Tradeshow yesterday

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rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Dec 9, 2009
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Hendersonville, TN
www.rickryan.com
Did another Perfect Wedding Guide show yesterday. I'd printed up around 100 price sheets and gave almost all of them out. Very busy show and for this one, my son and I worked it as the wife was shooting a bridal portrait session. While we didn't book anything at the show (we don't hard sell) I'm expecting several bookings off it. I also got some good feedback. Before the show, I raised our bundle package (2 photog+DJ and choice of photobooth or uplighting) to $2795 ($100 increase) and was consistently hearing "Wow, that's a great deal", which, it is. I also had the chance to pitch our all-inclusive venue and man, you should've seen their eyes light up when I said "Your entire wedding for $6k". Based on their responses I'm guessing I could start at $7k, maybe even $8k and still book it. This afternoon, I have a meeting with the building owner to try and hammer out a lease agreement. Wish me luck.

BTW, here's a pic of my son in front of our booth. The wall is a $600 tradeshow display that I bought. Some of the best money I've spent in a while. It all fits neatly into a rolling, hard-plastic case. The wall is a honeycomb and they have carpet strips with magnetic backers. We use velcro on the pics. For the next show, I'm planning to ditch the 8X10s and fill in with a few more big prints. Even the 16X20s are looking small. 20X30 is the new norm. That's my son, who worked the show with me.
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Good to hear.

I am curious. Did the price of a booth at the show go up this year for you? Also, how much was the cost of the show?


I did a show last November which cost $700 with all the discounts. We booked 1 weddings out of it, so the show was not really worth it for us at $700, ..I am still sending out a mass email to everyone on the list from that show every 2 weeks. I started with a list of 1568 emails. So far about 150 people have unsubscribed from my emails, so I still have a list of 1419 to work with. I had 2 phone calls from the emails, but both of them did not book...I could tell they wanted a cheap price.

Anyway, I received a letter already to book the show for next year. No discounts, and they want me to pay $1,300 for a booth based on the fact they had "Over 1,500 brides show up to it". ...While they had 1568 names on a registration list...What I could count at the actual show was maybe 500 - 550 people sitting there for the big fashion show...and many of them were not brides. ...I think the registration list is inflated big time, but actual brides who came to the show were maybe 250 - 300, and others were tagging along.

Anyway, I wouldn't do the show again for $700, I certainly won't book a booth with a $600 price increase!
 
Good to hear.

I am curious. Did the price of a booth at the show go up this year for you? Also, how much was the cost of the show?


I did a show last November which cost $700 with all the discounts. We booked 1 weddings out of it, so the show was not really worth it for us at $700, ..I am still sending out a mass email to everyone on the list from that show every 2 weeks. I started with a list of 1568 emails. So far about 150 people have unsubscribed from my emails, so I still have a list of 1419 to work with. I had 2 phone calls from the emails, but both of them did not book...I could tell they wanted a cheap price.

Anyway, I received a letter already to book the show for next year. No discounts, and they want me to pay $1,300 for a booth based on the fact they had "Over 1,500 brides show up to it". ...While they had 1568 names on a registration list...What I could count at the actual show was maybe 500 - 550 people sitting there for the big fashion show...and many of them were not brides. ...I think the registration list is inflated big time, but actual brides who came to the show were maybe 250 - 300, and others were tagging along.

Anyway, I wouldn't do the show again for $700, I certainly won't book a booth with a $600 price increase!
I wouldn't re-send on a bi-weekly basis .. that's a definite turn off for many. Send a show followup .. then occasionally WITH A REASON to engage .. whether that's discounts, or specialized information or giveaways.

I have unsubscribed to most lists I get .. the ones I don't unsubscribe are the ones I benefit from .. somehow.
 
I wouldn't re-send on a bi-weekly basis .. that's a definite turn off for many. Send a show followup .. then occasionally WITH A REASON to engage .. whether that's discounts, or specialized information or giveaways.

I have unsubscribed to most lists I get .. the ones I don't unsubscribe are the ones I benefit from .. somehow.

Well, it is not exactly bi weekly.

First email came out 3 days after the show.
Second email came out about 18 days after the show - Reminding them of 20% OFF deal for show attendees that ends the day before THanksgiving
Then I cooled it off for a while
Third email was sent out after Christmas
4th email was sent out after New Years Day
5th email was sent Feb 1st
6th email was sent out Feb 9th reminding them of a 14% off discount that ends on Valentine's Day.


...So since November 6 emails have been sent out

About to do a 7th email to be sent out on Wednesday. ...I am thinking it might be the last...OR maybe I just go down to once a month until Summer Time...I dunno. This if the first time I have done a major campaign like this.

I notice I get emails every othe day, and maybe there is like a 3 day break here and there from JC Penney, Sears, and Best Buy. Amazon sends me a weekly email for prime, and a generic email comes in about 3 times a month. Radio Shack also seems to send me an email every week trying to sell old stock. Redbox sends me an email every week usually on Thursday before the weekend.

Emails that I seem to get on a monthly or maybe even bi monthly basis are Vista Print, and various T Shirt places I may have bought a T shirt from in the past


I have nothing to compare to for our industry though. ...Well Wedding Wire sends generic emails about once every 2 to 3 weeks. Gig Masters will send an email whenever their featured profils are on sale (Which those featured profiles are a total waste of money).

A few photographers I did events with in the past added me to their blog entry subscriber list YEARS ago. ...I use to see those come in more frequently. They must not be doing much blogging, or maybe not booking many events any more. I have seen very little come in from them over the past year.

I actually spent about an hour cleaning out my yahoo inbox on Saturday. I had over 8,500 unread emails dating back to 2010 in there. So I deleted them all, and unsubscribed from lists I knew I would never read. I unsubscribed from at least 12 different retailers, and some political organizations.
 
Well, it is not exactly bi weekly.

First email came out 3 days after the show.
Second email came out about 18 days after the show - Reminding them of 20% OFF deal for show attendees that ends the day before THanksgiving
Then I cooled it off for a while
Third email was sent out after Christmas
4th email was sent out after New Years Day
5th email was sent Feb 1st
6th email was sent out Feb 9th reminding them of a 14% off discount that ends on Valentine's Day.


...So since November 6 emails have been sent out

About to do a 7th email to be sent out on Wednesday. ...I am thinking it might be the last...OR maybe I just go down to once a month until Summer Time...I dunno. This if the first time I have done a major campaign like this.

I notice I get emails every othe day, and maybe there is like a 3 day break here and there from JC Penney, Sears, and Best Buy. Amazon sends me a weekly email for prime, and a generic email comes in about 3 times a month. Radio Shack also seems to send me an email every week trying to sell old stock. Redbox sends me an email every week usually on Thursday before the weekend.

Emails that I seem to get on a monthly or maybe even bi monthly basis are Vista Print, and various T Shirt places I may have bought a T shirt from in the past


I have nothing to compare to for our industry though. ...Well Wedding Wire sends generic emails about once every 2 to 3 weeks. Gig Masters will send an email whenever their featured profils are on sale (Which those featured profiles are a total waste of money).

A few photographers I did events with in the past added me to their blog entry subscriber list YEARS ago. ...I use to see those come in more frequently. They must not be doing much blogging, or maybe not booking many events any more. I have seen very little come in from them over the past year.

I actually spent about an hour cleaning out my yahoo inbox on Saturday. I had over 8,500 unread emails dating back to 2010 in there. So I deleted them all, and unsubscribed from lists I knew I would never read. I unsubscribed from at least 12 different retailers, and some political organizations.
Does seem a lot .. If you have something NEW to offer .. even if it's made up like places to find information on the net (maybe not other DJs), then contact might be worthwhile.

For me, if it's starting to feel like you're continually hard selling, it might push me to not just avoid you, but to tell everyone I know to avoid you as well. It's just a danger with outbound social marketing.
 
Does seem a lot .. If you have something NEW to offer .. even if it's made up like places to find information on the net (maybe not other DJs), then contact might be worthwhile.

For me, if it's starting to feel like you're continually hard selling, it might push me to not just avoid you, but to tell everyone I know to avoid you as well. It's just a danger with outbound social marketing.


Well, the emails are not really set up any differently than a mass email I would receive from a retailer letting me know about sales they are doing at the moment.

My 1st email was a thank you email for attending the bridal show and inviting them to check out the website. ...Each email after that was letting them know about a various discount. I was offering. 20% off for attending the show. 14% off Valentines Day DJ deal. That's been it so far.

I am running a strong discount on our website starting tomorrow. My web guy said he will have it up by tomorrow afternoon. ...So I was going to send out another email to the list letting them know about the promotion.
 
Well, the emails are not really set up any differently than a mass email I would receive from a retailer letting me know about sales they are doing at the moment.

My 1st email was a thank you email for attending the bridal show and inviting them to check out the website. ...Each email after that was letting them know about a various discount. I was offering. 20% off for attending the show. 14% off Valentines Day DJ deal. That's been it so far.

I am running a strong discount on our website starting tomorrow. My web guy said he will have it up by tomorrow afternoon. ...So I was going to send out another email to the list letting them know about the promotion.
The attendees didn't "opt-in", they just haven't opted out yet .. unlike the retailer that has YOU give them an email address, so the relationship is different.
 
The attendees didn't "opt-in", they just haven't opted out yet .. unlike the retailer that has YOU give them an email address, so the relationship is different.

Actually they agreed to be sent promotional emails from the vendors when they registered at the show.

I had to agree not to send more than 2 emails per month in order to accept the registration list. I also had to agree not to call them more than TWO TIMES. ...I thought the terms were interesting for being able to accept the list. I have abided by the rules. We did not call any one on the list. Not bothering with that.