I recently saw a photographer advertising her business, and it made me laugh.
The ad was like a variety of other ads I've seen, but what caught my eye was her area of specialty. She specialized in: babies, families, seniors, commercial, model portfolios, weddings, events and sports photography.
Is that really specializing? How can you ever hope to be good at all of those types of photography, and make a name for yourself in any one of those fields?
Specializing means choosing one niche area, and becoming the best you can be. Certain fields can work together, but it still involves highly focusing on what you do best.
Take for instance a wedding photographer. If you specialize in wedding photography, you can spend the majority of your time looking for wedding clients. You can network with other wedding professionals. And you can show off your expertise as a wedding vendor to the local media. People will associate you with weddings, and you will be the local authority on wedding photography.
The same applies to any of the different photography fields. Take a look at the following list to get an idea of some lucrative specialties:
- Advertising Photography
- Aerial Photography
- Baby Portrait Studio
- Business Portrait Photography
- Children Photography
- Commercial Photography
- Corporate Photography (annual report, business, editorial, industrial)
- Editorial Photography
- Event Photography
- Family Portraits
- Fine Art Photography
Grandparent Photography
- High School Seniors
- Landscape Photography
- Modeling/Fashion Photography
- Nature Photography
- Panoramic Photography
- Pet Photography
- Real Estate Photography
- School Photography
- Sports Photography
- Stock Photography
- Travel Photography
- Underwater Photography
- Wedding Photography
- Wildlife Photography
Lets continue on with the wedding photographer example. If you make that your specialty, it can easily spread into a few other niches. Maybe you continue to take portraits of your brides and grooms as they start their families. You may not advertise for it, but you could easily build a lucrative "side" business photographing babies, children and families of your past wedding clients.
Or maybe you like the thrill of the event. There is a wide calling for event photography. Corporations have meetings, expos and parties all the time, and require the use of a photographer to capture the main events. If you work with a wedding coordinator on a regular basis, ask her is she also plans corporate events, or even bar/bat mitzvahs or other consumer parties. This can also be a great extension from weddings, and provide you more work on your non-wedding work days.
Once you decide on your particular fired of study, its time to begin marketing your services.
To help you get started immediately, and catapult your business in as quick of time as possible, I've created my individual marketing plans. For more information on these valuable resources, visit my Photography Marketing Plans.
