiries they’re getting and the source and quality of those enquiries, I have no idea what that person could or should be charging.
The only time you’re actually too cheap is if you’re booking up rapidly at your current prices. But even then there are psychological reasons why you might not want to put your prices up and that’s fine.
You might love booking up early and knowing that your year is sorted financially.
You might love shooting loads of weddings vs shooting fewer for a higher price because realistically if you put your prices up you’ll probably still make the same money but not be shooting as many weddings.
You might have placed restrictions on where and when you’re prepared to shoot that means you can’t actually say yes to every enquiry. I know this to be true for a lot of photographers with childcare constraints.
So… please don’t whack up your prices just because another photographer with zero knowledge of your business or life tells you to.
But… if you are booking up rapidly at a low price AND you’re getting a good solid stream of enquiries AND you feel like you’re shooting too many weddings then guess what…
You’re too cheap.
I mean yeah, on paper you should.
But most people don’t, so the market doesn’t move that way.
A lot of the above stuff about being too cheap also applies here. You have to let the strength of your business dictate whether you can increase your price.
If you were 1500 in 2015 and you’d increased your price in line with UK inflation, you should’ve been charging about 1650 last year.
But if you never hit your income target then there’s an argument your current price might be too high.
I can’t go into it all in one issue, but if you feel your price is too low but you’re either getting ghosted a lot or just not even getting the enquiries then the issue is either with your work or your marketing or both. It’s probably not with your price point.
Obviously this year if we’re to believe what we’re reading with inflation potentially well into double figures you should be increasing your price quite significantly for 2023… but (there’s always a but) obviously we don’t know the effect of that on the wedding industry yet.
2022 has been an epic boom year for weddings. We’ve all been (I think) lulled into a false sense of post-covid security that things are all hunky dory again.
But what will 2023 hold in terms of those people without a bank of mum and dad and their wedding plans? We don’t yet know, so I personally wouldn’t be comfortable in my own business whacking 10-15% onto my price.
I fear we may yet see postponements becoming an issue again as the cost of living crisis bites. Sorry for the deviation from my usual brand of positivity and optimism but that’s just the cautious realist in me.
But again, if you’re booking up rapidly at your current price AND you’re getting a good solid stream of enquiries AND you feel like you’re shooting too many weddings then – again – you’re too cheap and could probably easily increase your prices to make the same money and work a bit less.
Ah another good old industry line.
Guess what? It’s your business and you can do whatever the flip you want.
I haven’t given a discount in a long time but I would if I felt like I needed to or wanted to.
Wanting to is a totally personal decision. No rules. If someone says they can’t afford you but you want to shoot their wedding for whatever reason – location, their plans sound amazing, they seem like wonderful people – then you can of course give a discount whenever you feel like it to secure a booking.
But how do you know if you need to?
Well rule number one here is knowing your cash flow forecast for at least the next year.
I’m going to release a simple spreadsheet template soon in return for a small charitable donation which will help you track your business cash flow and monitor your monthly rolling VAT turnover.
It’s easy sometimes when maybe enquiries have been thin on the ground for a few weeks or more to think you just need to book the next few enquiries at all costs.
But if you know your cash flow, if you know how much money is in your business now, next month and – crucially – after your next tax bill is paid, you’ll know when you need to maybe drop your prices for a bit or introduce some discounts or other incentives.
But if your cash flow is healthy, there’s never a reason to panic discount.
Discount should always be a rational choice.
I started my career with prices on, then I went about 8 years with prices off, and I’ve had a from price on my website for the last 2 years.
Enquiries are lower when you show a price on your website.
Bookings, in my experience, are unaffected.
I charge everyone the same, so I have no issue showing a price. I got bored of getting loads of enquiries who just couldn’t afford me.
There’s an argument to say that sometimes you can convince someone with a lower budget to spend more, and that’s maybe a reason not to show prices – it goes hand in hand with the discount thing above. If someone enquires for a wedding on the salt plains of Bolivia then I’d quite like to at least be able to have a conversation with them instead of not get the enquiry at all.
But overall I’m happy with prices on right now, and I’m keeping it that way.
Basically there’s no rule – do what feels best for you and your business.
I think as a client I’d like to know someone’s price before I enquire, so that’s how I operate by treating people how I’d like to be treated.
No right or wrong here.
Photographer A shoots 10 weddings a year at £5k per wedding.
Photographer B shoots 50 weddings a year at £1k per wedding.
They make the same amount of money.
“How many have you got for next year?” is a common question at photographer socials. If photographer A and B answer “10” and “50” everyone will want to know what photographer B is doing to be so successful with their marketing to attract 50 couples! Nobody will be interested in what photographer A is doing because 10 is crap in comparison to 50, right?
I’m not suggesting we all go round asking each other how much money we’re each making, but you get the jist of what I’m saying.
Aim for £XX,000 turnover instead of an arbitrary number of weddings.
Personally, I aim for the VAT limit and stop when I get there. If that’s 30 weddings, great. If it’s 27 or 25 or 22 even better.
Thanks for reading this week – I know it’s a long one.
Any questions about any of this let me know and if there are a lot of questions/comments I might do a follow up next week because pricing is a useful topic for most people I think.
I know it’s August, I know we’re all flat out really making the most of these amazing petrol prices, but just to let you know you’re doing great things for your couples.
Keep the focus on gratitude for the job we’re blessed to do, and enjoyment of being able to attend these joyous events and that’ll carry you through to rest-season again!
Adam
PS – Drink more water.
