How to Make Money in Portrait Photography

The PhotoTellers--Photography Podcast

Mary Fisk-Taylor and Jamie Hayes are unapologetic: "Everything we do in the studio is geared toward making money."

Jamie is the guy who has always and only worked in Photography. Mary is the former client, now business partner and Photographer. Together they're Hayes & Fisk Photography. Mary and Jamie specialize in highly-personal wedding photography, portraiture, and commercial projects.

They also take time to train other Photographers in the business and craft. If you're a portrait Photographer who wants to earn more money, you need to grab a pen and paper for today's conversation! Here's what you can expect:

• How they dovetail shooting and sales
• Photographing for the sale
• The key to a great sale=engagement
• Steps to a great consultation
• Effective scheduling for profit--making the photographer and the client happy
• How is sales a part of marketing?
• 4 categories of products to sell--and where to put the product you want to sell
• Partnership marketing & why it's so important. How to do it effectively.
• Their TX School class: understanding lighting, technical excellence, streamlining lighting & shooting

"If your photography looks like everything in your marketplace, the only thing your client can shop you on is PRICE." -Jamie Hayes

At one point in the conversation, I ask Mary about the present-day effectiveness of partnership marketing. Does it still work when it seems like everyone is a "photographer?" Here's a clip of her answer, and a tremendous example to follow:

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MARY: "It used to be a lot easier, and I think a lot of us are working harder than we've ever worked. But this is the key: as professional photographers--and I'm not being rude--but the true professional photographers; what I can bring to the table, and what I can sell is something nobody else can. So maybe it's not as easy anymore to just go in and say, 'Hey, take my cards and share this,' but I go in with an opportunity for them to be successful as well.

So I go into the XYZ Children's Boutique, I can say, 'Hey, this is what we can do. You need social media presence, you know my portraits are beautiful, and you know your clients come in. I send clients to you all the time to buy clothes here, because they're perfect for my portrait work. So what we're going to do is: Every time we photograph your clothing, I'm gonna send those images to your social media coordinator. You're gonna be able to share those on your social media, on your website, and we're gonna have beautiful new and constant images filtering through your social media.'

What that store doesn't have is beautiful images of their clothing . . . . But boy, if on a weekly basis I can send 2, 3, 4 beautiful images over to XYZ Boutique--they're loving me!"

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Special thanks to this episode's sponsor: