What to Do When you Have a Beginner Photographer Copycat, So You Come Out On Top
I’m sure you’ve heard the quote “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” but is it really?
When you’re the person who’s being imitated do you feel that way—especially if it’s a competitor who’s imitating you?
When newbie photographers start out, they always look to someone online or even worse— LOCAL— to find inspiration. Now, finding inspiration isn’t bad. In fact, knowing that you’re inspiring others and being a catalyst for their dreams is a wonderful feeling, but when that inspiration turns to imitation, things get muddied up.
Beginner photographers move from being inspired by you to doing exactly what you do because they’re unsure what direction to go in and what to do. Plus, many of them want to get up and running any way they can and sometimes that seems like the quickest way.
The problem is they are charging WAY less than experienced photographers, their quality is no where near what it should be, and they are muddying the waters for photographers who take their business seriously. This makes the experienced photographer’s brand—with the experience, skill level, and know-how—look overpriced despite the fact that the final product and client experience is completely different than what a beginner can provide.
Catch the Video Version of this blog post right here:
So what do you do when you feel like you are the one being imitated and you might lose clients to a new competitor? Follow these tips:
1. Don’t sweat the small stuff
Most of the time people who hire the beginner are “price shoppers,” so they probably won’t hire you at the prices you deserve and should be charging if they do not see the value. And, the truth is, they may absolutely see your value and wish they could hire you, but they just can’t afford you, which is ok. Not everyone is your customer nor should they be, so you can look at this as saving you time and energy.
2. Treat your clients like gold so they scream from the mountain tops everyone needs to hire you
When you provide an experience that is easy for your clients, problem free, and they feel completely taken care of, they will tell all of their friends to hire you! Win – Win!
3. Carry on with what you love
If you are providing services you are in love with, it will show in your work. When you are only doing something because someone else is, it shows in the lack of perfection in the details, in the lack of passion in selling it, and in the overall disconnect when you are working with clients.
4. Innovate but don’t forget about your well-loved offers that everyone buys
If you are providing sessions that are unique and staying creative to fulfill your servant heart, people will always want to work with you because you are coming up with new and exciting offers. BUT don’t let go of your well-loved offers that people love and come back for. You know your popular “bread and butter” offers? Those are loved for a reason.
5. Brand yourself not your business
This is one of the most important pieces of advice I can give you. If you have branded yourself with things you love that have personal meaning to you and not just pieces that everyone else can pick up and use, it will look ridiculous when someone else tries to copy you. People will notice it and they’ll know the counterfeit when they see it.
Take the time to dig through what your business is really about, who you want to work with, and what matters most to you. The more you do that, the less someone will be able to duplicate you who are online and offline.
If you feel like your brand may be too easy to imitate causing confusion amongst serious clients you want to attract…
…click here to find out more about a brand and website audit with me. I will personally send you a brand experience audit, a video walk through of what I have found, and an action step report to take to create a brand and website that connects and converts!
Hearts and Hoorays!
