By Wayne Cosshall
One of the key questions every photography business owner must answer is: Should I highly focus my efforts or cast a wider net by offering a diverse range of products and services? In this part of our Photography Business series, we will examine this question in more detail.
In photography it is perfectly possible to be highly specialized. You may be a stock photographer who only shoots macro, a fashion photographer who only shoots with models (i.e., no product shots of shoes or handbags). An architectural photographer is quite specialized to start with. A glamour photographer may not do more normal portraits and a wedding photographer is a specialized form of event photographer. I think you get the picture.
The benefits of specialization can be summarized as follows.
- You can develop virtuosity in your chosen specialization. (Virtuosity is an under-utilized concept in photography and many other areas. It represents extreme ability and mastery of your area and tools.)
- You can concentrate equipment purchases on those specifically needed.
- Marketing may be easier because of the more specific audience for your products or services.
- You may face less competition in a tightly focused area.
- You can broaden the geographical range of your target market.
- You may find it easier to build a strong reputation.
So it would seem that there are many reasons in favor of being tightly focused. However, there are also disadvantages to being so tightly focused.
- You may have a more limited number of potential clients.
- You may only have a few clients, which means your cash flow is highly dependent on your ability to receive steady work from them.
- Your business can be more vulnerable to industry downturns in that one area.
- There may be limits on just how much work you can obtain.
- You may be more exposed to the risk that technological change will disrupt or eliminate market segment.
Similarly, there are pros and cons to being diversified. Yet, there are many degrees of diversification. Minor diversification might be a fashion photographer also doing product photography of things like bags and shoes, or even adding jewelry to their oeuvre. A glamour photographer might add family portraiture to his or her practice. At the other extreme of the diversification scale is the small-town photographer who shoots everything and anything, including being the stringer for the local newspaper.
The advantages of diversification include:
- You have more potential clients.
- Your client base is more diverse, reducing your exposure to economic downturns in a particular field.
- There is less risk that technological change will diminish your business.
- There is a reduced risk of boredom and burnout. (This is important because remaining highly motivated over the course of your career can be tough.)
- You can set different prices for different types of work.
- You can make more use of highly specialized equipment.
- You can bring specialized equipment or techniques from another branch of photography into an area that does not normally use it to create a different look.
One of the major disadvantages of diversification is summed up in the common expression "jack of all trades and master of none." In other words, the need to have generalist skills reduces your ability to develop deep and profound skills in one or two areas. Other disadvantages can include the following.
- You will most likely face greater competition.
- Marketing will be more difficult because you must reach out to a less focused target group.
- You may need to invest in a wider range of equipment that will often be underutilized.
- It may be more difficult for you to be ‘recognized.’
- Creating a strong brand identity may be more difficult.
As you can see, there are a whole range of pluses and minuses both ways. What this means is that I cannot tell you what you should do, only present some of the reasons for going either way. In photography, like everything else in life, there is no real black and white, only shades of grey.
In Part 6 of this series, we will continue to examine some of these choices in more detail.
