When Advertising Fails, What Then?

I have been following some interesting discussions on what advertising works and what doesn’t. The general consensus is that none of it works; at least not consistently. Not print, not bridal shows, not wedding portals, not online adverts, nothing, zip, zilch zero, nada.

So what do you do?

You know you have to market, you are even willing to drop a few coins in the pot to do it; but if nothing works what is the answer?

Here is where you begin. Notice that in the above copy I used two different words: advertising and marketing. They are not interchangeable. Advertising is static and marketing is active.

Time was when a bridal vendor could buy a page in the local glossy bridal publication and that was all it took. That was advertising, set it and forget it. OK, maybe do a bridal show or two and then forget it.

Marketing is constant. Marketing is networking. Marketing is PR. Marketing is reaching out to the people who can bring you work. Marketing is fluid.

Marketing for today’s bridal vendor is in two places: online and face to face.

Point 1:

A truth of the industry that has always been and I imagine shall always be is that the majority of brides find their vendors by referral. Yes, a lot of that is from other brides but a lot more is from other vendors. To sell today’s bride the biggest trigger is that she feels comfortable with you and that she trust you.

Yes, I know their opening salvo is always about price, but believe me, if she trusts you she will pay your price.

So, once she finds that one vendor that she trusts, she will take their recommendations in the highest regard. You need to be who they are referring.

This is the face to face aspect. If you aren’t out there networking with local vendors you are missing the boat. This doesn’t just mean calling them and asking them to refer you. Seriously, some people think that will work. No, not even close.

The real essence of networking with other vendors is getting to know them and building relationships with them. Work with them, help them, refer them, support them. All the work you put into and qualities you expect from a friendship are inherent in good networking.

This is an ongoing process and belive me, it is marketing. The more positive relationships you have with other vendors with in your market the more your business will grow. I promise you.

Point 2:

The other marketing today that does work is your own website. It is your marketing tool when you aren’t there. Again this has to be an ongoing project.

You need to keep your website constantly updated for 2 main reasons.

The first is search. Everytime you update or add to your site the search engines take a fresh look and index more pages. The more content, the more long tail keywords, the better chance you have of showing up in the long, complicated search strings that brides type in to their search engine. Keep adding content and keep fueling the search. This is the main reason that having (and using) a blog as part of your website is so powerful.

The second reason is that if your website looks stale and dated, that is the impression that prospective clients will have of you. If you look stale, they won’t even call. That wedding from 2008 may still be your favorite, but it probably looks old and tired to brides that have been searching the net for months. Give yourself a fighting chance. Keep updating your portfolio with new and exciting images of your work.

Just about now is where you are starting to argue with me that you just don’t have the time for all that. Tough. Make the time or invest those old advertising dollars to hire someone to do it for you. In today’s world, this is what it takes.

Marketing works,

advertising just doesn’t anymore.

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http://www.conceptsiicompletion.com Cathy

Thanks Chirstine, your rock! Wonderful advice! I knew I wasn’t alone on this.
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http://matt-hamilton.blogspot.com Matt

While I agree with the gist of the article, I can’t go along with your statement that advertising doesn’t work. Sure you may be disappointed to learn that you can’t use advertising alone to book weddings but that doesn’t mean it’s not effective.
There is a reason that companies continue to pay millions to put out commercials during the Super Bowl and that wedding companies pay hundreds of thousands to appear in TheKnot’s pages. Advertising does work for building awareness.
You make good points about the importance of websites as a storefront and to communicate the authority and trustworthiness of your brand. But you’ve got to get people there first. Organic search is a good way, like you mentioned, but advertising is absolutely a valid option too.
You said that advertising used to be a ‘set it and forget it’ solution and isn’t anymore. I think that’s the takeaway here; it’s still works for making people aware of your message but can’t stand on its own.
- http://thinklikeabride.com ndulj
  
  Matt I agree that advertising is great for building brand recognition. The problem lies in the very limited marketing budget that most small wedding vendors have. Given that, advertising becomes very expensive when you pull those funds and have nothing left for doing the things that have a more direct ROI.
http://www.saweddings.com Meghann

As a publisher of local wedding publications, we know that just putting an ad in our magazine does not bring brides clamoring at your doorstep. Success in the wedding industry does require a holistic approach that we believe includes traditional advertising, bridal shows, social media marketing, networking and more. We offer our clients an advertising/marketing program that offers them a bit of each of these and we see it time and time again that those who engage in the program as a whole are the ones who find success. For new businesses looking to advertise, be sure your medium of choice offers more than just the glossy printed page because without the extras, you may find you wasted your money.