Many photographers also have relationships with publications and can assist in getting your projects featured in print or online publications. The higher quality the images, the more likely your work will be published. Not only is this free advertising, it further adds to your businesses prestige and legitimacy.
Many photographers also offer cost splitting arrangements with other parties (architect, builder, cabinet maker, stone provider, appliance, and furniture companies, to name a few) that can reduce the upfront costs. It is common for projects to be split by two or more parties; a recent project of mine was split by five! Not only can this help reduce the cost, it can also help you grow relationships with other businesses that are potential referral partners. Most builders and architects want great photos of their projects. If you are able to help them get great images and reduce their costs in getting them, you are a problem solver. They will be more likely to bring you into projects knowing that you are helping them grow their business.
Better Client Experiences
The best way to ensure happy clients, clients who send referrals, clients who write positive reviews, and clients who continue to use you more than once, is to deliver results that meet or exceed their expectations. When you sit down to plan the project with your client, you are setting those future expectations. The client forms a vision of what their project will look like when the work is done. How the materials, colors, and finishes will look when complete. When things look different from that expectation, problems can occur. That is why many of my designer clients use my images of their past projects in their planning sessions. The techniques I use as an A&I photographer ensure that the photos accurately represent the colors of paints, and finishes, and materials. That the proportions of the space and how things fit within them are accurate. Designers who work with me know that when the project is complete, the colors their client chose, based on my images, will appear that way in reality. This is why having professional photos of your past projects are beneficial as references in consultations with future clients.
“The color renderings are helpful when I am showing a client a room with the same color I am specifying for them. The straight lines help balance the pictures and better represent the space in comparison to my skewed amateur photos.” – Nicole Shultz, Limerence Design
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
As a small business owner, it is sometimes hard not to try to do everything yourself. We often try to do our own accounting, web design, marketing, graphic design, client management, and on and on. It can be hard to let go of control and can be harder to let go of the money to hire these things out to professionals. It is much easier to see the actual dollars spent than the potential dollars gained by better uses of your time. How much more could you grow your business if you were putting more time into building relationships with people who could bring you more business? How much more could you grow your business if you were able to devote more time to sharpening your skills and continuing your education? How much stress could you reduce in your life by reducing the number of roles you have to take on? Hiring a professional photographer to create stunning images of your projects not only means one less thing you have to do yourself, it also gives you another tool to use when working on growing your business. Even if you are a good photographer in your own right, that doesn’t mean you should be the one photographing your projects. Doing it yourself might actually be costing you revenue, not increasing it.
“Owning your own company requires a person to wear many hats, and be proficient in many areas. It is just not possible to do everything. I found that it saved time, money and frustration to hire professionals to do the things that I was not interested in, or very good at doing (I want to decorate, not do taxes or build websites). Although I still do the majority of the running of the business, hiring a photographer proved to be the best investment in your own company!” – Rebecca DeShazo, DeShazo Interiors
