When you’ve been in the photography business for as long as I have, chances are you’ve discovered some pretty life-changing photography tools along the way— tools that help you run your own photography business faster and more efficiently than ever.

Today, I’m going to share the top seven photography business tools I’ve used in 2022. These tools have enabled me to deliver a better experience to my clients, free up my time, and make my life and work so much easier.

Ready to dive in? Let’s go!

1) Boomerang

Boomerang costs $5 per email address and is a plugin that helps save you from an overcrowded inbox. It does this by allowing you to select emails to show up in your inbox at a later date. For example, you may want them to pop back into your inbox in two hours or even the following morning. That way, you can always hit zero at the end of each workday.

Why do I love this tool so much? The simple answer is that being able to hit zero in your inbox is such a satisfying and rewarding task. It allows you to feel like you’re starting the next day off on a clean slate, even if you have to schedule some non-priority emails for the following day.

Boomerang has a handful of additional features, but I really enjoy their email re-scheduler.

2) honeybook

HoneyBook is a client management program that allows you to organize and store all of your client information by project. Each project enables you to send over contracts, invoices, your calendar, and more. While there are so many different features to choose from, I recommend focusing on contract invoicing, which allows you to create brochures and send those over to clients.

You could also create a contact form that plugs into your Squarespace website.

This means that when someone fills out your contact form, HoneyBook will automatically enter them into an automated email sequence that is completely customizable. For instance, the sequence may send them a brochure, the final contract, and remind them to pay their invoice.

In short, HoneyBook is all about helping you automate the booking process. More automation means fewer back-and-forth emails to clients and more free time back on your schedule.

One other thing to note about Honeybook: It’s not just for photographers. Anyone with a creative business can benefit from it. The only downside is that it may be slightly overwhelming when your first sign up. There’s a lot to navigate which is why I recommend starting with a Honeybook free trial.

3) Grammarly

Grammarly helps correct and improve your writing and has saved my butt more times than I’d like to admit. You can download Grammarly directly to your computer, add it as a browser extension, and get the app for your phone. I use it on every device I have.

It allows you to customize everything— from how you prefer your copy to be written, the audience you’re writing to, the voice and tone you wish to project, if you’re wanting to sound formal or informal, and more. In addition, it will also help you catch any grammar mistakes, shorten and rephrase sentences when necessary, and is one of the tools that I 100% think you should add to your toolbox. If you implement anything from this list into your business, let it be Grammarly.

4) NARRATIVE

Narrative is a tool that makes it way easier to publish your gallery as a blog on your website. Instead of having a gallery section on my website, I simply post each gallery as a blog. I found that it’s much more efficient to post a gallery blog and clients love taking a look at my recent blogs for getting a sense of my work before they decide to book a shoot.

However, individually uploading photo by photo onto a blog can take a lot of time. With Narrative, you’re able to import, rearrange, and even crop your blog post images and it will generate a code for you to drop into your Squarespace website.

The cool thing is that Narrative doesn’t generate one big collage, all of the images are still individual, making them easy to pin on Pinterest. This tool will save you so much time— trust me. I know you have one, two, or even three galleries that need publishing, which is why I recommend getting started with a Narrative free trial or at the least, a coupon code.

5) CANVA

Canva is the tool I use to create every single one of my graphics for Instagram— from infographics to my free downloadable PDFs. After uploading all of my brand assets— from my brand colors to my fonts and logos— it’s super easy to choose one of their pre-made templates and start designing.

With thousands of design templates, icons, photos, and more, beautiful, professional-looking graphics are literally at your fingertips. Whether you’re looking to give your old media kit a facelift or design some new Instagram story graphics, Canva has you covered. Although I recommend subscribing to their paid version, they also have a free version available as well.

6) Planoly

Planoly is the tool I use to plan and schedule my Instagram posts and stories. I love how expansive the customization features are, they include the best times to post, hashtag suggestions, and more. Because of the most recent updates, you can auto-publish everything— even reels and TikToks. The only thing that will send you a notification when it’s time to post are Instagram stories.

I highly recommend using the desktop version over the app, as it can get quite overwhelming, plus the features on the app are limited. Again, you can get started on a Planoly free trial to see if it works for you and your business.

7) Build + Bloom

The last resource, created by yours truly, is my free Build + Bloom photography Facebook group. This is a kind, encouraging, and inclusive photography community where you can ask questions about your work, receive insight on photography client situations, share opinions or feedback on gear, ask for critiques and editing advice, and more. We’d love to have you join us!

Which of these tools are you planning on implementing into your photography workflow in 2022/2023? Let me know in the comments below!

Resources:

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If you're ready to join a kind, encouraging, and inclusive photography community, check out the Build + Bloom Facebook group.
If you like what I teach on YouTube and in blog posts, chances are you'll love my Photography Business Basics course where I share the 8 essential steps to build your photography business and make it bloom. Sart your business off on the right foot in a way that is *actually* clear, concise, and easy to understand. Learn more here!