I'm not sure what to do...

[stacimarie]

Heres my website: www.stacimariephoto.com
I have been making money for a few years, doing portraits. I'm about to graduate from college, so the past four years, my most successful market and niche has been young adults. I live in Richmond Kentucky, close to Lexington. I am not the cheapest photographer in the area, and no where close to the most expensive. But I am stuck in a price bracket that is below my experience level.

My clients are mostly young aspiring musicians like rappers and singers, and senior portraits. I enjoy it so much, its more than just business for me. Im one of very few urban photographers in the area, which should have given me an upper hand to raise prices. But when I did, I lost pretty much all my past and current clients. But I love working with regular people, people who dont have tons of money to spend on photo sessions. Most of these people just need a good self esteem boost and I am happy to give that to them, even if it means Im losing money. Some of them have even described it as a luxury to them to be able to shoot with me. So I am torn between what the area photographers (although in different markets) are charging (and expecting me to charge), and what I know my very faithful and fun client base can afford. :-/

I love the type I people I shoot, and they need a photographer like me in this area, but Im about to graduate, so these prices won't work for me anymore. I don't have any outstanding bills, but I will come next year.

In particular im referring to what people are charging for CDs, high res files, and printing. 75% of my clients dont want or need to print photos. Right now I include a CD in the one session price. (Please no rocks or stones, lol)

[NicoleScraps]

You know what? Your work is really cool. I wasn't sure what to expect when I clicked on your website, but I like it. A lot!

I have heard people say over and over on this forum that this, what you have done with your pricing, is very hard to recover from. Essentially by changing your business plan, you'll probably have to start from scratch as far as your client base.

I am hoping that some of the more seasoned business peeps will chime in here, but I wanted to wish you good luck. Again, your work is great!!

[Ambrosia76]

I am not a pro. just starting out building a portfolio, but I have done a few paid sessions for friends etc. I personally like doing the CD and letting them get their own prints, I always direct them to get them from a professional website vs walmart or something. I do charge a little more than you for a print CD,but I also throw in a web file cd too. I have really just enjoying doing the shoots and love that I can give my friends something they want at an affordable price.

I was recently asked to do head shots which I will be printing for my actual job,I will definitely be charging for them

[mariselafm]

Your website is fantastic, great layout and graphics. Your work is really good...congratulations. I have no advice to give, but wanted to encourage you, a great career awaits you.

[stacimarie]

You guys don't know how much your words have really encouraged me. I don't get much feedback from the photographers in my area, so I feel like im either stepping on someone's toes, which may be the case. But thankyou for your support, kind words, and advice

[Izzy]

Come up with a plan to increase your price incrementally over time. I would do a certain percentage every quarter until you reach your goal. This will allow your client base to recover as you make the changes. I am sure you know that if you just jack the prices up all at once lots of your client base will jump ship. By doing it incrementally you will loose a few but you will gain some also.

Marketing gurus would say that you do this until you are no longer over booked.

[Ambrosia76]

I know in my real job we raises prices once a year a few dollars or so. some people balk to begin with but we don't usually lose many customers, if fact after our latest price change our customer base increased.

[Brian Mullins]

Stacie - you've got a good handle on the situation. You raised your prices and alienated your current client base. This is the real downfall of "starting low".. it means, unfortunately, you will need to start again. There are a few things you can do to try and salvage some of your existing base. Before I go into that, there is one sales tenant that is, well, unfortunate, but you need to understand it to be successful.

Friends and friends of friends, typically speaking, associate with others in the same educational and socio-economic class as they are in. So, in other words, if your current client base is not pre-disposed to spending money on a luxury item, such as photography, then it's a really hard feat to retain them and their referrals once you raise prices.

With that being said - here are a couple of things you can try to keep some existing clients while re-building your business at a higher price point.

- Don't raise prices - take things away (so, in other words, get rid of the disc and include a couple of prints or a couple of LOW res images).
- Charge separately for the disc (If your sitting fee is $100, and you charge $500 for the disc, a consumer will see that as a $100 cost and the emotion will cause them to purchase the disc when they love the photos).
- Raise your disc price as needed (this is your work, your vision and your passion - do not undervalue it)
- Offer more products they can purchase (at both lower and higher costs). A proof set is a cool idea... cost to you is generally fairly minimal ($50 - $75 with a nice box). You can charge more for custom products and your higher income (and even lower income) clients will be attracted.
- Offer "mini" sessions for 20 minutes at a lower rate. Discount the CD by the same amount.

These are just a few ideas but you can use them as a stepping stone as your prices increase to try and keep your current clients happy while moving your prices to something sustainable.

[funcrunch]

I agree with Brian's advice. I also started out shooting bands and giving away discs full of hi-res images for very little money, and found that when I raised my prices most of those clients disappeared. I now only include low-res photos with my base fee, and am getting clients that can afford to license the hi-res images from me separately if they want them for making prints.

[Jim Poor]

Brian hit the nail pretty much on the head, but I'll add that you can run a promotion for previous clients to slowly get them accustomed to paying higher prices.