So last year was my first year in the biz, and this year I've got 18 weddings booked. Basically all the weddings I've shot to this point, and all those that I have booked for 2007 have been word of mouth and brides talking about me on theknot.com....

I don't want to shoot more weddings, 18-25 is enough for me...I just want to make more per wedding.

As I look to start booking for 2008, should I wait until I shoot my currently booked weddings and get referals from them for next year, or should I invest in advertising?
What did/would you do?

Good question, answer anyone?

What do you want to do? I am a HUGE believer in WOM advertising. I get great clients, fun to work with, who are already pre-qualified to me and my style. I can keep my prices lower because I'm not spending $$$$s on ads.

unless you are perfectly happy with what you are earning, the first thing to do is raise your prices! (for a couple reasons)
if are booking almost everyone you meet with, and they have been referrals, people have made their decision before they even meet you. they will book you at a higher price (i'm not saying raise it to the point where you have lost your referral base).

what is working? NOT advertising is working for you! it's not that you can't start, but what do you expect to gain? what do you want to accomplish? will advertising do this for you?

what i think i would do...
raise my price across the board by $700.
'advertise' with the vendors that i've worked with - not really advertise, but NETWORK.
keep that referral base strong and happy, and continue to market to them.
hold off on print advertising to see where this got me.

ciao!
~robin

Word of mouth is your strongest marketing. However, if you're shooting $1000 weddings you'll get referrals for more $1000 weddings. To make more you need to do exactly what Robin suggested: Raise your prices incrementally.

With 18 weddings after your first year it doesn't seem like you need much advertising. Charge what your worth and the clients will come.

Chris,

You should do exactly what Robin suggests.

Seriously, don't spend money on advertising at this stage, WOW your current clients, look after the vendors you work with (give them images for their websites etc)

Do the wedding reception slideshows and showit slideshows to make sure you get the referrals for next year. Your money and time are far better spent on these things than on advertising.

Marketing without Advertising

and

Creating Customer Evangelists

Are books that are worth buying and reading.

Ok. Sounds good. I guess I'm kind of worried about raising my prices across the board by $700 in one quick jump. Would you guys suggest raising everything right now or doing it slowly over a few months?

Robin your comment made me think that I have literally booked every couple I've met in person... You're right, they are making that decision before they even meet me.

I guess what I'm worried about is jumping from the "budget bride" pricing to competing directly with all the full-time pro's out there. I was thinking that I would need to shoot about 9 more weddings so that I can have the images to back up a price increase...is that lack of confidence?

We raise our rates whenever we feel like it. We're on a 5-year plan. We know where we need to be to make a solid living and grow our business. As long as your local market can support a price increase, and your work is solid, go for it.

We're in a similar situation as you. '06 was our first year full-time. We don't market. Our only "advertising" is our WPJA listing. We invest our entire marketing budget into local vendors, WOM referrals, and other networking "schtuff". It's been working quite well!

Out of curiosity - how many weddings did you guys have in your first full time year?

An 80-page album in a $2K package?

If you don't want to do this for a living, then don't change much (except maybe that album).

If you do want to make changes, then you have to know what your competition in Portland is doing.

It's a lot harder to book when you have direct competition (and other newcomers with the same low prices you used to have).

Hmm...well I did 7 paid, and then I did my cousin's for free.... I did some advertising on craigslist and that got me a few to start and then one of the craigslist brides posted about me on theknot.com and then it has just started to snowball.

Yeah I know....giving an 80 page album for $2K is giving a lot. I'm actually making the same on that package as I am with the intro package, but I guess I wanted to see if I could even charge $2K in the first place. I was thinking of making that package a lot more attractive just so I could get into that price range, and then bump my bottom one up to $2k and my middle package up to $3k.

Plus with only 9 or so solo weddings under my belt I think I need some more experience.

Full time wedding photography is not my goal. I'm a teacher and I love that job. My long term goal (within two years) would be to make $3k per wedding and have around 20 weddings a year. With that I think that I could teach half time and do weddings half time. I love doing both!

I don't know what the prices are up there - but here the going price for full-day coverage (often with two "photographers" - but before extras) is $1500.

IMHO - this is too early to start advertising for 2008. If you haven't received any inquiries for 2008 by September, then I'd start looking into advertising. If you booked 18 weddings this year on WOM alone, it will happen again for next year when you deliver outstanding service for your current clients.

I was in your position two years ago... thinking I could do both part time... I ended up taking too many weddings and decided to quit teaching and become a full time photographer.... life is good.

Cool! Thanks Anne, and I will hit you up on talking with my class still! As a former teacher you know all the bueracracy you have to go through and we are still trying to get a hole in the firewall so I can have "virtual" visitors. Make sure and check up on me in two years and see if I've followed in your footsteps or if I'm still leading a double life. (Kinda like Batman) =)

Word of mouth doesn't help that much if you raise your prices by 1/3 to 1/2.

It depends on who you're WOM advertising to. If your focus is on your brides, then it won't work because you're pricing yourself out of your referral base.

If your focus is on your vendors - and the right ones at that - they can continue to send brides to you that fall into your price bracket.

Becerra, spend your money on having samples made for local vendors (as opposed to traditional advertising) and meals out with those vendors to develop relationships. It'll pay off!!!

good point

What kind of samples do you provide to your vendors? I was thinking about post cards, they a cheap to print. Small albums could be expensive if you need a lot. I am in the same market and could use some advice too. At this point I set my prices at the point which makes sense doing it for me, but I am afraid that it could be out of my referral base. I raised my prices by $700 from my last highest booked package.

if you go cheap, you may get cheap.

sometimes you need to spend. nathan is all over this. we are pushing to vendors now, and what i've found is to ask them. talk to them about what they want. some want prints, others will use a book, still others have told me that they don't have room store stuff, and would like a framed print that they could hang. they are all different. it would be worth your while to make it personal, and talk with them directly.

i would not just send out post cards. think what you do with post cards. i toss them.
make a nice presentation packet and meet with the vendor and 'present' yourself.

How come nobody takes wedding photographers out for dinner?

Schmoozing vendors - particularly venues - is certainly the way to go - but guess what? - everybody else is doing it too. (They must never pay for meals.) They also all will already have relationships with other photographers, so you have to figure out a way to break in.

And a lot of vendors are very friendly - when they need something.

Plus, venues like to make money off of their preferred vendor lists (and some planners want kickbacks), so you'll have to pay for that too.