About the middle of last year I started marketing what I shot at weddings to the guests at the wedding. I suspect most of us do this to some degree, but I've not seen any hard numbers on this. I've seen what Pictage or Collages says in their marketing (am additional $300 or $400 per wedding in sales). I'm not getting that kind of response, are you?

So what do you do to market your online site to the guests/family?
Have you tried something that didn't work?
On average, how many sales, and what is you per sale average?
What's selling? (size, price?)

To get it started, this is what I've been doing... I have wallets printed with an engagement shot and the website, PW and my logo. My assistant makes the rounds of the tables right before dinner and explains the cards and hands them out.
We're averaging 3 sales a wedding/$35 a sale, almost excuslively 4x6 prints. I've played with the pricing ($2 to $8 per) and the number of sales and print count per sale didn't change much. 90% of what sells is the kids in the bridal party to their parents.

Lets get sharing so we can all make some more money this season!

I can't comment from the wedding perspective, but I either just read a book by Rick Ferro, or an article of his, and he is doing the same thing with the wallets, but they are on the table before the people get there at the reception.

I use online galleries for my portraits, and do get additional sales from other family members using them.

I've not done anything special in the way of marketing to friends and family members other than to give extra CDs to the bride and groom to pass along to friends and family. Even though I make sure I take plenty pictures of the kids and other guests I've never really sold much outside the wedding party.

Regards,
George

Just started my proofing on line(still not running) , from many friends viewpoint it works very well.
This helps in booking new weddings(atractive to new customers)

The longer you have them on a site the less sales you get. I try and sell as much as I can before the event.

Best to ya, Ernst

[QUOTE=CPPhoto] I've seen what Pictage or Collages says in their marketing (am additional $300 or $400 per wedding in sales). So what do you do to market your online site to the guests/family?QUOTE]

Some online marketing strategies I am trying are: Offer a 15% discount for the first 10-15 days (which seems to be a critical sales timeframe) when purchases exceed a dollar figure ($50 or $100). This seems to stimulate some early sales. For online sales you need email addresses. I hate collecting them and I am considering having the DJ raffle off a $100 gift coupon in an effort to entice folks to sign up on our listing. I also try to incorporate some table shots at the reception (& again promote folks to sign up on the email listing). Although group table images generally don’t sell, sometimes folks request a family shot. Uh-huh! It’s Funerals & Weddings for family gatherings. Agree, children, particularly if in the Wedding party, can be sellers. Another option for online sales (which I have not tried) is to redeploy the site for 30 days and prior to the anniversary or just before Thanksgiving to give folks a opportunity to order prints as a Holiday gift. It takes organization and advanced planning since it conflicts with the busiest season, “autumn Weddings”. So although there are some exceptions (around the Holidays), for the most part, I don’t (or shouldn’t) expect sales to meet the advertized sales growth. I agree that online sharing may do more for advertising than sales. However, I think the perception is growing by Brides to be, that online viewing of proofs is simply a expected service in today’s industry. New Brides with new demands, especially if she visited a friends site. Paul