5 Ways to Successfully Cope with Holiday Portrait Sessions

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5 Ways to Successfully Cope with Holiday Portrait Sessions

The holidays are a busy time for everyone, but I had no idea how busy my third holiday season as a photographer would be. If you do not prepare and think ahead, you may get worn down. So as I wrap up this final month of shooting, I decided to note some things I learned from experience that worked and what did not.  And perhaps some of these insights may help you successfully promote and deal with next year’s holiday portrait sessions.

2010-HOLIDAY-CARD2.docx 5 Ways to Successfully Cope with Holiday Portrait Sessions Business Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

  1. Timing. Start promoting holiday sessions in August. Not after Halloween and certainly not after Thanksgiving. Given the demand in family photos around the holidays – especially for on-location photographers – there’s only so many shoots you have time to adequately do.  Also, promoting early allows you time to do a lot of repeat marketing – meaning people see something 6 or 7 times before thinking of whether to take action. So unless you plan only a small number of specialty sessions, start marketing before the school year begins.
  2. Incentives. Provide incentives to clients who book early. Most of my holiday sessions happened in October. Why? Because my session fee went up in November, and again in December. By encouraging clients to get their holiday photos done early they not only save money, but there’s not that “rush” to get them done like a lot of other families do between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The incentive doesn’t have to necessarily be the session fee, but could be in the form of free prints or future credits.
  3. Deadlines. Be specific about deadlines for clients, and put those dates in writing for them.  If a client comes for a session in September, you generally don’t want them to wait around until November to place an order. If you have other shoots in the pipeline, it’s best to get that September client taken care of as soon as possible.
  4. Pace yourself. You want to be busy. But not overwhelmed, overworked and sleep deprived (in theory). Think about the time you invest in each session and price yourself accordingly to help target prospects who are crazy about your work, and not just looking for a deal. In addition, manage your time more efficiently – especially if you shoot non-holiday related stuff like commercial projects, seniors or weddings during this time. How to do this? Be clear about your policies with clients in advance, shoot fewer frames during the session so you’re clicking only when you want the shot, and edit with Lightroom so you can enhance multiple photos at once.
  5. Time off. Finally, give yourself some time off after it’s all over. You deserve it.

Shuva Rahim is a lifestyle photographer serving Eastern Iowa. She blogs frequently at www.shuvarahim.com, has been working nonstop since August and is giving herself a break for the holidays.

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  1. LaurieY on December 20, 2010 at 8:05 am

    Great advice!!

  2. Deb D on December 20, 2010 at 9:09 am

    I agree… I DID start marketing in August… but next year… I will do the gradual session fee raise and see if that doesn’t help!!

  3. Catherine V on December 22, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    Thanks for the great advice. It seems everyone wants Fall photo sessions. I’d love to incentivize clients to other beautiful times of the year.

  4. pharmacy tech on January 4, 2011 at 1:35 am

    Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!

  5. pharmacy technician on January 22, 2011 at 3:19 am

    found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later

  6. Sandy on June 27, 2011 at 12:07 am

    My husband keeps a camera on hand in case he sees something that would make a good picture. He’s managed to get a bunch of good ones of our pets!

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