The 4 Letter Word that Books Photo Booth Gigs.

A big part of what gets me excited about marketing is simply being found out there in the depths of the internet, especially with all of the competition out there.  I can remember exactly where I was when that first email came in from a customer looking for more information about our photo booth (which happened to be a church picnic).  I don’t even remember if they booked or not, I just completely flipped that someone actually found our website and filled out our information request form.

Before I tell you the 4 letter word that books gigs let me put this advice in context otherwise it will be useless.  I take a look at a lot of photo booth rental websites and business websites in general and some of them are making a simple mistake that is leaving leads and money on the table.
Here is the mistake: They bury their contact information.

Your name, phone number and email address should be prominently displayed in the top right corner of every page of your website and in the footer of every page.  I see a lot of websites that only put this information on the contact page and there are plenty of customers who will never get as far as the contact page.  Visitors to your website want to take the path of least resistance and as few steps as possible to find the information they are looking for.  Your contact info needs to be in the top right corner and “above the fold” because there are those that won’t even scroll to the bottom of your page.  If they can’t easily find that information on the homepage, they are likely to hit the “back” button and go onto the next company. Some people are visiting your site for the sole purpose of reaching out to you and asking questions.  If they can’t quickly find your phone number and email, they will move on.

Within this contact information, here is the 4 letter word that has translated into more leads and bookings for our business:  “TEXT.”

In the header and footer of our website, we put “Call or Text Kari at ###-###-####.”  These days most people are viewing your website from their phone or tablet and texting is a quick way to find out information.  Additionally there are people (millennial’s) who don’t want to talk on the phone and would prefer to text.  We have found that customers who text us have usually booked with us and they find texting just as meaningful as a phone conversation. Customers that text you are very interested in your photo booth rentals because they are indicating that they want an immediate response.  Texting is such a personal form of communication that it is guaranteed that your messages are being read.  I can’t think of a time that I outright deleted a text without reading it, but there are plenty of emails that I’ve never read.  Perhaps a bride to be is browsing her Facebook while at work or school and comes across your advertisement.  She’s interested, but this isn’t the time to call or type out an email on her phone, texting is a great way to communicate.  The reality is that customers have to be invited and given permission to text you, otherwise they won’t.  We never received a single text message from a customer until I included “or Text” on my website. When a potential customer texts you, save those phone numbers and event details in your database for follow-up if they don’t immediately book with you.  Send them a follow-up text a few days later and see where they are in the decision-making process.  We’ve booked plenty of photo booth rentals over texting (and email) and have never actually spoken to the customer.

Make your contact information easy to find.  If you’re like me, you work hard at this business and spend plenty on marketing and advertising so that customers can find you.  Don’t ever lose a customer because they can’t figure out how to reach you.

If you found this article helpful take a look at the 5 Photo Booth Website Mistakes then let’s start talking about how your email address is turning people off.