'Twas the Season . . .
November/28/2007 Buzz Marketing
Although Halloween 2007 is now just a memory, for many clients of Carrie Viohl Photography, Carrie's no-fuss Halloween Portrait Party and Costume Contest resulted in some darling portrait memories for some lucky Moutrie, GA parents, as well as a whole lot of priceless exposure for the studio. Here how Carrie describes of the event preparation:
"We put two posts on the blog in the weeks before Halloween, inviting anybody and everybody to come the studio for trick-or-treating and a free costume photoshoot. We also mentioned that we'd offer a free 10x20 standout composite to the kid who got the most comments (votes) on our blog. Then I bought $12 worth of spoooooooky fabric (Read: cheesecloth with holes in it) and hung it from my roller system, $20 worth of candy, and our CV packaging bags in the smallest size. ET VOILA! Halloween party!" Husband Phil also contributed two carved pumpkins.
The results: From not a lot of prep work, 43 families came to the party, most of whom were not current clients. Best of all, they booked 5 additional portrait sessions for 2008. But that's not all: Carrie, who authors one of my all-time favorite blogs, then posted all the images and invited parents to "get out the vote" for their child's photo. Carrie describes what happened next:
"We've had well over 600 votes (comments) in less than a week! About 100 of those had to be deleted because there were a few moms cheating (Ha!!). But that's moms and dads bugging all of their friends and family: PLEASE go to carrieviohl.com and LOOK AT MY CUTE KID AND VOTE FOR HIM!!
Talk about creating buzz! The little sleeping monkey, shown above, was the top vote getter. To see more of Carrie's darling Halloween images, click here, then scroll to the bottom of the window and work your way up. While you're there, take a while to page through the blog's features and archives, and you'll see why I visit CarrieViohl.com so frequently. I love to peak inside the world of Carrie, Phil, Renee, Haley, the ever-so-lively stick-figure characters -- not to mention so many of the studio's clients. I feel as though I'm getting to know the people and the community of Moultrie, GA through this adventurous blog. And if I enjoy it, can you imagine how much Carrie's clients and prospects love it! And that's just the point: Carrie's blog represent person-to-person marketing at its best!