Aaaaaaannnd we are back! Hope you like our answers in Part 1 of our email question from A in Australia. Have we really made you think on that one? Now let’s just jump right in and move on to point 4.

4. I love Jane and John, do they have clones?

Who was your favorite couple of 2009? We all have our favorite couples! We have the couple whose wedding we’d love to shoot again and again! The couple that is our dream couple and in fact is pretty much our target audience! You know that couple, don’t you? And how did they find you? More likely than not, you will find other couples with similar personalities there as well.

5. Who do you want to work with?

Let’s be honest, there are some couples we would rather work with and some couples we would rather not! Not that they are bad couples, the fact is that we aren’t a good fit for them. So do you know who you want to work with and which couples you know would not be a good fit? Have you ever thought about it or made the decision? Do you find that couples that might not be a good match for you mostly come from bridal expos? Well if that is the case, simple – do not spend marketing efforts with bridal expos!

6. Is My Style Your Style?

Everyone photography studio has its own style and personality. Determine what your photography style is and advertise in an avenue that is similar to your style or can boost your style and image. If your style is modern and fashion influenced, there is no sense in advertising in a traditional wedding magazine. And if you are a traditional wedding photographer, then it makes no sense for you to advertise in websites such as Rock n Roll Bride. Why? Simply because these websites and magazines will not attract the target audience that your style will appeal to. They will only attract people that their style will appeal to. You don’t sell a Jean Paul Gaultier in JCrew do you?

7. Your Dream Couple’s Budget

Let’s get real. If your price points are such that your ideal client is of a certain budget, then advertise accordingly! If you want to photograph weddings with $50,000 budgets for example, why advertise in a publication that usually has couples with $20,000? That will just be throwing money away in the wind. It doesn’t matter how well designed that magazine is or if how pretty the photos are if your target couple is not reading that publication.

8. Distribution

Have you considered the distribution of the advertising avenue you are considering? Will it match up with what your goals are as a company? If we were going after solely southern weddings, we would only consider advertising in publications that have a distribution or readership in the south. Why would we advertise in a New York publication for example? We would be barking up the wrong tree! Each publication should be able to give you the statistics of its readers in great detail, with information pertaining to geographical area and even income. I would stay clear of any publication that fail to provide you with this information.

Phhewwwww 4 points in today’s post. Hang in there for the rest of our answers!