Tuesday Tip: Starting a Freelance Business #2

Two Tuesdays ago, I started a new series, “Tuesday Tips” and started talking about how to start a freelance business. If you missed the last post, click on #1 or just scroll down.

Disclaimer: I am NOT an expert on everything and every person is different. These are just my thoughts and opinions, which don’t always work for everyone. Here are the topics I plan on discussing over the next several weeks.

1. Know Your Market
2. Know Your Competition
3. Know Your Stuff
4. Build a Brand
5. Develop Correct Pricing
6. Target Your Market
7. Smart Advertising
8. Create a Unique Experience
9. Keep Improving
10. Develop Balance

So this week, we are doing to discuss…

Know Your Competition

Competition…this is something I really don’t like. I have NEVER been a competitive person at all. I am not a sports person and could care less about winning or beating someone. I am, honestly, happy with just being in my own little world and not paying attention to my competition.

But in my type of business, there is LOTS of competition. Anyone can walk into Best Buy, buy a DSLR and start a photography business! It’s SO easy! It seems like photographers are everywhere…which isn’t true. It just seems like it to us other photographers. But when you start any freelance business, it is very important to see what your competition is doing.

Whenever I develop a logo for a business, one of the questions I always ask them is, who is your competition and how can you stand out or differentiate yourself from them? What makes you different from them? Start by finding out who your competition is in your city, state and in the country that has the SAME market (we talked about that last week) as you do. If you are a portrait photographer, then you probably wouldn’t consider a wedding photographer as your direct competition. You want to look at other businesses that are competition for your business and see what they are doing for several reasons.

Their Branding
Look at the way they brand themselves and display their identity on their website, blog, etc. How can you do something that is even more professional and unique? How can you make yourself stand out from the rest of them and target your specific market at the same time? Clients don’t pick photographers just based on their photos, but also their brand and how they present themselves. What can you do to make yourself different from the rest? How can you make your website better?

Their Marketing
How is your competition marketing? Website, blog, Facebook, etc.? Is it working? What could you do that is different? How can you market to clients that they may not even be reaching?

Their Pricing
What is their pricing? For this, you will want to look at your more local competition and see what their prices are. Are they booking jobs at that price? Should you price yourself the same? We’ll talk more about setting up pricing later, but for now, you’ll want to collect all the information you can to make sure you are priced fairly.

Once you have gathered all this information, think about what you like and don’t like. Who is successful and what are they doing to become successful? What can you do differently?

You NEVER want to copy your competition! Hello! That is not unique at all! (This makes me think of Windows always trying to copy Apple’s advertising. Lame!) My advice is be the best yourself that you can be. Make your business the best it can be and make it your own. You want to make sure you know what is going on around you, but you want to be yourself and create a unique experience for your client.

I thought I might leave you with a non-photography example of companies competing. One that came to my mind was insurance companies. They are always competing with each other. Check out these two competing commercials below.

Two companies with the EXACT same market, but totally different approaches. Allstate’s gives a feeling of it being safe, secure and that they will be with you forever. Geico on the other hand tells you that it is so easy, even a caveman could do it. Two totally different approaches to the same market. Which did you like? And why?

Put This To Use: Now that you know what your business is and who your market is, research your competition. What are they doing and is it working? What could you do that is different? How can you make yourself stand out?

I hope this post was helpful and gave you some things to think about! If you liked this, please share this link on your blog or Facebook!