Your photography business shouldn’t be so hard, let’s make it easier

You wanted to take photographs.

And then, somewhere along the way, you also became a web designer, copywriter, blogger, social media manager, accountant, SEO expert, album designer, and email marketer.

You have a CRM talking to your online gallery, an email platform talking to your website, your website needs updating because your editing has changed again, you haven't blogged the last 14 weddings because who the has time for that, Instagram wants another Reel and apparently you should also be on Pinterest.

Being a photographer has become really bloody complicated.

And after years of working with photographers (and being one myself), I increasingly think the answer isn't another tool, platform or strategy.

I think we need to start taking some shit away. I think we need to make being a photographer easier again.

We need to strip it back, because not everything in your photography business is equally important and, more importantly, not everything is important right now. If you've got three galleries waiting to be delivered, you do not need to be making a Reel. I promise you, Instagram will survive. If you've got an enquiry sitting in your inbox from someone who actively wants to give you money, maybe this afternoon isn't the time to redesign your pricing guide. If you've got clients who don't really know what happens next because your client journey is a bit of a mess, your Pinterest strategy can probably wait too. Your current clients are the priority. Always. These are people who have already trusted you, already paid you, already stood in front of your camera and are now waiting for the thing you promised them. Deliver their galleries, answer their emails, make their experience lovely and look after them, because sometimes I think we're so busy trying to generate the next client that we forget about the one already sitting at the table.

And once they're looked after? Cool. Now let's make it really easy for the next person to find you and give you money. This is where I think your website and branding matter enormously, not because you need the coolest website in the photography industry or because another photographer needs to land on it and think oh my god, where did she get that font?, but because an actual potential client needs to arrive there and very quickly understand who you are, what you do, whether they want it and how they book it. That's the job: we're creatives and personality matters, but what they REALLY want to know is how you work, what this is going to cost them, what happens when they enquire, what the experience is actually going to feel like, whether their kids are allowed to be feral and, ultimately, how do I book you?

This is where I think we need to leave the ego at the door a little bit, because your website isn't actually for other photographers. Your Instagram isn't for other photographers. Your branding isn't there to impress other photographers. Yet I see so many decisions being made through the lens of how they'll be perceived by the industry rather than whether they're actually useful to the person paying for the service. Your business doesn't need to prove to everybody else that you're booked, successful, creative, cool or different. It needs to make your client feel like they've found the right person.

Once somebody decides that person is you, the next priority is making the whole thing work. Their enquiry needs to go somewhere sensible; they need a reply, contracts need signing, invoices need paying, everybody needs to know where they're supposed to be and when, and your client shouldn't have to dig through six months of Instagram posts to work out what they should wear or whether they can bring their dog. This is where a CRM can be amazing, where good emails are amazing and where a thoughtful client guide can save everybody a headache. But functional first. You don't need seventeen automations and a colour-coded workflow that took four working days to build because another photographer showed you theirs on Instagram. Sometimes the best system is simply the one that works, that your clients understand and that you will actually use.

Then we can think about being found. Have a gorgeous website, absolutely. Have branding that feels like you rather than whichever photography aesthetic is having its moment this year. Show the work you actually want people to hire you to make. Write some cute little SEO blogs about the venues, places and questions your real clients are actually searching for. Make Google understand what you do. Give past clients an experience good enough that they tell their friends about you. Build relationships with venues, suppliers and people around you. Do the slightly boring, less visible things that quietly bring people through the door.

And then we can talk about social media, because somehow social media has managed to convince creative business owners that it belongs right at the top of the list. It doesn't. I'm not going to pretend Instagram isn't useful, of course it is, but it's a tool within your business, it isn't the business itself. You do not need to spend two hours making a Reel while a gallery is overdue, or create a carousel explaining your ‘why’ when somebody has just spent ten minutes on your website trying to find out how to book you. And you definitely don't need to spend your morning watching what another photographer is posting because you've decided you need to ‘show up consistently’.

Show up consistently for your clients first.

I think part of the reason we get this so backwards is because social media is the bit everybody can see. Nobody sees you delivering a gallery when you said you would. Nobody sees the lovely email you sent to the mum who told you she was nervous about being photographed. Nobody sees that your enquiry process is ridiculously easy, that your online galleries are beautiful to use, that your clients know exactly what to expect before they arrive or that you spent an extra half hour making sure their photographs were right before you pressed send. Nobody applauds because your contracts are organised. But they can see your Reel. They can see your follower count, your likes, your booked-out announcement and the post saying you're now taking bookings for next year. Of course we're tempted to spend our energy there, because it's the part of the business that gets witnessed.

But witnessed doesn't mean important.

Maybe instead of constantly asking what should I be doing for my photography business?, we need to get better at asking what actually needs doing next? If somebody is waiting for something from you, start there. Then make sure the next person can find you, understand you, book you and have a really bloody good experience once they do. Make sure your website, branding, copy, galleries, CRM, blogs and all the other bits are quietly working together rather than becoming seven separate jobs you're constantly trying to keep on top of.

And also, maybe you don't need to be the person doing all of it. I think we get so used to being a one-woman-everything-department that outsourcing starts to feel like something reserved for when we're ‘big enough’, when actually sometimes the quickest way to make your business feel easier is to stop trying to become an expert in every single part of it. You don't need to spend sixteen weekends trying to build your own website because technically you can. You don't need to stare at three fonts for four hours wondering which one feels most like you. You don't need to write your own copy if every time you open the document your brain leaves your body, and you definitely don't need another three months of saving business advice on Instagram when what you actually need is someone to sit down with you, look at the whole thing and tell you where to start.

That's a huge part of the work I do with photographers now. Sometimes that's creative business coaching and getting everything back into an order that actually makes sense. Sometimes it's a new website or brand identity, sometimes it's copywriting, and sometimes it's visual direction and discovery because you know something isn't working but you can't quite see what it is anymore. When you're this close to your own business, it can be incredibly hard to see what's unnecessary, what's missing and what's actually worth your energy. Sometimes you don't need another course or another saved post. You need another creative person to come in, look at the whole thing with fresh eyes and help you make some decisions.

Because outsourcing isn't just about saving time. Done properly, it's about getting you back to the bit you're actually brilliant at. I don't need you to become a web designer. I don't need you to become a brand strategist or copywriter. I need you to be a photographer. Let the people who are really good at the other stuff make that stuff easier for you.

And when all of that is working, when your clients are looked after and your business is actually doing what it's supposed to do, go make the cute Reel. Have fun with it. Show people what you're doing. Be visible. Tell everybody when something brilliant happens. I'm not anti-social media and I'm definitely not anti-success; I just don't think either should be taking your attention away from the people who have already trusted you with their money and their memories.

Your photography business really shouldn't be this hard. It probably doesn't need another platform, another offer, another content strategy or another system you saw somebody recommend online. Maybe it just needs its priorities putting back in the right order, a bit less attention on the things that make us look like successful photographers and a bit more on the things that actually make us really good ones.

Leave the ego at the door and just show up for your clients.