How photographers can maximize profits this Black Friday with Zenfolio.
November 4th, 2025
Black Friday: Unleashing opportunity for photographers.
For photographers, the holiday season is the busiest—and most profitable—time of year. But without a clear plan, Black Friday can quickly become a race to the bottom. Many photographers slash prices hoping to attract clients, only to end up overbooked and underpaid.
This year, take a smarter approach. With built-in tools and automation, you can turn Black Friday into a strategic sales moment that boosts your income without adding to your workload.
Zenfolio brings together everything you need—online booking, photo gift sales, print fulfillment, automated upsells, and seasonal sales—in one streamlined platform.
Whether you’re a full-time professional or a part-time creator offering seasonal minis, these strategies will help you earn more and stay balanced.
Create irresistible Black Friday session packages.
Black Friday isn’t about the deepest discount—it’s about creating irresistible value.
What to offer right now:
- Family portrait minis
- Couple or engagement sessions
- Pet portraits (matching sweaters encouraged!)
- Children’s or sibling portraits for holiday cards
Emphasize urgency with limited slots and fast delivery for holiday gifting.
Pro tip: Limit bookings to drive early action and protect your schedule.
Feature tie-in:
With Zenfolio, you can use BookMe to automate your mini-session workflow: cap sessions, take payment up-front, and automatically create client galleries.
Turn holiday shoppers into loyal clients with photo gifts.
The holidays are one of the best times to remind clients that photography is more than a service—it’s something to share. Thoughtful photo products like framed prints, mugs, ornaments, and keychains make personal, meaningful gifts that keep your work at the center of their celebrations.
Encourage shoppers to explore your Store by highlighting small, giftable items and limited-time offers on a landing page on your site, and sharing about them in your email list and social media:
- Bundle and save: Create seasonal packages that make gifting simple.
- Use coupon codes: Offer discounts on select photo products through your Zenfolio Store to drive higher-value purchases.
These small, intentional touches can extend your holiday revenue and deepen your connection with clients—helping your work find its way under more trees and into more homes this season.
Feature tie-in:
Easily promote photo products directly through your Zenfolio Store. Add product photos, feature seasonal favorites, and set coupon codes that automatically apply to your chosen items.
Use scarcity and urgency to drive bookings.
Scarcity drives action—authenticity builds trust.
Tactics to inspire fast action:
- “Only 5 sessions left!”
- “Ends midnight Friday!”
- “Book today for gallery delivery before December 10.”
Focus on value, service, and turnaround.
Feature tie-in:
Use BookMe to set limited session availability, display real-time booking inventory, and add custom messaging to service descriptions–like holiday delivery cut-off dates.
You can also highlight upgrade opportunities (prints, albums, rush timelines) using BookMe’s customizable service blocks.
Upsell prints, albums, and wall art.
Your gallery is more than a delivery tool—it’s a sales hub.
Black Friday bundles beyond the shoot:
- Spend $75 → 10% off
- Spend $125 → 15% off
- Ready-to-gift prints shipped in time for the holidays
Add a link to your customizable promotional email reminders leading to Zenfolio’s shipping calculator tool to reduce uncertainty about shipping deadlines with your clients.
Feature tie-in:
Activate Smart Upsell to automatically show clients how close they are to unlocking a bigger discount—whether that’s spending a little more or adding a few more items to their cart. It’s a low-effort way to increase average order value while reinforcing the value of your Black Friday deals.
Personalize the experience with Product Builder.
Black Friday isn’t just about selling more—it’s about selling smarter. For photographers on supported NextZen plans, Product Builder allows you to design once and sell endlessly.
Design once. Sell always.
Create templates for:
- Holiday cards
- Memory Mates
- 5×7 and 8×10 collages
Clients choose their favorite images and add text—right inside the gallery.
Why clients love it:
- Instant preview = confident purchases
- Personalized gifts
- Cleaner workflow
You get time back. They get personalization. Everyone wins.
Pro tip: Combine personalization with automated upsells for custom-feeling orders with no extra production work.
For Zenfolio Classic members.
Photographers can offer a wide selection of personalized print products—perfect for gift-giving season.
Sell what they love. Gift what they cherish.
Popular personalized products include:
- Photo cards
- Custom prints
- Albums and photo books
- Creative collage layouts
Clients select favorite images and customize layouts as they order—making the product feel uniquely theirs.
Why clients love it:
- Easy ordering experience
- Gift-ready products with meaning
- No extra back-and-forth for personalization
You provide the options, using our templates or creating your own. They create the memories. Everyone wins.
Explore how to enable personalized products in Classic.
Pro tip: Promote gift-able products in your holiday emails to drive more seasonal add-to-cart moments.
Smart Black Friday marketing: Email, social and landing pages.
You don’t need a marketing team to run a great sale—just consistent touchpoints.
How top photographers fill their calendars:
- Announce to your email list early
- Show countdown teasers on social
- Offer sneak peeks of templates
- Build a simple landing page
Consistency in your client communications matters more than the volume of your communications–sometimes more is just more.
Automate your Black Friday with built-in client campaigns.
In your Zenfolio dashboard, automated client campaigns make seasonal promotions hands-free. Enroll to activate pre-built banners and beautifully written emails that run on your behalf.
Benefits:
- Saves time
- Professional visuals
- Consistent client touchpoints
- Flexible enrollment (one sale or the full year)
Once enrolled in a NextZen Campaign, your galleries display a sale banner, emails send automatically, and you capture the profit.
Pro tip: Heavy production schedule? Let automation handle the marketing while you focus on shooting.
Protect your profit margins.
Profit comes from value—not racing to zero.
Value-added offer ideas:
- Complimentary download with a print order
- Priority access to 2025 booking dates
- Short social-ready video clips
Use early-bird pricing instead of steep discounts.
Feature tie-in:
Track performance with built-in analytics. On supported NextZen plans, consider Smart Pricing for faster, data-guided pricing decisions.
Black Friday checklist for photographers:
- Define your offer
- Set up booking, gallery, and store tools
- Enroll in automated sales campaigns
- Promote on email and social
- Track results and refine for next year
Frequently asked questions (FAQs):
What are the best Black Friday offers for photographers?
Bundled mini-sessions, personalized products, and tiered print incentives drive strong results.
How can I automate parts of my Black Friday sale?
Enroll in automated seasonal campaigns to activate pre-designed banners and scheduled client emails.
How do I avoid profit loss on Black Friday?
Offer value-adds instead of deep discounts, cap bookings, and monitor results with analytics.
Conclusion: Strategy, not discounts, drives success.
Black Friday doesn’t have to mean burnout or shrinking margins. With modern tools, you can automate marketing, simplify fulfillment, and personalize products—without adding late-night editing.
Whether you’re an established pro or building momentum, Zenfolio helps you work smarter, sell confidently, and grow sustainably.
Try Zenfolio free today and explore tools like BookMe, Product Builder, automated sales, and smart upsells to prepare for your most profitable Black Friday yet.
Dream big–We’ll grow with you.
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Contributor
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Elizabeth Glanville is the Content Marketing Manager at Zenfolio, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. With over 12 years of professional photography experience, she has captured a wide array of subjects, from equestrian sport and luxury real estate to fashion editorials, commercial campaigns, family portraits, and Arabic weddings. Her photography has appeared in publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Vogue Arabia, Elle, and Marie Claire. Deeply embedded in the equestrian world, Elizabeth also offers photography, creative and strategic marketing consulting to equestrian brands including some of the countries leading polo and equestrian clubs.
Elizabeth holds a Master’s degree in Graphic Communication from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK and has a deep passion for design, branding, and visual storytelling. Her expertise bridges the creative and strategic, with a strong focus on marketing and commercial communication. Outside of work, Elizabeth enjoys spending time at the stables with her two daughters, horses, and an ever-growing collection of pets.
