There are so many platforms to reach brides and grooms these days – it’s hard to decide what works without actually trying it out. When we first moved to California, no one knew who I was out here. I had just gotten my accounts with Wedding Wire and The Knot, but I needed something where I could actively seek out potential brides and grooms. And that was how I discovered Thumbtack.

Now let me be the first to say – Thumbtack is REALLY hit or miss. You’ll see the good, the bad and the ugly – sometimes people put on their request that they want 10 hours of coverage and album for $600 or less, and you’ll want to pull your hair out. On the other hand, sometimes you’ll see people who actually value photography, and sometimes those are the best clients in the world who might not of ever known you if it wasn’t for your quote.

How Thumbtack Works

A potential client will put out a request for a service or vendor (i.e. a wedding photographer), for a certain date in XYZ location, for this many hours and this is their budget. They also have a place where they can add extra details, and where they can list the extra goodies they’re most interested in having (a CD, an online gallery, albums, etc.).

Then, an email blast goes out to any vendor who is within so-many miles of that location, and the first 5 people to respond are the only ones who get to submit quotes. Vendors have to buy credits to be able to submit quotes; for 24 credits, it costs $34.99 and to submit a quote for a wedding, it’s typically 8 credits (which means it costs vendors about $12 to even submit a quote). Then, it’s all on the client – they can choose to respond to you, or not. They can choose to hire you, or not.

My Crazy Thumbtack Story

I rarely use Thumbtack nowadays, since we have built a really great community in Southern California and we are filling up our calendar without needing to submit quotes. But! I do have to say, sometimes the most incredible things happen as a result. For example, right when we moved out here in the summer of 2014, I got a request for an engagement session photographer to happen two days later, these two incredible guys were flying in from the East Coast and wanted to do their session while they were in town. They valued photography, I was available, and as chance would have it – they selected me! We met up, had this fantastic session where I felt like I met friends-for-life and I just LOVED their session (you can check out Lou + Chris‘s session to see how much fun we had). Their session was picked up all over the place for publication, and again – by chance – a TV producer saw one of their features and reached out to me about putting them on TV. Long story short, we just shot their wedding about 5 weeks ago with a full film crew and they are going to be on a new cable TV show later this fall (which is why we haven’t been able to share their amazing and beautiful wedding yet). Like – it’s just absolutely crazy how the whole thing went down and we are so excited about it!

All because I reached out to them on Thumbtack. And guess what? We are friends for life now; Randy and I just love Lou and Chris and we feel so blessed to have them in our ADS Weddings family.

Now, obviously – that’s just a crazy story, and not something that you can (or should) expect to happen. But every single couple we’ve met with and worked together for their wedding has been such a blessing in our life – we have gotten to be good friends with most of them, and they’ve referred us out like crazy to their friends and family.

Not All Quote Requests Are Created Equal

We see requests for weddings as soon as the next day and as far out as 2018, from $400 to well over $2,000. We see people who just want the images, and sometimes we see people who want engagement sessions, albums, prints, online gallery and the works.

The key to getting Thumbtack to work for you is to be incredibly selective about who you send quotes out to. The guy who wants 10 hours of coverage for $600? Not sending him a quote. He isn’t my ideal client, because he doesn’t value photography or my time. But if someone puts out a quote for a venue you really want to shoot at, or is on a weekend you might not otherwise have booked, or you just feel a good connection to their quote – THOSE are the ones you submit to.

You also want to account for travel. We travel all over for weddings so I get quote requests for weddings all over Southern California. We get requests from locals and from destination couples. And surprisingly enough, we get requests from couples of all ages; but, unless they say something in the message section, you won’t know anything about the couple until they reach back out to you.

Check Your ROI

Now, as with every form of advertising – as a business person, you need to keep track of your ROI (return on investment) so you can see what works and what does not. I’m a BIG fan of treating your brides and grooms like gold, treasuring them and spoiling them and making sure they know how much you value them as clients, as people, as friends. As popular as The Knot and Wedding Wire are, they’re also very expensive for vendors and while we have met some amazing people through those two services who actively came to us for their wedding – we’ve actually spent LESS with Thumbtack and have had a higher ROI utilizing the active lead system. And because the Thumbtack clients we’ve had just loved us, they’ve all been actively telling their friends and family all about us, which is the BEST kind of advertising possible!

One Last Thought

Thumbtack is really great for filling up slow weekends, and also really great if you’re new to a market. I never sacrificed time or income because I was very selective on who I sent quotes out to – I didn’t undervalue my work just to make a quick buck.

If you do decide to try it out, prepare to be disappointed just a bit – a lot of people just put out requests and never bother to even write back. You’ll see requests that make you literally groan out loud.

BUT, if you give it a chance – you might just find some really fantastic clients and have the opportunity for great experiences!

Have questions about Thumbtack? Post them in the comments!