“For me, I like simple. I like to create artwork that focuses on the subject more than the surroundings,” says photographer and founder of Joy of Marketing Sarah Petty. “My passion is decorating people’s homes with gorgeous custom artwork!” Petty started out as a hobby photographer who loved creating images of her friends’ kids. After a challenging pregnancy and delivering preemie twins, Petty decided "I didn’t want to go back to the job I loved as a marketing director at an ad agency because I was working super long hours.” So she turned her photography hobby into a business.

“I invested every penny and credit I could muster to [shorten] the learning curve, and I quickly became profitable. I have grown my studio twice and in 2016 moved into my dream studio that I built with my architect husband.” Now, in addition to running her boutique photography business, Petty’s passion is to teach the “boutique business model” to photographers so they can make more money and open up their schedule so they can put their families first. 

So what is the boutique photography business model? According to Petty, it’s “a full-service business that holds the clients’ hands through the entire process of creating heirloom wall portraits for our clients. When photographers give digital files for a fee, it doesn’t serve the client, and it makes it very hard to have a life and a profit.” Petty relates this to a drive-thru restaurant. It’s inexpensive, quick, and not super customizable (just digital files). “The boutique model is more like going to a sit-down restaurant and getting a table with a view. This is where you order custom food, have a longer experience, there is more attention paid to detail, and also there is more of an investment of time by the customer. Of course, when the bill comes, nobody expects the check at a top steakhouse to be the same as it is at [a fast food joint].” 

Petty says instead of earning $200 per client, her students are earning $2,000 and up. This allows the photographers to get their lives back — using the system of serving clients.

Petty says she became a photography marketer by demand. Five years after opening her first studio in 2001, she turned her business around and was named one of the most profitable in the country by the PPA (Professional Photographers of America). “I was getting asked to speak at conventions all over, and photographers were begging for marketing help. Since marketing is my jam, I started Joy of Marketing to be able to help photographers, and I have never looked back!” The Joy of Marketing is a coaching program where photographers get help creating their pricing and marketing plans and get to be around a community of supportive people. Petty offers 11 rules of pricing as part of her Joy of Marketing resources. 

“Most businesses compete with someone else doing it cheaper. As photographers, we compete with people doing it for FREE because everyone has a digital camera in their pocket. You can never win the price race to the bottom when you are competing with free.” Petty says the better strategy is to create more value for the clients “and serve them in a way that makes it easy for them to make the decision to purchase from you. As a full-service business, we want to create printed artwork to decorate our clients’ walls.”

Petty says many people are looking for a magic bullet when it comes to marketing, but they are asking the wrong question. What should they be doing to get their marketing up and running properly? “Most photographers are copying what they see others doing (like mini-sessions or discounting to attract clients) and they are doing the completely wrong thing. That would be like wanting to lose weight and asking if you should buy a Peloton or a NordicTrack. The real question is what is the nutrition plan AND the exercise plan that will help me achieve my goals? You must start with the strategy first and the tactics second.” Petty says you also need to have a solid pricing strategy and sales plan so you’re attracting the right people. 

“When you attract people who are coming to you for a low price, they often don’t value what you do and just want cheap. They aren’t a joy to serve and they make you doubt your abilities. Also, your margins are so tight when you discount, so often, you can’t make a profit.” Petty says this leads to working all the time and often making less than minimum wage. She says the better marketing question to ask is what marketing should you do ONLY after you are crystal clear on your business model.

Petty says she has enjoyed working with PhotoBiz over the years for her websites. She credits the ease of use and “amazing customer service.” The ability to call or email PhotoBiz’s support team is refreshing. The platform is so easy to use, that she assigned creating the sites to her studio manager, who created several, each in an afternoon.

So what’s in Petty’s future? “I am on a mission to change the landscape of our industry. I want us to elevate what people think of professional photographers. We aren’t just a commodity but when we try to sell the most digital files for a low price, it doesn’t serve us or our clients. They need our help to get [the] final artwork printed properly and displayed in their homes.”

You can follow Sarah Petty on Instagram at @Sarah.Petty or on Facebook.

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