Unknown Photographer (0:00)

Most photographers have one primary offer, right? It's your signature session. It's the wedding package that you book most frequently. It's your full branding shoot, whatever the case may be. It's kind of the thing that you're known for, your signature service that you provide, and that is a wonderful place to start. In fact, it's the thing that I recommend most when I talk to brand new photographers who are kind of all over the place and they're trying full sessions and mini sessions and all these different things. I always say, wait, wait, wait, let's rein this in. Let's start with one single signature session that you can work toward becoming known for, that you can build all of your messaging around, that you can focus on until you have kind of the knowledge and the bandwidth to expand. But once you do, once you get past the phase where you are just kind of getting your bearings, having only one offer starts to actually make your business a little fragile, right? What happens if the market shifts or even if your energy shifts, if everything is an all or none, if all of your eggs are in that one basket, it can cause problems, right? If you say you can either book this or nothing, then what happens when a whole bunch of people say, nevermind, I'm going to book nothing? Today I want to help you think about your photography business and building out your photography business like a well balanced menu, right? One that serves your dream clients and supports your bottom lines with more than just one single offer. And I'm going to do that by talking you through three offers that I think every photographer should have on their menu.

Annami Tonkin (1:52)

Welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Annami Tonkin and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it and I can show you how.

Unknown Photographer (2:19)

The first offer and the one that we've already talked about is your signature offer. We'll call this your core offer. This is your bread and butter, right? This session or this service really represents the heart of your brand. It's why you got into business. It's where your process shines, your ideal clients feel seen, and your pricing really reflects the full value that you bring. So for many of us, this is going to be your full family session, your primary wedding, your brand package, your pet session package. Whatever it is that you do and that you are most known for or would like to be most known for, that should be your signature core offer. So a strong core offer needs to be clearly defined. And like I said, this is why it's really important that a new photographer starts with a single core offer so that they can get that messaging really dialed in. You also want a strong core offer to be well positioned in your market. So, so when you look around, it should be somewhat different from other things that are out there in some way, shape or form. It should appeal to some segment of your market. You know, you want that to be something that people can start to associate with you and your brand. And your core offer needs to be something that you really enjoy. Right? You want this to be the majority of your bookings. It's kind of, as I said, the reason that you got into photography in the first place, right? If you have what you believe to be a signature offer, I want you to put it to the test. I want you to ask yourself, number one, is this offer easy to explain and to sell? Right. You want your signature offer to be something that, for the right client, sells itself. You also need to ask yourself whether it aligns with your strengths and your values. So, so your, your business owner values. If it is something that eats up a ton of time and is really inefficient and efficiency is something that you value in your business, then that might not be a great fit for you, at least not at this time. And then the third question that I want you to ask yourself is if you have more space in your calendar, would you be happy if every other client that filled your calendar chose that session? Right. So if you've got that strong core offer, it should check all of these boxes. Once it does. Once you feel like you've got that core offer dialed in, the next offer you want to create is an entry offer. Your entry offer is a bit of a gateway for anyone who is a little hesitant to book the whole enchilada your signature session, right off the bat. This is an easy, lower commitment way for a new client to try working with you in a smaller way. So think mini sessions, half sessions, headshot days. You know, there are lots of different ways to structure this, and your entry offer helps those hesitant clients take the first step. It helps you build trust and rapport and show them why your signature session is going to be a safe bet. And it gives you a chance to, you know, upsell or deepen that relationship later. So once someone has booked with you and had a good experience, the chances that they Go on to book with you again, increase by many, many times. So importantly, your entry offer needs to still feel aligned with your overall brand and it needs to feel professional. This is not just a cheap knockoff version of what you're doing. You really want your entry offer to be strategic, right? You are building a bridge rather than giving away your value and making it so that somebody's like, why would I go on to book them at their full rates? So for example, if your core offer is, let's say a twelve hundred dollars full branding session, maybe your entry offer is a three hundred fifty dollar mini brand refresh with a very specific deliverable. And then once you've got sort of your core offer and that entry offer ready to go, then you want to turn your attention to the third offer, which is your expansion offer. And this is where things get really fun and often start to compound the profitability of your business. Your expansion offer is for people who already know, like and trust you. So these are your past clients, they're your raving fans and I want you to think about what you can offer them that deepens the relationship. Now, if you have spent any time listening to me in the past, you know that my a number one recommendation for this is some kind of membership or subscription based offer. So how can someone say, great, I've found my photographer, now all I need to do is sign up, have my credit card charged on a monthly basis and I'm going to continue working with this person until I pull the plug at some date in the far future. So if you are in a position where you've got great clients coming in and you want to figure out how you can bring them back again and again, a membership is the answer. Other ways that you can expand your offers and start to build profitability is to introduce print products. If that's not something that you're already selling in your signature offer, I really feel like it is a wonderful way to differentiate yourself from so many other photographers and educating yourself on products. Album design, wall design, those kinds of things really adds to to the service that you are providing for your clients. You can also add add on sessions. So this is a little bit different from a mini session in that you would be including this or offering the option only to people who had booked your signature session, where there's sort of an add on later down the road. So maybe anyone who books a session with you in the first quarter of the year gets an included Mother's Day mini session or anybody who books their fall session, you know, before October 1st, whatever is, you know, your cutoff date also gets a holiday mini or some sort of, you know, holiday themed thing in addition to. So that can be an expansion offer and you may offer that to be included, but then there are additional upsell opportunities for people. Other things are just additional services like styling workshops, mentoring. I mean these are all different ways that you can add value for your clients that go above and beyond your signature offer. But capitalize on that trust and momentum that you build with your signature offer. Expansion offers require thinking outside the box, but they are often lower effort and higher margin because the trust is already there, right? You're not selling to strangers. You are serving people who already love you and your work. Having these three types of offers gives your business flexibility and flow, right? Your core offers keep you grounded. Your entry offers keep those leads coming in and turning inquiries into booked work. And expansion offers maximize the lifetime value of each and every client. So when designed well, these three menu offerings really support each other. If you are feeling stretched thin or you're struggling to scale, it might be the right time for you to build out this three offer ecosystem. You don't need to do more. You just need to structure your business to support the work and the life that you really want. I'll see you guys next week.