If you’ve been in business as a wedding photographer for a couple of seasons, you probably know there is a lot to do to make sure your brand is successful.
Sure, there are perks to having your own business! But there are also some drawbacks… like needing to do everything yourself. Or like having to work additional hours to make sure it gets done.
But what if we told you that you can make your life much easier and still run a thriving wedding photography business?
Keep scrolling because we’re talking all about outsourcing for photographers, including 3 reasons why you should and 6 tasks to hand off to make your life simpler!
What Is Outsourcing for Photographers?
Outsourcing involves handing over certain business tasks to other experts so they can deal with them for you.
Typically, photographers outsource these tasks because they:
- don’t have the time to devote to doing them (or doing them properly)
- don’t have the experience or knowledge to do them
- simply don’t enjoy doing them!
So rather than trudging through those tasks, wedding photographers decide to invest in experts in certain fields or areas who can do the tasks for them.
Why Should You Outsource Tasks as a Wedding Photographer?
This is often the biggest question we see when it comes to deciding whether or not to invest in outsourcing for photographers.
Many newer wedding photography businesses don’t see the value yet in outsourcing. But what they don’t understand (yet) is that time is a currency just like money.
And as a business owner, your time is spent quickly.
We have yet to find a well-established wedding photographer who also has the bandwidth to manage everything that running a business requires.
That’s why outsourcing for photographers is so important!
But in case you’re still curious, we’ve broken it down into 3 major reasons:
1. Stay In Your Zone of Genius
We’re willing to bet that you started your wedding photography business because you love wedding photography, right?
The only problem is that you also have to run a business to make money and be successful at it.
It’s something we ran into when we were first getting started. While we started it because we wanted to capture these epic moments in the most amazing locations, we quickly realized it’s not just getting to compose photos.
It’s budgeting and bookkeeping. It’s getting the brand name out there on social media. It’s putting together a website that attracts dream clients. And it’s making sure that all of our booked clients are taken care of before and after their wedding day.
We turned to outsourcing because we wanted to stay in our zone of genius (and do more of what we love!) – which was photographing weddings!
Think of it this way:
- Would you rather spend 8 hours writing new blog posts, social media captions, and creating Pinterest pins?
- Or would you rather spend 8 hours at an incredible wedding with a dream couple?
You only have the same 8 hours to spend once. But outsourcing for photographers pretty much lets you be in two places at once!
2. Prevent Burnout
There is so much that comes with running a wedding photography business.
Shooting. Culling. Editing. Designing albums. Delivering galleries. Emailing clients. Making social media posts. Writing blog posts. Budgeting.
When you put all of it on your shoulders, the road to burnout is quick and painful.
The whole reason behind your business gets bogged down with other tasks. And when you do less of what you love, it’s hard to stay in love with your business.
We’ve seen many wedding photographers even come to resent their business because they’re trying to do too much.
Outsourcing for photographers is an easy solution to get back to doing what you love! And when you can do that, you prevent that dreaded burnout.
3. Keep a 5-Star Wedding Photography Client Experience
Without outsourcing, our minds are trying to keep up with too many things.
Did I deliver that gallery on time?
Have I booked my travel tickets to this couple’s wedding?
When was the last time I wrote an Instagram post to market myself?
When you’re trying to do all the things at once, other tasks are bound to fall through the cracks. Usually, those things fall under your client experience…
That includes:
- Sending emails promptly
- Delivering questionnaires and contracts on time
- Sending out galleries when you say you will
And while those things might not seem like big things to you, they are definitely big things to your clients who are investing in your brand.
Especially if you’re trying to book more high-end wedding clients.
By outsourcing other tasks, you can devote more time to creating and committing to a 5-star client experience. Or you can outsource to an expert who can maintain your client experience.
6 Tasks You Can Outsource as a Wedding Photographer to Make Life Easier:
So, what exactly can you outsource as a wedding photographer? Truthfully, you can outsource…anything!
But these are the top 6 tasks we recommend looking into first:
1. Outsource Wedding Photography Editing and Culling
We know this one is controversial. After all, editing photos has very much become part of the artistic process.
And many artists (AKA wedding photographers) don’t feel they should outsource part of that process.
We think that is totally fair! At Lilly Red, we don’t personally outsource wedding photography editing. But we do use the latest tools to make sure our culling and editing process is streamlined and extremely efficient.
But we understand that there’s a growing market for photographers who do!
Outsourcing photo editing to an expert in that field puts a lot of time back in your pocket. Rather than having to sit and edit thousands of photos, you can spend more time with your family, travel more, or even book additional weddings.
These outsourced wedding photography editors are fast and extremely skilled in what they do. When you first find an editor, you’ll teach them how to edit in your signature style. From there, they’ll edit the rest of your work for you.
And because they’re so quick at it, you can potentially deliver galleries and albums much faster than if you were the one editing the photos. Those faster turnaround times create more of a luxury experience for your clients, too!
Outsourcing Wedding Photography Editing Alternative:
If you’re not quite ready to outsource photo editing, then you might want to look at an alternative that can still make the job simpler for you.
When it comes to culling, we use Aftershoot which is an AI tool that cuts down our culling process from hours to mere minutes.
That involves streamlining your Lightroom and editing workflow. One of our favorite ways to make editing photos faster is by using Lightroom presets. Even if you don’t want to outsource all of your photography editing, these will help make the task much faster and easier!
2. Find a Virtual Assistant to Handle the Backend of Your Client Experience
Creating a 5-star client experience is crucial to developing a glowing reputation within the wedding photography industry – especially if you’re ready to book high-end wedding clients.
But remembering to do each administrative task for every couple you book can quickly become overwhelming.
If you find that admin tasks, like replying to emails quickly, sending out contracts and questionnaires, scheduling calls, and delivering galleries, are falling through the cracks, then the best thing you can do is look to outsourcing.
For this kind of administrative task, we suggest investing in a virtual assistant. They’ll help you keep up with all of your client experience tasks to make sure you’re delivering a consistent 5-star experience each time.
What Is a Virtual Assistant and What Do They Do?
A virtual assistant is a broad term for someone who helps business owners do a variety of tasks to keep the business running efficiently.
The term virtual assistant includes all kinds of things, and many VAs specialize in certain tasks. So make sure you find one that offers the services you need!
3. Invest in an Accountant or Bookkeeper
The last thing many artists like wedding photographers want to do is worry about finances, budgeting, or figuring out how much they owe in taxes.
That’s where investing in an accountant or bookkeeper comes in handy. And it’s one of the very first things brands do when they learn about outsourcing for photographers.
They can keep track of organizing your QuickBooks, determining how much profit you bring in each quarter, and even figuring out what you’ll need to pay in taxes.
Having someone who can manage the financial side of your business can help you stay in your artistic zone of genius.
4. Elevate Your Brand by Outsourcing Your Brand Strategy and Design
When you’re first starting your wedding photography business, a simple logo created in Canva won’t hurt you. It’ll get you started.
But eventually, as you begin to make a name for yourself, and as you begin to market your brand to those high-end wedding clients, you’re going to need something that helps you stand out.
This is where an expert in brand strategy and design can truly help you elevate your brand so it makes an incredible first impression on those luxury wedding clients.
With the right designer and brand strategist, your brand will look less DIY/homemade and more professional, luxurious, and exclusive.
Not to mention, you won’t have to get frustrated trying to figure out your brand’s color palette or fonts.
5. Find More of Your Dream Clients by Outsourcing Your Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing, whether it’s on Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, is a full-time job in and of itself.
So trying to juggle being a wedding photographer and a social media marketer for your business? That’s like trying to balance two full-time jobs into one 40-hour work week. (And most of the time, we see photographers going way over that 40-hour mark.)
If you’re wanting to expand your reach and get in front of your dream clients, but you don’t know how to build a social media marketing strategy or presence – then it might be time to invest in a social media strategist or manager.
Trust us, you’ll love getting Instagram caption writing off your plate!
6. Book More Ideal Clients by Outsourcing Your Copywriting and Blogging
When you make a great first impression through branding and design, and when you get in front of more of your dream clients through social media, there’s only one step left.
Booking them.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean getting them on the phone for a consultation and doing a hard sell.
(I mean, yes, we do recommend getting them on the phone for a consultation. But you don’t have to do the hard sell.)
By outsourcing your copywriting, such as your website copywriting, your website’s words can do the selling for you. Once you get on that consultation with potential clients, they’ll already be 90% of the way there. You’ll just have to answer a few remaining questions they have before they’re ready to sign up!
But copywriting is a skill that combines the art of creative writing with the science and psychology of persuasion. So it’s always one of the biggest tasks that wedding photographers outsource.
Plus, can you imagine not having to sit in front of a Google Document trying to figure out what to say on your website? That’s the best part of outsourcing your copy!
Even though we start our wedding photography businesses to capture those epic moments on a wedding day, it’s just one small part of running a successful business.
And the reality is, if you’re a one-person show, chances are you just won’t have the bandwidth to keep up with everything your business needs to thrive.
Outsourcing for photographers, especially wedding photographers, is one of the best strategies you can adopt to make your life easier – both in and out of your business!
We cover all of this and everything else you need to know about building a successful destination wedding photography business in our signature class: Your Ticket to Destination Wedding Photography!
