How do I make money all year doing Photography?

As a business owner with 10 years of experience doing all sorts of different kinds of media: weddings, corporate, families, portraits and more, I can tell you that there are three different ways that I diversify my portfolio and get clients in different areas strategically for particular reasons.

There are seasons for ebb and flow depending on the holidays, and the spending habits.

The months leading up to Christmas, people are buying photo shoots in portrait sessions for holiday gifts for their family

The months after Christmas, Portrait sessions Halt because people are trying to save money and pay back their credit cards.

Starting in March through June you see an upswing of people buying photo sessions for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Easter time. This is also the start of wedding season.

The summer leads to more weddings, senior sessions and vacation Photos.

The fall starts the cycle again with Senior Photos!, back to school photos and the tail end of the wedding season.

Now as a wedding only photographer, you are very busy during particular times of the year, but during the slump of January through March it’s very hard to get money coming in.

With all that context and foundation laid, I have found that being able to shoot year-round for corporate media and marketing has been the most effective way to stay busy all year.

Corporate media like social media posts, Instagram videos, assisting with YouTube channel creation, head shots, product photography, restaurant marketing and more has been a year-round process that never takes a break.

Then I sprinkle in freelance jobs like portraits, seniors in elopements for extra cash.

I also have passive income by selling classes, graphics online, having an Etsy store and more to create income streams that just come to me with little to no effort.

OK so now that you know how I do it, you might be asking yourself, “How do i find these clients?”

One strategy I use is going on Instagram and Facebook and specifically targeting businesses that are new and don’t have much content.

Directly email them or message them and talk about how I can do marketing and media services for them.

I member one time I was shooting a video volunteering for my church at a local bar. I tagged the bar in the video and they asked me to come in for an interview the next day. I showed them my website with all of the services that I provide for marketing and media. They hired me on the spot to do graphic design and marketing for them for their bar. I was able to grow their Facebook page and Instagram page by 2000 followers over the past few months with no gimmicks and no buying fake followers.

They were able to stay in business during the COVID-19 crisis and able to have an online presence that superseded all of their rival bars in the area.

I was able to combine the media, photography and videography skills it already have and combine that with the marketing know how from running a business.

Because I was running that Beer’s Social Media, I was able to grab two other Social Media clients that knew them. I was in turn able to grow their pages by several thousand and over the past few months and they two were able to reap the benefits of consistent income during the coronavirus shut down.

If you can do that for a business, then you will be a force to be reckoned with.

I also join groups on Facebook with different entrepreneurs that own businesses and exchange free head shots and marketing calls to get an “in” on their team

I create blogs and content that are helpful and share them to multiple Facebook groups. The more people see that I am knowledgeable, the more that they will share my company and my services with other people.

I start posting about these helpful topics and blogs to my social media and people DM me all the time with questions and comments.

You can start a free podcast or a video series that people can subscribe to so that you can create a following of people that trust you and want to work with you.

So in review, create three different income baskets:

Bread and butter income- consistent flow of money coming in your room through corporate media clients

Have freelance jobs lined up year-round depending on what season it is- get seniors and portraits lined up for Christmas photos, get weddings lined up during wedding season etc.

Get passive income streams through creating content, selling things online and creating workshops and e-books

As soon as you start learning how to use the knowledge that you have with photography and media and learn how to use them for marketing and corporate clients, you will never have a lack of business.

Christal Marshall is the owner of Virginia Photos and Films, www.virginiaphotosandfilms.com. Virginia Marketing and Media www.virginiamarketingandmedia.com and Virginia Beach Photobooth Company www.virginiabeachphotoboothcompany.com

She lives, breathes and does media and marketing pretty much 24-7 for over 14 local business through social media management, website design, photo, video or media coverage or graphic design.

She is a homeschool mom of three, cat lover, sushi eater and poke fan! She started her business in 2011 with nothing but a $400 camera from Amazon, now she is has been published in over 60 different blogs and websites for her media work and rank top Wedding Photographers in Virginia