Intro by Skip Cohen
Pricing is probably one of the most sensitive topics in professional photography, but there are a few common denominators, so many of you share. Most of you think the bottom will drop out of your business if you raise prices, and many of you are scared to death to make any changes whatsoever.
So, you don’t do anything. You go from year to year living by the old one-liner, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Years ago, business guru and author Tom Peters changed that line to “If it ain’t broke, you haven’t looked hard enough!”
Fresh out of the Joy of Marketing recently, Sarah Petty shared her views on raising her prices on senior sessions. As always Sarah couldn’t be more on point. She hits on why most of you should consider a change…the value of your time vs. the sales results.
And, if you’re going to look at making sure the senior aspect of your business is giving you a fair return, check out Marathon’s marketing programs for seniors. They give you great reach, and at a time when the clock is ticking down on the seasonality for senior portraits, most of you need all the help you can get!
By Sarah Petty
Do you need to change your sessions for high school senior photography?
YES!
Here’s the thing…
The big difference between your normal family sessions and high school senior portraits is the amount of time you spend with them.
I remember when I first started doing high school senior photography,
I charged them the same as I did kid/family portrait sessions.
I didn’t have any limits on my sessions, and they would just keep going and going and going without any plans to invest in anything because their parents are the ones making the investment.
The high school seniors are the ones saying “yes, yes yes this is so fun let’s do this!”
So, I realized I have to charge for the time I’m spending doing high school senior photography sessions.
Now I have 3 tiers of sessions so that I’m making sure they have a minimum investment with each because it’s not financially feasible to spend 4 hours with them and not get an order that’s consistent with that amount of time.
Creating a 3-tiered package sets expectations upfront and still provides them with plenty of options to choose from depending on how much they want to invest in their sessions with me.
How are you pricing yourself for high school senior sessions?
