How do you advertise? What works for you?

Subject: How do you advertise? What works well for you!

 

I was reading through old posts, and wanted to see if there was a

way to get updated information. I'm about to invest dollars in

advertising to attract more business, and I'd like to see what's

working and what's not for you! Of course, word of mouth is the best

(and cheapest) approach. But when you spend advertising dolllars,

what do you spend it on? What gives you the biggest return assuming

your business practices and follow up skills are up to par? Have any

of you measured where your money is best spent?

I'm seriously looking at The Perfect Wedding Guide, already using

AdWords form Google. I figure there is enough regional diversity

here on Photo.net that if we share ideas we won't be gaining many

competitors in our advertising venues.

 

Any info to share? Any guerilla marketing ideas?

i need help marketing also. Word of mouth has worked well for me to shoot everything Iv shot so far, but recently I am coming up dry. I need to get my name out there somewhere, but don't know where to start either.

We advertise with the PWG- and I'm not sure it's worth the money. We do participate in a couple of their nicer bridal shows- which has paid off much more.

I'm not sure about your location, but here- the PWG is PACKED full of photographers- I'm not sure the little free book is all that interesting to people. So- after thinking about it- I think we're going to drop that ad- continue to do 2 of their bridal shows, plus put an ad in a more upscale publication that features local wedding vendors- but is only printed in January.

We are also on the Knot- which has paid off from about 5 weddings booked from people out of town- only a couple of local people have booked from that though.

As a new business it is hard to decide where to put your money- by far bridal shows have had the highest pay off for us. We do spend a lot of money having samples printed- nice Pottery Barn frames and interesting pricing booklets. I would say to succeed in a bridal show you have to have a really cool looking space- plus you have to be very friendly...anyway- that's my take on marketing at this point.

I'm not a photographer, so this is more a question than an answer. When the Bouquet is tossed it is thrown directly at a target market of women who expect to be getting married 'soon'... has anyone made a point of sending each of those ladies a 'free' photo or two (in a nice folder) of the event... of course with a business card.

 

There's an old Irish line... Going to a wedding is the making of another.

 

Seems like a natural marketing strategy.

Word of mouth is always the best advertising. For any line of work.

 

I pay a small amount to a couple "wedding/event" photography websites for a listing and referrals. But I am likely to drop those shortly. As they don't bring much business. Though at the price, all it takes is one to pay for those listings for a while.

 

I briefly looked into the larger wedding websites "theknot.com" but the prices were pretty stiff.

 

My best advertising so far has been $1000 worth of ads in our local regional newspaper.

Chris -this issue is one of the biggest I face -where to spend my ad money. There are many pro ad folks here that know more than I. So take this with a grain of salt -it works in my area. I get work from many different sources {about to try a bridal show }and so far this is what has worked {Yes-I track where all my work comes from}for me. Believe it or not I still get the most calls from the Yellow Pages. It's then of course up to me to book them. But -for sheer numbers -The YP ad has gotten my phone to ring more than anything else. I am in several area books -my monthly YP bill is $122.

I hate to send that much out monthly -but it DOES work for me. I am hoping my new website starts paying off soon. For paid advertising {word of mouth is free-and THE best !!} this is where I would put my money. Best regards -RichD

Ps. I have tried The knot,church bulletins,local businesses,news articles,etc. etc.

Haven't tried this myself yet but I have heard that getting suited up and taking a p

ortfolio with you to meet with hotels, resorts, and wedding destinations (vendors) and g

etting in good with them is a way to market. If you get them recommending you here a

nd there it could be huge. I know certain places even have designated wedding p

hotographers that they recommend to people. I have also heard that networking with w

edding planners is a great idea. Easier said than done, but worth a shot. This way you g

et others to do some of the leg work for you.

I have built up a database of more than 1000 potential customers in a contact management program.

 

I call each of these people a couple of times a year asking if they need pictures.

 

It took about a year of calling without results before they started to remember me, but now the flow of work is picking up.

 

I get some word of mouth, but more from "calls out."

 

No advertising, but I did build a web site (I'm also a programmer)- www.stevehovland.net.

 

www.infousa.com is a good place to buy data.

 

I don't think the yellow pages is a good investment. You'd be lost in the crowd and it's a lot of money.

 

Of course, you have to be able to deliver the results they want...

After meeting with the PWG, and also listening to your advice, I decided not to advertise in this publication. In our area, it's roughly $2400 per year to place a business card size ad in a small format publication that's only published 4X per year, and be placed on their website with priority ranking. Yes, it's got quite a few photographers in there (43), but certainly not enough to take a huge chunk of our 18,000 weddings a year in Central Florida.

 

We're working on a marketing plan that includes mailing lists and a no obligation invitation to get brides to meet with us. I also create a 4X6 promo card customized for each wedding couple that leads guests to their gallery website, and sometimes well over 100 of those cards are taken at each wedding.

 

Our wedding couples really like us, so I think we'll avoid traditional advertising costs for now and target our dollars to the market we want to serve rather than putting our name in a publication that serves too wide variety of brides (by budget).

 

We're also seriously considering bridal shows. In light of the costs involved, we'll try to match the price tag to the quality of the show and the number of potential brides expected to attend. In our area, a table/booth at a decent show runs between $300 and $500.

 

We also have a super-secret-holy-schnokes-batman! marketing weapon we're going to try :-). If it works, I'll let y'all know how it works out!