How much should business owners pay for product photography?
Let me start out by saying this… there is no set pricing for product photography. If you’re a business owner trying to make a decision about who you want to hire to create social media content for your business… price is one factor, but not the grand factor.
Because pricing isn’t one size fits all and there are a lot of varying factors: Experience, Expertise, Market, Lifestyle.
One product photographer may charge $750 for 10 images vs another company may charge $7000 for 30. Both prices are completely valid based on the photographer/agency’s expertise, work experience/history, and the market.
While product photography is not a new genre, the usage of product images has evolved over the last 20 years, with the introduction of social media.
Today, social media has somewhat leveled the playing field for product based businesses to reach audiences & sell their products around the world without having to leave their homes. This makes having high quality product photography, a non-negotiable for any product based business looking to gain monetary success.
3 Factors to consider when hiring a Content Creation Agency/Product Photographer
In my experience, there are 3 factors (aside from pricing) I recommend business owners look out for called The 3 A’s: Aesthetics, Attitude and Availability.
Aesthetics: What is the style you’re looking for? Are you looking for bright, colorful and modern? Or Dark and Moody?
Attitude: What is the photographer’s personality & natural disposition? Do they come off as an expert you can trust? Is she/he approachable? Is she/he organized and have an easy to follow process? I mean you will be working with this person for about 4-5 weeks.
Availability: Is this person available to create content for you in the time you need it? Self Explantory
Yes pricing is important, but in my experience it is not the main factor when making a decision on hiring a product photographer/content creation agency.
So, How did we get here? Lost in Translation
I feel like business owners and product photographers get totally misunderstood by one another.
Business Owners don’t understand why pricing can be expensive for “just images.”
Product Photographers get insulted because they “know their worth” and “spend tons of money on equipment.”
Both parties get angry… nothing gets solved.
Did I get that right?
And look I’m not here to judge, because I’ve definitely had to let a business owner or two know that look, if you can’t afford it… it’s okay, just don’t insult me, my intelligence and my prices.
If I had a dollar for every business owner who told me they own a camera and could create content themselves but never do and are still in limbo, I’d probably be Jeff Bezos (a major hyperbole but you get my drift). To be quite frank, if business owners could create high quality product photography they would already… So let’s cut the shit, okay?
For the most part however, I think there is an opportunity to share a different perspective about pricing that can empower business owners about making a business decision. Because at the end of the day, hiring a product photographer is still very much a business decision.
Why is it any of your business?
When someone schedules a discovery call with Darden Creative, they are required to complete a questionnaire. This questionnaire is important because it gives me insight into what a business owner is looking for, when they need the images and other important customer data.
Two questions I ask are:
What were your 2020 sales?
What is your 2021 sales goal?
Many people tend to skip these questions, but this gives me, as another business owner, some pretty insightful information. A person who tends to skip these questions A: probably is new to business and has not given much thought to how much they want to make in their business or B: has no concept of their revenue goals and future growth of the business or C: is wondering why that is any of my business as the owner of a content creation agency.
Answering these & other questions gives me a better understanding of where a business owners views their business and the future health of their business.
For better or for worse, knowing your business’ sales goal is a client qualifier.
Briefly, a client qualifier is an identifier. It is a characteristic or trait that signifies a person is or is not a business owner’s ideal client.
A lot of my clients have been in business for 2 years or more, have an existing product on the market with a proven sales record and are on track to make 6 figures/year in sales. They are also on a growth track and possibly rebranding their packaging. These business owners understand that quality product photography is going to take their business to the next level and reflect the future growth and success of their business… besides 75% of Online Shoppers Rely on Product Photos When Deciding on a Potential Purchase. Our clients also understand that we are a full service company meaning we handle the entire content creation process from beginning to end.
A few additional statistics:
22% of Returns Occur Because the Product Looks Different in Person
Good Visual Content is 40% More Likely to Get Shared on Your Social Accounts
Quality Product Photography Makes Dollars & Sense for any business.
So when someone is hiring Darden Creative, they’re getting a full agency that will handle the entire process for them, with some input from clients of course.
Therefore for my clients, the package investment reflects the business owners’ future outcomes as well as the level of care and attention they are looking for throughout the process.
So, how much should business owners pay for product photography?
Which means, if a client’s projected gross revenue is $100,000, they can in theory spend $7000 - $8000 on marketing & advertising. Sure there are exceptions, absolutely. If you’re a new business owner and know you want to place your best step forward, you’ll probably spend a little bit more on content in order to get more bang for your buck.
This one number, offers more clarity on budget and realistic options for deciding on who to hire when it comes to product photography.
So the answer to the question, how much should business owners spend on product photography is… What is your marketing & advertising budget? What is your sales goal? Can you afford it or nah?
This does not mean a business owner should approach a product photographer or content creation agency owned by a black/brown women and try to nickel and dime them to fit your budget if you cannot afford their rates. That’s not what we’re doing. Let’s all touch and agree.
But knowing this number should provide deep understanding as to whether or not you’re ready to invest in a higher caliber of work.
Let’s briefly talk about value & ROI.
In my experience, many of my clients describe a feeling of embarrassment, lack of confidence and lack of sales when they have low quality content. As the statistic I shared earlier about how many online shoppers rely on photography to make a sales decision, quality product photography is a non-negotiable that makes dollars and sense.
*sidenote* it would be very easy for me to say my prices are my prices because of the equipment I use, but to me, that is a cop out. If I was worried about equipment, I would just charge an equipment rental fee *which I do if it is necessary* Moreover, booking 2-3 projects would allow me to cover the cost of my equipment. so… yea the equipment excuse doesn’t really fly. Business owners you deserve more than that… Sorry Photographers, go deeper!
High quality content needs to speak on your behalf when you’re promoting your products. It is unavoidable and inevitable. And while many platforms are prioritizing video content, Video is STILL more expensive to produce… with ONE 30 second clip costing $1,500 - $2,500 without a guarantee on ROI (I’ll cover my thoughts on video in a future post).
To wrap this up [because I can go on and on], pricing is not a one size fits all strategy within the industry and varies because of many factors including Experience, Expertise, Market and Lifestyle.
When determining who to work with, business owners should factor in the 3 A’s: Attitude, Aesthetics and Availability.
A business owner’s marketing & advertising budget and annual sales goals should be prioritized in their decision making when hiring their next product photographer to create content for their business.
Was this helpful? let me know in the comments!
Much Love,
Tamera