mailing out advertisements to engaged couples in the newpaostper.

[joshuaa]

Hello,

 

I have been lurking on the Wedding forum for some time and I couldn't find an

answer by searching old post.

 

I have never heard of it but is it common to mail out advertisements to engaged

couples that appear in the Newspaper. It never occurred to me until I was

reading the paper a few minutes ago and saw the Engagement section. They don't

give addresses but with a little yellow book help I am sure I could locate an

address.

 

I just want to let them know I exist as a choice and maybe being the first to

there door might help.

 

what do you guys/gals think?

 

Joshua

[danny_wong2]

The only issue I can see is that by the time the engagement is annouced there is usually an engagment portrait as part of the announcement which is complements of the wedding photog.

[neilambrose]

<p>Is it common? Well, probably not, else everyone would be doing it and it would be a commonly-discussed business approach. I think whether this is suitable for you depends on your personality, your brand, your market and your local culture.</p>

 

<p>It's not something I'd ever consider doing, but that's a personal thing specific to my market, demographic and style.</p>

[joshuaa]

Thanks, I don't offer engagement pictures so I wasn't sure if they list in the paper after the proposal or later once all the details are in place.

 

does anyone else have opinions on this?

[steve_parrott]

I would say not to do it. I just feel it makes a bad impression. Reverse the situation. How

receptive are YOU to ads sent to you in the mail? Or are you more likely to use a product /

service that YOU seek out and make your own judgements about? If you send something

unexpected to them in the mail, you are just another advertiser. I think your return for

investment and time would be little to nothing. As said earlier, if it was a normal and

effective way of doing business, others would already be doing it.

 

Steve

[marv_stasak___southfield__]

If you can easily get addresses, why not give it a try? Just because no one else has done it doesn't mean it can't be done. Obviously, you would want to qualify them somehow so you aren't wasting your time with people who don't match the demographic you are trying to reach. Where the address is in town might be one qualifying factor.

 

The object is to drive traffic to your door. A lot of very good photographers go broke because they wait for the customers to come to them and are not proactive. A lot of mediocre photographers do very well because they market like crazy.

[joshuaa]

It reminds me of another profession that uses this technique now.

 

Lawyer will do the same thing in arrest don't they? If you appear in the paper they send out information. I would be interested to ask a Lawyer about the success rate of this type of marketing.

 

Would someone receive that information as distractive or helpful?

[joshuaa]

Good point Rebecca. Sometimes our worse enemy is ourselves. It can't hurt my reputation and would only give branding and awareness at the very least for some postage stamps and the time it takes to find addresses.

[heather_wallace3]

I've thought of this as well...my opinion is, do it! But, do it with class. I would think a personalized message to the effect of: "I'm so excited for you! To contribute to your special day, I'd love to offer you a discount of 10% on any of my wedding packages!" would go over much better, versus: "Hey, you're getting married- want to hire me?"

 

Keep on truckin'

Heather