Last Updated: February 15th, 2020

On occasion, while browsing Reddit, we come across questions being posed to photographers. As a social platform, Reddit is mostly used by us for memes, good stories, and the humor it offers – but when digging into the world of photography, you can actually find some quite interesting topics of discussion and, no doubt, a large array of differing opinions.

While revisiting some of our previous posts, we came across a pretty elaborate discussion about Thumbtack – and whether or not it is a good platform for wedding photographers to use in order to try and find clients to book.

Early on in our wedding photography business, we actually used Thumbtack ourselves – and quite successfully we should add. If memory serves us correctly, we didn’t even spend a dime on it, instead having the ability to send out a few quotes for free as a part of a trial run.

Over time, Thumbtack has evolved – and so to have our opinions on it.

So, with this in mind, let’s talk about Thumbtack…and whether you should use it for your wedding photography business!

Our Current Thoughts on Thumbtack

Digging back through that old Reddit post, we actually had left a comment that was pretty telling about our opinion on Thumbtack just a few months ago. Needless to say, our thoughts haven’t really changed since then:

“In it’s current state, we do not feel good towards it. We had used it and got several good clients as a result when we started off. A few weddings and a boudoir shoot. Yes, these were more on the budget side of things, but our clients were very pleasant to work with and we were able to charge something while using it to expand our portfolio. For this, we don’t have a negative experiences ourselves with the platform, but it’s pretty obvious the costs probably don’t lead to much good work for most photographers.”

As you can see, our opinion towards Thumbtack is actually pretty unique when compared with many other wedding professionals. We tend to take the stance that “if it works for you, than go for it!” This can really be applied to any service photographers might sign up for or otherwise buy into in some fashion – be it Thumbtack, WeddingWire, The Knot…you can even go further down the rabbit hole and talk about the world of advertising through Facebook Ads and Google Ads.

As with most things in life that require payment (be it cash, time, etc.) – our expectation for any platform we utilize to get more bookings on our calendar is that we get something equal or more valuable to what we put into it.

With The Knot & Wedding Wire, if we spend $2,000/year on the platform – we are expecting to at least be booking a couple of weddings to make it worth our while and the steep price tag.

With Thumbtack, we take the same approach. Like we mentioned earlier, our introduction to this platform was cost effective because there was no cost. Though the system tried roping us in to pay for credits (at the time), we never were interested in paying to send quotes. This is the first area where Thumbtack actually fails.

Thumbtack fails to understand its professional audience

Taking a step back for a moment, Thumbtack is a platform that enables people to find professionals in a variety of industries in their local area. This has expanded quite heavily over time to not just be about finding wedding creatives (such as photographers, planners, DJ’s, caterers, etc.), but other professions as well such as teachers, wellness instructors, legal, handyman services…the list goes on and on.

First and foremost, it’s important to note that the site is designed with the consumer-user in mind. The people who want to find someone to fulfill a service for them.

For the consumers using this website, we expect it is actually a good deal for them.

There is no upfront cost, and as a result nothing lost if they are unable to find someone to do the job they are looking for. To this end, Thumbtack knows their consumer audience – and frankly, it is a interesting concept and useful enough platform if you are looking to hire someone yourself without having a direct referral to a specific business or individual from a friend or family member.

However…on the other side of things, for the professionals who enroll with Thumbtack – it’s apparent this site is a money sinkhole. At best, it can feel like a gamble. While that tends to be the case with any form of advertising really – some forms are more reliable to convert into leads and bookings when used correctly (such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads).

How Thumbtack works for pros

The place where Thumbtack really loses our attention is how professionals are charged to use its service. Keep in mind, this is the most up-to-date information we have on the pricing model be applied on the site – within the past year or so, the system has changed a few times.

Thumbtack runs on a system where consumer users can put together (for free) a request for a professional service (called a “job”).

For example, we could create a job looking for a wedding photographer to shoot our wedding (and somehow teleport us back in time 2 years to when we got married). We can include certain pieces of information such as our price range, specific location detail, special comments, date of event, etc. – but not all are required. Once this is submitted, it becomes visible to the many pros on the site looking for work.

As a professional, we could then respond to the job with a “quote” – a response normally including some detail about the service and costs associated.

After this decision to send a quote, the professional’s account is then charged.

There is no guarantee of booking.

There is no guarantee the person creating the job was even a real person at all.

Add to this that the cost per quote sent is not static, but is instead dependent on the value of the potential job. For the better paying gigs out there, you could find yourself paying 30$ or greater just to send a quote.

The results are similar to pulling the lever on a slot machine. You put the money in and pull, never certain if it will translate into something worthwhile.

As photographers and business owners, we understand the risks associated with doing business in general. We are willing to pay for opportunities, but need more certainty when playing this game ourselves.

The gamble could be worth it, right?

Yes.

And this is precisely why many creative professionals, maybe like yourself, consider Thumbtack seriously as an option for garnering new clients.

This is precisely why gambling is so addictive, and why many people bet away a lot of their money on games of chance. As we all know – sometimes things work out well, and other times not so much.

If you manage to find a well paying job through Thumbtack (let’s say a $2,000 wedding package) and spend $50 dollars to send the quote – the value is immediately apparent. That’s a small investment into the service compared to the return.

As we experienced ourselves, even just using Thumbtack for free to send a few quotes, we were able to book a few weddings and shoots. This was at the earliest stages of our photography business, when finding clients was extremely challenging. Making a thousand bucks as a starting photographer is not a bad deal.

Ultimately, Thumbtack has a risk-and-reward system that has the potential to be good for wedding photographers, as well as the potential to be bad.

If you do decide to spend some money on Thumbtack in the attempt to get some gigs, we suggest you do so conservatively. And most importantly – with consideration given to the next points we have to make…

Thumbtack’s audience is likely not your ideal client

The BIGGEST problem with Thumbtack is the audience the service seems to attract.

We need to walk a fine line when discussing this topic as a lot of it comes down to personal anecdotes, but there is an underlying reality we feel to be, at least, fairly accurate.

In our experience, the clients we were able to book were quite excellent. Supportive, appreciative, and other positive words could be used to describe them well. As some of our first ever clients – they were pretty ideal. However, the price range was not effective for us to sustain – and it never was our intention. From $600 wedding services to charging $3,000 – $4,000 per wedding…we have done something right in this process, and these early weddings helped us expand our wedding photography portfolio in a way that would have been difficult without having booked these clients.

With this said, our experience with Thumbtack was limited and fortunate. There are countless stories we have read online about how it has been a money pit for other creatives, or that jobs posted with higher dollar values were not correctly representing the actual job at hand.

Moving back to the topic of Thumbtack’s audience, the general consensus tends to be that users of the site have the following attributes (either some or all):

• They want an inexpensive service

• They want a great service

• They have high expectations

• They don’t know the actual value of the service when provided by experienced professionals

As working professionals, we have come to know and identify our value in the marketplace.

Because photography (as with most creative industries) is a saturated market, it requires a lot of effort and underselling of yourself to help showcase value.

Again, going back to our experience here, we approached Thumbtack knowing that:

• we were not going to sell expensive wedding photography packages,

• we needed to provide a high quality service for anyone we did book,

• and we needed to be able to meet or exceed any expectations set by the client.

Having set this expectation in ourselves beforehand, it made approaching prospective jobs on Thumbtack easier for us.

Without a doubt, it also clearly indicated to us that Thumbtack would be used as a catalyst for our business – ie: to get some initial clients and help us grow our portfolio – but would then be dropped.

This is exactly what we did.

Why Thumbtack doesn’t jive with our current wedding photo business goals

Thumbtack proved valuable for us as starting photographers, but we can’t see ever going back to it.

We are beginning to have a good system of referrals, coming from past clients, their friends & family, and other wedding vendors we have worked with before. In the event that we do advertise, it is normally limited to Facebook and Instagram – the latter of which has been the highest source of inquiries and new business for us.

At this stage, there is no real need for Thumbtack for us. We are booking more weddings than initially expected, and consistently having to raise our prices as a result.

Even if we wanted to use Thumbtack, the gamble and financial requirement is an instant turn-off for us.

When we spend our money, be it for personal things or business investments, we like to do so smartly.

The cost of Thumbtack significantly outweighs the benefits – and this is increasingly true given the changes to their system since even when we first used it ourselves.

Ultimately, the best business decision we have made is to stick to our brand image, which is actually just a reflection of our personalities, and not just take on any job that is offered. By attracting clients through our IG portfolio or our wedding photography website, we immediately form a connection with those prospective clients looking to work with us.

Thumbtack, through it’s job-and-quote system, works in an opposite fashion. Prospective clients tell the world what they are wanting, needing, expecting – and make the pros do the job of determining whether it would be a right fit. Normally, these posts aren’t as detailed or personal as reading an About page and having a connection, but more about finding someone to employ for a service.

It’s a much more mechanical approach to finding professional creatives instead of looking for a creative that specifically fits your needs on a personal and professional level.

Last thoughts on using Thumbtack to get clients for your wedding photography business

We are sure that there are some photographers (and other working professionals) who have, for one reason or another, come to accept Thumbtack as their home – a primary driver of their business.

If you are considering using Thumbtack, or are currently using it, we would encourage you to go into it adopting a similar mindset and approach to its platform and service as we did in the early stages of our photography business years ago.

That is, to use it to build that initial foundation of clients to get your business off the ground, while also with the intent to eventually shift focus elsewhere.

To us, as has been our experience mentioned earlier on in this article, the use of Thumbtack (in its current state) shouldn’t really be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ / ‘all or nothing’ / ‘use’ vs. ‘don’t use’ proposition. While we do believe there is certainly a gamble to using it, that gamble, as it was for us, is one in which a new photographer may just want to take in order have an opportunity to build their portfolio in the earliest stages of their business.

Though their platform was most certainly designed around the consumer (i.e. those seeking services), there is no reason why you can’t utilize its service—or at least attempt to—in the earliest stages of your wedding photography business.

Ultimately, the value you get from using Thumbtack will mostly likely be hit-or-miss. For some of you reading, you may just have good success…but for others, you may fall into the category of people who just feel screwed over by the system.

Thumbtack offers many opportunities due to active users constantly posting new jobs, but not all jobs are created equal – and you will need to decide whether or not this platform is right for you (and your wallet).

Thoughts on Thumbtack? Leave them in the comments below!!