About Transparency For a Photography Business

Transparency is an interesting topic these days because of websites, forums, blog, and social media. I believe the explosion of social media has ignited the discussion.  With that in mind, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on transparency and it’s value for a photography business.  Some of the topics I’ll go over are:

• The Best Transparency Tool
• Listing Services
• Stating Prices
• Sharing Knowledge
• Sharing Experiences

Best Transparency Tool EVER

In my view, a website with a blog incorporated is the best tool for transparency.  You own a space online that you are in total control and you are able to let out anything and everything! You have the ability to explain your mindset, your reasoning for pricing, the amount of time it’s taken to learn a new skill.  It allows people to seriously see where you’re coming from when considering a possible purchase. There are some blogs that sell so well and you don’t even realize that’s what it’s doing.  You have to start a blog and have a website to be found in search engines if someone is searching for you.

Something to Question: Would you trust someone more if you can find them online and there is all kinds of information from them and about them or would you trust someone more if they didn’t have an online presence that you could find out all kinds of information?

The internet is still new.  It’s still weird for most people to think about some of what I am talking about.  That is until you step back and think about how you act today.  When you want to order pizza do you look up the company on the internet or try and find the phonebook?  When considering a Wedding Photographer do you accept only family recommendations or do you start searching online? What if the photographer recommended doesn’t even have a website? There is a a professional obligation to have a website today. They are not expensive.

You must, must, must have a Website or Blog (both really) if you’re a photographer and only showing work on Flickr, Facebook, or any of those services, but want to start making money from your photography.  Treat your photography as a business and it will all start to work out.

Listing Services

I’ve listened to, and read, a lot of information related to business these days. If you’re in business, you need to let people know. I don’t have much of services page here, but it’s a huge priority as I get closer to the end of my ebook.  There are some amazing websites that kick ass in making sure you know they are a business.  I’m going to show you a website that is not to do with photography, but is really good at letting you know they have stuff and want you to send them your money: Ittybiz. There is no question on Naomi’s Website if she is in business or not.

I mentioned that my pages need work.  My look at the issue is that atleast by having the page, I’m stating to viewers that I intend to offer products and services and this is a business for me.

There is so much importance in just the appearance of  something in your services page.  I want to use an example of a photoblogger that most people seem to know.  If you would do a wedding – prices start at 5k.  If someone want’s to pay that high of a price, you’ll make the time to do it but you’re not going out of your way to promote and find weddings to shoot.  Sometimes your fans will love all of your photography.  It could start out as loving the way the photographer shoots their landscapes and it would be an honor if they took portraits at your wedding.  Where does this idea come from? I talk about Sam Javanrouh a lot, because he has a lot of raging fans for his photoblog. They love every single photo he posts to topleft pixel. I know he’s got full time job, but I’m just using him as an example.  Let’s say he put up a services page tomorrow.  It stated that he does portrait and weddings.  Weddings start at $7500 and Portraits start at $1000.

Quick aside:

Transparent doesn’t mean talking about the smallest of details upfront.   Transparent means you give the basic information and you’ll talk about it more over time, or directly with people as they inquire.

So, Sam might not have the time to go shooting weddings every weekend of every summer for $2000 each.  But he would totally consider and be up for it if someone really wanted to pay his price tag.  suddenly he’s made enough to cover the work of a bunch of weekends.  He may not get any inquiries either, but that’s really not the point.  What’s also happening is that people are realizing that he’s been showing his photography at no cost, giving it to people, and he’s “worth” $7500 or $10k for wedding photography.  It’s an interesting thing to consider. I noticed on his photoblog recently there was an image from a wedding he shot for a friend. So, I wonder if more people are wondering if he’d be available or willing to photograph their wedding.

Stating Prices

This is sometimes a touchy subject.  There are photographers that believe stating your prices may scare people away.  I’m not going to get into that too deep.  I’ve stated prices and removed them, only to restate them and take them back down.   For products, I believe you must state the price.  When it comes to services that are dependent on projects, it can be difficult and usually easier to have the interested client contact you.  This is why it is very important to atleast mention you are open for business.

I am moving in the direction of stating my prices as best I can.  By stating the prices, I can potentially save time and be more productive if there is a slight reduction in e-mails regarding my prices.  I don’t believe that potential clients would be turned off or scared by the pricing.  I think being upfront should be more appreciated because I don’t have to e-mail and wait for a response.

Can we make it so that we give a taste or general idea of what the prices look like, but ask the reader to convert on something as well? What I am wondering is if we can state prices to offer a sense of transparency, and also ask the reader to submit their information to receive a special pricing list.  You could use this in conjunction with a Facebook Fan page – “Join the facebook fanpage and check out the better deals we offer for Fans!”

It can be quite fun to try and make these tools come together.

Sharing Knowledge

Are you smart enough to realize there are other people that feel they can benefit from your expertise, experience, and knowledge?  I’ve come across a number of rants on a few blogs that express a great deal of negativity towards questions from other photographers. It’s great that they took the time to write out their frustrations and great to know that they are real people and not super happy fake robots.  We all have dirty laundry, and we aren’t perfect.  Online marketers will tell you that you need to polarize your viewers – make them love or hate you.  If the person shares great content but swears like crazy, I could probably overlook that issue though.  I don’t care about swearing, even though I’ve noticed a serious reduction in it.  However, one blog I read stated that they will not be sharing certain details about their photoshoots.  If their viewers wanted to know, they needed to go out and figure it out on their own.  Apparently this person appeared to have a lot of people requesting the information too!

Instead of a rant, why not produce a kick ass blog post. Even better than a killer blog post, write an ebook and put it up for sale on your site.  Suddenly you’re sharing knowledge, and your expertise for a small price.  Remember that listing your products, services, prices and knowledge can all work together.  You don’t have to give away all of that learned awesomeness over the years.  But the small gesture of looking to help others can do wonders.   State your frustrations but think about a way to overcome them in a positive way for the people reading. You’ll instantly be showcasing your problem solving skills as well.

Sharing Experiences

How did you get to such a point in your life? How many family members did you photograph before you finally got that first paying client? I could ask questions all day long.  The point is to reflect on milestones and ask if they could help someone else get to that position some day?  Even if you don’t have any testimonials, you’re building up your own social proof. You’re going over situations that you’ve worked through and overcome. Clients will see this (because they were able to find your blog from google) and feel comfortable with contacting you.

Recently, I was contacted by a person in the UK that resonated with the fact that I talked about how I turned to photography as a way to work through my issues with depression.  When he explained his story, I felt connected as well.  I couldn’t think of someone I’d love to help out and work with more. I realized that sharing experiences, with people that view my blog, don’t have to be business related. Being yourself and sharing anything about you is very encouraged.  It’s your space and you don’t have to hold back and feel that you have to hold back anything.  My day job does not allow me to be my true self. I leave the majority of who I am at the door. It’s why I am so upset these days.  In the future, I hope that my experiences in depression and freakish anxiety will be able to others (people with those same issues or not) see that it’s time to do what you love.  It’s the highest level of transparency for me. I don’t even mention the issue at my day job unless I feel someone else there is having issues too.

There are the reports we see in the news about people being fired from their jobs or losing their long term disability benefits due to facebook pictures, but that is not something I’m getting into here. That is more for someone that is an employee and not interested in starting a photography business.  Remember that you are your brand and being someone you’re not will eventually be revealed.  Your Facebook page could turn customers away if they see your in pictures getting drunk, but you run a blog on staying sober and being a role model.  The people that do this though, will only help us that are real and seriously care about our viewers.

The internet is seriously enormous, but there isn’t a place to hide. Even if you try and do something in an anonymous manner, you can still be easily revealed (and fired).  I don’t think there is a reason to hide.  Hiding online, or not being visible at all, isn’t going to help you in the world we live in today and going forward.