The fall season can really get busy, as the weather tends to be nice, and the holidays are soon upon us! This is a great time to get out of your comfort zone and run some fall mini sessions. Maybe just the thought of mini sessions bring about panic and heart palpitations, but they don’t have to with a bit of organization (and a few deep breaths)!
Here are some of our best tips for how to plan, organize and execute successful mini sessions (without stress)!
What is a Fall Mini Session?
A fall mini session is any session during the fall season that tends to be shorter in time and in digital photos. For example, a regular family session may be on hour in duration and include 30 digital images (this will vary, obviously). A mini session may run 15 minutes with 3-5 digital images included. *Remember, you can always offer upgrade option where people can purchase additional images at a set cost.
What Mini Sessions Can do for Your Business
Flat out, fall mini sessions can be profitable AND can save you some time. Now, we ALWAYS, always preach that putting your client’s experience first, should be your number one goal. If you are brand new to mini sessions, getting so practice initially is always your best bet, meaning you don’t want to over commit and then have it fall apart. So let’s start with the basics!
Planning Your Fall Mini Sessions
Offering mini sessions can be overwhelming for the most seasoned photographers, which is why planning is really key to having things run smoothly.
Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself when thinking about planning any minis:
- How do you plan to set up the minis? Will they be held outdoors or indoors? Will you have a natural or artificial background? Will you need to buy props? Will there be a particular theme?
- What days do you plan to hold your mini sessions? One day? A weekend? An entire week (which is far less common)?
- How will you schedule your clients? Every 15 minutes, 20, or every 30 minutes?
- What is your plan to market? Will you make a post on social media and reach out to past clients? How long in advance do you plan to advertise? We advise SIX WEEKS prior to your date.
Pricing Your Fall Minis
Pricing can differ a ton for mini sessions but can range anywhere from $50-$400+. You can choose to offer one set package (with a set amount of time and a set amount of images), or you can offer multiple packages with varying amounts of photos.
For example, you can offer $125 fall mini sessions that last 10 minutes and give your clients three edited, high-resolution images. You will clearly charge and offer whatever you’d like depending on your experience, set up, and whether you are offering any deals.
If you plan, 20 mini-sessions over the course of a weekend at $125 each, you could stand to make $2,500 (and that doesn’t include any potential upgrading options).
You can run all your holiday mini sessions just like your fall mini sessions! If you have a solid plan, you can use it as a template for all mini-sessions throughout the year!
Overall, fall mini sessions are a great way to get repeat clients coming back every year and can be a quick money maker for a photographer as well. But as always, we want to make sure that our goal is to first give our customers the ultimate client experience (since THAT is what gets them coming back for more)!
