Previous Client Feedback, Video v Photography

[Roger Gunkel]

Following on from comments in other threads regarding the low percentage take up of video compared to photography, I had an interesting experience yesterday.

I was filming a wedding for a client who had been recommended from previous clients. The bride was a hairdresser who had a group of clients whose husbands were rugby club members and all socialised together. I had filmed the weddings of probably 8 or 9 of the couples over the past 10 years and 3 of those couples had been invited to yesterday's wedding. When things were a little quieter, I sat down with the group and chatted generally then one of the girls said 'we recommended you because we loved the video you did for us and still watch it after 8 years'. She then went on to say that although their still photos were good, they have hardly been out of the drawer since they were delivered. One of the other couples then joined in and said that they hadn't wanted a video at all, but the first couple had persuaded them. They also agreed that having looked at their photo album a couple of times, it has since just gathered dust, whereas they often get the video out to watch. The third couple also said the same thing, adding that if they were getting married now, they would attach far greater importance to the video than the photos.

A general discussion ensued where the general agreement was that the video captures the emotion of the day, together with sights and sounds that you just can't get from still pics. As this was a golden opportunity, I asked them whether they would have liked a highlights/shortform version, bearing in mind that my style is full documentary. They were all absolutely adamant that what they particularly loved was the detail of all the things going on in the background, peoples expressions and personality and just shots of friends and family chatting, laughing and enjoying themselves. They felt that a short version would lose many of the things that they enjoyed most and after initial viewing would probably gather dust like the photo album.

I found the conversation a fascinating insight into the 'after the event' thoughts of the couples and the fact that they didn't realise how much of their day they would actually miss as it happened. It would also be fair to say that they would have picked me to some extent because of my style of working, which is probably more popular in the UK than perhaps other countries where the short form seems to be very popular.

It was also not influenced by the fact that I was there filming the wedding, as my wife was doing most of the video work, whilst I was busy taking stills with the DSLR and both stills and video with another video cam. We now offer a budget photography package to those who book a video, placing more emphasis on the video. It has proved highly successful and prompted the comments from the previous clients who thought that it was a great idea as they all agreed that the video was the better investment.

All I need to do now is think of a way of taking all my previous clients to wedding shows with me as a marketing tool, although a round table discussion, filmed and put on the website may be useful.

Roger

[Chip Thome]

If they are all friends, take them all to dinner somewhere and film it there. IMO it will give some credibility to the discussion as it should be relaxed and each comments on other's weddings they attended.

[Chris Harding]

Great News Roger!

It's nice to see some couples that actually place a decent amount of emphasis on the video. I think that brides have always been expected to have wedding photos and to have no wedding photos would be the sin of the century whilst the bride could have omitted video and get away with it.

By all means I would do a short video about "Why we decided to get a wedding video" ...There is actually one on YouTube about a bride telling you her regrets cos she never got a wedding wedding!! It was probably done by the videographers sister but it makes for good viewing.

I also think we shouldn't ignore the fact that brides are becoming more and more attached to portable devices and as "iPhone savvy" as they are, it would probably be a good idea to be able to show them that yes, you CAN have your wedding video on your iPhone, and your IPad or tablet and on a thumb drive on your car key ring .... All these devices are part of a young adult's way of life and by showing them that our videos can be part of this can only be advantageous rather than have them think that the only way they can see the video is on disk!

Chris

[Paul Mailath]

I shot an interview with a coupe about a year after their wedding and certainly use that at expos and add a link in emails to prospective clients

Jamie & Dave interview on Vimeo

I certainly intend to do a few more

[Chris Harding]

Hi Paul

Happy clients make for happy prospective clients.

I found this video with a different slant on the angle and might convince brides who decide that video is not important enough to consider.

One Regret from Our Wedding - YouTube

Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

That's the sort of thing that I had in mind, anything from previous satisfied clients, or couples who didn't have a video, to really get over that 'Don't need a video' attitude that we all face.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

Ideally both would be nice! Sort of "We are so happy that we decided to have a wedding video" and then "we made a big mistake not having a wedding video" .. The first video would be fairly easy to make from any one of your satisfied clients but the second means you need to find a bride and groom that had photography only and later regretted their decision ...that might be tough to find since essentially they wouldn't be part of your client database unless you could find one of your couples that could fake the ommision but that's often impossible to do successfully ...I wonder where you would start looking for a genuine couple who decided against video and then regretted the decision? Maybe if you are friends with a photog???

It certainly would be a powerful marketing tool

Chris

[Don Bloom]

When I was doing lots of weddings and advertising plenty (or at least for me it was plenty) I had a slogan that I used which I felt was as true as anything. I would ask the prospective client, (as well as having it on my website) one simple question. "If you could see your grandparents wedding album OR their wedding video and could choose only one, which would you choose?" 100% of the time they would choose video. Now of course not 100% of them booked or even booked with me but I always had a point of reference to fall back too if they objected to signing up. Honestly pretty much whatever the objection was I would simply say something to the effect of " you told me that the video was more important to you than anything else (not really what they said but a good conversation starter) so what's the real issue why you're not signing up"?
As a famous writer and book once said the sale begins when the customer says no. I think a larger percentage of people want video but they either can't find the right person for them (IMO they didn't look) or it's a money thing (again they or the vendor didn't get creative enough with the payments) or and I love this one, "I hate how I look in video"...really!?! (don't get me started) I don't think the % is going down overall, I think there are so many people out there now doing video that perhaps everyone's individual % is going down but overall the % is either the same or even going up slightly.