Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Wedding Fairs

Traditionally this is one if those marketing campaigns that are essential to many photographers wedding businesses.

Wedding fairs or fayres can be fruitful when it comes to getting leads but at the time they can be costly and hard to get into. You do have a couple of options when it comes to how you approaching a wedding fair.

  1. Play the numbers game and try and speak to ask many people as you can and collect as much data as possible.
  2. Try and spend time with each couple you talk to and really sell your personality as well as your work.

Both approaches work and it is possible to do both. I’ve found that at some of the bigger wedding fairs photographers go for too much of a hard sell too early. It’s just a case of creating a balance that suits your personality.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way.

  • Make sure your stand screams “This is my USP!”
  • Dress immaculately. A smart appearance goes a long way. In fact make sure your table is dressed to impressed, a nicely ironed table cloth is just the start.
  • Don’t hide behind tables, it’s always better to be visitor side of the table even if it means moving round when people approach you.
  • Don’t sit. It makes you look bored and disinterested.
  • Have a good display of albums even if you’re concentrating on shoot-to-burn. For some reason people prefer to physically hold examples of work rather than watch a slideshow.
  • Have a big professional looking sign or display made…. the bigger the better!
  • When people are looking at your images talk them through how you achieved a certain shot or share any anecdotes from that particular wedding. This is always a good icebreaker and better than the question which normally comes “How much for an album like this?”
  • Ask important questions early on “Have you set a date?” “Where will it be?”
  • If you have a good selection of images from different venues then if you get a match direct the customer to examples of your work at their planned venue.

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Comments

  1. All good stuff Michael though after attending wedding fairs for several years I am still astounded at the lack of real sales skills photographers have!  We all seem to go for training on photography of one sort or another (cameras, lighting, Photoshop etc) but never seem to think that sales is also another professional skill!

    Andrew Miller
    http://www.andrew-miller.co.uk

  2. I’m exactly the same Michael, I prefer to hold something in my had than just see it virtual, like newspapers for example.  I think a few photographers and artists who sell their work at other types of shows could benefit from a few of these tips too.