This is Cliché in the sense that I didn't know my market and completely booked the wrong model.
When my wedding business was kicking off and doing well, I thought I'd finally book one of those $3,000 full page ads in our local bridal magazine. I was set out to create 1 awesome image that was perfectly lit and staged in the fanciest wedding venue in Charleston (William Aiken house, if you watch Southern Charm you know the building). All the other wedding photographers had 3-6 images per ad and nothing stopped you and make you think "this is a big time photographer." I thought I could be that guy.
So back in my bar hoping days, I was casual acquaintances with a Playboy model who at the time was the talk of Charleston. In my naïve, young photographer mind, this was the biggest and most beautiful model I knew so she must make for a great bridal model for my full page ad right?
I showed up to the shoot with all the lights, softboxes, etc and no matter what pose I took of Hillary, everything looked so sexy and playful and over the top. I didn't know anything about coaching models or directing so I just let her do her thing and these are some of the images that came out of the shoot. Unfortunately I can't find the main image I used as my full page spread (these are out takes) but I was so proud of the image and the full page ad but a year or so later I realized how having a super hot bride as your ad probably turned off a lot of potential clients.
Moral of the story, for marketing it's typically wise to use beautiful people that give off a vibe and emotion, but don't pick a model that is too beautiful or sexy that it turns people off to your product or services.