The Art of the Wedding Testimonial
Issue #47
[Read Time > 5 minutes]
I won’t lie, I do not like asking for testimonials.
It always seems a bit needy, but let’s face the facts - when you’re starting out, you’re needy.
Building a business isn’t easy, and you need to use every morsel of marketing mojo you can find to get things rolling.
I sincerely believe that testimonials are the most powerful tools you can use.
Strategically using a few solid, honest, and heartfelt reviews can put you far ahead of your competition.
But how do you get them?
Early in your wedding career (when you’re still a part-time professional), you’ll be in a situation where you and your couple need each other.
They need a wedding photographer and won’t have a lot of money, and you don’t have a lot of experience and need to shoot some weddings.
The technical term for this is Win-Win.
First, you have to deliver the goods.
You don’t necessarily have to be the most epic wedding photographer to have ever clicked the shutter...because you won’t be, BUT you can be the person who delivers the absolute best care and consideration to the bride on her wedding day.
And then follow that up with good, solid photos that are in focus, well-lit, and that capture the emotion of the wedding day.
Don’t overwhelm the couple with thousands of duplicate shots. Keep the good ones, dump the bads ones - don’t make it complicated.
The next step is to get those photos processed and delivered FAST while your couple are still in The Glow. I need you to work so fast in fact, that your couple will be so impressed by how fast you delivered them, they’ll feel spoiled (that’s a good thing, as Martha would say).
For some real insider info on The Glow, read Issue #12
Here’s where the tactic really takes hold.
After you’ve edited and processed the wedding photos, text the bride when you release the photos online for the couple to see.
Then call or text the bride about six hours LATER and check in to see if they had any problems seeing them.
Since you delivered the photos so quickly, hopefully you’ll get a nice return text with a message like, “Oh my gosh, we LOVE them! I can’t believe you got them to us so fast!”
This is the power of delivering during The Glow if you ever wondered.
This quick text reply is one testimonial.
Now it’s time for the real “ask.”
After a week or so, when she’s back from her honeymoon, give her a call or meet up to deliver a gift print, a proof book or something small yet nice for her to remember her wedding (and you).
First off, congratulate her on a terrific wedding. Then thank her for “allowing you to be a part of such a great day.” (I do this for every bride, btw)
This is the setup because even though the wedding is over, she’ll still remember that you were both in this unique win-win situation not long ago.
Now, politely ask her to write a quick email with some feedback or a brief review of the photos and how the day went overall.
Remember, this is only about two or three weeks after she walked down the aisle, so everything will be very fresh in her mind, AND she has her wedding photos, while most brides married a month ago STILL don’t.
Assure her that she doesn’t have to post on social media or anything public like that. You just want some feedback to help since you’re just starting out.
The goal here is to ask for something that she’ll more than likely already want to write anyway.
Once you get this review, you now have a valuable piece of marketing material.
You can use it in your promotional pieces, add it to a social media post (with permission, of course) and absolutely add it to the homepage of your website or wedding vendor listing.
You don’t have to use the entire thing all at once. Pull a juicy nugget from the testimonial, pop that baby into quote marks, and put it above the fold on your site along with a photo from the wedding.
Social proof is SO important when it comes to something like wedding photography, and testimonials matter to other brides.
Yes, of course, it’s fantastic when a bride refers a friend to you, but you don’t have to wait that long.
If you get three or four great quotes, that’s all you need to generate a lot of interest in your new business.
Stacking those quotes and adding a few “loved them” snips, along with a longer “we were so happy,” gives you more juice without having to squeeze any more oranges.
Pretty soon, you’ll get to the point where your brides will be happy to send you thank you notes without any request at all. Those are the very, very best and have a collection I genuinely cherish!
I look forward to that day when you have a collection of your own.
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
Ken Blanchard
Gaining valuable testimonials while your couple is still in The Glow is one of the little parts of the “inner game of wedding photography.”
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If you’re starting and haven’t quite figured out how to handle the hundreds, or even thousands, of photos from an event and deliver while your couple is in The Glow, I’ve created something to help.
It’s a guide to help you process your wedding in one week, and it’s a system I’ve used for over 25 years and still use today. Don’t spend weeks processing and miss out on The Glow. This system will help you get your photos to your client, make them happy and make you look like the professional you want to be.