Photography mini sessions are all the rage for many reasons.
With more people wanting their hands on quality photos to share online and on social media, there’s a great opportunity for photographers to book more clients than ever before.
Even though it might seem like there’s an influx of new photographers coming into the market by the masses, well, so are new clients.
Not all clients want to pay for your full prices.
This isn’t just about money though. A lot of my own mini sessions clients end up spending just as much, or more, than my normal photography prices.
Why?
Because they value photography; they just don’t want to spend the time and effort planning a photo session.
Think about it. Photo sessions are A LOT of work for your client. Yes, you should be helping them to make it as easy as possible, but at the end of the day, normal sessions take a lot more effort to plan and execute than a mini session does.
With mini sessions, the time, price, location, and even outfit ideas have already been determined. All your client has to do is pay for the spot that they want, get their outfits ready, and show it.
Photography mini sessions offer busy people a chance for a laid-back experience.
When your mini sessions clients see the open dates and times, they can book a sessions with you right then and there. No messaging back and forth.
No phone tag. Just simple, to-the-point scheduling and getting it done – especially when you use an app like session. Usesession.com makes it super easy to collect payments, send emails & reminders, get contracts signed, and more!
Unless your photography mini sessions prices are dirt cheap, it will rarely be about the price alone.
This is what I try to explain to photographers who have this belief that mini sessions cheapen your brand. THEY DON’T unless you cheapen yourself!
And the way that you cheapen yourself is by making mini sessions a discounted session – which is NOT the ideal way to promote them.
Instead, you should be focused on offering them as a condensed session. Smaller than normal. Instead of the whole pie, they just get a slice (with the option for seconds).
In fact, you can make your mini sessions just as, if not more, profitable than your normal sessions. Follow these tips if you want to learn how.
READ NEXT: How to make your minis more profitable
Mini sessions can be an asset for both you and your clients
Your client gets what they want: a condensed session where they don’t have to do a ton of lifting or heaving planning.
You get what you want: a fully booked schedule, a new pool of clients, and a chance to to earn massive income in one fell swoop.
I personally LOVE mini sessions for the fact that I can earn more in a single day than I could photographing a 10 hour wedding. Without increasing my prices, it’s much less work than big events like that (the ones that I personally am not crazy about to begin with).
In addition to the money factor, it’s a great way to meet a lot of new people in a short amount of time.
This leads to future bookings, referrals, networking with others who have small businesses, and so much more! It’s amazing how much of an opportunity that a single day of mini sessions can offer you AND your clients.
So now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about how you can plan the perfect mini sessions.
Offer a themed mini session
Mini sessions NEED to stand out from your normal sessions for a few reasons.
First and foremost, they aren’t normal sessions, so they shouldn’t be treated as such.
If you offer a theme for your minis, you are giving your clients both an opportunity to get nice themed photos, but leaving room for them to book a session later on that they have more control over.
They might love the look of a themed holiday session for Christmas cards, but are these the photos that they want to hang on their walls all year long?
Here’s a few quick mini session theme ideas to get you started:
Winter mini session themes: hot cocoa stand, tree farm, snow day, Valentine’s day, kissing booth, Santa’s workshop, milk & cookies/ the night before Christmas
Spring: flower stand/truck, Mother’s Day, flower fields
Summer: lemonade stand, ice cream truck, bubble washtub (for babies and toddlers), campfire, back-to-school, strawberry fields.
Fall: pumpkin patch, falling in love, corn field, sunflowers (summer/fall), apple picking
By offering a theme, you leave room for your clients to book something more in-line with their needs later on down the road. And if not? Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Schedule mini sessions ahead of time
Running successful mini sessions that actually get booked honestly boils down to organized planning – ahead of time.
If you try to slap something together last minute, it rarely goes over well. Trust me, I have seen it over and over again. Photographers promoting Christmas mini sessions the 2nd week of December and not getting any bookings.
If you know you want to promote a certain mini session theme at a certain time, then start booking your sessions AT LEAST a month in advance. So if you are reading this now and want to run a string of photography mini sessions in the next coming weeks, then you need to hit the ground running now!
In future, try putting them on your calendar AT LEAST 6 months in advance. This will not only help you carve out time for them, but you will be more likely to succeed since you know that it is coming up.
More time to prepare means more creative ways to help you get them fully booked!
Plan your mini sessions down to the last detail
Every details matters, especially when it comes to planning photography mini sessions.
In order for them to run smoothly, you need to focus on the details that you show to your clients on the surface AND the details behind the curtain.
Make sure you plan out all of these important details
- Mini session date(s) and location
- Packages and fees
- Available session times
- Terms & conditions
- Outfit ideas/ style guide
- Props to setup and/or bring
- How your clients can book
- What comes after the session
- Backp plans/ makeup dates
- Custom landing page or blog post with all the details
- Sign up page (I like using usesession.com for booking mini sessions & collecting payments and contracts)
- How you will market & spread the word about your event
There is so much to take into consideration when planning mini sessions so make sure that you take the time to plan it out so they can be a success for you.
There is nothing quite as disappointing as getting your sights set on a fully booked mini sessions event and it falling flat on it’s face. Most of the time, this boils down to poor plan, so do yourself this immense favor and don’t skip this step!
Need a quick way to plan & fill your mini sessions? Get my Fully Booked Minis playbook to get started now. It breaks down ALL of the details about how to plan, price, market, and fully book your mini sessions calendar.
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