Essential Tools for Your Photography Business

On the one hand, professional photography is a service that will always be in demand. On the other hand, there are a lot of different photography businesses out there to compete with. This is not to discourage you from starting up your own photography business, merely to give you a realistic view of what you are up against. Fortunately, if you have the necessary determination and courage required, there are several tools available to help you build your business and succeed in spite of whatever obstacles you may encounter. Here are a few of the essentials any photography business needs.

Internet Access

You obviously don't need the internet to take pictures, but it is essential for almost every other aspect of your business. You need a website on which to share your portfolio, social media to connect with the community, and while it isn't absolutely essential, it can be more convenient for you and your clients if you have a way to accept electronic payments for services. For security purposes, you may want to connect with an APN.

Print-on-Demand Services

The internet allows you to connect with customers all over the world who may be interested in buying your prints. However, taking orders, printing and framing, then shipping them can quickly become a full-time job in itself, so that you no longer have time for actually taking pictures, which is why you got into the photography business in the first place. Print-on-demand services handle the customer service side of things so you can concentrate on other aspects of your business, especially the photography. All you have to do is set your prices and create your online gallery; the service will do the rest.

Business Cards

Don't put too much emphasis on digital marketing to the exclusion of in-person networking. Business cards can still make a strong impression for a very low cost. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to design your business cards. You should choose quality paper stock and a clean, readable font. Have an image printed on the card but don't clutter it with too much information.

External Hard Drives

Taking pictures digitally means storing a lot of data. You lose money if the files become lost or corrupted, so you should have multiple external hard drives on which to store photos. You should choose devices that offer terabytes of storage rather than gigabytes. A terabyte is equivalent to 1,000 gigabytes.

Your largest external hard drive should have at least four terabytes of storage and attach to your computer. You should also have several smaller hard drives, no less than one terabyte, to serve as backups. At least one of these should be stored in a separate location from where you run your business. That way, it is less likely to be compromised in case of damage to or theft of your computer.

Print Portfolio

Depending on the type of photography you do, you may not find it necessary to have a print portfolio in addition to your online one. However, if you take pictures specifically to be printed, e.g., you are a commercial photographer, your clients need to be able to see how your pictures look on paper. Even if you don't "need" a print portfolio, it can sometimes be to your advantage to have tangible samples of your work available to show potential clients.

Price List

Some professional photographers, such as wedding photographers, use set pricing. If appropriate for your business, you should have a price list that you can make available to clients as needed. One easy way is to post your price list on your website, but not all photographers are comfortable with this. If you prefer, you can keep your price list in a PDF format that you can email out to clients as necessary.

In addition to these essentials, there is also a wealth of software and smartphone apps that can help with running your photography business. These handle things such as scheduling appointments with clients, building your website, keeping track of finances, etc. There are also apps that help specifically with photography.