How Photographers Can Successfully Utilize a Virtual Assistant

Running your own photography business is a lot of work. 

When you’re not snapping photos, there’s an endless list of things that need to be taken care of – accounting, marketing, client relationships, invoicing – it’s enough to make your head spin.

Hiring a virtual assistant for your photography business can free up your schedule and give you back the time to focus on your art. 

You might be thinking that virtual assistants don’t work with photographers or that your workflow is too complicated to outsource, but we’ve seen photographers find great success with VAs.

Before jumping into the task list, we highly recommend taking some time to get to know your VA and give him/her the chance to get to know you and your business. Although you won’t be working shoulder to shoulder, you’ll be working together closely, and it helps to develop a strong relationship early on.

Now we’re ready to dive in!

What Virtual Assistants Can Do for Photographers

Here are 5 ways photographers can successfully utilize virtual assistants in their business:

1. Marketing

Marketing is a huge part of running a business that requires consistent involvement, especially for photographers who rely on social media or Google searches to reach potential clients.  

With the help of a virtual assistant, you can keep your online presence strong with minimal work on your part. And frankly, it’s something that your VA will probably enjoy doing more than you will!

While you’ll need to make sure you have a strategic plan in place, you don’t have to have all the details fully fleshed out yet. You can lean on your virtual assistant’s expertise to determine what will work best for your business and goals and tweak things as you go along. 

Whether or not you have an established marketing strategy, you should be as specific as you can be with defining your marketing tasks, like which platforms you post on, how often you post, what the tone of your captions is like, and what images you want to feature.

Your virtual assistant can help guide the conversation, but the goal is to transfer as much of your brand to them as possible so they can represent you accurately. 

Remember that a VA isn’t just limited to social media. If you have a website or online portfolio, they can update your site whenever you shoot new projects or enter submissions to contests or to websites like Behance. 

2. Inbox Management

Odds are that you’d rather be behind the lens rather than holed up at your computer answering emails. Of course, emails are important, but this is a task that can be handed off to an assistant and offer a huge lift to your schedule. 

The beauty of working with a virtual assistant is that YOU choose the system that works for you. 

Will your assistant tackle all emails and mark the ones that require your response? Or will they answer just a specific category, like inquiries and bookings? It’s up to you to decide!

And the plus side of having somebody who can manage your inbox means that you can have a completely unplugged day off or vacation without worrying about business things. 

3. Scheduling Travel

If you’re a traveling photographer, you know how much time can get sucked up scheduling and coordinating travel. 

This is a great task to hand off to an assistant who can smooth out all of the behind-the-scenes details for you. 

You’ll want to brief your virtual assistant on as many details as possible so they know your preferences (like “no flights before 7am” or “accommodations should be within 20 miles of the shoot location”). 

Don’t forget to get them your traveler info, like your passport number and frequent flier credentials. We recommend using a password manager to transfer login information. 

Thanks to the magical powers of your virtual assistant who can book your travel, stay, car rental, dining, and other activities, you can shift your attention to your shoot and forget about the logistics. 

4. Organizing Systems

Organized systems are the backbone of any business. If you’re struggling to keep track of everything or have the systems in place but don’t have the time to get things in the right spot, let your virtual assistant whip things into shape!

Whether it’s a CRM software like Dubsado or Honeybook or your asset library, your VA can delegate consistent time to keep everything orderly and updated so you’re not left frantically digging to find a contract or a project folder.

5. Networking

Networking is another critical part of growing a business, especially for photographers, but one that is likely to fall to the wayside because it can seem daunting and endless. 

Your VA can spearhead your LinkedIn networking by researching potential clients, sending pitch decks, and keeping you virtually connected to the people in your circle. 

This does require some super sleuthing but is a really powerful way to get in front of companies that you would like to work with. 

As you can see, virtual assistants are an incredible sidekick for photographers – the organized yin to your creative yang, if you will. 

Adding a VA to your team can help you scale your business while freeing up time for you to focus on creating. That’s a win-win in our book!