Did my first show in 20 years Sunday. I thought it went well.Our setup was equel or better than others. Talked to many brides that seemed interested but have not received any calls yet. Any suggestions welcome on how to market while at the show and any setup advice.
I’ve haven’t done a BS but have inquired about them. From what I see it’s a lot of money but it may be worth it if you get bookings. The list one I went to there were about 10 photographers with tables and about 300-400 brides that attended. I would be very disappointed if I had attended a BS and did not leave with any bookings. I get most of my bookings by WOM but I have tried other marking ideals but nothing beats WOM. I wish you luck, please keep us posted on your progress.
I did one recently with no bookings at all. The other photographers I talked to got a lot of nibbles but no bites as well. I got the distinct impression that most of the brides there were of the low budget variety.
A shows location will dictate the type of brides who attend........a show in Santa Monica CA will draw higher end brides from the West Side of L.A. as opposed to a show in Ontario CA...............that alone will have some impact on your show success.
If your work is heads and tails above your local competition, brides will remember you.......but if you are just one of the 20 or so photographers who's pricing is all pretty much in the same market, it will be tough call to do any bookings that day........
We offer "free engagement sessions " sign ups at the shows and we sign up a lot of brides that we can then contact via promo cards or letters for further marketing.
The shows also send out a bride list for further marketing which we do a mail out to.
It all depends on your business model and your market as to how you market to the brides in the way or product and pricing.
Very true, Hassy. There were a total of 8 photographers at the show I attended, so my objective was to make my booth and the presentation of my photography stand out from the others. Using the standard draped booth and table is not an option.
I personally book more from the smaller shows which are usually very low cost to the preferred vendors only........country clubs, hotels.......you have more time to talk to brides , they are remember you and aren't inundated with hundreds of vendors.......
And being a "preferred " vendor gives you clout in the minds of the brides as opposed to just being one of hundreds who "paid" to be in a large show.
Do you have photos of your setup, Hassy? I'm sure everyone would benefit from seeing it. Here's mine from the last show, which had a total of 66 vendors.
I did a show in January and had the best booth ever. Even had several photographers
looking and making good comments about the photos and lot of attention from brides but NO bookings, NO phonecalls. Trying email with different photos and some small extras to get them to call. I have a mailing list but not sure how much money I want to spend in direct mail when I know I can get a better return spending that money in other non wedding areas. My prices are middle-upper side of the scale. Bookings from referrals are still fast and easy. Price is not a issue with those.
We've got our first show tomorrow... well, today I guess.
It's a smaller show with only three or four other photogs there and the expectation of about 150 brides.
We're the newest company and the youngest photographers in town. I think our style in photography reflects that, and I expect our booth to do the same.
We're doing a drawing for an iPod Touch as our attention grabber. I guess we'll see how it works out.
I'll take a shot of our booth and post results probably on Monday.
I dont have any photos of my booth....but it's a very simple set up.......my table, a 40" LCD playing a slideshow in the middle, albums of all sizes and styles, promo cards and business cards in holders, and my custom made 8'x3' banner hanging behind us at the top of the back divider......Four black lightstands holding 1 - 16x20 and 1-20x30 from each.....total of eight framed photos.....20x30 up on top, 16x20's underneath.....
On my table i drape a gold lame' cloth and bunch it up for some glitz......the white table clothes that the venues supply are boring......thats about it....
We do a "free engagement " sign up which we then use to do a mail out......and all the bride has to do is come into the studio to receive their free engagement session and 11x14.......
I'm considering a more modern looking setup for next year's show with chrome and glass. Not long ago, I saw a really cool set up that involved metal scaffolding and rotating photo displays. Since my fella is a welder, that would be right up his alley. I think I have more fun designing the setup than I do participating in the actual show.
Sounds like a totally attractive setup......just remember to make your "work" the focus of your booth....the more photos you can display the better.........your work will sell you...
Here's a link to our booth from yesterday.
Unfortunately we only had a 6'x6' area to work with... we got rid of the table they provided and used the above set-up.
The table in the rear had pricing brochures, business cards, and a small bouquet of roses on the left
...and a matching bouquet and iPod registration on the right.
You can see in the pic how little room we had to work with... things were pretty cramped.
There were 101 pre-registered brides to attend, and we had 81 register at our booth.
We had one booking at the show, and quite a few that seemed intersted... we'll see how the coming weeks play out.
We learned that background stands will not keep a cable tight enough to hold a 20x30 canvas without sagging.
Hassy: We printed them ourselves... the banner stands are $45 from Lexjet and we got a roll of their banner canvas (though I don't remember which one exactly). They display really well and they break down to fit into a 3"x30" included bag.
I'm not sure a regular lightstand would work either... you can see in the pic that there's a cable going across and the prints are hanging on those.
We used long eye bolts with wing nuts on the ends... we stretched the cable as tight as we could by hand and then tightened down the nuts to stretch the cable. On the bottom cable, instead of making the cable itght, it just pulled the poles toward each other.
Oh well, we'll figure something out.
We did a show this weekend, 60 vendors 22 of them photgraphers...let me say I sure heard alot of gripping about the amount of photographers as well as how bad the market is.. Sorry I don't believe it, even with that many photographers and that fact were are more expensive then 95% of them we still booked 5 weddings (1/3rd down) at the show. With our folllow up will get at least another 5 from consultations. The reality is its what you make of it, and how you sell the bride the benefit to her. Hope this helps someone getting ready for a show..Good Luck, Cleve.
