Writing a business plan may seem difficult, but you probably already started it subconsciously when bringing your photography business to life. You found your niche, studied the competition, honed your elevator pitch, and spent time building client relationships and some marketing channels.
All you need to do now is put these details on paper.
Free Photography Business Plan Template Download
Writing a photography business plan doesn’t have to be a chore. Grab a copy of our photography business plan template and fill in the blanks as you read through our comprehensive must-haves section to create a solid plan for your photography business.
8 Must-Haves for Writing a Photography Business Plan
Think of your photography business plan as a guide for how you want to run things — from how you’ll manage expenses and maintain a steady income to meeting legal and insurance requirements, promoting your business, and explaining your vision.
1. Executive Summary Statement
In movie terms, the executive summary is the preview trailer for the rest of the business plan, aka the movie. Your executive summary reiterates the important points of your business plan — things like key competitors, industry, or market findings and your business concept, goals, revenue projections, and more.
This section can be written in paragraphs or with bullet points to explain the overall gist of your data. You’ll expand those points as you navigate through the rest of the document.
Pro tip: It’s a concise rollup of everything else, so write your plan first, then write your summary statement afterward. After all… you wouldn’t make the trailer before making the movie!
2. Mission and Vision Statements
Your mission statement tells the world “why” your business exists. It’s a sentence or short paragraph highlighting what your company does (its purpose) and references things like your audience, values, strategy, and objectives. Your vision statement explains your company’s future aspirations and how it wants to impact the world by achieving its mission.
Here’s a real-world example of each from Maui family photographer Wendy Laurel:
- Mission: “Creating timeless, emotional photographs that capture the love, beauty, and joy of life’s most special moments, whether they are weddings, family portraits, or personal milestones.”
- Vision: “To capture the real beauty of life through colorful, natural, and meaningful photographs that evoke joy and connection.”
Check out more mission and vision statement examples for extra inspiration and ideas. Note that they don’t roll off the tongue like simple campaign slogans — they’re meant to make you fully grasp what the company has to offer to its clients and what it offers to the world. And most do it in no more than a neat, meaningful sentence (or two).
To help you get started, here are templates you can cut and paste to craft mission and vision statements for your photography business plan. Start with a template to get the bones of your statement written — then adjust it to make it fit the vibe and voice of your brand.
Photography Business Mission Statement Template
Photography Business Vision Statement Template
3. Business Description
Your business description describes what your business is and what it does. This is your opportunity to describe what your business is about, the photography services you offer, and the clientele you serve.
Some ideal components of a business description include:
- The name of your business
- Location
- Origin story
- Founders, owners, partners, and other key stakeholders
- The main products and services you deliver
- The problems your company solves for its customers
Photography Business Description Template
4. Market Analysis
Ultimately, your market analysis needs to demonstrate that sufficient demand and opportunity exist to support the success of your business in your defined market. It should reference your competitors, define your audience, and describe the state of your market and how it’s changing.
Competitor Analysis [Direct and Indirect Competitors]
Direct competitors are businesses or freelancers who generally offer the same services and products as you. How many direct competitors you have directly impacts your ability to succeed in the marketplace. Data to gather for direct competitors includes things like:
- Target audiences
- Pricing
- Messaging
- Branding
- Marketing strategies and tactics
- Website design and functionality
- Social media
To make it easier, download this template from HubSpot for free.
Audience Analysis
Your audience analysis explains your market from a high level. How big is the overall size of your potential customer base, and of that, what portion is likely to be interested in your services? Of these, what characterizes the ideal client type you want to attract — such as:
- Demographics (age, gender, location, income, occupation, education, household makeup, etc.)
- Concerns, questions, and objections
- Pain points – problems they want to solve (their goals)
- Online behaviors
- Buying behaviors and motivations – and so on
This research will be fundamental when it comes time for you to build buyer personas and create your marketing plan.
Pro tip: Want to turn your audience research into a bona fide buyer persona? Use Semrush’s buyer persona tool to make yours for free.
Trends and Gap Analysis
This section outlines trends such as how your market is changing, shifts in consumer behavior, whether it’s growing or shrinking, emerging technology, and so on.
For example, has the market fully bounced back post-pandemic, and/or how has it changed? What trends are on the horizon that could impact your success?
It should also showcase the gaps in the marketplace that equate to opportunities for your business’s unique value proposition, services, or products. In other words, what does your target audience need, or what problem do they have that few or even none of your competitors can solve (but you can)?
5. Financial Projections and Needs
Financial projections demonstrate how your business expects to make money over a given duration and whether it’s profitable. It’s a snapshot of how much revenue your business generates, what it spends, what you expect to make in the future, and any funding needs you’ve identified, including :
- Cash flow statement: How much money is actually coming in and going out of your business
- Income statement (aka profit and loss): Subtracts expenses from income to show whether your business is profitable or operating at a loss
- Sales forecast: Estimates how much revenue you expect the business to generate over the next 2-5 years
- Expense forecast: Both fixed costs (things like costs for licenses, permits, rent, photography insurance, leases, subscriptions, web hosting, utilities, and other monthly fees) and estimates or allowances for variable expenses (supplies, travel, props, marketing, advertising, shipping, production, and so on) over the next 2-5 years
If you’re applying for a business loan from a bank or courting an investor or partner, this section will also include a funding need statement. It should specify how much money is needed and exactly how it will be used (equipment, a rented or purchased location, renovations, and more)
6. Organization and Management
This section shows the managerial hierarchy and functional departments within your business. If you’re the sole owner, you’re only listing yourself in this section. If you have staff or partners, add yourself and the names and titles of your business associates when writing a photography business plan.
Some examples of a photography business leadership team include:
- CEO / President
- Founder / Co-founder
- Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
- Creative director
- Operations manager
- Director of marketing
- Post-production manager
7. Marketing Plan
A traditional marketing plan addresses the “4 P’s of marketing” (we think there are actually 5):
- Product
- Pricing
- Place
- Promotion
- Positioning
Product
Your product is what you sell, including services and products. You can list these items here, along with pricing information, or simply link out to your website’s pricing page so that your most current products and pricing are referenced in your business plan.
Place / Placement
Place refers to how your product will be sold/distributed. When writing a photographer business plan, this should include the geographic limits of your service area.
Promotion
Promotion is the area of a business plan most people probably think of when they think about “marketing.” It explains how you plan to advertise and promote your business to attract and retain clients, and could potentially encompass a wide range of strategies and channels, such as:
- Website marketing (including things like SEO, blogging, portfolio, and so on)
- Business listings (such as Google Business Pages, Yelp, The Knot, etc.)
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Direct mail
- Video
- Podcasting
- Public relations
- Paid advertising
- Referral program
- Marketing materials and collateral
- Event marketing (e.g., trade shows, festivals, community events)
- Promotions (like first-time customer offers, limited-time offers (LTOs), and more)
- Branding (logo, business name, tagline, colors, and usage, plus voice, tone, and other brand elements/guidelines)
Positioning
Positioning refers to how your product is positioned in the marketplace. It encompasses things like your brand messaging, unique value proposition (UVP), and how you have positioned your brand vs. competitors. You can include it here or in the market analysis section of your business plan.
Circling back to Wendy Laurel, whose examples we included for mission and vision statements, here are examples of positioning statements:
- “Maui family photographs that are a joy to do, look like art and show how it felt to be in Hawaii with the people you love.”
- “I focus on the connection and love within your family and get the real you. All that love is set against the beauty, sunshine, and light of Maui beaches and island scenery.”
- “The photo session is relaxing and fun.”
8. Business Goals and Measures
Goals are items you want to achieve, and metrics are measurements to gauge your success rate of goals. Time-based goals and metrics allow you to establish a target in a set amount of time. Examples of time-based photography business goals and measures include:
- Increase client bookings by 10% in (period of time, e.g., quarter, or year) — measured in actual bookings over that time period vs. the previous period
- Improve annual profit margins by 5% by the end of the year — measured vs. profit margin of the previous year
- Double referrals in 24 months — measured by the number of referrals generated over the two-year time span, compared to the prior period
- Increase web traffic by 10% each quarter — measured quarterly by comparing the quarterly web traffic metrics
Start with simple goals that are specific, measurable, and achievable. Then track your progress. Did you reach your goal? If so, great. If not, try again or readjust your goal so you can hit your mark.
And remember: Sometimes we fail at meeting goals and metrics. That’s ok. Goal-tracking allows you to understand what was successful and unsuccessful. Metrics show us how much we were on or off target so we can improve.
Analysis can help you identify factors within your control so that you meet your goal on the next try.
Get Help Writing Your Business Plan
If you’re still struggling to put pen to paper, use our photography business plan template to help you get started.
Need professional eyes? Consider hiring a legal professional on LegalZoom to ensure your business plan is legit and legally sound.
Or, skip the writing altogether and let Fiverr consultants help you construct your business plan from scratch with everything you need to wow investors, lenders, or potential business partners. Or tap Wise Business Plans to get professionally written and printed business plans in two weeks.
Common Questions About Writing a Business Plan
Why Do Photographers and Videographers Need Business Plans?
Photographers and videographers need business plans to centralize information about their services and products, funds, goals, marketing strategies, customer data, and more. A business plan is also useful (and can be persuasive) when seeking business loans from banks or credit unions, investments from potential stakeholders, or partnerships.
What Should I Include in My Videography Marketing Plan?
You should include these things in your videography marketing plan:
- Target audience(s) and buyer personas
- Competitor marketing analysis
- A Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Marketing team members and responsibilities
- Marketing channels and calendar / timelines
- Marketing budget
- Time-based goals and metrics
What Is the Best Structure for My Photography Business?
The best structure for a photography business is an LLC, or (Limited Liability Company). It separates personal and business assets, which provides more protection for the business owner(s). It also offers additional flexibility for tax purposes; for example, LLCs can function as S-Corps.
How Do I Scale My Videography Business?
Scale your videography business by:
- Adding new services
- Growing your project portfolio
- Expanding your marketing and advertising efforts
- Partnering with ancillary service providers, like photographers or event planners
- Growing your social media following
- Creating a customer-friendly website
- Passing out marketing materials, such as flyers, brochures, business cards, and more
- Hiring freelancers or additional employees
- Outsourcing tasks like editing or touchups or non-videographer work like social media management, accounting, and marketing
