Are wedding shows worth it?
Hi there,
My question is about the marketing of one’s business for wedding invitations. I am new to the idea and would like to start offering custom work to business and social, going beyond my cards and prints and journals.
I am planning my marketing efforts and I thought that before I seriously consider the hundreds of dollars that a booth in a local wedding show would run me, I want to ask what others experiences have been. Was it worth going to for the leads generated? Did you book jobs? Please include what type of area you are in. I’m in a rural to small/medium metropolitan area of Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa for shows. I see no letterpress vendors on the list of those attending this year. What are the pros and cons?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
If it was me.. I’d find a dealer that already sells invitations. Create a physical sample catalog let them become a dealer for your line. The hassles of Bride and Mother would be better suited for those use to it.
If you don’t create a catalog, too many choices would be a problem. Dealing with Brides can be time consuming.
If your doing production, you really don’t have time for going to shows. Dealing with Brides may turn you against invitations. Ever met a Bridezilla? I have on several occasions. Don’t mix your own ink, so you have color consistency, buy it mixed. Less hassle. Feel free to write me.
Consider directly approaching other vendors for weddings. Convincing a florist to let you put a placard in their shop and offering a finders fee for successful leads might work. Etsy, Pinterest, Instagram, etc, also would be a way to have a presence. If you look at the history of other successful midwest “letterpress” shops, they have a significant online presence and sell generic preprinted items to stay afloat. Local weddings will not be enough to keep you going if this is your sole source of income. But, the bottom line is that advertising pays. In the long run, a few hundred bucks for a wedding show will be least of your monetary sacrifices.
Average wedding show starts at 350.00.
Depending on the time of the year, Brides may already have many things they already need. The show always asks for a free item to raffle off. Last show I did, was a bunch of dreaming singles, not engaged yet. Was a waste.
Thanks for the responses here. I’ve had some response over on Letpress too. One of the ideas in mind that is more cost effective is leaving samples and asking for leads, which I had been planning to do. So I feel good about that direction. And another was working with wedding planners or designers to essentially wholesale printing to them. Several have expressed opinions about working directly with brides (this topic has often been covered!) And the pitfalls of the sometimes demanding client relationship.i’m not exactly scared of that but I can see how the wholesale job is easier.
I think it would be worthwhile starting with these low risk advertising efforts, then see if I want to do a show later. Theo, I can’t believe dreaming singles would attend a show! I can understand that the time of year might change the vendor list a little. My research indicates that many printers are booking press time for weddings for the coming year in the fall. Typecomp, did you mean pre printed Letterpress designs that are printed Letterpress again? Or a standard Printing with Letterpress? You must be in the Midwest? And no, wedding is definitely not all this press does, don’t think I could do that anyway, need to bring the art fairs into it too.