How to sell more family photo shoots with these 3 essential tools

 

 

If you already work as a photographer shooting with children of all ages, you’ll know that family photo shoots are among the most emotional and special of your entire career. Capturing unique moments between parents and children, seeing how the little ones grow up through different sessions over the years? There is no doubt that it is a job that leaves an impression on both those in front of the camera and those behind it.

Organising this type of children’s reportage is usually something that you photographers master quite well: you know how to connect with the little ones, create a relaxed atmosphere and get those images full of tenderness that families value so much. However, where there tends to be more difficulties is in everything that surrounds the management prior to the session. Informing families about the different types of photo shoots you offer, gathering information about each family, or even agreeing on a date that fits in with both of your schedules. All of this can be a real headache. Especially when it comes to families with small children, who have little free time and a thousand things on their minds. That’s why in this article we want to share with you 3 essential tools that will not only help you sell more family photo shoots, but will also allow you to optimise your time, automate repetitive tasks and dedicate yourself to what you are really passionate about: taking photos.

Maximise your family photo shoots with the business solutions offered by Arcadina.

Are you finding it hard to sell more family photo shoots? Find out what might be going wrong

When it comes to your family photo stories, it is not enough to have a good camera and technical knowledge. There are a number of essential skills that make the difference between a successful shoot and a memorable experience for your clients. Gaining the trust of the children (which is not always easy), choosing a location or set that fits the style of the family, empathising with the parents and knowing how to capture with originality every little gesture or look between them…. This is all part of the job.

If you really enjoy this discipline and have a good training base, along with some practice and sensitivity, you will have no problem becoming an outstanding family photographer. The hard part, in reality, is not usually in the creative or emotional part of the job. As we have already mentioned, the most common challenges faced by many family photographers begin when you have to make the leap to the more strategic and entrepreneurial side of the business. That is, learning to organise your time with clients, automating repetitive tasks, offering a more professional service, and at the same time, freeing up hours to continue growing and diversifying your offer.

Below, we are going to go over some of the most common obstacles that you may encounter if you work, or are starting to work, in the field of family photography. Identifying them is the first step to overcoming them with practical and real solutions that will allow you to work better, sell more and enjoy your profession more. But first, if you are still at the stage of designing and structuring your family photography sessions, we recommend this essential article:

>> Make your family photography stand out: 8 tips to make it unique and memorable

I spend too much time explaining to each family all the options available to them to organise their photo shoot

If you already have a photography website, but you don’t have it up to date with all the information your clients need to book a family photo shoot, you are missing out on a key tool in your business. Instead of helping you to automatically attract more clients, your website becomes a constant source of wasted time – time that you could be spending on more productive tasks such as editing, doing more shoots, creating content or expanding your services. This is a common mistake that, although it has a simple solution, many photographers still make today.

A frequent variant of this problem is to have complete information about the sessions, such as: prices, options, duration, recommendations, etc. but hidden in a dossier that is not accessible from the web. In these cases, the photographer waits for the client to contact him/her and then sends the link with the details by private message or email.

The problem with this practice? In addition to the time wasted answering queries that could be resolved automatically from the web, you are letting many potential clients slip through your fingers if they don’t see all the details of the family photo session from the start. Because many families, not finding the information they need quickly and clearly, simply leave the page without contacting you. And this is a missed opportunity.

Nowadays, people want immediate answers. If they don’t find what they are looking for in the first few seconds on your website, they will go elsewhere. That’s why having a well-structured website, with all the information accessible and designed to facilitate recruitment, is not a luxury: it’s a necessity if you want to sell more and work better.

It’s a session that helps me to maintain revenue in the slower months, but I don’t have time to personally attend to every customer who requests information

This is one of the most common problems faced by a photographer specialising in families. Generally, family photographers focus a large part of their annual activity on major campaigns such as weddings, communions or Christmas sessions, which ensure a steady income for several months. To complete the rest of the calendar, many also offer children’s sessions and family shoots, which, if well managed, can be equally profitable.

The problem arises when, for example, in the middle of the communion season, one of the busiest of the year, requests start coming in from families wanting to book a session. At these times, it is difficult for the photographer to combine the workload of the main campaign with the personalised attention required by these new clients. And this is where the system often fails. Without good organisation or tools to automate part of the process, it is easy for these requests to go unattended, for sales opportunities to be lost or for them to be rejected due to lack of time. This not only affects potential revenue, but also limits the growth of the business.

Keeping all lines of work active and profitable requires more than just photographic talent: you need efficient management that allows you to serve your clients even at your busiest times.

When I receive a request for a photo shoot, most of the time they don’t specify the type of shoot they want, and that wastes my time with clarifications

On many occasions, when a family contacts a photographer through the form on their website, they do not specify the type of shoot they would like more information about or to make a booking. This detail, which may seem minor, becomes a constant source of wasted time, especially for those photographers specialising in children’s shoots that offer a wide variety of sessions: newborn, first year follow-up, family sessions, birthday, themed, family sessions, etc.

Faced with this lack of clarity, the photographer is forced to contact each client individually to gather the necessary information: what type of session they are interested in, what dates they are looking for, what style they are looking for, etc. This process not only slows down the handling of requests, but can also create a less smooth experience for the client, who expects quick and clear answers.

An effective solution to avoid this problem is to optimise the contact form by including specific fields that allow the client to easily select the type of story they want, the preferred date range and any other relevant information. This not only speeds up communication, but also allows the photographer to offer a more professional service from the very first moment.

Scheduling with families is often one of the most time-consuming parts of my job as a photographer

This problem is closely related to the previous ones, and is especially accentuated when working with families with young children, where schedules are often very inflexible. In many cases, in order to set a date for the photo shoot, parents need to check their diaries several times, coordinating work, school and family commitments, before being able to confirm an appointment that also fits in with the photographer’s availability.

The result is that what should be a straightforward process becomes time-consuming and inefficient. The family photographer ends up having to communicate with the same client several times, either by WhatsApp, email or phone calls, just to close a single appointment. All this time spent going back and forth may seem unavoidable, but in reality it is a considerable waste of time that could be avoided with better organisation and the right tools.

Having an online booking system, where clients can check your availability in real time and directly select the day and time that best suits them, can save you dozens of unnecessary messages and calls. In addition, it provides a much more professional image of your business and improves the customer experience from the first contact.

3 Arcadina tools to solve all these challenges in your family photo shoots

 

All the obstacles that a photographer faces when promoting and selling family photo shoots can be summed up in two main challenges: giving greater visibility to this type of shoot and optimising the time dedicated to dealing with each client, so that the business is truly profitable.

At Arcadina we are well aware of these needs, and that is why we offer a series of business solutions specifically designed to help professional photographers create a solid, profitable business with much more efficient management of their time and resources.

 

This time, we want to talk to you about three key tools that will make a difference in the way you manage and sell your family reportage:

• Professional, fully customisable websites.
• The Booking service or online booking calendar, which facilitates the organisation of sessions.
• And the forms, which help you collect more specific information about the different family photo sessions you offer on your website.

Before presenting them in more detail, we invite you to read this article where you will meet several family photographers who are already making the most of these tools and other Arcadina solutions to improve their workflow, automate tasks and increase their income.

>> Discover the talent of 10 family photographers who rely on Arcadina

Photography website to showcase and explain your professional services

 

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Arcadina’websites s offer you a fully customisable space, designed to adapt to the specific needs of any photographer. As well as allowing you to showcase your portfolio in a professional and attractive way, these websites give you the opportunity to present yourself as you really are and, even more importantly, explain in detail what your photographic services consist of.

Although it may seem that offering so much information is excessive, the reality is that families need to know in depth what the different sessions you offer are like, what packages you have available, approximate prices, duration, recommended locations and many other frequently asked questions. Having this information well organised and accessible on your website not only improves the customer experience, but also prevents you from missing opportunities due to lack of clarity.

In addition, having all this information available online saves you hours and hours a week that you would normally spend answering the same questions by email, phone or WhatsApp. In short, a well-designed and complete website is a fundamental tool to professionalise your business, increase the trust of families and close more sales without so much effort.

In the following article of our blog you will find several more reasons to decide to take the plunge and create a photography website with us.

>> Increase your visibility on the Internet: create a profitable photography website

And before we move on to the next tool, let’s take a closer look at some of the advantages that Arcadina’s websites offer you.

Save time with your clients: offer all the information they need on your website

We have already mentioned this today, but it is worth insisting: it is a good reason to encourage you to create a specific page of services for your family photo shoots. Just by briefly explaining what the session consists of, showing the available packs and answering the most common questions, you will be taking an important step towards making your clients’ decision easier and saving time on repetitive tasks.

With our websites you can create as many service sections as you need. You can even have a main page that acts as an index and, within it, include the different options of photographic reports. In addition, all our websites are designed with photographers in mind, so you can showcase your work with the prominence it deserves.

Within the different sections of your service pages you can include small image galleries, shortcut buttons, attractive text blocks and other design options that will give your presentation a professional and visually powerful finish. This way, your reports will not only look good, but also communicate confidence, style and organisation.

Attract more clients by displaying your photography services clearly and professionally on your website

If in addition to adding information about your family sessions, you can include details about the rest of your photo shoots, such as Christmas, communions, newborns or pregnancies, you will be taking a strategic step towards building customer loyalty. Many of the people who come to you interested in a family session may come back to you later, simply because they already know your style and trust your work.

The more useful and visual information you have on your website, the easier it will be for new visitors to understand what you have to offer and to contact you. In addition, if your site is well structured and designed to guide the user, you will reduce the time you spend answering repetitive queries. You will then be able to focus on what is most important: enjoying each session and providing the best possible photography experience.

Improve your website’s positioning in the main search engines and gain online visibility

As well as saving you time in dealing with your clients and helping you to attract new families who are actively looking for a children’s photographer, having an up-to-date, clear and well-structured photography website gives you an important competitive advantage. An optimised website not only improves the experience for visitors, but also contributes significantly to your ranking on Google and other search engines, making you more visible to your competitors.

This is even more important if most of your customers come to you online and you prefer not to rely so much on paid advertising. Investing in a strong, organic digital presence is a smart and sustainable long-term strategy to attract new customers without having to continually increase your advertising budget.

Online booking system so that your clients can manage their appointments in an autonomous and comfortable way

 

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With Arcadina’s Booking service, you will be able to automate a large part of the management with your clients, which means more time for you: either to plan new family sessions, increase the number of weekly reports or simply enjoy a well-deserved break.

Thanks to this online booking calendar, clients who visit your website will be able to manage the whole process of booking a session themselves, without having to write or call you. This is what they will be able to do quickly and intuitively:

• Choose the type of session they want, for example, a family session.
• Consult on your website what the session consists of and compare the different packages or modalities that you offer.
• See the price of the shoot, including the booking fee and the total cost.
• Choose the day and time that best suits them according to your availability.
• Pay for the booking directly and securely.

And best of all: you don’t have to intervene in any of these formalities. Everything is done by them, autonomously, and also with a user experience that will be comfortable, modern and professional. Undoubtedly, it is a functionality that they will value very positively and that will help you to differentiate yourself from other photographers who still manage bookings manually.

Now that you know about the booking calendar, it’s time to take a closer look at some of the key benefits you can get from integrating it into your website.

Before we go into detail, we’d like to share with you an article where we explain all the benefits of having an automated booking system. It will serve as a guide to help you get the most out of this tool!

>> 8 advantages of Booking that will make this Arcadina’s service irresistible

Optimise your time using an online booking system and focus on what really matters: your photo shoots

We’ve already told you this before, but it’s worth repeating: when a photography business starts to grow, there inevitably comes a point where one person can’t do it all. Shooting, editing, answering messages, posting on social networks, creating advertising campaigns, updating the website… The workload multiplies and the number of people involved multiplies. The workload multiplies and, if not managed well, it can become a brake on progress. At that moment, you have two clear options: delegate tasks to other people or rely on tools that automate part of the process. This is where the Booking service comes into play.

With this feature you will be able to sell all your photo shoots directly from your website, allowing your customers to make their own bookings, select a date and time, and complete the payment without you having to intervene. Everything is automated, available 24/7 and without the need for you to answer every message or enquiry manually. Can you imagine the amount of time you could free up by automating this part of your business? That time could be spent creating new children’s sessions, improving your portfolio, looking after your existing clients or even enjoying a bit more personal balance.

Implementing this system not only organises you better, but allows you to scale your business without losing quality in your service.

With the Booking service, your clients can book the day and time they prefer without having to bother you or wait for a response

This is another one of those advantages that, although it may seem to favour your clients, ends up benefiting you directly. As you may well know, especially if you are in the family photography business, coordinating schedules in a family can become a real odyssey: parents with different work schedules, extracurricular activities, family commitments? The result? The mother calls you after going through the family calendar a thousand times, finally finds a slot that seems to work… but on that day and at that time you have already booked it with another family. It’s back to square one. In many cases, it can take several calls or messages, last minute changes and a lot of time wasted on both sides to close a single date.

With the Booking service, this type of situation is drastically reduced. Your clients will have access to your updated calendar at all times, they can check your availability in real time and book directly the day and time that best suits their needs. All this without the need to call you, write to you or wait for an answer.

And best of all, they can do it comfortably from home, at any time of the day or night, when they really find that quiet moment to organise the family agenda. You, for your part, gain time, peace of mind and a much smoother management of your bookings.

Personalised contact forms to gather all the necessary information prior to each family event

 

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Whether you have not yet decided to implement the Booking service, or if you notice that many families prefer a more direct contact before booking their photo shoots, having a quick and efficient method of communication is always a great advantage for both parties.

This is where our personalised contact forms come into play. In addition to the standard form that you will find on your contact page, with us you have the possibility to create as many forms as you need, fully customisable and adapted to each service you offer. In this way, on each service page you will be able to include, at the end of the information, a specific form designed to collect just the information you need for that type of report.

Because it is not the same to prepare a family session in a studio as it is to prepare one on location, nor is it the same if very young children, pets or a baby a few days old are present. There are many particularities, and being able to request specific data for each type of session will help you save valuable time in calls and messages, facilitating a much more precise and effective planning.

Don’t miss any important information before your family photoshoots

Because you can create different customised contact forms on your website, you will be able to tailor the information you need to collect to the type of photo shoot you are offering. This feature is especially useful if you work with different types of family shoots, as not all shoots require the same preparation. For example, in a pregnancy session, knowing in advance the number of weeks of gestation is a key piece of information to plan the session correctly. In a newborn session, it can be very useful to know if older siblings are coming, if the parents want family photos, or if they are looking for a more natural or posed style.

But this tool goes much further. If, for example, you offer different modalities within your studio sessions, you can set up the form for clients to select in advance details such as wardrobe changes, special packs, themed sets or additional services (such as video, make-up, etc.). This will not only save you time in pre-arranging family photo shoots, but will also allow you to offer a much more professional, personalised and efficient service, as you will have all the key information about your clients from the first contact.

Increase your sales of family photo shoots with the business solutions we offer at Arcadina

As you can see, one of the biggest challenges in family photo shoots is not only to offer a good creative work, but also to achieve to make each session as profitable as possible and reduce the time you spend on management tasks to a minimum. At Arcadina, we know how important it is to optimise your time and resources, which is why we have developed specific business solutions for photographers like you. Thanks to some of our plans, such as Web and Manager, you will be able to automate processes, improve your clients’ experience and increase your income without adding more hours to your working day.

If you haven’t yet solved this kind of obstacles in your day-to-day life, now is the perfect time to take the plunge. Start with us today and try our business solutions for free for 14 days. Discover for yourself how easy it can be to professionalise your website, attract more families and focus on what you are really passionate about: taking photos.

 

And if you are not yet a professional family photographer and you are looking for training, in the post we are going to share with you below you will find a lot of the information you were looking for.

>> Family photography courses: find here all you need to know about them

To finish this article we are going to share with you the interview of the photographer Juan Carlos Albuera, from Albuera Morales Fotografía.

>> My website is an online showcase in which I can show my work in an elegant, simple and affordable way”, Juan Carlos Albuera

And to finish, we would like to ask you a question about the family photo shoots you do. If you also suffer from any of these problems that we have presented to you today, tell us which one do you consider the most difficult to solve and why? We would love to read your experiences in the comments.

Arcadina goes with you

Fulfil your dreams and develop your career with us. We offer you to try our web service free for 14 days. And with no commitment of permanence.

Arcadina is much more than a website, it is business solutions for photographers.

If you have any queries, our Customer Service Team is always ready to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We listen to you.