Advertising

[canon shooter]

Just getting started doing wedding.

What type of advertising is being used. Do you advertise in local papers, website (if so which ones).

[cassarilda]

Your own website is your best piece of advertising, so ensure you have a good one! Put your URL on EVERY piece of correspondence, business cards, emails, letterhead etc.

Apart from that, I would look around at what you can afford to begin with. There are many popular bridal communities around linked to wedding supplier listings (theknot.com for example).. If you cant afford their rates or dont like just being another listing amongst many, try searching for the smaller more location specialised websites.

Also, think about where you go to first when you are looking for a service... Is it Google? or YellowPages? Chances are many other people are the same and this is where you may find your best exposure.

I personally believe spending good money on one or two good locations for advertising is better than putting small ads in lots of miniscule locations.

[canon shooter]

Your own website is your best piece of advertising, so ensure you have a good one! Put your URL on EVERY piece of correspondence, business cards, emails, letterhead etc.

Apart from that, I would look around at what you can afford to begin with. There are many popular bridal communities around linked to wedding supplier listings (theknot.com for example).. If you cant afford their rates or dont like just being another listing amongst many, try searching for the smaller more location specialised websites.

Also, think about where you go to first when you are looking for a service... Is it Google? or YellowPages? Chances are many other people are the same and this is where you may find your best exposure.

I personally believe spending good money on one or two good locations for advertising is better than putting small ads in lots of miniscule locations.Do you then post proofs to your own website?
If so isn't that time consuming and expensive to maintain

[Padawan Dad]

When I was just starting I used craigslist.com. Worked well for me.

[CanonLaw]

I second the Craigslist comment.....

[tim]

Yellow pages.
Wedding magazines.
Google optimization of your website, and lots of links to it.

Do you then post proofs to your own website?
If so isn't that time consuming and expensive to maintain

Check out www.eostemplate.com , I use that for proofing and online ordering.

[Snelly]

Website, website, website. Cannot stress that enough. Modern brides are utilising the information super-highway to research their wedding preparations, before even picking up a phone to make an appointment. Online they can get a feel for your work, and you can show so much more, than an advertisement in a phone book.

I advertise exclusively online, with Yellow Pages Online (Australia), and one of those Wedding Advertising websites, only because when you google the town I'm in + wedding photographer, that site has the No 1 hit, so that made sense to me to advertise with them. Both sites link directly to my website.

Yellow Pages Online is expensive but worth its weight in gold at $103 AU per month. The other wedding site is $440 AU per year. They must be doing something right for me because I'm booked solid.

[johnlo]

Beside what everyone has said.... I think one of the most important form of advertising is referral. Tell your friends about your services... and they will tell their friends.. and so on. Bride loves to talk. if they LOVE your work, and I am sure they will.. they will tell her friends.. and it will continue. another thing to keep in mind is when you are shooting a wedding.... be nice to the maid of honor... she will be the next one in line to get married too. and if she know how you work.. and love it. she will call you.

[liza]

Online services, such as www.weDJ.com ,are another way to market your business.

[Padawan Dad]

One of my best advertising "schemes" is to print up 11x14 collages of some of my "money shots," with my business phone # and my web address. I put them in a fairly nice, but in-expensive frame, keep them in my car when I go to a wedding reception, then ask the owner of the facility if he/she would be kind enough to hang this in their lobby/reception area.

I have never been turned down. Not only do I get most of my business from this method, but I also make friends with the hall owners/managers, and get good word of mouth advertising.

Magazines are WAY too expensive, and you tend to get lost in the cluster of countless wedding photographers all cramped together. Newspapers are a waste of time as well... in my experiences, anyway.

The cheaper methods of advertising have been the ones that consistantly drive business my way.

JMHO

Good luck!