This is for real the hardest part for me in this job.. Marketing.
I just put in for an ad for the knot *It's really popular here in St. Louis*
I so need help if anybody has any ideas for me. This is what I have to do...


PLEASE PROVIDE/REVIEW THE FOLLOWING:

IMAGE/PHOTOGRAPH: NOT RECEIVED

I was thinking this one? What do you think???????? Honestly... I have no clue.





HEADLINE/Tagline or Slogan (Maximum length is 40 characters including spaces):

This is what I have: Fun and spirited wedding photojournalism and portraits.

TEXT DESCRIPTION (up to 45 words):

This is what I have: hire me, I rock. Seriously, I HAVE NOTHING! HELP
I have to return this within 48 hours!! Any advice????
~Alisha

Boy I hear ya - marketing is the toughest thing for me. I hardly know where to begin. Does the Knot do an online thing - I've seen their publication - do they do one just for the St. Louis Area. I'm In Bakersfield, Califiornia and just getting started in wedding photogprahy. It's a little overwhelming - I'll be excited to see what you do, and how people here respond. Good luck.

They have a couple of different places for CA. www.theknot.com
It's only $85/month. Which is not THAT BAD. Considering the exposure. I have heard lots of good things from local vendors. JUST DON'T POST ON THIER BOARDS, or you WILL get kicked off.
Well better put my writing cap on now. Only a few hours to get this thing submitted.
~Alisha

Hi again Alisha..
The knot requires a 6-month term. (At least mine did)
And to be honest with you I have had a few lookie louse.. But no booking from that ad. I book around 2 out of 5 requests off of www.respond.com
Once my Knot ad expires I will not renew. It just isn’t worth the $$.. Unless I guess you pay for the huge promo. Were your included in the catalog? I didn’t have the money to invest in that so who knows that one may be better.

Also if you have not already- get to know www.Pictage.com..
Best choice you will ever make for a lab! I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!

The one big marketing mistake I made was when I listed with Pictage they gave me a choice (I don’t think you get a choice anymore) between being listed in the Pictage Directory or on Wedding Channel.com.
I voted for wedding channel. Since that time Pictage has really increased in visibility on the web. Almost every wedding related site will show an ad for pictage.
I wish I had listed with them now..
Anyhow,
The two best marketing choices I have ever made were
#1 www.respond.com (pay per lead) (100% worth every penny)
#2 www.marketingtool.com (free)
I'm all about the free links. There are soo many out there. In addition, I think- could be wrong on this, but I heard the more your site is linked in other sites it gives you a higher indexing on the search engines. (I know if I'm wrong about this I will hear about it )

I have a meeting in the morning with another marketing person. However, I wont refer them at this point, seems how I don’t know how they work yet.

My marketing goal in 2005 was to get listed on at least one new site a month. The click throughs are incredible.
However, once you get them to your site you have to grab them and keep them there. Offering something no one else does.
This is the challenge for me. I think it was David that said, "Presentation is everything.”
Looking in our (Missouri) market and trying to see what others are offering. I look at their web sites. And check their prices. (I don’t know if this politically correct or not.) But I do it.. (The shame I bring to myself)

My biggest problem is my site. It is not " Presenting.” Taking off old images (pre-20D) and adding the new ones (post-20D) has made a huge difference.
Oh yeah one more thing..
Alisha look up the post David J had about prices. That is some great information. Believe it.. I don’t know why.. But I raised my prices (allot) and the phone began to ring off the hook. Go figure.. People are conditioned that you get what you pay for. And if it costs more it must be good : )..
So now that I have taken up a couple megs on the server with text I will close this.

And before you take any of what I said to heart know that I really don’t have a clue what I’m doing. I’m just feeling my way through all this too.

If you get a chance Read Rangefinder June’s issue- Pages 32 –34 It has some outstanding information in the article Ira Gostin wrote.
Even if you don’t read the article you HAVE TO CHECK OUT the cover and pages 26 & 27.. Woo hoo ladies…

Best wishes Alisha..

Hugs
L.

Just a quick note Alisha... We just withdrew our ad on the Knot.com. I don't think that we ever booked a wedding as a result of the listing, and it seems that the type of client that uses the Knot.com was not the type of client that we wanted to target. It seems that the site caters to bargain shoppers.. not the clientele that we want to target at this point...

Thanks Nathan for the input. Ya, I'm gonna see how it goes. I've been talking shop w/ a few other vendors in st. louis area, all higher end and they said they have got quite a lot of biz from there. Also the photographers that are listed for the most part are higher end as well. There is another site we do ads on stlouisweddings.com and I have gotten tons of biz from there! But I HAVE heard that a lot of bargin shoppers go there. So we will see. It better give me SOME leads for $85/month!! Where do you advertise in your market that seem sucessful?
~Alisha