FIVE ACTIONABLE STEPS FOR STARTING YOUR PET PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS
Hello and welcome to the world of pet photography!
I’m Kirstie McConnell. I began photographing pets a decade ago at the young age of 21, and quickly turned that into a full-time, six figure business and now I host The Pet Photographers Club.
I remember exactly how I felt when starting my business. It was completely overwhelming. I just wanted someone to give me a checklist and say “here, do this”. Which is why I created the Business Foundations Challenge for pet photographers.
If you’re waiting for the next one to begin though, you can get started with these steps!
How to start a sustainable pet photography business that’ll last:
KNOW YOUR NUMBERS
It’s tempting to look at the established pet photographer down the road and copy their price list.. but the thing is, you don’t know how often they’re shooting, how long it takes them, what their overheads are or how much they want to earn per year- so that price list isn’t much help to you at all! Instead- do your numbers! What do I mean? Start with our Free Required Average Sale
KNOW YOUR IDEAL CLIENT, THE EXPERIENCE THEY WANT & WHERE THEY HANG OUT
The only way to attract high spending clients is to know who they are, where to find them, what they want and then to speak directly to them in your marketing! Week one of our Business Foundations Challenge is all about creating a client avatar, we picture a fictional person and learn all about them so that the rest of the course we can visualise that person whenever we make decisions such as which events to attend, or which Facebook Groups to spend time in offering advice! When creating your avatar you want to list things such as which magazines they read, what kind of pet they have and how they would describe the pet, where you find them on a Saturday morning, what they spend their money on, how they speak and write, what style they’re into for fashion and homewares and so on!
CREATE A WEBSITE, THAT ACTUALLY CONVERTS
So you’ve got your client avatar down.. Now it’s time to have somewhere to send that client to show them that you’re professional and you are perfect for THEM.. and a pretty portfolio won’t cut it! Remember I said “how do they speak and write”? You’ll want to use some of that in your website. Eg. Do they refer to their dog as “their baby”- that’s what you’ll use on your site! But don’t stop there. Your website also needs to needs to answer the objections your potential clients don’t even realise they have and of course, show what you do! Sell wall art? Have wall mock'-ups throughout your site! All about adventure? Be sure to let them know what to expect (including muddy shoes!). Okay I know, that’s a lot. I recommend you start with a nice clean design, and add or update elements as you can! Because done, is better than perfect! Want more tips? Grab our Top 10 Tips to created a website that converts.
P.S. We also sell website templates for Squarespace- the platform we recommend for your website!DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE WITH A SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT THAT'S MORE THAN PRETTY PHOTOS
Social media is awesome for business, there’s no doubt about that, especially when you use it with a clear goal (and I don’t mean how many likes you have!). Have a plan to build trust and likability with your Instagram/Tik Tok/Facebook etc audience.. and then take them to your website, get them into your lead-capture (email list) or better yet, to booking! Don’t forget that Social Media isn’t the only online-marketing tool.. you’ll also want to boost your SEO (Google ranking) by utilising Google MyBusiness, Pinterest, Blogging and backlinks!
CREATE A 12 MONTH MARKETING PLAN (BOTH ONLINE AND OFFLINE) AND FOLLOW IT
Okay os your website is up, and you’re working on your SEO and driving Social Media traffic to the site.. but that yields medium-long term results and you want clients yesterday right? Well for that you need a plan! And in said-plan, you’ll want to mix up the passive marketing (that’s part of the long-game), with active marketing (that’s the now-game part). And to really do well, you’ll want to cover both online AND offline marketing in that plan.
So go ahead and write a list of all the ideas you have, then put them into a 12 month calendar so you have at least one big campaign a month. From there you can write up the steps needed to implement each plan. You’ll find that most campaigns have the same steps, so you can rinse and repeat!
You’ll want to consider:
Hallmark Holidays (What will you do for Christmas, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc)
Local pet events (Can you have a stall or be the official photographer at the local pet charity event?)
Host events (Who can you invite into your space, or someone else’s for a fun event like a “photograph your pet workshop”)
Build relationships with other pet businesses (and then implement a third-party-marketing strategy!)
Stay top of mind with past clients through Gotcha-Day and Christmas cards, loyalty programs and a Pet of the Year Competition!
Plus you’re weekly plan for social media, blogging and Pinterest
Little extra marketing hint: Be sure to know what your goals are for each avenue (Eg. Why are you on Instagram and what do you want to achieve at the next pet event?), and how you will measure the results!
Okay, that’s a lot! What I recommend you do is take it step by step! Give yourself a deadline for each step and reach out for help if you need it. Our Club members are fantastic for support through our Facebook Group or if you want more guidance, our Business Foundations Challenge takes you through all of this and more over weekly group Zoom Calls for 3 months. You can join the next one here: BUSINESS FOUNDATIONS CHALLENGE