In your business, planning is an essential part of your growth. Because creating a plan takes time and there are many elements to prepare for, how do you know exactly what to focus on first? We put together a list of how to create a wedding photography business plan to set your business up for success. Take a look below to get started.
Define a Specialty
One of the first steps to take to create a strong business plan is to define a specialty. You are a wedding photographer, but what makes you unique and helps you stand out from others in the industry? Will you shoot locally or travel for your clients? Do you prefer to shoot outdoors or have a few favorite venues? These questions, and more, can help you decide what specialty defines you so you can create a strategic plan around it and share it with your ideal clients.
Identify Ideal Clients
Now that you know what makes you unique, you can then identify your ideal client. Use your specialty to help – if you are an outdoor photographer who loves adventure, your ideal client will have similar qualities. Also think about the age range they are, their likes and dislikes, and location to narrow down the selection. When you know who your ideal client is, you can develop a business plan specifically catered to them.
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Set Achievable Goals
For your business, there are many goals you may want to achieve. With this, it is important to ensure all of the goals are realistic and achievable. Consider the number of weddings you want to book and how much profit you would like to bring in for the year. From there, create short and long-term goals to keep you focused and motivated. When you set goals that are achievable, you will be more motivated to strive for efficient ways to accomplish them.
Related: 9 Ways to Create a Thriving Photography Business
Create an Appealing Website
Because your wedding photography website is a reflection of you and your brand, it is crucial to ensure you keep it up to date. With an appealing website, you are more likely to keep visitors interested and then they can learn more about you and your services. Be sure to have up to date images that capture their attention and have the 4 most important pages updated (gallery, bio, contact info, and pricing). Also, a mobile-friendly website is more important than ever, so stay informed on how to make the experience positive for every visitor.
Develop a Marketing Plan
To achieve your goals (both short and long-term), you must develop a marketing plan for your business. You already took the steps to define your specialty and identify your ideal client. You can create a wedding photography marketing plan that focuses on your ideal client and what interests them, as well as what type of images they desire. With the information you gathered about them, find the best ways to reach out to them and share more about who you are and what you do. This can be through email campaigns, blog posts, social media, or newsletters.
Related: 5 Ways to Promote Growth for Your Wedding Photography Business
Post Consistently to Your Blog
Another way to create a strong plan for your business is to post regularly on your blog. When you build a blog following, you create trust with potential clients who are looking to book a wedding photographer. Plus, the benefits of consistent blogging with proper SEO techniques are numerous and can help you receive more bookings each year. And since blogging does take time, a company like Fotoskribe can help you define your voice, implement SEO techniques, and post consistently on your blog to reach the goals you set in your business.
Share on Social Media
As you reach out to your ideal clients, include sharing on social media into your wedding photography business plan. Focus your time on the platforms where your ideal client is, whether that is Instagram or Facebook and focus your marketing efforts there. Use strategies for each platform that help you quickly reach larger audiences to share your images. On Instagram, you can use relevant hashtags that best relate to your ideal clients and showcase your best images with them. For Facebook, you can share valuable content with your followers and use advanced targeting options to place it directly in front of your target audience.
Outsource to Specialists
Because there are so many tasks for you to take care of, and your time is valuable, it becomes necessary to delegate items to outside partners. When you outsource tasks that do not help your growth, you free yourself up to spend your time on things that do help you grow. Tasks like photo editing can be outsourced to a wedding photography editing service, album design and website design can be outsourced to specialists, and bookkeeping and other financial items can also be worked on by an outside partner. Anything you can take off your plate now helps you focus on what is most important for you to grow.
Track Your Results
With everything that you do, tracking your results is an important part of your growth. Look closely at where you spend most of your time and decide if the goals you set are still achievable in that area. Take the time to evaluate every part of your wedding photography business plan and make sure it leads you toward the goals you set. When necessary, make adjustments that will help you stay on track and grow your business at the same time.
There are plenty of ways to grow your wedding photography business, and these are just a few tips to get your business plan for wedding photography started. Find out how you can continue to grow your business through proper pricing with our free Guide, Pricing for the Wedding Photographer. We feature tips from Vanessa Joy, plus how to know which pricing model is the best for you. Download it today!
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