Getting to the target audience

[Rhys Sage]

I can't seem to post in the business forum so I'll post here...

It has been said that my website and adverts look as if they're by men for men and don't appeal to women. Well, however hard I try I can't make myself think like a woman. Thus I have to ask how I would make my website, business cards and TV adverts more attractive to women.

My website: www.sagephotoworld.com
My TV advert: www.youtube.com/sagephotoworld

My business card (front and back)

My old business card (this was a template and I got sick of saying "no. it's not my photo")

I only ordered 300 of the new card. I see already that I need to put my po box and name on it. My next business card might be more interesting. I want to put some macro images on it of wedding rings etc.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

People expect to see a certain type of advert when they think wedding photography. Firstly pretty much all of the advertising is heavily weighted towards the female, most men don't get a word in when planning a wedding, you don't see wedding vendor ads in FHM, etc but they are all over womans magazines. Secondly the advertising follows a certain trend because of the above, the images scream 'wedding', whether it's the caterer or the venue but certainly the photographer. Your images need to be beautiful, striking and very 'wedding photography'. They need to show beauty and happiness/love. You want people to get the impression from your photo that they will look just as good and just as happy!

Although your TV ad is cool, there is nothing wedding about it, it advertises based on one feature only, cost and that is a bad bad thing, it says that you are cheap, that you aren't advertising based on your imagery alone and that can't be good.

If I were able to afford a TV ad I would book a couple of models, take them to a very romatic area, maybe the beach during sunset, the woods, etc and have a cameraman film them as you shoot them walking through and interacting. Intersperse the footage with the images taken (with appropriate sound effects) so that people can see how good your photos are. You don't need to be seen at all, just that people can see a beautiful couple interacting and the incredible photos that result. Methinks that would scream wedding, and your expertise and results, far more than a couple of astronauts!

For example here is my business card. Simple and to the point, the image is pure wedding, I don't even need faces, just the ability to immediately present the concept without overloading with visual information.

 

[Rhys Sage]

A good response, well argued. Thank you for looking at my website, business card and TV commercial.

I suspect you are 100% correct in your analysis of the situation.

The TV company designed and put the advert on by themselves. I didn't get an awful lot of say in the design process. Still, at $900 for 3 months, it's not too bad.

My business cards as were, were a template and I just got fed up of saying they were a template. My current cards were the result of about two days fiddling around, trying to get something together that looked decent that didn't have to rely upon somebody else's design.

The website is a modification of the Landzilla template from websitebaker. I'm pretty sure the top image could be improved though I'm not really sure what to do with it.

As you can no doubt see, marketing and design are not my strong points. My strong point is in seeing different and interesting angles to things.

I'll have to redo the camera design - maybe put something like a close-up of a couple of rings with a candle in the background.