The guide that I chose is "How To Grow A Wedding Photography Business." Weddings are something I would like to photography in addition to newborns, families, senior portraits, etc.. After going through the guide some of the most important things that stood out to me are defining your brand, marketing your services, how to charge for your services, and figuring out who your target market is.
When defining your brand it is important to start with defining your philosophy as a photographer, your brand will dictate your company name, web design, portfolio, advertising plan, budget, and even your website domain. Some questions to ask yourself when doing this are; "What is unique about your personality?" "How do you act in a professional environment?" "What do you love most about taking photos?" These questions are important because they will help you figure out what it is that sets you apart from the other wedding photographers.
Marketing your services can be very expensive and time consuming, but it doesn't need to be to have an impact. Some good ways to market yourself is through word of mouth, if you create a strong presence on social media it can really help with word of mouth. Another way to market is through your website, if a client is looking to hire you odds are they're going to go to your website. You want your website to clearly define who you are as a photographer, you want it to load quickly and have very easy navigation.
When figuring out how to charge for your services it is a good idea to start out with your business plan, figure out where you want to be in five years and go from there.
When you're determining your prices for the first time, map out your larger goals first. After you do that figure out what your cost of doing business is, take every little thing into consideration when doing so. Finally, you need to consider the market for wedding photographers, you should spend time researching the overall market and what your competitors are charging. It is important to remember that you are not charging for what you think your services are worth, you want to charge according to how your target market values the product.
After reading this guide I think a lot of the information could be useful in just about any type of photography you want to go into.
