One of the biggest challenges that I hear from photographers is how to really set yourself apart and attract the kinds of clients that you want to work with. Professional photographers often say that the industry has become more competitive and saturated and it is because of this that they find it difficult to consistently attract the clientele that they want. In this article I am going to talk about something that may sound simple, but will have profound effects on your business. This is to pick a niche, define your ideal target customer and become excellent at delivering exactly what that niche wants so that you can develop laser focus, provide amazing results and build your business bigger than ever.

I see it all the time where a photographer is trying to do many different things, but they don’t really have a clearly defined niche and target customer. In anything in life, there is only a finite amount of energy that can be channeled into something at any given time and by not focusing on a niche and target customer you end up trying to capture everyone and getting less than desirable results. The simple act of defining a niche and discovering an ideal client and then pursuing them and them alone makes all the difference. When you become a specialist and a master at one particular thing you become known for it and people will want to work with you because you are an expert at exactly what they want.  

This principle applies to photographers in every stage of their evolution. Whether you are just beginning, or your studio has been in business for twenty years there is always the 20% that delivers 80% of the results. Bigger studios can benefit by doing an analysis of their customer base and developing a strategy for targeting their exact ideal client. While it seems like you will be missing out on more business by focusing in, the reality is that you can channel more energy into what delivers the greatest results and cut the fat on what doesn’t. This means more profit and less cost. The 80/20 principle is observable everywhere in all businesses and even in nature itself. Harnessing this incredible power with strategies and systems helps photography businesses get razor sharp clarity on exactly who they need to be advertising to, to get the greatest return on their marketing investment.

Again, while being a jack of all trades or a generalist may seem like its a better move, photographers who focus in on one thing and do it exceptionally well always stand out. Standing out as an expert in a particular niche or with a particular style that the market desires is one of the most important foundational pieces to not only building a profitable photography business but scaling it to the next level. Becoming a master in your niche and knowing exactly who your ideal client is will allow you to build that predictability into your business. It will allow you to get some real clear numbers so that you can understand how conversions work in your business and what it actually costs to get a customer. When you know this with absolute certainty, you can buy a customer. Having the power to buy a customer in your business means that there really is no limit to the amount of business that you can do.

Thank you guys for reading and I will talk to you again soon.

-Peter      

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