Dec 10, 2022
If 5+ People Say Yes To Your Current Price, Increase It
When I started out as a photographer, it was tough. I had no great experience, but I could deliver good enough photographs. I think in the end, results are subjective. If the client loves your work, they love your work. It’s all about keeping them happy. I am not saying to produce poor work. Nobody is interested in that.
When I started out as a photographer, I could not charge the big bucks because I did not have much experience both in the field of photography and business, but one thing I always did was that I did not stick to my current price too long.
One time I visited a wedding photographer’s website, and I noticed how he labeled his pricing. He called it, “this quarter’s price.” Now, that is fascinating. He increased his price and perceived value quarterly. Every quarter, there was a change.
If this current economy has taught you nothing, it should have already taught you this; yesterday’s price is not today’s price.
So, as a beginner photographer I was charging GHC200.00. Now, that’s a bad price and I wouldn’t encourage any beginner to charge that. Check this article out to learn how to price. That is like $15.00. Who charges that? So what I did at the time was that after I got myself 10paid gigs, I increased my price by 50%. Yes. It worked for me.
To be honest, I think that is smart, logical and increases your perceived value. Brian Greenberg left a comment on one of my articles. He said, “It’s amazing just how many think that it’s okay to ‘race to the bottom’ and commodity their work. Studies have shown (and pretty consistently I might add) that people’s perception of value is largely tied to the price. The cheaper you go, the cheaper your are.” And this is true.
Increase your perceived value over time to stay relevant and attractive. This is what you want as a photographer and a business, especially when you’re running a one-person business.
Don’t increase value alone, increase your price as well. Increase your perceived value.
I’m going to end this article here. I’m Clement Eastwood, a photographer and an author who has made it his mission to educate photographers. Tap on this link to have access to my books on photography. And here’s a link to my podcast.
