Photography Goals for 2023: A Goal for Each Month and How to Accomplish It
Are you looking to become a professional photographer in 2023? No matter your current skill level, setting and achieving photography goals can help you reach your career aspirations. It’s a great way to stay motivated and hone your craft.
If you’re looking to grow as a professional photographer, it’s important to always have a plan of action. Setting photography goals is one way you can stay on track and make sure you’re progressing in the right direction. Without any guidance, it can be easy to get lost in the hustle of the industry or get stuck in a rut. Goals give you purpose and let you measure your progress, all while celebrating the wins along the way. That said, it can be helpful to break down your goals into smaller, more achievable pieces. Therefore, we’ve broken this list down into twelve smaller goals, one for each month of the year.
In this article, we’ll be discussing one photography goal for each month of 2023 and how you can go about achieving it.
January – Dedicate Time to Your Newsletter
The start of the new year can be overwhelming. After having some time off to enjoy the holidays and spend time with family and friends it can be tough to get back into the swing of your professional photography business. But a great way goal to focus on in the new year is to refine your photography newsletter.
Most photography newsletters are biweekly, or monthly emails sent directly to your client’s or those interested in your services. Through January take some time to focus on a cohesive design for these emails, draft a calendar of dates you want your emails to be sent, and any seasonal topics that you will want to reference. This is also a great time to think of any reoccurring components that you will want to include with your emails. You can design an eye-catching graphic informing your customers, “Refer a friend and once they book their first photo session you receive a $50 print credit!” This way it’s easy for you to add to each email for the rest of the year and your customers are seeing it multiple times, keeping it in the forefront of their minds. By setting aside time in January to focus on the layout and content of your photography newsletter, you can then make quick updates and adjustments each month, setting yourself up for success.
February – Update Your Website
Heading into February, it’s a great time to look into your website and see if there are any areas that would benefit from an update. Looking at the gallery on your website, are there any new photos from the past year you want to add? Any new photo galleries from a family session you want to update? Adding some of your latest photos to your website is a great way to show off your most recent work to future clients.
You can also take a look at your “About Me” section on your website, read it over, and see if there are any new life changes you want to add. Did you recently get a new pet? Or go on a trip? Adding in a few pieces about you, that may be unrelated to photography, is a great way for future clients to relate to you. Do you have a blog on your website? Set aside time to draft a few new blog topics you want to write throughout the year. This will let you have a few ideas when you find yourself wanting to connect with clients through your blog.
March – Hone Your Social Media Channels
Towards the beginning of the year is a great time to invest your focus in refining your social media strategy. Social media is an important tool for any photographer, as it can help you reach a wider audience and promote your work. You should work to create a strong presence on sites like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and regularly post content related to your photography business.
Is there a new platform you’re wanting to create a presence on? Is there a new social media trend you heard about at a trade show? During the month of march, take the time to develop a plan for your posts that will let you create an online presence that reaches your clients and engages with your community. A social media plan that is designed just for your business will allow you to have an organized direction for your postings as well as letting you make changes when things are trending, or you want to add in a new platform and more. By engaging with your followers, creating content that they are interested in, and responding to their comments and messages: this will help you create a stronger connection with your audience and build a loyal following.
April – Put Together a Creative Photo Shoot
Personal projects are a great way to explore your creativity and challenge yourself as a photographer. You should choose a subject or theme that you’re passionate about and use it as the basis for your project. This could be anything from exploring a certain destination or organizing a photo shoot. You should set some time aside for planning a trip, or brainstorming a theme, recruiting models, and designing your dream set. The idea is to find a way to channel your creativity and make this photo session truly unique. This could be through experimenting with different angles, perspectives, and compositions, or finding a creative way to tell a new story.
May – Attend a Photography Education Event and Meet New Photographers
Attending a workshop is a great way to not only find new opportunities, learn new skills and techniques, but also a great way to meet new photographers and make connections. Workshops on creative lighting, to beginner photographer retreats and styled shoots, there are many different types of photography education experiences that are beneficial to you and your business. During the month of May sign up for an upcoming class or workshop and take time to invest in your technique and improving your skills as a photographer.
June – Focus on Print Packages
Developing print packages to offer to your clients is a great way to not only impress your clients with beautiful printed products, but also an easy way to increase your profit. In the month of June, take time to order studio samples and put together photo packages that would grab your clients attention. Canvas Wrap PRO is a great print product to include in all of your packages, it is the perfect print piece for your clients to add to their home. Metal Prints MAX are crafted on high-gloss metal and arrive to your clients ready to hang, with the beautiful color resolution your clients photos will look great. If you’re looking to include a few table top options both the Acrylic Blocks and Easel-back Prints are great options for your clients to bring into their home or give as gifts. When you present your print offerings to your client this will not only impress them but also show the ease of ordering directly though you.
July – Schedule Social Media Posts
Scheduling social media posts is a great way to stay organized while also taking off the stress of remembering to post each day. With platforms such as Later, it allows you to sync your Instagram or Facebook account and schedule your upcoming posts. This is a great goal to accomplish in the month of July as you most likely already have a few galleries of new photo that you have taken this year and are ready to show off on social media. Go ahead and upload your images, write a caption, and schedule the day you want them to post and then you won’t have to worry about missing a post or forgetting to post. You can schedule posts out for a few weeks or a few months, and then come back to your calendar and schedule more through the rest of 2023.
August – Try Out New Editing Techniques
Editing is an important skill for any photographer, as it can help you take your images to the next level. Taking the time to explore different editing techniques, such as cropping, color correction, and retouching. You should also get familiar with the latest editing software, and practice using them. It’s also a good idea to experiment with different presets and actions. You may find out you want to incorporate a new technique into your workflow. This will help you get the most out of your images and create stunning edits while staying up to date with the latest software updates.
September – Collaborate with Another Photographer
The professional photographer community is a great place to make new connections and bounce ideas off of one another. Through the month of September reach out to a fellow photographer, maybe someone you connected with at a tradeshow or another photographer from your area. See if they are interested in traveling to a new destination to capture photos, hosting a styled shoot, or even brainstorming a new photo session idea. By collaborating with other photographers this will allow you to meet new people but also grow your creativity. If you have been hesitant to host your first workshop, bring along another photographer and together it can be a great learning experience where you may find that you’re ready to host the next one on your own.
October – Plan Holiday Mini Sessions and Print Packages
October is a great time of the year to start planning your holiday mini sessions and brainstorming ideas for your photo shoot set. This will allow give you adequate time to work through your creative process and come up with great, unique ideas for your year-round clients. With, you will also have plenty of time to create marketing materials to reach new clients who you may have not worked with before but are interested in having family photos taken during the upcoming holiday season.
The holidays can also be one of the biggest times of the year for your print sales. Clients start to reach back out requesting prints that they can gift to family members and friends from a past photo session. This is a great opportunity for you to not only offer your predesigned print package, special for the holidays, but also remind them of your upcoming holiday mini sessions to they can have new photos as well. By starting this process is October it is a great way to be prepared for the holidays without the last-minute stress.
November - Organize Your Hard Drives and Get Your Back Ups in Order
Organizing your photos from your business can be overwhelming, but it is a necessary step to lead to a successful professional photography business. For the month of November, set aside some time to doublecheck that all of your photos you have taken from each photo session during the year are properly backed up as well as organized. You will want to give each folder a very clear name, include the date of the session and include any other information that will make it easy for you to locate the images. These updates will also help you be prepared for the holiday season when clients reach out asking for specific photos turned into printed gifts for their friends and family.
December – Update Your Studio Samples
December is the perfect time of the year to reflect on all of your photos from the entire year. Set aside time to appreciate all that you have accomplished and highlight some of your favorite galleries. Take your favorite photos and bring them into your studio as new print product studio samples so you will have new pieces to reference in the coming new year. This is not only a great way to show your new clients your updated work, but also a great way to stay encouraged in your space by being able to reflect on your latest work.
Making the Most of Your Photography Goals in 2023
Setting and achieving professional photography goals is an important part of growing as a successful photographer. It’s a great way to stay motivated and focus on the tasks that will help you reach your career aspirations. We hope that this blog has given you some ideas for your photography goals in 2023 and how to go about achieving them. So, what are you waiting for? Start setting and achieving your photography goals today!
When you’re ready to display your best shots the way they were meant to be seen, then be sure to check out ProPrints today.