What has been your most successful paid advertising?

[csa]

Obviously nothing can compare to word of mouth and referrals, but what has been the most successful money you have spent for advertising? I didn't post this in business because honestly I'm only interested in increasing wedding sales at this point.

[Tom]

I've never spent a dime on advertising. All word of mouth and a couple of google hits.

[lscottpht]

I am slowly getting rid of all of my advertising. The only thing I have left, I think, is Wedding Wire and Brides of North Texas (I'm only advertising with them b/c I made the cover). None of these are worth the money, imo. The main thing that works for me is word of mouth and number 1 is Facebook.

[STP Images]

I wouldn't pay for advertising. Photography is a difficult business to get a legitimate call to action to generate results. People don't call you because they LOVED your ad in the "Weekly Bugle". They call because your client loved your photography, talked about it to her co-workers and showed some of your images to them. I have a trade agreement with a local high end magazine here in Houston and the ad space retails for $2,800.00 per issue, but I wouldn't pay for an ad at all.

[csa]

Thanks, all. I gave in to pressure from one mag last year and didn't even get a call. I wondered if it was just the wrong magazine. I have been considering other alternatives lately including Facebook ads, so it is nice to hear advice now and then.

[Tom]

Magazine ads work better for the real high end photographers. And it doesn't work so much to generate leads as much as reinforce that you are a high-end photographer.

[kayumangi]

Like Tom said Print ads reinforce your brand so you can't really say its ineffective because it takes time to build a brand. But the biggest downside of print ads is that you can't really say if your ads have been viewed by your target audience, so you can't tweak your content to make it more compelling.

As for the most effective paid ad for me, I say facebook ads specially PPC. The immediate results can be seen and felt almost instantaneously. Plus you can control who, when and how your ad is viewed and clicked.

Now even if you can control how your ad functions, don't fall into the trap thinking you'll get immediate bookings. Lead conversion is a whole new ball game which I myself struggle with =)

[ndsimm]

Like Leslie, I am cutitng down on advertising as well. I get more hits to my site from google and from my blog than most of the ads I am paying for.

I am finally starting to see some of that word of mouth advertising as three of the weddings I have this year are from one client two years ago

print ads are a waste (don't ask me how I know)

if you are going to pay for web ads, get the basic and see how it goes before committing to the higher end for a longer period of time
And don't pay for lead list because by the time you get them, 75% of them have already found a photographer and the other 25% didn't want to be on the list in the first place....

[sandralemin]

At one time the knot was a good place but that was years ago. Wedding wire we stopped 6 minths ago when they went up and we were still on page 2 more then one.

But when I look back 90% of our brides were referrals from past brides so at the moment we are not advertising any where.

We were thinking about brides of North Texas still on the fence about that one.

[LauraM]

With all due respect and understanding to the pp's... I'm sure you guys didn't start out just word of mouth. I think that information would be useful. While word of mouth is hands down #1 for advertising, it takes time to get to that spot.

I'm facebooking like crazy... giving business cards to friends. Keeping my eyes and ears open for anyone looking for a photographer, getting engaged. I am working on a blog right now, but if you keep your keywords/tags, etc fresh and stay current on your blog that will keep you on google. I also have a referral program, but that gets back to word of mouth.

The problem with advertising is... even if someone tells you they have something that has worked for them, it may not work for you. You have to hone in on your target audience and figure out where they are looking for information, where they're shopping, etc. Network with other pros like crazy and the referrals you get from that are awesome too. But again... word of mouth. lol

[Tom]

Originally Posted by LauraM

With all due respect and understanding to the pp's... I'm sure you guys didn't start out just word of mouth. I think that information would be useful. While word of mouth is hands down #1 for advertising, it takes time to get to that spot.

I'm facebooking like crazy... giving business cards to friends. Keeping my eyes and ears open for anyone looking for a photographer, getting engaged. I am working on a blog right now, but if you keep your keywords/tags, etc fresh and stay current on your blog that will keep you on google. I also have a referral program, but that gets back to word of mouth.

The problem with advertising is... even if someone tells you they have something that has worked for them, it may not work for you. You have to hone in on your target audience and figure out where they are looking for information, where they're shopping, etc. Network with other pros like crazy and the referrals you get from that are awesome too. But again... word of mouth. lol

I did start out all Word of Mouth. In fact, until July, that has been 100% of my business in weddings. We are doing a bridal show in July, so that will be my first real advertisement from any sort of photography business.

The difference is that I established myself as a photographer before I really ventured into shooting weddings. I also work hard at networking and belong to many non-photography social organizations.

I'm not that great, so I know I can't be the only one who has done this.

[dmcantrell]

I know this doesn't equate to "wedding" photography, but I rented a section in an art gallery to sell some of my "fine art" prints. It was $100/month, and after 6 months I broke even. I don't think I'd do it again, but it's tough to tell because I moved at the end of the six months. Just my $0.02.

[klynam]

None...(sad)..and I work in advertising!

[ShutterSpire]

I have tried so many different forms of paid advertising and the ones that have worked best for us were bridal shows, books that we give vendors, and facebook.

I have done a couple bridal shows, one large and one small. You must put REAL work into the bridal show for them to be profitable, though. The booth needs to be simple and neat. Then you MUST work your leads or you wont get much (if anything) out of it.

We also pay for books to give to vendors of our work. This borders on "networking" and "word of mouth" but it is still a financial investment. This has worked on several occasions in booking us some jobs.

And I am really active on Facebook on our fan page. I did the PPC advertising for awhile, but have not gotten much from that - so I stopped. However, I get a lot more from the other features of facebook like tagging and just staying social with brides, bridesmaids, and their families.

[lyncca]

Hands down the best paid advertising for me has been Facebook ads. I get quite a few inquiries and book almost all of them that contact me. I also get a lot of word of mouth, but that takes time to get your name out there. Slowly, but surely I'm starting to do really well :)