Faces on the Wall not in the Clouds: A Guide to a Profitable and Stylish Family Part 3

As I said before:

In my 20 years of experience as a professional photographer, I've found most people find family portraits to be boring, overwhelming or generally chaotic (if not all three). I felt exactly that way until I began incorporating Stylized Family Portraits into my business. Because of this mindset, family portraits are now more rewarding - both monetarily and inspirationally. Most important, Stylized Family Portraits give my clients a wonderful memory with their family, personalized art for their home and an experience they can't wait to share on social media. 

Here is the last of the three keys that helped me transform my family portrait sessions from intolerable to inspiring.

Sometimes we put so much effort in creating beautiful work that we are too tired or insecure to put that work in front of the public. Don’t stop short! Share, display and tell the story of your stylized family portraits.

Celebrate your STYLE.

Once you’ve created these amazing images that reflect your studio style and look great in your client’s homes, the last step in the process is celebrating your style. Sometimes we put so much effort in creating beautiful work that we are too tired or insecure to put that work in front of the public. Don’t stop short! Share, display and tell the story of your stylized family portraits.

Start with sharing your images. Online is the easiest way to share by using Instagram and Facebook. Update your website with these fresh, new images (I’m preaching to myself here, as much as you). 

Make the investment to display your work. In today’s world, online is definitely important, but nothing can beat the impact of a big, gorgeous framed portrait. My clients are so excited to see portrait displays in local businesses, at events and even on the walls of our studio. When you show how to frame and display your stylized images, you’ll create a desire for the final product.

To take it up another notch, tell the story of your stylized shoots with behind the scenes, inspirations and your excitement about the final product. You can do this through blogging, social media, emails, print newsletters or in person. Bring in your clients for studio tours and opportunities to meet the artist to tell them your stories in person.

Ken Downing of Neiman Marcus remarked on the controversial new concept of live streaming fashion shows, “When you can excite customers and ignite their imagination and give them a reason to shop, they respond.”

Many of you are already creating senior and children’s portrait sessions, so taking the next step with family portraits is going to fit right into your process. It’s vitally important to go all the way through the process from conceptualizing, to creating to installing the art. You’ll enjoy the process and feel accomplished as a result. 

As a business person, as well as a photographic artist, my end goal is to create work that my clients love so much they want to purchase it for themselves and hang it in their home. One way to help your customers visualize what you have created for them is to show your images in a sales session through an app like N-Vu.  N-Vu has a feature, Room-Vu, that allows your client to submit an image of their own home wall or mantel.  Then you can actually show what their images will look like hanging over their sofa or above their mantel.   They can visually see the difference between what an 8x10 and a 30x40 will look like in their room and you can help them choose the perfect image or collection of images for that special spot.  (Check it out at n-vu.com)   Creating excitement and igniting the imagination with Stylized Family Portraits gives them a reason to purchase portraits that they will display, cherish and share with their friends.

Sometimes we put so much effort in creating beautiful work that we are too tired or insecure to put that work in front of the public. Don’t stop short! Share, display and tell the story of your stylized family portraits.