Shot by Shot: Developing a Competitive Photography Business in Helsinki - A Personal Journey in Branding, Marketing, and Client Experience
Belchenko, Krisztina Vivien (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120331908
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120331908
Tiivistelmä
This thesis focuses on a detailed overview of a creative business development and reflect on both its service and marketing journey. It was written to create a more reliable and sustainable business model with a faster and more customized workflow that support the client experience more effectively. The study examines a small photography business that operates in Helsinki and shows how it was created by scratch. It takes the reader through all the steps needed to register and establish a business in the creative industry and to run it successfully.
The purpose of the thesis is to create a sustainable, self-sufficient business model. To achieve this, the work includes research aimed at gaining a clear understanding of market positioning and learning from the theoretical studies and findings gathered for this thesis. The goal is to later implement the new findings into an improved business structure and stronger client journey. To reach a concrete conclusion, the study uses a combination of market research, competitor analysis, client feedback and practised-based experience. This approach helps to understand the local market, the target audience, Finnish consumer behaviour and the effectiveness of different marketing strategies.
Through research and client communication, Finnish consumer culture became clearer. Clients tend to value clarity, natural, minimalistic and timeless visual style and they also appreciate personalised communication, a simple booking process and a consistent brand message. These elements influence their booking decisions and shape their expectations for the services.
Market analysis and marketing trend research helped to understand how the workflow can be automated in a way that support a long-term stability for the business. There are many tools (including AI tools) mentioned that can be used for photography businesses on a daily basis. By experimenting with these and selecting the most suitable programs, the business should allow the entrepreneur to maintain consistent visibility for their business and reduce the amount of workload to avoid burnout while keeping energy for creativity. It also becomes clear how important it is to understand the key timings for launching marketing campaigns as photography strongly depends on seasonal selling.
By reforming the pricing structure and implementing new marketing campaigns, while paying attention to a systematic plan, the business can be financially and workload wise more predictable. This supports consistent income and with careful planning, makes it make this job a fulltime profession from a side project.
The purpose of the thesis is to create a sustainable, self-sufficient business model. To achieve this, the work includes research aimed at gaining a clear understanding of market positioning and learning from the theoretical studies and findings gathered for this thesis. The goal is to later implement the new findings into an improved business structure and stronger client journey. To reach a concrete conclusion, the study uses a combination of market research, competitor analysis, client feedback and practised-based experience. This approach helps to understand the local market, the target audience, Finnish consumer behaviour and the effectiveness of different marketing strategies.
Through research and client communication, Finnish consumer culture became clearer. Clients tend to value clarity, natural, minimalistic and timeless visual style and they also appreciate personalised communication, a simple booking process and a consistent brand message. These elements influence their booking decisions and shape their expectations for the services.
Market analysis and marketing trend research helped to understand how the workflow can be automated in a way that support a long-term stability for the business. There are many tools (including AI tools) mentioned that can be used for photography businesses on a daily basis. By experimenting with these and selecting the most suitable programs, the business should allow the entrepreneur to maintain consistent visibility for their business and reduce the amount of workload to avoid burnout while keeping energy for creativity. It also becomes clear how important it is to understand the key timings for launching marketing campaigns as photography strongly depends on seasonal selling.
By reforming the pricing structure and implementing new marketing campaigns, while paying attention to a systematic plan, the business can be financially and workload wise more predictable. This supports consistent income and with careful planning, makes it make this job a fulltime profession from a side project.