I'm thinking about advertising on The Knot. It's expensive for us. The goal would be to raise our percieved value and attract client having destination weddings in our area. Do you advertise on The Knot? Has anyone seen a great benefit for the cost?
I can't speak to whether or not an advertisement in The Knot would be beneficial. I am curious to hear if others have had success with it.
I will say this, back in my former life in Advertising, the biggest mistake clients would make was to expect immediate results. They would run an ad one time and expect people to be knocking down their door. In my experience it doesn't work that way. To me it's a gradual awareness type thing. A repetition of being in front of your audience.
My advice is to look at it as a long term investment. I don't know what your marketing plan is but I assume you have one.
A basic profile on www.theknot.com includes:
• One photo (color or b/w)
• A 45 word description of your services
• A photo gallery of 9 additional photos
• Your direct contact information
• A direct link to your website
• A logo
starting at $110/mo
There is a one yr contract.
I appreciate what you are saying about the long term investment. That makes sense to me. You know, I don't have a marketing plan, and don't really know how to lay one out. Maybe that's why this seems like a big investment. We have relied on referrals - which is great- until we raised our prices. I feel like we need to market to attract our ideal clients. Those who see the value in hiring us specifically.
Hi Vicky,
We advertised on the knot once, but it was $150/month (i hope they weren't jacking up the prices on us because of our area- NY). If you are not satisfied after 6 months you can request to cancel your agreement in writing and they will do it. Although I agree with Jeff- I think it is a long term investment. As for us, it was the first thing we did when opening our business and we got one client from it which pretty much made us break even with the cost in the end. Although since then we have had several inquiries mentioning they heard about us from clients who used us on the knot. I don't think our knot clients recommended them, I think it may have been people considering us while we were advertising on there.
One thing I would be aware of is how many photographers in your area are advertising on there? I think most people don't look past the first page, so if you have a lot of featured businesses on Theknot.com, chances are not many will see your site (my opinion). Although splurging for the featured position (+print advertising & direct mail lists) cost about $430/month I was told. I don't know if you could afford this, but it may get you much more business.
I spoke to a friend who is a musician and advertises his band on TheKnot. They have a featured position and spent alot of money on it. He says they get about 1% of their business from TheKnot, but most is word-of-mouth.
Hope that helps!
Before advertising on The Knot be sure to go in and read the articles they are publishing about how to select a photographer. My experience with them was about five years ago, so I am sure much of it has changed, but they had the absolute worst advice for how to pick a photographer. One of the articles went so far as to say there was absolutely no reason to ever hire a professional photographer because it was all a scam designed to take advantage of brides. I didn't find a single article that really explained how to properly choose a photographer for a wedding, or even a single article that even appeared to be written by a professional. Of course, all of the content has been updated since then, but check to make sure it better quality than it used to be.
Plus, the sales lady was real nice to us, but the customer service department that I talked to after the sale treated me like I was stupid.
Over all it was one of the worst marketing experiences we have ever participated in. I hope it is better now.
I can't speak to whether or not an advertisement in The Knot would be beneficial. I am curious to hear if others have had success with it.
I will say this, back in my former life in Advertising, the biggest mistake clients would make was to expect immediate results. They would run an ad one time and expect people to be knocking down their door. In my experience it doesn't work that way. To me it's a gradual awareness type thing. A repetition of being in front of your audience.
My advice is to look at it as a long term investment. I don't know what your marketing plan is but I assume you have one.
What the advertising rates for The Knot?
A basic profile on www.theknot.com includes:
• One photo (color or b/w)
• A 45 word description of your services
• A photo gallery of 9 additional photos
• Your direct contact information
• A direct link to your website
• A logo
starting at $110/mo
There is a one yr contract.
I appreciate what you are saying about the long term investment. That makes sense to me. You know, I don't have a marketing plan, and don't really know how to lay one out. Maybe that's why this seems like a big investment. We have relied on referrals - which is great- until we raised our prices. I feel like we need to market to attract our ideal clients. Those who see the value in hiring us specifically.
Can you financially commit to the $1320 investement over a year? If that is easy then maybe it's not such a big risk.
I understand about wanting to market to a different level.
Have you tried contacting local high-end wedding planners?
Hi Vicky,
We advertised on the knot once, but it was $150/month (i hope they weren't jacking up the prices on us because of our area- NY). If you are not satisfied after 6 months you can request to cancel your agreement in writing and they will do it. Although I agree with Jeff- I think it is a long term investment. As for us, it was the first thing we did when opening our business and we got one client from it which pretty much made us break even with the cost in the end. Although since then we have had several inquiries mentioning they heard about us from clients who used us on the knot. I don't think our knot clients recommended them, I think it may have been people considering us while we were advertising on there.
One thing I would be aware of is how many photographers in your area are advertising on there? I think most people don't look past the first page, so if you have a lot of featured businesses on Theknot.com, chances are not many will see your site (my opinion). Although splurging for the featured position (+print advertising & direct mail lists) cost about $430/month I was told. I don't know if you could afford this, but it may get you much more business.
I spoke to a friend who is a musician and advertises his band on TheKnot. They have a featured position and spent alot of money on it. He says they get about 1% of their business from TheKnot, but most is word-of-mouth.
Hope that helps!
Before advertising on The Knot be sure to go in and read the articles they are publishing about how to select a photographer. My experience with them was about five years ago, so I am sure much of it has changed, but they had the absolute worst advice for how to pick a photographer. One of the articles went so far as to say there was absolutely no reason to ever hire a professional photographer because it was all a scam designed to take advantage of brides. I didn't find a single article that really explained how to properly choose a photographer for a wedding, or even a single article that even appeared to be written by a professional. Of course, all of the content has been updated since then, but check to make sure it better quality than it used to be.
Plus, the sales lady was real nice to us, but the customer service department that I talked to after the sale treated me like I was stupid.
Over all it was one of the worst marketing experiences we have ever participated in. I hope it is better now.