Marketing is like fishing.
You need the right bait, and need to cast into the right waters, the ones with the fish you want to catch. And you need to watch your line, as fish will take the bait but reject the hook. And remember, timing matters! Need more fish? Cast more lines! Too busy? Stop fishing. And not all fish can be caught from the safety of the shore. Sometimes you have to get out the boat and head to deeper waters - and risk falling overboard.
So is that ad your running offering the right bait? Think like the fish you want to catch!
Is that ad in the right place? Are the fish you want in that pond?
Casting enough lines? Often enough?
If what you're doing isn't working, then try different bait, or a different fishing hole. And remember, the bait that works for me might not work for you, and different ponds might require some change in strategy.
hahaha..I love your way of thinking. It's right on target. You get what you go after and if you are not getting enough, then you need to change something. It amazes me at how many people spend money on advertising and then never ask where the client got their name.
I am at this moment doing something for the show. I thought about posting it here, but then I thought..why, so I can let someone talk me out of it? No way, I know it's a good idea and I'm running with it.
Marketing is a lot of gut feeling, timing, and paying attention to who what when how and why of others. We spent tonight looking at the website for the upcoming bridal show. I wanted to know who was going to be at the show. I looked at each ones website, and checked out pricing. I have found that we are actually about the highest priced for both shows. So, I have to pull out all the stops to make the bride believe that we are the best for the money. I take that back..I have to pull out all the stops to make the bride believe that We are the best...... Thanks for you fun way of thinking. I love to fish for both "fish" and for brides. My favorite saying is Hook her up!!!
prof_fate wrote:
If what you're doing isn't working, then try different bait, or a different fishing hole.
Good thread .. I'd like to hear what members are doing different besides a website and bridal shows. I've been fortunate enough to have already booked about 80% of my 2008 wedding target. Which allows me to be a bit more creative in my marketing.
So with that in mind, this year I'm looking for a publicist. Yep. a publicist.
Someone to get me publicity ... get me in the papers & regional magazines & on local TV with profile articles about how I work and what makes me different from other local wedding shooters.
Only problem is that they are pretty expensive .. I've interviewed two so far and both quoted me more than I spent all last year on my total advertising.
The 'gurus' I spoke with say you should spend 15-20% of your SALES on marketing (and that would be based on what you want your sales to be)
But this gives you a yardstick to know if what you do is worth the cost to do it. Do a bridal show and say it cost you $700 (booth, handouts, etc). Worst case, you should spend 20% on marketing, so if you book $3500 or more business it was worth it.
As for the right bait...I want brides to book now!! But I don't want to 'discount' my product. Women love sales.
My thought is to give a Companion Album (aka parents album) free with any booked date, if they book w/i 2 weeks of the show. My cost is $50. I rarely sell one anyway so I won't be giving away something they'd pay me for (and therefore cost me money). So from my perspective it's a good deal. But what about from the FISH's perspective?
I'm open to ideas...
What got me to thinking of this is I've worked my into the local maternity ward, they're handing out cards/promo material for me. 100 births a month and I've gotten two calls and no customers. I got the right pond, and it has fish in it. I don't think I'm using the right bait. I talked with someone that does this successfully...the right bait (what he uses) costs about $3 each. I'm a cheap b@st@rd. I don't want to spend $300 a month on this without knowing if it will be worth it. I am my own worst enemy at times!
For the maternity angle, we used to have our local community hospital pass out gift certificates for a free portrait at 3,6,9, and 12 months. After the last portrait the mother would select one image from each session and we would frame and mat them in a custom frame free.
Our goal was to build a client relationship base of new moms. It worked for a while. Things slowed way down in the past two years so i discontinued the offer.
Marketing is an ever changing art. As was posted, timing, economic conditions and venue are all so important.
I've been guilty of positive outlook with a certain marketing program only to be completely dissatisfied, wondering why it didnt work.
For ME, high end wedding book ads just dont work. I continue to keep a bold two line phone book ad in four counties. It's cheap, and does bring in clients from time to time.......well worth the cost.
My best return has always been the local country club/wedding venue coordinator angle. Sample albums, promo cards, coordinator referrals.........the only cost involved is time, product and perks for the coordinators.
And of course former client referrals are the diamond of the industry. Establishing a client base which brings in future clients is PRICELESS.
I would love to see this thread grow. What's working for everyone and what isn't? I think this could help a lot of people.
prof-fate - See, I would have thought what you had going with the ward was a killer idea. I'm really shocked it hasn't worked better for you.
I've gotta imagine 'word of mouth' is the best advertising. I've worked in the computer business for 12 years and that's always seemed to be true for that business. But I know you've got to do more than that, especially when you're just starting out.
I would love to see what people did when they were new on the scene. That's what I'm going through right now. There are over a hundred photographers in the area and that seems like a huge mountain for me to climb. So any help would be greatly appreciated.
What you do advertising wise varies based on what you do photography wise.
If all you do is weddings, fine, it's very targeted and 'easy' to do, compared to other things.
I like to shoot a variety of things - so it's almost like running 4 business marketing wise - brides, HS seniors, babies and misc - the misc is whatever walks in the door. Last year it was 2 HS reunions, 4 family portraits, a county fair, a college yearbook, and a few small corporate things. The misc stuff generated more revenue than the babies.
If one stays in touch with their clients then you get WOM. Shoot a bride and never contact her, vs keep in touch (email or anniversary cards) and you get a lot more WOM. If you do more than just weddings you have more incentive to stay in touch. Brides have kids, HS seniors get married, grooms eventually run soccer leagues, etc.
As to the baby bit...the cards and gift cards are not working, so a friend says, because they are with the rest of the 'baby warranty' papers (as he called them) that just get shoved aside and not read. The one studio that does well at this has a little gift box thing made up - a hat, blanket, some other doodad and a fancy looking certificate for their portraiture. It will be opened, you've given a gift so they feel in your debt (the same reason a good salesman offers you a coffee or soda). However, the cost of something like this isn't cheap - $3/each, perhaps more. And you can't buy just one...so to get 500 is a chunk of change, and in my case is good for 5 months...if it fails to workin 3 months do you keep trying or just stop and throw away the other $600 in materials? If it works well, the price is unimportant. It's called gambling, and I don't like gambling!
I'm not in the yellow pages- i don't have a 'standard' phone line so no clue on how to get in there anyway.
google works, teh net, etc. not sure how many people still use a phone book. Over 1/2 of all phones now are cell - people don't even GET phonebooks to use anymore!
The phone book is a waste of money in my area for a wedding photographer. Brides search the internet and I have maybe since I've been in business got a call from the phone book.
A phone book ad may work better for children, family, or commercial work.
It's funny, I even google lawyers.
I do have another side line business and I did a yellow page ad for it. So far, it's working!!! Y
I also believe that every type of photography is like having a different type of business. You dont' get the clients from the same places. You may have a better chance of getting all round business in smaller areas. So for me, I would have to spend a lot more in advertising if I wanted to do children's pictures. Yvette
Vendor and referral are still the best advertising..........i recently photographed the daughter of a local country club's wedding coordinator at HER country club....gave her a heavy discount and perks......made a 10x10 sample album of her daughters wedding and 3 16x20s for her office.........and have booked three wedding in one week from that one sample album..........the mom (coordinator) is ecstatic and is referring the heck out of me.........its a total win win relationship..............i'll give her anything she wants !!
I'm in the yellow pages phone book .. the basic listing is free, they will take any number (ie your cell) and people still seem to use the phone book.
I've two listings in seperate sections with some extras like my website URL and color so it's costing me closer to $400 but still brings in enough business to pay for itself. I'm probably stopping my wedding listing next year (2008) and just keeping the commercial listing.
EDIT to add on my wedding listing the majority of callers are usually very price aware .. their first question usually is "How much?". So these you don't really want as clients and the reason I'm stopping the wedding listing.
When potential clients ask me the "how much" question I tell them if they are price shopping they are talking to the wrong lawyer but if they are looking for quality work and great customer service they have come to the right place. I don't care what you do, the first 10 minutes are absolutely critical because it doesn't take any longer than that for the customer to make an instinctive decision as to whether or not they want to hire you. Of course my racket (uh business) doesn't involve portfolios but I have to assume the internet can take care of that for many WPs.
But the best source of business without question is referrals. Got one coming on board this morning from a non-criminal lawyer. Don't you all develop relationships with non-WPs who can refer business?
I just booked a wedding for the owner of a local florist who we have referred for the past ten years.
Once again i gave her a nice package with a great discount and perks. She's getting married at a high end venue but having just a small affair. No bridal party, 100 guests, tea reception.
I will make her a sample album and some framed wall portraits for her business. Free advertising and continuation of a great working relationship.
I've had great success with situations like this.
Wow, this thread has been resurrected after a year! A sample album is basically just a copy of an album you've designed for clients in the past that you use to market and show prospective clients. Most publishers offer a discount on sample albums. photorise wrote:
I saw a reference to sample album twice in this thread. What exactly do you mean by a sample album?
Yep. a publicist.