There are so many photographers. How will I do business?

Most of my 1on1 mentoring conversations usually start with this complaint. This question is also often asked in our Facebook group. When I first started my photography business, there were not so many newborn photographers, but at that time we had different problems. For example, training and tutorials were not so easily accessible. Information was not so easily accessible. Anyway, these are the topics of another article :)) The main purpose of this article is to answer this question ‘Serap, there are so many photographers in my area. In fact, there are so many cheap ones. How can I do and grow my business in such a saturated market?’

I think this question is actually asked by anyone new to any industry or anyone in the industry. Restaurants, wedding dresses, yoga studios, gyms, etc.

One of the biggest mistakes made especially in the current period is to care too much about what others are doing. For example, now as a newborn photographer, you know almost everyone in the industry, you follow them. Inevitably, you say that everyone is doing a lot of great work, everyone has customers, everyone has done whatever they need to do about their job and they settled down. But in reality, it is not like that at all. There is so much they don’t do, so many customers out there that you don’t realize it yet. Not everyone eats at Nusret every day or invests in a photographer every year. This means that you can find customers who have not invested in this photo and get them to invest in you.

The other issue is that people who do a lot of business now don’t have that many customers at first. It may not be yours either. But those other business owners did not find their current customers right away, it happened over time. There will always be restaurants with queues in front of them, and those stores that sell their wedding dresses 2 years in advance (if they don’t leave until the wedding, of course :)) ) It is very normal that you do not have such demand at first. In the first few months of our business, we thought that everything was ok and waited for the customers to come to us 🙂 Of course, they didn’t come 🙂 You have two options here. Yes, it means there is no job for me here. Or working to be the best. Either you wait for your slice of the cake or you are the one who makes the cake. This word sounded very cool in my mind, but when I wrote it, it sounded like a cheap expression :)) But I think you understand what I mean 🙂

It was probably our second or third client very early in our business. We knew we were doing something wrong when he told us why he had chosen us for our price. We could have given up, but instead, we started to think and work hard on how we can be better, how we can create a better experience and value for our customers. That’s why, for example, when you read Nusret’s point and his life story, you understand better. He doesn’t even have money in his pocket, but he has such a vision that he goes to Argentina, goes to America and learns the business from the best. He could have given up and been in a very different situation right now. Think about it, I think a hamburger is 45 USD, normally 5-10 USD at Burger King. Think about it, it’s 3-5 times more expensive, but it’s always full 🙂 Why do you think? It shows quality and consistency.

This is how we need to be in our photography business. Consistency, high quality and flawless customer experience. Then you will already find customers who want to invest in your business. Or they will find you, don’t worry. So, in the Marketing Workflow Baby Step, we explain how to provide these three and what you should do. And we saw that the photographers who took the training weren’t doing 95% of the things described here, and they didn’t know where to start. Even with a few minor changes they made after the training, they said that they no longer asked the first question they told us ‘how will I take place in this saturated market’. Even if they do not do business yet in this Covid period, they have seriously changed their business and the way they do business.

We know you can do this too. Actually, it’s in your control. You’re not alone, you know we’re stronger together 🙂

with Love,

Serap