The Steps To Generate More Revenue With Print Sales As a Photographer

As a wedding photographer, print sales are easily my favorite income stream. With these sales, I can make money in my sleep! What’s not to love about that? It wasn’t always like this, though. Several years ago, I relied on a single income stream from photographing weddings. I wasn’t taking advantage of all the ways I could diversify my income, and I didn’t even realize what I was missing!

Then, along came the pandemic. When all my weddings for the year were canceled or postponed, my safety net was ripped right out from under me. My first reaction was to panic! Soon, however, I decided to research ways to diversify my photography income so that I wasn’t relying solely on booking weddings. What I discovered boggled my mind! I found four means of maximizing my income with minimal disruptions to my home life and photography schedule: shooting wedding add-ons and portrait sessions and making wedding albums and print sales. It wasn’t long before I had boosted my average yearly revenue by tens of thousands of dollars!

Generate Effortless Income With Print Sales

Recently, I’ve been shocked by how many of my coaching clients and photography friends aren’t taking advantage of this income stream. It’s like the best-kept secret of the photography biz! And the best part is that it’s relatively effortless. To begin, all you need to do is sign up for a gallery tool that will make this process easy-peasy. I use Pic-Time! When I signed up for this service, it transformed my business instantly. I went from making a few hundred dollars on print sales per year to making tens of thousands. Last year, I made $25k from print sales alone!

Just the other day, I woke up to discover a nearly $1500 sale in my online gallery from the father of a groom. This happened after I made a few clicks, then sat back and let Pic-Time do all the hard work! I always give my clients high-resolution files from their weddings and portrait sessions, but with the help of Pic-Time, they still purchase prints, cards, wall art, and more from me.

Plus, Pic-Time makes the online purchasing process incredibly simple! My clients can order directly from the platform, so there’s no need to follow a trail of links to find what they’re looking for. All I have to do is create a gallery, turn on the “Shop” feature, and set my pricing. Then, my clients can order directly from their galleries! The products in the Pic-Time online store include prints, greeting cards, print boxes, calendars, and flat-lay albums. For those interested in learning more, I also offer coaching sessions to help you get started and maximize your profit!

And if you are looking to get PicTime (and get one month free!) make sure to use my code at checkout: FC9V8L

 

Quarterly Marketing Roadmap

Beyond setting up Pic-Time, you’ll want to optimize your galleries by running quarterly print sales. Try to plan these around holidays or gift-giving occasions when your clients are in the market for a meaningful gift for their partner or family members. Here’s an example of what this could look like for one calendar year:

Q1: Valentine’s Day

Q2: Mother’s Day

Q3: Photographer’s choice! You could run a “just because” sale, a birthday sale, or, like me, an anniversary sale!

Q4: Black Friday/Holidays

Once you’ve mapped out your quarterly sales, the next crucial step is marketing them. Start promoting each sale via email 4-6 weeks before the event. In addition, make sure your emails include ordering deadlines, such as the client’s last day to order and the last day to order for timely delivery. There should be at least three emails in a sequence: one to announce the sale, one to remind your clients, and one with a final reminder 24 hours before the sale ends. If you have Pic-Time, you can set up everything in their built-in marketing platform! Announcing each sale on your Facebook and Instagram accounts can also help you reach a wider audience.

Get Coaching For Your Print Sales

If you’d like help getting started with print sales, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I would love to help you set up Pic-Time and optimize your galleries so you can generate effortless income with your photography business. Plus, receive a free month of Pic-Time when you sign up today using my code at checkout: FC9V8L