This week we were contacted by our local newspaper (again) to see if we would like to advertise in their upcoming wedding supplement for €130 for ¼ page. The newspaper has sales of 5,000 copies per week.
We need to sell a LOT of wedding stationery to have €130 ‘spare’ for advertising so I’m quite choosy about where I spend it. Here’s why I turned down this particular offer…
First off, how many of its readers will be single or already married and NOT looking for wedding suppliers? My guess is a lot. However, there will of course be people reading the paper who are engaged and planning a wedding. Likewise, a reader might know someone who is getting married.
It still doesn’t appeal to me though.
If a bride-to-be (or her friend) is reading the local paper, she may notice and be interested in our advertisement for wedding stationery. When she comes to the stage in her wedding planning where she needs wedding invitations, she might remember that she saw an advertisement a few months ago but as the newspaper has gone in the recycling, she can’t remember the name of the supplier.
Instead, she starts an online search. This is where I want to be seen and will consider paying €130 to show my products to my target audience.
We receive at least one of these types of calls/emails every week, either from newspapers, bridal magazines or hotels running a wedding fayre. We politely decline, explaining that we do all our business online and this is where we allocate our marketing budget to. But the ‘great offers’ keep coming.
Brides often talk about rip off wedding suppliers but I guarantee if given the chance, any reputable wedding supplier will be able to detail their costs and even highlight work that the customer hadn’t considered.
Something that doesn’t get the same press is wedding suppliers getting ‘ripped off’. Hotels, for example, run wedding fayres, not for the benefit of local wedding suppliers, but to showcase their venue. They need exhibitors to make the showcase appealing to engaged couples and worth the visit. Yet, rather than acknowledging the mutual benefit and inviting suppliers to exhibit for free, they pluck a figure out of the air and expect suppliers to come running. Some will argue that they have advertising costs to cover but at an average of €250 per exhibitor, I’d say their advertising costs are well covered. Most suppliers will also spread the word that the wedding fayre is taking place.
As a small business, we have to keep our overheads low to make a living from what we do. We invest in our online presence but our most successful advertising is free – word of mouth.
No doubt we’ll continue to be targeted by newspapers and hotels, but our response has to be ‘No, thank you’.
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When you are planning your wedding, don’t overlook some of the ‘practical’ preparations such as making sure your guests don’t get lost on the way to the church or reception. Consider including directions for any guests that may not be familiar with the area and include these with their invitations.
