Part one of wedding pricing mistakes looked at the internal mindset struggles that cause us to make missteps in what we should be charging, and you can read more about that here. Part two is more focused on the side of pricing that is less about mindset mistakes and more about structure of it and how it is presented.
Know Who You Serve
When it comes to wedding pricing and mistakes that can be made, knowing who you serve is often ignored. This is usually seen as a marketing issue rather than a pricing issue, but I would argue that they are intertwined. If you serve budget clients, then you need to price accordingly. If you are serving the mid-market (premium clients) then you can’t expect to be priced at luxury level prices and book clients. Ultimately, know who and what market you are serving and price accordingly.
Packages or Offerings
Most often wedding pricing is taught in the form of packages. These packages are usually structured in a group of three and while that it is industry norm, it isn’t the only way to do it. A few years ago we switched to presenting our offering as a quote rather than set packages and suddenly we saw not only our booking rate go up but the amount we were making. For more on how to structure your wedding pricing as a custom quote in the form of offerings head here.
Presenting Pricing
Go into any photography educational group and one of the most often asked questions is if you should put your pricing on your website or not. After 13 years in the industry the answer is yes and no. If your minimal offering is below five thousand then sure, go ahead and put your pricing on your website. I never recommend putting packages on your website no matter what you start at. As you raise your prices above the five thousand mark, you will want to present it differently to appeal to the changing market you are serving.
Know your pricing
No matter how you structure your pricing, you need to know it inside and out so that when a potential client asks a question about it, you don’t get rattled. Know ahead of time if you are willing to add in an extra hour or a complimentary engagement session. Determine if they ask for freebies, add ons, or start comparing you to a competitor, how you will handle it. Without this you will hit a wall in marketing and booking.
For additional help with pricing we recommend not only the custom pricing mini course above but also checking out our private Facebook group where you can connect with other photographers on the same journey as you.
