In this interview, Andy shares how you can attract well paying clients and that not being able to afford what you are charging for your services is totally irrelevant. It all comes down to relationships and the way you treat people. The beauty of this interview is no matter where you are positioned in your local market place, you can easily adopt the techniques Andy uses to help advance your photography business, wedding or portrait.
Here's some of what we cover:
Premium Members
For premium members, I went on to ask Andy about how he markets and advertises for work given his high end target market. My concern was that given his probably big budget, the ideas he was to share would be irrelevant to most of us. I was wrong! I'll be implementing exactly what Andy shared starting this Saturday at my next wedding and I'm 100% confident, I'll be reaping the awards if I stick to his suggestions in years to come if I continue to do as he says. You should be doing the same.
What is your big takeaway?
Following the interview, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or remember from what Andy Marcus had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
What have you implemented so far?
If you have implemented something that you've learnt or heard from the podcast interviews, I want to know about it! I really am interested and love to hear about your success stories, especially if I've helped play a small part. If you feel up to it, leave a voicemail message by clicking the tab on this page or record and send me an .mp3 file – I'd love to play your recording on a future episode. Don't feel confident or want to send a voicemail? No problem, shoot me an email, I'd love to hear from you – andrew@photobizx.com.
iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs
One very generous iTunes review this week from Rhona Viloria who also had a big shout out in the last episode for her thought provoking and well written comments following a bunch of different episodes. Thanks again Rhona, I feel humbled and genuinely happy to have you listening and taking the time to get involved – thank you.
It's these reviews that really make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes. Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask.
Also, a few shout-outs to photographers/listeners that have made contact via email or social media this week:
David Kerr Smith
Terry Richards – http://terryrichards.com
Dalibor Acimic – http://www.acimicphotography.com
Evelyn cameron
Stacey Carpenter
Te Ratahi – http://saymonkeyphotography.com
Lisa Easter – http://www.lisaeasterphotography.com
Kim Hamblin – http://www.kimhamblinphotography.com
Jacqui and Steve Dunster – http://jacqui-marie-photography.co.uk
Thanks guys, it's been great chatting and hearing from every single one of you this week. If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!
If your name is listed above without a URL and you'd like a link to your site, let me know and I'll happily add it.
Questions And Answers
Each week I get a number of questions from listeners that I do my best to answer. Would you like to see these questions and answers as basic blog posts on this website? If you think it could be a help to you, let me know. If I get some interest, I'll give it a try.
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Fred Marcus Photography – http://www.fredmarcus.com
Fred Marcus Photography on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fred-Marcus-Photography
Andy Marcus on Twitter – https://twitter.com/AndyMarcus
Andy Marcus on Instagram – http://instagram.com/andymarcus
Kelsey Grammer – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelsey_Grammer
Grace Ormonde, wedding magazine – http://graceormonde.com
Lowel GL-1 Power Led, the light Andy mentioned during the interview – http://www.lowel.com/GL/
That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you. I'd love for you to leave a comment below to let me know what you took away from this episode of the podcast.
Speak soon
Andrew
Another great podcast!!
I think Andy is a inspiration! I really would love my son to take on my business when he is old enough.
I think the way Andy looks after his customers is the next level of customer service and is something I am trying to achieve .
I think I would have a nervous brake down if I got paid $250000 for a wedding but I truly believe that there is a high end market in most industry’s and Andy deserved every penny/cent for the amount of pressure and the level of product the customers receive.
I have one question though “who does he suggest for a album supplier?” I have been using graphi studio and have found the Glue coming away from my albums 🙁
Thanks Shane, glad you enjoyed the interview.
Yes, bringing a son or daughter into the “family business” does sound nice doesn’t it – I reckon it’d be pretty special. How about 3rd generation!
It’s shame hearing about the experience with your current supplier – did you see Andy’s comment below about his supplier: http://www.leathercraftsmen.com
Agree another great podcast.
Can I just thank you for simply keeping the podcast going – I’ve lost count of the number of podcasts I’ve subscribed to that fizzle out.
Without getting too geeky what was the name of the LED light that was mentioned?
As a wedding photographer not quite able to stretch to a 5DMIII – just yet- I really struggle with low light and high ISOs. I would be really interested to see what this can do.
Thanks again.
James
Hi James, thanks for adding your comments and glad you’re enjoying the podcast each week. No plans to “fizzle” out just yet – I have a heap of interviews lined up and booked in over the coming months and the report I’m getting from listeners and Premium Members is the content is useful and enjoyable and best of all making a difference in their businesses.
As long as I’m making a difference and it’s financially sustainable, I’ll keep delivering as best as I can.
Sorry bout leaving the link off the show-notes for the Lowel LED light – I’ve added it now but you may have seen Andy has provided a link below that has a $100 cash back offer: http://www.GL1hotlight.com
Of course he prefers to cater to the rich. Why wouldn’t he? That’s where the real money is. I don’t blame him one single bit. I’m tired of cheap people complaining about my prices. With the advent of digital photography there seems to now be a Do-It-Yourself approach to wedding photography. I can’t tell you how many wedding attendees I see every time holding their phones in the air. Then they’re busy uploading the photos and not paying any attention to the actual event taking place before them. It’s sad. And nobody cares about how big my camera is. Nobody cares how much I paid for it. Nobody cares how much better my photos are. They are simply content with the poorly-lit smartphone photos that they can upload NOW.
My idea is this, let’s all get an SD card that has a Wi-Fi access point and as we click away they all can instantly download with their smartphones the .jpgs we just took and upload them and credit us (if they would bother crediting us).
But would they really do all that? Probably not. Something tells me they are just as content with their tiny, noisy smartphone photos simply because it’s fun taking photos in general and the fact that they can upload them NOW.
So I can’t blame Andy at all for preferring the wealthy. Not to say he shuns the non-rich, but just that he “prefers” the wealthy. I think moving forward this will be more and more the only way to make real money in this business. Smartphone cameras and 4G speeds will only increase in quality and speed over time. Not to mention the consumer level DSLR will only increase in quality thus producing more hobbyists and less professionals.
Still not convinced? Look at the progression from the Canon 10D to the 70D. Amazing. Or take the first camera phone you can remember and now look at the iPhone 5S or the latest Andriod smartphone camera. Incredible. And all that has taken place in what, 10 years +/- ?
Now you see where I’m coming from. Now just wait 10 more years. Sony is about to release a Full Frame NEX body and the 4/3 market is already roaring with sales. By that time you will have long forgotten the little blog post, but professional photography will have changed dramatically.
So Andy is a smart man because has found a hedge, if you will, against an ever changing digital world. So if we’re serious about making money we should follow Andy’s model as best we can.
Cheers!
Joey Joiner
Joey, you sound all fired up! Love it.
I agree that the cameras, technology and expectations are all speeding along. Consumers have access to better equipment than ever before and let’s face it, if they’re happy with what they’re capturing and can’t see the difference between us and them – professional photographers are in trouble.
The focus for us, if we want to stay in business is to be able to separate ourselves from them. Whether it’s through technology, skills, creativity, experience, what we offer or whatever… we need to be worth paying for.
Joey, maybe if we treat our clients like celebrities, we’ll get a better kind of client through the door. I think Andrew is right. A photography business should offer more than just good pictures. Its just not enough these days.
I respect that Andy Marcus is so attentive to details such as when a light bulb is out in his studio. I think its that kind of OCD/professionalism says a lot about him and probably makes him attractive to those top end clients. I also liked his point about dressing at the same level of formality as the guests at the wedding. I mean no one will take you seriously if you rock up in a tshirt and jeans and everyone else is in suits. Not even if you’ve got a 1dx strapped around your neck. Speaking of gear that light looks pretty cool. Trying to think back to Michael Rammel’s podcast regarding not having gear lust…..
Ps also on the twitter now with zero friends…looking forward to hooking up with some other listeners.
Shane – I use Leather Craftsmen for my albums. In my opinion the best in the business and they are for sure the best in Customer Service. http://www.leathercraftsmen.com.
James – The Lowell GL-1 light is the one I referred to http://www.GL1hotlight.com. There is a $100.00 mail in rebate going on right now, if you are interested in grabbing one!
Thanks Andy, for stopping by to answer the questions and for coming on the show – you’ve blown many listeners away with the style of weddings and events you shoot. Truly inspirational! Thanks again.
Hi Andrew, Loved this interview. I was wondering if you remember the LED light he talked about and What brand it is ? Im excited to catch up on all these interviews !!
Hi Kate – hope you’re well and great to know you’re listening!
The light Andy was talking about was the Lowel GL-1 Power Led – http://www.lowel.com/GL/