Making photography as a product, something that people buy, can require a shift in a photographer’s thinking.

It means you have to change the purpose of your photography from being something that you create purely because you like it to something that serves a purpose for someone else.

To sell photography, you have to become completely clear on why someone would buy your imagery, what they would use it for, the purpose it serves and the problem it solves.

You also need to think beyond the images themselves, and consider other factors that influence whether a client will choose you rather than take other options.

Everything that we buy as a consumer, we buy because the product gives us a benefit or solves a problem.

Here are some examples:

Problem: Hungry. Solution: Food. Benefit: Feel satisfied.

Problem: Bored. Solution: Games. Benefit: Time passes quickly.

Problem: Scared of getting ill. Solution: Health insurance. Benefit: Feel secure.

Photography as a product that people but works in the same way.

To be something that a client wants to pay for, photography must solve a problem. It must provide a benefit.

By fixing a problem, you create a benefit.

Sometimes there are obstacles in the way of getting problems fixed though. These are things that stop the problem being solved and achieving the benefit. These obstacles can be many and varied, they include lack of time, fear, travel, deadlines.

People solve problems in different ways. If a problem is getting from A to B quickly and regularly, one person may choose to buy a bike, another may take the train, another might buy an old car, and someone else a Ferrari.

Buying the bike solves the problem of getting to A – B, and provides gains of getting fit, saving the planet and leaving enough money to go on holiday.

Buying a Ferrari solves the travel problem, and provides the gains of enhancing the owner’s feeling of status when she arrives at work, making her look good in front of her friends and getting around quickly.

The right solution to the problem depends on multiple factors including the circumstances and values of the individual.

What is right for one person doesn’t work for another.

For photography, clients will certainly choose a photographer based on their portfolio. But they will also assess parts of your service other than your images. If you can provide the benefits faster, more conveniently, with less stress than other photographers, the client will choose you if that’s important to them.

The key is to understand the problem that clients in your niche need to fix, find out what their expected benefits are and work out how you can overcome the obstacles to getting it done.

To make people hand over hard earned cash in exchange for your images, you need to be very clear on what benefit your photography will provide, and what problem it will solve.

Client problems are often not immediately obvious, and we need to dig a little deeper to get to the real problem that they are trying to fix.

Taking an actors headshot for example.

On the surface, you may think that the problem the actor wants to solve is that they want to get a headshot. In itself though, that is not the problem.

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We need to go deeper and ask “why?”.

Why do they want a headshot? To give to a casting agent.
Why give it to a casting agent? So the agent can find work for the actor.
Why find work for the actor? So he can earn money with his trade.
By asking “why?” several times we get to the bottom of the problem that the actor needs the photographer to solve. He needs the photographer to help him get paid work.

Your goal, when promoting your services as a photographer is to ensure your imagery does indeed help people achieve their goals, and prove it to them.

For the actor, creating a great image is an outcome he expects. What he really needs though is an image that will help him find work. You need to prove you can do that, and you need to get that across when talking to clients and prompting your work.

This is why it is so important to properly identify your niche. To solve problems for people you need to understand who those people are. In fact, we could say that your niche is a set of people who all have the same problem that your photography can solve.

Once you identify a problem, then you can go about creating the solution with your photography.

That is where you create real value with your photography. And if you create value, clients will pay for that.

So, the actor didn’t have a job, now he has a job. And your photo meant he was able to get that job. He realised the benefit of working with you.

If his top level problem was to get a job, our actor friend will also have experienced other challenges associated with getting that job done.

He might be pressed for time, which means he doesn’t want the shoot to take too long and he doesn’t want to travel far.

Possibly he hates having his photo taken, and finds the whole process awkward.

He needs the photos by the end of the week, because he’s been putting it off.

And, he’s worried that he won’t like the images.

These are all problems he associated with getting his headshot done. You need to think about how you can alleviate these barriers.

Remove any obstacles and make it very easy to choose you.

You can offer to travel to him, and reassure him that the shoot will only take half an hour.

Guaranteeing that the images will be with him 24 hours after the shoot obliterates his concern around his end of week deadline.

Your relaxed and friendly demeanour and testimonials proving this give him confidence that he isn’t going to totally hate the experience.

And your money back guarantee provides assurance against his fear of not liking the photos.

By doing all of this, not only do you solve the problem that caused him to seek the services of a photographer in the first place, but you also remove any worries, objections and obstacles to getting the job done.

Two clients with the same problem, may have completely different obstacles to getting the job done. If you prove you overcome those obstacles you will win the client.

You can also create gains for your clients over and above what they are seeking.

For portrait photography, most clients would likely say that they have achieved the benefit they wanted if they liked the final image. But what if you created images that they were so proud of they wanted to show all of their friends?

Or they looked better than they ever thought they could?

By doing this you are creating unexpected gains and that means you are giving clients an experience over and above anything they hoped for.

Problems can be experienced in various ways.

The problem may be functional if it is a need to get a job done. A client may want to sell a product, or attract people to their hotel. Maybe they have a big space on their wall that needs filling.

The problem may be personal or social. Clients may want to look good in front of their peers or appear professional. They may want to feel a connection with an image, or foster their sense of supporting independent artists.

To understand how you can solve problems and create gains for your clients, you really have to understand who your ideal client is. Again, this is why identifying your niche is so important.

Once you have identified who your ideal client is, you can then examine what the problem is that they are trying to solve, and what the challenges are that they face when getting it done.

You can also foresee what their expectations are of getting the photography done well and work out how you can create benefits that your client didn’t expect, and how to provide them with photography that goes over and above their goals when they set out to get the job done.

The approach of creating photography that solves a clients problem, overcomes the objections and challenges they have with getting the job done, and providing gains above and beyond what the client expects allows you to create real value for clients.

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Beyond the image, there are many other ways you can create value for your clients.

The worry a personal assistant faces when he books a photographer for his boss is that the photographer will be scruffy and late. You can overcome this by making it clear that you are always on time, and by showing how smart you look.

Jewellery manufacturers are concerned that they don’t have space in their workshop and also get stressed about their product going off site. You can offer an insured, safe and reliable shipping service along with notification when their items arrive at your studio.

The groom is concerned about where the wedding photographer will be able to shoot from in the church. You take this out of his hands and deal directly with the vicar.

Create photography that fixes the biggest problems that customers in your niche have, provide them with unexpected benefits and remove any obstacles to getting the job done. Make sure you know what the high level problem is that you are helping with, and establish what the barriers are to getting this done, so you can remove them.

If you don’t feel your photography solves a problem directly, ensure you know how your photography provides an emotional, status or social gain.

Do it in a way that is better in at least one way than anyone else is doing it. This can be beyond taking better photos. It could be to do with speed, location, appearance or affiliation with your audience. Every niche will have its own factors.

Make sure the people in your niche all have similar problems, so you can ensure the photography you create is helpful to them all. If you discover that your niche contains people with a huge variety of problems, you may need to re-define your niche to start with and expand it later. Ensure there are enough customers with this problem to create a sustainable business.

All of this requires insight into the mind of your ideal customer.

How do you do that?

Part of the reason you chose your niche could have been because you had a unique insight which gives you knowledge of what their problems, obstacles and desired gains would be. If you already have this information, you are off to a good start and can start thinking about how you will incorporate this into what you do to create valuable photography.

But, what if you don’t have this insight?

There are several ways you can find out.

Talk to clients. Once you start finding clients, make it a habit to ask what they decided to work with you, which other photographers they considered and why they didn’t choose them. You will learn something every time and will be able to spot trends.

Do research. If you don’t yet have any clients, you need to speak to people who may become your potential clients, and if you can, speak to people who have just used a photographer.

If you know anyone who just got married, ask why they chose their photographer. If you want to photograph dogs, ask some dog walkers what would prevent them from having their dog’s photo taken, and find out what they would expect from a dog photography session.

If you see some art hanging on a friends wall, ask why they chose that piece of art, what was the connection they formed with it and the artist.

This information will enable you to create photography that matters. Equally importantly it will enable you to provide your photography in ways that add even more value to clients, which means they become way more likely to choose you, and they become less sensitive to price.

Value is about more than price.

Even if people paid huge sums of money, they got value if their expectations were exceeded, their problems were solved, and they got it done in a way that was stress free, easy, aligned with their values and avoided any of their fears, stresses or perceived problems.

Once you understand what your ideal client’s problems, expected gains and obstacles to getting the job done are, then it is time to match your photography service with them.

Understand the most important problems and obstacles that your clients face and the gains they expect and then make sure you overachieve on these. Only focus on the top ones, the most important ones. Overcome the obstacles in the way of getting the job done. Base this on the real insight from research, or the insight you have.

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Andrew Mason

Andrew is a professional photographer and the founder of the 36exp Photographers School plus the London Photo Show.