marketing consulting for wedding professionals    Writing, branding, logo design.newsletter design

Branching Out Event Florist

May 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

This was a site redesign for dear friend of Think, Vicki Sanders at Branching Out Event Florist. I had built her last site but she’s been taking my advice about re-inventing. She is expanding into vintage rental and needed an update to reflect that. We still have to polish up the floors in her portfolio, but that can wait until she gets past the unbelievably busy May she has. You go Girl!

Then of course, there was the site for eWedNewz. That one went up in 24 hours because it had to.

Filed Under: Blog, Portfolio, Website Design Tagged With: , ,

…of Pirates, Rockstars and Wannabes

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There has been much grumbling swirling about lately of some wedding vendors getting a bit to big for their britches; or as my father used to say “If your head gets any bigger I’m going to have to enlarge the door!”

Then along comes the best quote on the topic I could imagine. On the DVD extras for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Keith Richards, one of the biggest, honest to God Rockstars, has the the following exchange with Johnny Depp, a star in his own right. Depp calls Richards “The Maestro” to which Richards responds,

“I didn’t become one, everybody out there made me one. Pleased to meet you, glad you know my name.”


YouTube

Now baby, that is genuine humility.

Follow this up with the article on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times titled “The Gossip Machine, Churning Out Cash” and you begin to get an understanding of what is going on in our industry. The article talks about B and C list celebrities that are busy feeding the tabloids their latest atrocities just to extend their 15 seconds of fame. People like Lindsay Lohan’s dad and the Kardashian’s. People who have done nothing and have nothing to offer besides their meager ‘fame’.

In our industry, you have 2-bit planners feeding the media machine with there greatness. You have videographers stating on their blog that the other vendors at a wedding are only there to make the video look good. Meanwhile, the real celebs in the wedding industry are keeping a low profile and doing what they do best. They are working hard and attracting clients by putting on the best weddings possible.

Now you know me, I am all about marketing.

But I have got to tell you that using social media to market how famous you are is not the same as marketing what you do. If you have to tell people how famous you are, you aren’t famous.

I am beginning to get the distinct feeling that some of these freshly minted, self-proclaimed wedding gurus are having a really hard time making a living doing weddings since the crash and are now earning their income just being celebrities.

Listen to Mr Richards. Let your fans make you a star, don’t try to make yourself one. You just end up looking foolish, like Micheal Lohan.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

…of Pirates, Rockstars and Wannabes

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There has been much grumbling swirling about lately of some wedding vendors getting a bit to big for their britches; or as my father used to say “If your head gets any bigger I’m going to have to enlarge the door!”

Then along comes the best quote on the topic I could imagine. On the DVD extras for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Keith Richards, one of the biggest, honest to God Rockstars, has the the following exchange with Johnny Depp, a star in his own right. Depp calls Richards “The Maestro” to which Richards responds,

“I didn’t become one, everybody out there made me one. Pleased to meet you, glad you know my name.”


YouTube

Now baby, that is genuine humility.

Follow this up with the article on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times titled “The Gossip Machine, Churning Out Cash” and you begin to get an understanding of what is going on in our industry. The article talks about B and C list celebrities that are busy feeding the tabloids their latest atrocities just to extend their 15 seconds of fame. People like Lindsay Lohan’s dad and the Kardashian’s. People who have done nothing and have nothing to offer besides their meager ‘fame’.

In our industry, you have 2-bit planners feeding the media machine with there greatness. You have videographers stating on their blog that the other vendors at a wedding are only there to make the video look good. Meanwhile, the real celebs in the wedding industry are keeping a low profile and doing what they do best. They are working hard and attracting clients by putting on the best weddings possible.

Now you know me, I am all about marketing.

But I have got to tell you that using social media to market how famous you are is not the same as marketing what you do. If you have to tell people how famous you are, you aren’t famous.

I am beginning to get the distinct feeling that some of these freshly minted, self-proclaimed wedding gurus are having a really hard time making a living doing weddings since the crash and are now earning their income just being celebrities.

Listen to Mr Richards. Let your fans make you a star, don’t try to make yourself one. You just end up looking foolish, like Micheal Lohan.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Shrinking Options.

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I attended an open house last night at a very cool, out of the ordinary venue , The Wine Loft.  The thing about events like this is the chance to chat very openly with others in the industry. It’s amazing what you can learn.

One of the topics that came up was the trends of venues moving beyond the use of preferred vendor to the new level of “only” vendors. One very popular local venue1 has made the decision to only allow a certain rental company and a certain lighting company. On the one hand I can somewhat understand the desire to protect this historic property, but I have to wonder if there isn’t more to it. You know, like kickbacks. In those two categories, there are some other very professional options, often at a lower cost.

This decision has the potential to hurt a lot of people in the wallet. Brides for instance. If they want the venue, they have to hire the higher priced vendor or forgo the use of lighting or a tent. Hmmm. The other option she has is to start slashing the budget somewhere else. That has the potential to hurt the florist or decor vendor, the caterer or the baker. How long are they going to be excited about this venue once they realize that the brides that use it are going to have to cut their piece of the pie so they can afford the more expensive lighting company. How long before they stop referring this venue?

It’s an interesting question and I wonder if the venues that are doing this have fully thought out the unintended consequences?

Along those same lines, there is another group of local venues that are charging a percentage of a vendors bill. This, in my opinion, is just crazy. If a brides tab with, say a caterer, is $15,000, someone has to pay the venue 10%, $1500 on top of the rental fee for the venue. That charge is going to the bride one way or another. If the caterer is paying it, you better believe that that charge is getting padded into the bill. Can’t you just see the bride’s reaction if that charge appeared as “Venue demanded kickback”. Yah, I just gulped too. I wonder what  would happen if the venue just tagged the bride directly.

I realize that the economy has sucked for the last few years, but really?

How long will this trend continue and how far will it go before the law of unintended consequences kick in?  Today’s bride is more than willing to look at out of the box options. Just because you have a popular venue, doesn’t mean you can just keep squeezing.

 

1 No, NOT the Wine Loft, they are very cool.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: , ,

Things That Should Never be Seen at a Wedding

May 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hi Gang! Time for a little levity as you dive into the first weekend of May. If you see any of these at your weddings…run!!! Oh and snap a pic for me. hehehehe

 

All images courtsey of Poorly Dresses: Seriously Questionable Style Moments

Filed Under: Humor Tagged With: ,

Twitter. How the Big Boys Roll

May 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

…and I bet you are doing it better than some.

I ran across this article that shows the results of an experiment digital agency IQ ran to see just how Fortune 500 companies were doing at social media. With the exception of a few, most of them sucked.  Check this quote:

The results? HP, UPS, Wells Fargo and GM stood out as top-performing brands, according to five best practices that IQ gleaned from the study: clearly labeling the purpose of a Twitter account; clearly identifying who is replying to a question; keeping the tone light and friendly; making sure you respond; and responding quickly.

Of the 50 companies, IQ did not send tweets to 16 because the agency couldn’t find a Twitter account, couldn’t find an account that seemed credible, or the Twitter accounts it did find were too specific in their topics.

Of the remaining 34 companies, 23 responded to McFather’s tweets. Among the 11 that didn’t: Boeing, Exxon Mobile, Home Depot, Walgreens and Wal-Mart. The fastest to reply were GM, UPS and Best Buy — getting back in 2,3 and 4 minutes, respectively. (Best Buy has previously gained recognition for its Twelpforce customer service page on Twitter.) These companies also quickly redirected messages sent to the incorrect accounts for customer service.

For companies that spend more on marketing than you or I could ever fathom, that says something. What that something is I’m not quite sure.Are you a Twitter Queen?

  • Are they afraid to take risks?
  • Do they just not get it?
  • Are they still trying to turn the battleship of their giant company?
  • Like so many, are they deluded into thinking that things will go back to the way they were 10 years ago?

I follow the Twitter feeds of many of you and I see how in touch you are. I also see far too many client come to me with no plan or in some cases even a glimmer of understanding of the what, why and how of Twitter.

Everyday, social media like Twitter becomes standard operating practice as a way for people to find the information that they need. The simple fact that Twitter is searchable is reson enough that you can not ignore it.

You can read the full article here at Media Post Publications or download the white paper with the full results from IQ’s website. It’s a short paper; be sure to check out page 2 for some great examples.

Filed Under: Social Media, wedding marketing, What's Hot Tagged With: , ,

My Take on The Royal Wedding

May 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

I have been watching the flutter about the Royal Wedding and how it was going to heavily influence the American wedding. You know I am not going to sprinkle fairy dust or cloud the view.

So in short order, here are the trends that I think we will see popping up out of this wedding.

  1. The gown. It was simple,elegant and modest. Look for lace sleeves and necklines. Seriously, how long have you heard people screaming for sleeves?
  2. The bouquet. No not a replica because that was one damned expensive bouquet. Look for smallish bouquets in small white flowers with green accents. Look also at the structure of the bouquet; it’s not a hand tied bouquet. The construction on that bouquet was labor intensive and very traditional. More power to the florist that can come up with a reasonably priced  rendition.
  3. Timing. This may well be the biggest trend to come out of this. An afternoon reception with passed hors d’oeuvres, cake, champagne and punch. Period. It’s cost-effective and elegant. Brides have been struggling for a way to be more cost effective with out thinking they will look cheap. Here it is and it’s endorsed by a Royal Wedding.

It’s just how I see it. Please, add your thoughts below.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Blog, Inspiration Tagged With: