Sale Catalogs

Some of you may not care, but today in the mail I received a sale catalog. I was so annoyed trying to read it. It had a watermark, then bold red boxes then color pictures, it was awful to try and focus on animals. Just TOO much going on.  Is there a catalog you like or liked? I like to save them and look back. I thought Sullivan's catalog this year was very well done.

From a marketing perspective its important how people much people like or dislike your catalog. if it were me doing a lay out,  I would want to know what works for the buyers,  browsers and lookey-lou's. Including carrier status and BW's I think are important as well.

One thing that I don't understand is why someone would tell you that this cow is bred to "Sam" & then not tell you who Sam is.They just assume you know. Another thing is it seems like that a lot of people haven't ever heard the old saying " a picture is worth a thousand words". You sure see a lot of pics that I sure wouldn't use to try to sell something.
I agree that Sullys' catalog is always well done , but there is a lot of them also that don't spend near the money & still have a nice presentable catalog.

If it was at our house the water marks would be from the sweating toilet tank in the reading room. ;D  just kidding. Seems like a lot of catalogs today look more like someone was trying to beat a deadline and threw things together at the last minute. Like the big corporations say, quality advertising doesn't cost, it pays.

I may be old fashion. ( OK I know I am ) bit I still like a hard copy of a catalog in the mail. The trend of emailing the on line catalog does not appeal to me. Nothing like flicking those pages day after day  putting stars and ticks before the sale.

On heifers, especially the clubbies and mixed breed registered heifers, I want to see 3 generations of pedigree, or at least one generation with a registration number.  I don't want to be informed that the heifer's dam was an Angus or a Maine.  If the dam was registered, I want to know the reg. # so I can look her up.  If she has genetic defects in her pedigree, I want to be able to find that out.  Buying breeding stock is more than just looking at phenotype.  I want to know what is behind the animal.  It never ceases to amaze me that people will pay thousands for a heifer that looks cool, but for which there is little information beyond the name of the sire.

Doc said:

Another thing is it seems like that a lot of people haven't ever heard the old saying " a picture is worth a thousand words". You sure see a lot of pics that I sure wouldn't use to try to sell something.

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I agree completely.  Quality of the picture can make a good one look bad or a bad one look better.  In one sale catalog last fall I saw a calf with pretty good bloodlines that had a pic that made her look terrible (I wouldn't have given $50 for her based on her pic).  But I went to the sale and she was a really nice heifer.  I think she brought around $2500...maybe would have brought more with a better pic to bring in interested buyers?

lightnin4 said:

Doc said:

Another thing is it seems like that a lot of people haven't ever heard the old saying " a picture is worth a thousand words". You sure see a lot of pics that I sure wouldn't use to try to sell something.

Click to expand...

I agree completely.  Quality of the picture can make a good one look bad or a bad one look better.  In one sale catalog last fall I saw a calf with pretty good bloodlines that had a pic that made her look terrible (I wouldn't have given $50 for her based on her pic).  But I went to the sale and she was a really nice heifer.  I think she brought around $2500...maybe would have brought more with a better pic to bring in interested buyers?

Click to expand...

I take alot of pictures for advertise, promotion, or just to have...  I can very truthfully say, that the best breeding, best looking stock- are extremely hard to take a picture of--- but I can go into a pen, pick out the worst beast in there, and in a matter of 5 shots-- have a picture that looks like a million dollars and will get it sold. 

Our old stud ram, took me 7 years, and hundreds of pictures later.. finally got a good one worth promoting...