There’s a quote attributed to French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery that, roughly translated, says:
When you want to build a ship, don’t start by gathering wood, cutting boards and distributing the work, but awaken in men a desire for the vast and endless sea.
A similar philosophy could apply to photographers who seek quality customers. Instead of passively accepting any customer at any price level, it may be better to first teach customers to understand and appreciate the benefits of quality photography. Educated customers will expect more and pay more.
There are four types of customers:
1. Those who are happy with less because it costs less.
2. Those who want more but will only pay less.
3. Those who want good enough and will pay just enough.
4. Those who want more and will pay more.
Only the last two types of customer make any sense for a photography business.
To service the first type of customer, a photographer has to do a large sales volume which the photographer can’t do because there are only 24 hours in a day. The second type of customer is a high maintenance, money-losing pain.
The photographer’s business challenge is not “spend less” versus “spend more” (i.e. trying to get the first two types of customer to spend more) but rather between “good enough” (the third type of customer) and “won’t settle for anything less” (the fourth type of customer).
The third type of customer might be a photographer’s bread-and-butter but the fourth type of customer is usually more enjoyable to work for, more appreciative, more loyal and better paying.
The fourth type of customer often knows more – more about photography, more about how to use that photography and more about what’s possible with photography. All of this “more” can come from how a photographer markets their photo business.
A photographer’s marketing should not just be about showing how nice their pictures are but rather about creating a desire in customers for higher quality photography. Such photography isn’t solely about visual appearance, it’s also about function – what that photography will do to help the customer’s business needs.
Once a customer understands the benefits of better quality work, they (hopefully) won’t settle for anything less.
