In 2021, I made $1,500 in one day shooting mini sessions. I remember calling my husband on the way home and saying, “I made $1,500 today. In one day!”
My very next thought was, “If I can make $1,500 in one day, what else is possible?”
And it turns out, quite a bit! By 2022, I was making $5,000 from a mini session day. In 2023, that number grew to $7,000. And in early 2024, I made nearly $7,000 again, this time working fewer hours.
But here’s the thing about photography mini sessions: they can be a really strategic part of your business, or they can become a quick cash grab that makes you look cheap (sorry, someone had to say it).
I’ve seen photographers use mini sessions to fill slower months, bring in new clients, and build their brand. I’ve also seen photographers offer them so frequently that they unintentionally become known as the cheap photographer.
The difference isn’t necessarily whether you offer mini sessions, but it’s how you approach them.
Can Mini Sessions Actually Build a High-End Photography Brand?
Mini sessions can definitely build a high-end brand, but you have to be intentional about what you’re offering and how you’re positioning it.
Here’s what I see happen all the time: A photographer wants to attract higher-paying clients, but every time someone inquires about a full session and asks for something cheaper, they offer a mini instead.
Or they announce mini sessions every month, every other month, or whenever bookings are slow.
Eventually, clients start to associate that photographer with the cheaper option rather than the full experience they actually want to be known for.
Your actions build your reputation, not your intentions or what you say about yourself.
You can call yourself a luxury photographer all day long, but if you’re constantly bending over backward to accommodate requests for discounted sessions, that’s not the reputation you’re building.
That doesn’t mean you can’t offer a lower-priced service. My brand mini sessions are $350, while my average full brand session is between $3,500 and $5,000. They’re two completely different services for two different needs, and that’s important to know.
Make Your Mini Sessions Rare and Set Clear Boundaries
One of the biggest reasons mini sessions have worked so well in my business is that they’re not available all the time.
I typically offer them once or twice a year (and lately, it’s been closer to once). When those spots are gone, they’re gone.
If someone emails asking whether they can book a quick mini session on a random Thursday, the answer is no. That’s not something I offer outside of the designated mini session day.
When clients know they can book a mini session anytime, there’s no real reason to act. But when they know it’s only available once a year, they’re much more likely to book when the opportunity comes around.
The other important piece is having really clear boundaries around what a mini session includes.
Here’s what my brand mini sessions look like:
- $350 for a 20-minute session
- One location at my studio
- 10 images selected from a curated gallery
- The option to purchase additional images
- Video available as a paid add-on
Clients know exactly what they’re getting before they book. They know that arriving five minutes late means they have 15 minutes left, not 20. They know they can’t bring 12 outfit changes or expect a refund for canceling the day before.
I think photographers sometimes struggle with boundaries because we worry that enforcing them makes us mean or difficult to work with, but there’s nothing wrong with having a profitable business and delivering exactly what you promised.
Mini sessions are mini sessions. They’re not full strategic brand sessions, and they shouldn’t be treated like they are.
Market Your Mini Sessions Like This
This is probably the biggest change I made in my mini session strategy, and it’s the one that added $2,000 to my revenue in 2023.
Before that, most of my mini session marketing focused on what clients were getting. Things like, “Here’s everything you can do with just 10 photos!” or, “Mini sessions are $350!”
And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that messaging (I made $5,000 using it).
But once mini session day was over, all that content I’d spent so much time creating was essentially useless. The call to action was to book something that was no longer available, and I had to start all over again to fill my calendar with full brand sessions.
So I started asking myself a different question! What if the same content could fill my mini session day AND my calendar with full brand photography clients?
Instead of focusing so heavily on the price and deliverables, I started marketing mini sessions the same way I marketed my full sessions.
I talked about things like:
- Why you shouldn’t wait until you feel confident to book brand photos
- How to decide what props to bring to a brand session
- Why your headshot from two years ago might not represent you anymore
- The importance of choosing the right location for your brand photos
The call to action was still to book a mini session, but the content itself was valuable beyond that specific offer. Someone could discover it after mini session day had passed and still be interested in working with me.
That year, I filled a mini session day with around 20 clients and went on to book approximately five or six additional full brand sessions.
I wasn’t just making money from minis anymore. I was using them to market my photography business as a whole. And that’s what I want photographers to understand. A mini session can be a lower-priced entry point without making your entire brand about lower prices.
You Have to Be Willing to Actually Market Your Mini Sessions
Here’s something photographers don’t always want to hear: filling a mini session day takes a lot of marketing!
In my experience, it takes significantly more marketing to fill a mini session day than it does to book a full session.
And one of the biggest mistakes I see photographers make is what I call quiet quitting: You announce your mini sessions. You’re excited. You post about them, and nobody books. So you post again the next day (still nothing). And then… you just stop talking about them.
You don’t officially cancel or declare them a failure, but you just let the whole thing fade away.
I’ve done this myself, and I’ve seen it happen with so many photographers I’ve coached!
But the reality is that only a small percentage of your followers are seeing any given post. Just because you talked about your mini sessions twice doesn’t mean everyone knows they’re available.
I’ve had people book the day before mini session day, multiple times. If I had stopped marketing a week earlier because I was worried about being annoying, those spots would have stayed empty.
When photographers ask whether they should offer minis, one of the first things I want them to consider is whether they have the capacity to talk about them consistently for something like 21 days.
Because if you’re not willing to keep showing up and promoting the offer, even when bookings are slow, mini sessions might not be the right strategy for you.
Don’t rely only on Instagram to fill your spots
One thing that’s made a big difference in my business is having a waitlist specifically for people interested in mini sessions or headshots.
I use a simple Flodesk form to collect their information. When someone inquires about a headshot and the timing or pricing isn’t right, I can invite them to join the list and be the first to know when mini sessions open. It’s what I like to call lazy email list growth.
You’re building a list of people who have already told you they’re interested in buying from you.
I also send personal invitations to people I’d really love to photograph. I’ll reach out before booking opens publicly and offer them the opportunity to grab a spot early. I’m not offering them an additional discount as the mini session is already the discounted offer, but giving someone early access and letting them know you’d genuinely love to work with them can go a long way.
Make Your Mini Session Day Profitable Beyond the Booking Fee
If you’re going to put all that work into marketing and filling a mini session day, you also want to make sure the experience is efficient and profitable.
For me, that starts with making booking as easy as possible. Clients select a time, fill out a form, and pay. Then they automatically receive the information they need to prepare for their session, followed by reminders leading up to the day.
I’m not manually emailing 20 different people to make sure they know where to go and what to bring.
The other big piece is offering gallery upgrades. My brand mini sessions include 10 images, but that doesn’t mean I only shoot 10 images. I’m shooting to fill the gallery.
If a client has 12 images to choose from, they’re probably going to select their 10 and move on. But if they have 50 or 60 images they love, purchasing additional photos becomes a much more appealing option. Clients can purchase a few additional images or upgrade to the full gallery.
Gallery upgrades were a big part of how I was able to make nearly the same revenue in 2024 while photographing fewer clients.
But the value of mini sessions doesn’t stop with the money you make that day. Some of my best full-session clients started with headshot mini sessions. They got to experience what it was like to work with me before committing to something bigger. Sometimes that experience sells the full session better than any marketing I could do!
Build a Mini Session Strategy You Can Use Again
The first time I started running really strategic mini sessions, it was a lot of work.
I had to figure out the automations, forms, scheduler, marketing, and everything else that went into making the day run smoothly. I remember wondering whether I could really do all of that every year.
But now, I just change a couple of things, press play, and let it run. That’s part of what makes this strategy so valuable to me. I’m not rebuilding the entire offer every time I want to host mini sessions.
Obviously it didn’t happen overnight. My first mini session day made $800, and I was thrilled. Over time, I adjusted my pricing, positioning, marketing, and client experience until it became something I could consistently replicate.
So if you try mini sessions and only three people book, that doesn’t automatically mean the offer doesn’t work! The time is going to pass anyway. You might as well spend it building something you can make a little bit better every year.
Want Help Planning Your Own Mini Session Day Strategy?
January is a great time to host mini sessions, which means November is a great time to start planning! And if you want to work through the process with me, I’m including a brand-new Mini Session Challenge inside this round of Behind the Shot.
From November 23 through December 18, we’ll spend four weeks working through planning, pricing, marketing, and filling a strategic mini session day.
We’ll cover your mini session menu and boundaries, waitlist and booking flow, personal invitations, and creating content that continues working for your business even after mini session day is over.
You’ll also get three live coaching calls with me on December 1, 8, and 15 (with recordings available), plus a private community to work alongside other photographers.
Behind the Shot opens November 13, and waitlist members get access 24 hours before everyone else. This round also includes my brand-new shoot planner, and you’ll get lifetime access to Behind the Shot for $500.
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