One of the oldest truisms of advertising is that you must communicate and engage with your prospective audience in the media they choose for news, entertainment, weather and all forms of general information – not those that you use. Today, we are living in the midst of a monumental transformation from traditional advertising media to digital media, which includes the Web, social media and mobile marketing.
Although the average ages at which men and women are marrying are the oldest ever – 29 for women and 31 for men – they are still members of Generation Y, or Millennials. They number 77 million and will soon surpass Baby Boomers as the largest generational group in the US – and, more importantly, they are the first totally digital generation and lead all others in the use of social media and mobile marketing.
If, as a wedding photographer, you expect to attract your fair share of today’s marriage-age adults, then you better be prepared to engage with them fully on social media and via mobile marketing. Here are a few statistics that clearly reveal where much, if not most, of your wedding photography marketing should be occurring.
During Q2 2014, 71 percent of Americans owned a smartphone; however, among 18–24 year old adults, the ownership rate was 85 percent and among 25–34 year old adults, it was 86 percent.
Of all Americans with a mobile device (smartphone and tablet), 13 percent are considered mobile ad-friendly shoppers. Approximately 25 percent shopped on their mobile devices during 2014 and 52 percent are willing to receive ads on their phones in exchange for services.
(Success Tip #1: How even a hobbyist can make money taking photographs)
Of all mobile ad-friendly shoppers, 36 percent are 18–29 year old adults, 47 percent are 30–49 year old adults, 52 percent are employed in white-collar positions and 29 percent have an annual household income of $100,000 or more.
Most important for you, as a wedding photographer, is that 47 percent of mobile ad-friendly shoppers are more likely planning to be married.
Reach More of Your Prime Wedding Photography Customers with ProShow Web from Photodex
The first of these Photodex articles told you about the value andmany benefits of ProShow Producer for creating high quality professional video slideshows on your desktop. Another Photodex product, ProShow Web will allow you to create video slideshows online from your Mac, PC or mobile device.
ProShow Web works much the same as ProShow Producer – and it starts by being quick and easy, so you aren't spending hours creating video slideshows for your portfolio or as sales aids or customized videos for each of your wedding customers.
Choose from more than 80 quality themes and hundreds of professional effects to enhance your images. You can even create and use customized themes.
You can select and upload photos and video clips that reside on your computer or import files from social media sites, photo sites and Dropbox.
Identify and personalize any ProShow Web video slideshow with titles and captions and give it a unique musical signature with songs from ProShow Web’s royalty-free library or music of your own.
Add effects as you create your video or wait until it’s finished and review it to determine where to add or edit effects.
You also have complete control of how much time any photo remains viewable as well as deciding the length of effects and transitions.
(Success Tip #2: How to improve your photography when you don't have a lot of spare time)
When your ProShow Web video is complete, you can share it online, on social media sites, add it to your blog or include a link in an email marketing campaign. Make your video available to those mobile-loving Millennials with downloads of MP4 videos, burn DVDs or share it via Dropbox.
As a professional photographer, you'll want the ProShow Web premium account, so you save and apply any custom themes you've created for batch shows, add a watermark to brand your video or include a live-link call-to-action to make it easy for excited wedding prospects to connect with you. Plus, your videos will be fully licensed, so your customers can purchase them as a commercial product.
ProShow Web is the advanced tool you must have if you expect not only to engage with today’s mobile ad-friendly young adults, but also maximize the number who wants you as their wedding photographer because you’re a ProShow professional.
Learn more about ProShow Web, ProShow Producer and the many other products from Photodex that the modern wedding photographer must have in his or her toolbox by visiting http://www.photodex.com.
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