90% of Portrait Photographers who don't bundle the print+digital will cease to exist and here is the Why...

Bridging the value-gap with consumers – Part 5

In my previous posts, I made the prediction that 90% of portrait photographers who don’t combine print+digital into their offerings will cease to exist when we pass into the ‘Post-Age’, where GEN Y & GEN Z become our client for nearly all genres of Photography.

I did however, mention that some may be able to adapt and survive the transition.

Let’s discuss ‘Why’ and ‘Who’ they might be.

In my experience, every profession, regardless of what it is, has what I call the earnings success index.

There is always 10% that truly excel and therefore out earn the rest of their peers.

Photography is no exception if you check the official statistics which you can see in the link below.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/2017/may/oes274021.htm

What do they say?

They say that the median earnings for a US Photographer is $32,490.

What does that mean?

Lets imagine there are 10,000 Photographers in the US and you lined them all up. Starting with the highest earner and the remaining line up in descending order of income.

The Photographer right in the middle earned $32,490.

10% of the top earners of Photographers earned over $75,080 and 25% earned over $50,820.

So if you are in the top 10% of Portrait Photographers you might be able to resist selling the digital file bundled with print.

I don’t need to explain what a Portrait Studio in the top 10% looks like as you already know that.

They are not my concern because they are already very successful businesses and our mission is to help photographers create more successful businesses.

So if you are a member of the remaining 90% who want to make your business more successful then you truly need to bridge the gap with the consumer and figure out how you can sell them what they will pay you the most for on a consistent basis.

So please ignore the advice of those who say “never sell the digital as a digital+print” bundle as they are either one of the following 3 scenarios:

1. They are already one of the top Photography Brands in your area and win the business regardless, based on reputation. However, they are likely to be just one in ten of studios in your area of business.

2. They are struggling Photography businesses and are just totally mis-guided and can’t see the train coming. They are blinded by nostalgia and living in the past. Their sales are likely to be consistently falling year on year because they are not providing GEN Y and GEN Z with the service they desire. Their sales will continue to fall as these demographics continue to grow as an overall % of their potential clientele.

3. They don’t have a business outside of training or are a vendor with a vested interest in persuading you not to combine both or simply don’t see the same oncoming train as the Photographers described in point 2.

You can however create a very successful, sustainable, profitable business by combining both as a bundle and doing in-person sales (IPS).

These 3 things are the magic ingredients to bridging the value-gap.

Over my next series of posts I will explain various tactics and processes you can deploy to bridge the value-gap and help you on your way to create a more successful business.

Thanks for reading ??