There’s a fine line between having your fingers in too many pies and putting your eggs all in one basket. Yes, they’re just old adages, but both of them have some serious implications for business owners, including creatives like photographers and print studios. Spread too wide and risk being viewed as that jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Too thin, and you risk a dwindling income when trends change. But, there is a happy medium — here are five ways photographers and other creative businesses can diversify their income without being spread too thin.
Adapt to new customer types.
Every business reaches a certain type of customer — wedding photographers cater to brides and grooms, portrait photographers to families, print studios to local photographers. Sometimes, diversifying doesn’t necessarily mean adding new skills, but reaching out to more customers. Photographers that shoot senior portraits could use those same skills and equipment to take corporate headshots. The skillset is the same, but the audience is different. Brainstorm ways that your current service or product offerings could be adapted to different customer bases, and you’ll have ways to diversify without overdoing it.
Brainstorm related products or services.
Sometimes, reaching out to the same audience but with more product or service options can help strengthen a business. A wedding photographer could, for example, shoot newborn portraits of the same couples that booked their weddings. The skillset is a bit different, but you already have a positive relationship established with the couple, making them more likely to choose you a second time, even though their needs have changed slightly.
Adding more physical products is another way to diversify. Adding unique prints, such as prints on wood or metal, or bundling multiple print sizes together at a discount may be a small change that could strengthen that bottom line. Senior portrait photographers could also expand by selling graduation and open house invitations and wedding photographers could sell engagement sessions with Save The Dates, for example.
Sell online.
Sure, photography and other creative businesses are more service than retail, but there’s often still ways to branch out with online sales. Selling prints online to friends and family, not just the client, through an online platform and social media advertising is one method. New services also make it possible to book a session online, and simplifying the process could help bring in more clients.
Teach online.
Selling online doesn’t have to be a product or a service, but knowledge. Teaching others what you know best is another way to diversify income, particularly for solopreneurs. Teaching an online photography class, business management class or other similar topics is both related to what you already do and divides those eggs up into another basket. Many different online learning platforms make it easy to create and sell classes online. (And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a class, sharing that knowledge with an ebook is another possibility).
Stay up-to-date on the latest trends.
Sometimes, the best way to diversify doesn’t even exist yet. As a business owner, staying up to date on the latest industry trends can help give you an idea of where to go next. For example, the earliest adapters of cake smash photography were able to quickly expand their business with the fun new trend that parents were eager to get on board with.
Business owners are often thinking of ways to make sure that next paycheck is a guarantee, and diversifying the income sources is one of the best ways to do that. By branching out into related areas within your expertise, you can create a business that adapts and thrives to whatever changes come your way.