Are you someone who feels like everything has to be perfect before you’ll share your work with the world? With social media, it’s so easy to compare your work to others in the biz. But here’s my secret: your photography skills are not the most important part of your business.
Seriously!
You do not have to have the most beautiful photos in all the land to be an awesome photographer.
There are actually two other skills that matter way more than your photography at the end of the day… Want to know what they are? Read on:
I’ll begin by saying of course photography skills are important. If you’re someone who has been in the business for years you already know, there are great photographers and… not so great ones, right? Here’s the kicker: you don’t have to be the best photographer in the world to have a bangin’ business. In fact, there are two things that will set you apart from the photographer who has the BEST skills –
These two things are marketing and positioning.
Improve your Photography skills with great MARKETING
Aaaah, marketing. The photography skill that never was! Maybe you love marketing (like I do), and if marketing is already central to your business, I’m virtually high fiving you right now! If marketing is a struggle in your business, I have some excellent news for you – once you hone in your marketing strategy, your photo biz will be unstoppable!
Here’s why marketing matters more than your photography skills:
When you have your marketing strategy honed in, it will bring you new clients who already love you and your work. In fact, a great marketing strategy can bring you consistent leads and we both know, when you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to get clients, you get to focus on what you do best: capturing great moments and serving your clients!! Even the best photographer may not be great at running a photography business (let alone their marketing). It’s not a sustainable business-model to be great at something that nobody knows about, amiright!?
Hone in your marketing strategy by consistently communicating about who you are and what you do. When your marketing strategy is clear, consistent and positioned in front of your ideal clients, your photography business will become a breeze!!
Speaking of positioning – that brings me to the second aspect of your business that’s way more important than your photography skills:
Up your Photography Business with Brand Positioning
When you are clear about who you serve and what you do, your clients will be able to find you! Brand positioning involves getting really clear about what type of business you want to run: are you a high-end photography business? Then your services, marketing, products and client communication should ooze with high-end imagery and marketing. Is your business more of a high-volume photo biz? Then your marketing and services should reflect the volume of awesomeness your clients can expect by working with you.
Your brand positioning is more important than your photography skills because the way you position yourself sets you apart from others in the market. If people can’t tell what you do and how things work, then they’re going to go somewhere with a clearer marketing message every. Single. Time. Position yourself strategically, and your people will be able to find you and hire you. This has little to do with your actual photography skills and more to do with how great you are at communicating. Get clear, communicate, and the clients will follow.
Listen, if you’re someone who has been holding back in your photography business because you feel like your skills just aren’t there yet, I’m telling you, you can do it!! We all start somewhere. I was not always great at what I did, but I was excellent at marketing and very clear on my brand positioning. These two skills allowed me to build my business and hone my photography skills as I went. Start where you are and then build build build.
If you’re not really sure where to start with the whole marketing strategy/brand positioning game, you should get on my email list! I send my best advice there weekly, along with information about my free coaching calls and my Marketing Magic Mini-Workshop. Grab your spot on the list here.
