Photography is a great, creative business venture. It’s a way to be your own boss and set your own rules. It also comes with its fair share of frustrations, like the inevitable slow season wedding photographers dread.
Thankfully, there’s a solution: adding photo booth services to your photography business.
This sounds daunting, we know, but it’s simpler than you think. Yes, there’s a lot to consider. There’s hardware, software, and different services to decide on. There’s technical challenges. Guess what? We have all that covered in our guide on how to start your photo booth business.
For now, we’re looking at three of the many reasons that adding photo booth services to your business is a smart idea. Speaking of which…
People Want Photo Booths
Let’s start by taking a look at the indisputable king of judging popular demand: Google. Check out this Google Trends graph for how often people are searching for the term “photo booth.”
There is no significant drop in search volume over the last five years. In fact, the search volume is doing little other than going up, up, up. This means that people are constantly searching for photo booths. Want to capture this lucrative market? Then add photo booth services to your photography business!
Moving away from statistics and graphs, let’s look at some anecdotal evidence of the popularity of photo booths.
Just about every wedding photographers will tell you firsthand about the demand for photo booths. These range from the campy – enclosed booths filled with props – to the unique – 360 degree spinning, gif making, slow motion catching Rev booths. Regardless of the type, the fact remains that people want booths.
Much of this demand for booths has been covered by what we like to call the “satisfactory” package. This is when you hire a DJ to work a wedding (or event, prom, etc.) and they package in a photo booth. Sure, this will give the guests some photos and maybe even a cool experience. This will “satisfy” the guests. It won’t give them a unique experience they’re sure to remember for years to come, though. That’s where you, the consummate photography professional with a photo booth, can stand out.
Adding a photo booth to your photography business gives you an opportunity to brand yourself as the wedding (or corporate party, bachelor party, etc.) photo company. You have it all, and you do it better than everyone else. After all, you offer photography services already, so adding a booth into the picture isn’t that much more work.
Increase Photography Sales During the Slow Seasons
Sticking to the wedding photographer example, you’re going to have a busy season and a slow season. Wouldn’t it be great if you had something up your sleeve to monetize your off season? Enter the much-heralded photo booth.
Wedding photographers are busy through the summer and increasingly, into the fall. When January, February, and March roll around, though, that blitz of business dries up. By adding a photo booth to your photography business, you’re able to transition smoothly into working corporate events, business tours, concerts, marketing campaigns, award ceremonies, and after parties.
Unique event planning services will help you fill up your slow months. Even if you’re not a wedding photographer, it’s still a smart move to diversify your portfolio. Landscape and wildlife photographers can break into the event sphere by adding photo booths to their services. Our PR, fashion, and food photography friends can enter the corporate world. This is also a great way to connect with influencers in your city and grow your network of connections.
Whatever your particular creative specialty, adding a photo booth to your photography business is a surefire way to invest in your future and sure up work during your off season.
You Can Run Multiple Events at the Same Time
A large majority of photography businesses are single or double person teams. This makes sense, given the nature of photography. You have a single person (you!) taking the photos, another handles second shoots. Sometimes you’ll add in an office assistant who can handle the editing, album design, and customer service. That’s as far as many photographers go into the world of business.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could scale your photography business to include multiple employees or freelancers? Invest in a photo booth and you can!
By adding a photo booth to your photography business, you suddenly have the option of working multiple events at the same time. This means exponential income. It also means the ability to grow your company to just about any size you want.
Think about it: you’re only limited by the number of booths you buy and the number of assistants you hire to man them. You act as project manager, making sure your teams attend the events on time, set everything up correctly, and offer the best possible customer service. You can even keep it all in the family. Have a teenager who needs a part time job? They can man the booths!
This also frees up your time to focus on whatever aspect of photography you love the most. Interested in pursuing underwater photography? You can. Interested in designing graphics for your photo booth software? You can.
These are just three of the reasons you should add a photo booth to your event or wedding photo business. What do you think? Did we miss any? Let us know on social media!
