David's Bridal Vendor Program

[dnpayne]

Hey all, I recently was contacted about the David's Bridal Vendor program and I can have the spot starting May first. It costs $375 for a 6 month commitment. You get leads twice a month and a section in the store to display some of your photos and info. Also, you can go to the store on certain days and network with the brides.

Has anyone had any experience with this program? It is a lot of dough to spend, so I want to research as much as possible.

[Biomech]

It might be worth it. I just spent £130 ($212) on a magazine spread for a month :P
It would be worth seeing what your conversion rate is now, because you'll have to convert those 12 leads to sales. And if you're competing on those leads it would make it harder.
Brides only get married once, so networking with them is fairly pointless, you'll only get recommendations if you actually convert them. You'd be better off networking with event management types, wedding planners, chauffeurs, hairdressers and florists!

[Niresangwa]

Is it worth a try? sure.

It depends on what your marketing budget is.

I would, however, be very skeptical of a program based around 'leads', because 1) tht depends on how many brides actually consent to being included in such a database, and 2) as Jamie pointed out, you're going to be competing and cold-calling these leads along with other photographers and other vendors. You'll have to make the call.

I have yet to have a bad experience with outlaying marketing dollars. Initially I was nervous to go with The Knot, but it has been a great choice. I pay $185 a month to be featured on their website, and in the 6 months I've had it, it has more than paid for itself.

The strongest marketing tool however, again, reinforcing what Jamie said, was to pair up with another photographer in my market, and trade leads when I was already booked for that date.

When you give a personal recommendation for another photographer, and it's coming from you, someone the bride already picked, it carries a lot of weight. We've managed to play that very well.

If I were you, I'd be heading off to my nearest David's bridal and scouting out the names of a couple of their 'featured' photographers and hitting them up for how their experience has worked out...

..though when indulging in business espionage like this, you may have to tell a white lie such as being from another market to get the truth.

[lusodoll]

I can tell you, not as a professional but as a bride planning my second wedding what has been my experience.

I go to Davids Bridal for the dresses. Every vendor suggestion I get from them goes directly into the trash. My whole planning process is been based on researching, reading reviews of vendors and actually calling brides that have used a particular vendor for their experiences(I realize this is a bit extreme and I'm alone in doing this BUT I'm planning a wedding in a destination that is 500 miles from where I live). In fact, I turned off all email communications from them. The Knot and other wedding websites like offbeatbride.com and projectwedding.com have become my go to source for recommendations on vendors. One, because the WOM means a lot and being able to find a vendor AND read another brides experience with them means a lot more then an email blast from Davids Bridal.

I don't what the cost is but I feel like spending money to advertise on a site like The Knot or Project Wedding could get you a lot further AND if you could encourage your brides to leave positive feedback on these sites would be even that much better. (I don't know if that is considered really tacky but I've stayed at a lot of B&B's that have done that too me and I am more the willing to leave a fantastic review if the service has been great.)

But again, I'm not a professional and this is just my experience as a bride. I'm sure there are many brides out there that actually read the emails the get from Davids Bridal.

Good luck on what you decide to do.

[lonni]

Hi

As a bride i can tell you that the knot was my main source of info for vendors.

I did take a few business cards adn leaflets on display in florits shops and boutiques, but they were never pushed.

I dont know about the davids program but it cant hurt to do a bit of networking and leave info with other vendors.

HTH

[Jim Bryant]

It's a waste of money and the customers you'll attract will only be willing to pay $300.00 price range for all rights to your images. The only person who'll make money in this is Dave.