There are nine take-out pizza stores within a one-kilometre radius of my home. How did they know I like pizza so much? More importantly, how much pizza do I and my neighbours have to eat to keep all those stores in business?
If you were the only photographer in town, you’d probably be quite busy with work. If a second photographer arrived in town, would the total number of photography customers double or would the existing number of customers be somehow split between you and the other photographer?
What if the number of photographers in your town went up by a factor of ten, fifty, a hundred or more? How would that affect your business?
It’s said that competition is good for business (and good for customers). More competition can increase customer awareness of your products and services which then might increase demand for your business.
But continuously increasing the number of photographers won’t continuously expand the market by an equal amount. Markets aren’t infinitely expandable and you will hit a saturation point.
Market Flood
Market saturation happens when the market itself no longer produces new customers for a business. This can occur when there’s lots of competition (i.e. too many photographers in your area) or when there’s decreased need (e.g. customers do their own photography).
Oversaturation is when supply far exceeds demand and prices start to decline.
Most photographers will say their market is (over)saturated. But here’s the secret: markets saturate from the bottom up. It’s just like being in a flood where the low-lying areas get submerged first and smart folks move to higher ground.
Photographers who react to market saturation by lowering prices are actually moving to lower ground. They think that a boost from increased sales volume will keep their head above water.
Lowering prices isn’t a life jacket. Instead it’s an anchor that will pull a photography business down.
Once a market becomes saturated, it won’t “un-saturate” anytime soon. So if a photographer thinks they can tread water until the flood passes, then they’re fooling only themselves.
The way to rise from a saturated market is to desaturate yourself. :-)
This can only be done by better marketing.
Market your way up
In broad terms, marketing is how you present yourself to potential customers. Marketing your business should be your non-stop, always evolving, number one activity.
• You have to be more specific in your marketing message and more specific in terms of your target audience. If you try to be everything to everyone then you’re nothing special. Moving to higher ground means finding a more exclusive niche.
• Better customer experience always trumps better photography. Better customer experience can justify higher prices.
• Even though you’re a photographer, understand that you’re not in the business of selling pictures. You’re in the business of winning attention and earning trust.
