Since the topic of the day seems to be lead lists and email I thought I would gather together some of my best posts on the subject.

Happy reading. Oh and don’t forget, the people that are telling you how many names are on their lead list are trying to sell

you something.  Just sayin’

The Truth About Lead Lists

Bridal Spam. Get Out of My Inbox!!

Social media marketing is a much more complex animal than most people seem to think. You cannot just do a bit of it and think it will achieve your goals. In truth, for it to work it has to be a full on social media campaign. Like a well orchestrated symphony, if one part is missing or off key, it will fall flat.

All the tools of Social Media are but pieces of the larger puzzle. Some are to build buzz, some are to spark interest and build tribes, some are used to give deeper information and yet others are best used as a clear call to action. Then there are tools like Twitter and Foursquare that serve to provide the constant beat of jungle drums in the background to keep the movement alive.

Let’s break one down. In our example we are marketing an event to showcase our business.

First off, get your information ready for  your blogsite.Big, splashy, information rich with links and details aplenty. This is in essence, the home base for your media campaign. But don’t launch it all yet, just tease it.Put a lead generator on the page to gather email addresses. “Be the first to know more”

Next you should start teasing it on your FB and Twitter. Lay it out and start building excitement. Put up tweets and status updates saying that “You won’t believe what we have in store for you.” Then start leaking details. You have to do this frequently and you can’t stop. In your symphony, this is your base line. Mind you, you can’t just keep retweeting the same thing over and over. Change the notes. Every thing should link back to the page on your website.

Now that you have tweaked everyones curiosity, roll out the full content on your blog/website. Start getting into buzz building detail on FB. “Just met with {caterer} for a tasting and OMG the food will be fabulous!” “What do you think about our signature cocktail {name}?” “Just saw the mock-ups from {florist}. Wow, just Wow”

Everyone of those vendors needs to be in on the campaign, even if you have to write the content and set up the tweets for them. This is a multipronged attack and it all has to work in unison to achieve it’s goals.

Now you send out the email blast. You send it, your vendors send it and you track your response. The email should match the page on your website and it simply must limit the number of reservations accepted and a time frame. The more scarse and coveted you make the tickets the faster they will sell.

Now you and all of your vendors should be posting updates on their blog helping to build the excitement.

One week later, send the next email blast. In fact, do two. On would go to the people that opened the first but did not respond. Say something along the lines of “Don’t miss the boat” or “Last chance to register”. the other email should go to the people that did not open the first one. Your subject line has got to make their mouth water.

Don’t forget to keep up that baseline of Twitter and FB. On Twitter you should start thanking people for registering. “@{name} I’m so glad you are coming! Can’t wait to see you.” “Dear friend of {company name} @{name} just registered. I can’t wait for you all to meet her.” Put those names out there and make it a social event.

Keep this thing running until the event starts and beyond. Heck, Tweet the event. Those that missed it won’t miss your next one.

Yep, it’s a lot of work. If you look at the alternative of using traditional media you are looking a a massive spend in money instead of time. If this is important to you, take a fraction of what you are saving by not doing traditional media and hire some one to orchestrate the campaign. Money well spent.

or you could just wing it. LOL yeah right.

I ran a cross an interesting story over the weekend. It is an interview with Robert Evans, celebrity photographer. Evans was the wedding photographer for the Jennifer Anniston/ Brad Pitt wedding and then the Katie Holmes/Tom Cruise weddings.

So how did Evans break into that rarefied world? He schmoozed the florist. No, he didn’t cozy up when he knew that they were doing the wedding, it was a part of a regular recurring plan of action. Here is the quote

Why him?

The long answer is hard work, an artist’s eye and a portfolio of unique photos. But the short answer is: flowers!

See, over the years, Evans made a habit of shooting wedding floral arrangements and mailing his best shots to the florist. LA Premiere, of Beverly Hills, was so taken with his photos that they recommended him for weddings. Including the Pitt-Aniston wedding.

OK, Evans did a couple of things by using this method.First of all he endeared himself to the vendors because he enhanced their business. By that I mean that he gave them things that made them look better to their potential clients. Better shots of their product makes them look better.

Since the vendors would be showing these shots of their arrangements to potential clients, it gave him a showcase in front of clients that he wouldn’t have had otherwise.

While not explicitly stated in the article, I’m sure that over time, his method went a long way to build relationships with these vendors. Relationships build business.

Before you get all excited, remember that this is not an overnight thing. It isn’t even something that can be accomplished in a single season.

For 10 years, he’d spent weekends shooting the first dance, the cake, the garter. Eating chicken with the band. Waiting for the bride and groom to climb into the limo.

If you are a regular reader, then you know this isn’t the first time I have advocated something like this nor does it work only for photographers. What ever you do, there is a way to share it with the businesses that are in a position to refer you. Florists, caterers, bakers, DJ’s and stationers have all found ways to accomplish it.

It takes time and persistence but as Mr Evan’s story shows, it can pay off in a huge way if you just stick to it.

If you want more specifics, I found this in the Members Content archives:

Never Underestimate the Power of the Suck-Up

(yes, you have to be a member to read it, but shouldn’t already be one anyway?)

He captures celebrity “I do’s” and yours too | evans, wedding, says – Life – The Orange County Register.

Joy Basdeo , a wedding planner in Grand Cayman emailed me not long ago about a new website. Joy had a blog in one place and 2 different website on other urls and nothing was working. She couldn’t update anything but her blog, and she wasn’t getting much SEO traction on her websites because of the way they were built.

Well, in no time flat we had Joy on a shiny new WordPress blog site built on the Genesis framework. If you haven’t been paying attention, Genesis is just about the slickest thing going in the land of WordPress. In terms of SEO, ease of use and security it at the top of the heap.

What a wonderful experience it has been working with Joy.

I took a couple of the child themes, pulled them apart and played Frankentheme to create Joy’s site. I hope you like it as much as Joy does.

If your website isn’t doing what you need it to, give me a call and I’ll fix you right up.

Click on the image to visit the site.

I met with a friend last week that needed some advice on promoting an upcoming event. We talked about the time frame (very short), we talked about what they were doing already(great event, some advertising, no social media) and what they hoped to get out of the event.

In the course of an hour we tossed around ideas and looked at some possibilities. By the time we were done I thought that we had laid out a fairly comprehensive plan. The thing was, it needed to be implemented almost immediately. Now, yesterday if possible.

I still haven’t seen one word on social media. Not. One.

This needed to be mobilized by all the people that are involved in it. By getting everyone  involved, setting them all up to update automatically and letting it roll, it should have been an easy thing to do.

Sometimes, when you have a lot riding on your PR and marketing and your hands are already full running your business, it just makes sense to hire someone to do it for you.

This was in my PR file this morning.

The Dessy Group Introduces Wedding Planning Tools Online.

Now why would a bridal fashion house take the leap into planning? Or, more correctly, to become a

“one-stop shopping” wedding site

I can think of two reasons why.

The big one, at least on the surface, is to keep brides on their site as long as possible. Any couple that decides to use the Dessy suite of planning tools has to do it through their website. Everytime they log on to use the tools or update their wedding website Dessy has the opportunity to expose them to their product line. That is pretty self evident.

The more important piece of this puzzle is that if it catches on, Dessy will now have access to a very deep level of information on its target market. I have a hard time imagining that a company as large as Dessy would have built this thing with out including a few algorithms to pick the data apart. When you spent as much of your marketing budget to build something like this what’s a little more to be able to fully mine the results.

I think that is the the key behind this project. Data.

Will it work? Good question. Wedding planning tools are a dime a dozen on the internet. These are going to have to be pretty spectacular to even get noticed. Had they done it 6 or 7 years ago, maybe.

On a personal aside, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the pitch meeting for this. I’m sure it was never mentioned that they would be taking on the Knot, Wedding Wire and Brides.com. Just sayin’

In light of the story coming out of Dallas and Boston today with regards to the biggest bridal show scam ever it seem that I need to reiterate some warnings.

According to information uncovered by Tanya Eiserer of the Dallas Morning News, this was much deeper than a single bridal show in Boston. This scam was run in cities around the country. Karen Tucker, the alleged perpetrator was also trying to bilk money by selling advertising in magazines that never existed.

This is one of the reasons why I have always told my clients to never invest in any advertising vehicle with out at least a one year track record. Never. In the past my reasoning was that these required a huge investment of time and commitment on the part of the producer/publisher and all too often they found in the end that they were not up to the challenge. The result being either a very poorly produced product or the failure to produce all together. Now it seems that rather than people with good intentions gone bad we are being preyed upon by people with only the worst intentions. Be careful out there my friends.

This advice from the Better Business Bureau is a good place to start:

When considering renting space at a trade show event, the BBB advises businesses to:

*Ensure that the event is legitimate. Check with the venue to find out if the event has been booked there. (Duh, isn’t that a no-brainer??)

*Consider paying for the event by credit card. If the services are not rendered as promised, you have recourse through your credit card provider.
*Remember that even though an offer may have a Web site and be on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, you should still check out the business and the details of the offer before making any payment.
*Ask to see a booth rental contract before you make any financial commitments. Carefully review the terms and understand what you will be committing to and what recourse you have if the event is cancelled.

Besides that, be it bridal show, magazine or website; give them a year to get their feet wet and prove their worth before you give them any of your precious marketing dollars!

Press Release: Christine Boulton Named to Wedding Industry Survey Network Advisory Board.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Christine Boulton Named to Wedding Industry Survey Network Advisory Board

New York – Tucson: July 27, 2010 – In their ongoing efforts to fill the need for timely and accurate information in the wedding business, the Wedding Industry Survey Network (WISN) names Christine Boulton to its advisory board.

Christine Boulton is a 25 year veteran of the wedding industry and is focused on helping small wedding businesses succeed. Through her company Think Like A Bride she has dedicated herself to understanding what today’s wedding professional needs to prioritize in their busy work day. Boulton’s cutting-edge approach in all areas of media takes very complicated information and simplifies it, making it understandable for her readers to digest. Her approachable nature then allows them to stay in close contact with her to get needed details for specific needs in their markets.

For 19 years she was the owner of a successful boutique bakery, Indulgence Custom Bakeshop. Her experience in dealing with the bride and end consumer allows her to interact with her vendor peers, understanding the challenges that face all portions of the wedding industry.

Today Ms Boulton is focusing on creating a group of web products specifically for the wedding industry. Her website and blog design is noted for being user friendly, SEO ready and easily manageable. Over the last year she has started expanding her public speaking and doing seminars across the country. She still continues to write for a variety of outlets, coach clients one on one and manage Social Media Marketing campaigns for wedding professionals, enabling her to stay connected to the latest trends in real time.

Her recently released eBook Bridal Show Success covers everything from how to select the right show for a wedding related business, down to how to properly follow up after the show is over.

“I am head over heels to be working with such an outstanding group of people. I feel together we bring a depth of talent, big picture view and knack for analysis that has never before been seen in the wedding industry,” said Boulton when she was accepted to the WISN group.

Shane McMurray, creator and head of the group said,” We have been working closely with Christine since early 2010. We feel she has the proper mix of knowledge as a vendor but also understands the industry from the Business-to-Business side. Her edginess, always questioning the facts and pushing the envelope lends itself to creating a dynamic environment for our group. We are very happy to have her on board.”

For more information please contact:

Paul Pannone at 516-312-0090

Paul@ewednews.com

Yep, more proof that Facebook is still a good bet. The above title is from a Media Post Study released 7/7/10.

Here is the juicy quote:

Showing the degree to which Facebook has become the gateway to the greater Web, nearly half — 48% — of all respondents now claim to get more news through Facebook than from traditional news outlets.

In addition, shedding new light on the dynamics of female social networking behavior, 50% of respondents believe they could rely on a “Facebook friend” for their help in a crisis; while 46% say it’s okay to be Facebook friends with someone they don’t like in real life.

Read the whole article for yourself

Tomorrow I’ll have some things your can do to spice up your Facebook page.

There seems to be a huge push by certain people in the wedding marketing industry this week to convince you to abandon Facebook as a marketing tool and put all your eggs in the Twitter basket. Hmmm, where is this coming from.

On Tuesday Lienne Stevens of Splendid Communications posted this article about the supposed mass exodus from Facebook.

Then today I found this press release from two bright lights saying…

Most wedding professionals should spend less time blogging and on Facebook, and reallocate this time to building a business presence within the wedding Twittersphere

I Call Bullshit!

bullshit_detector

One of the things that has gotten me where I am today is the massive amounts of data I ingest everyday. I analyze information from sources both within and outside of the wedding industry. Well, just let me tell you, what I have read above just didn’t ring true with I am seeing.

And here’s why…

It has always been my position that if you look at your twitter followers that you would find that the majority of your followers are fellow wedding professionals. In fact, I even say this in my seminars and in my blog. Apparently, it isn’t just me. I posted an article earlier this week siting the very interesting infographic that NearlyWeds had posted regarding Twitter followers. NearlyWed did the math folks. They are self described as a bunch of geeks, I trust their data.

Having said that, I also want to say that I still believe that Facebook is your better bet and here is my backup on that.

Check out this article on eMarketer.

Here are the juicy quotes:

Unsurprisingly, despite Facebook’s growing appeal to older users, 18- to 34-year-olds spend the most time on the site per week, at 8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online.

And this:

In Q1 2010, comScore found that the visitors who spent the most time on Facebook also spent the most money online. Targeting users who not only spend large amounts of time on the site but also devote a large proportion of their total online activity to the social network could translate to going after the most lucrative portion of the audience.

I have to tell you, I still think Facebook is a good bet. People are still using it to connect, not just to play Farmville. As long as your target market’s friends are on there, your target market will be there to connect and keep up with their tribe.

The other aspect of Facebook that works in my mind is the “peer pressure”, if your tribe Friends something, you will be prompted to Friend it as well. It is word of mouth marketing on a whole new level. One thing that Facebook does very well is to read your tribe and use that data to make recommendations. You may not like it on a privacy level, but on a marketing level, I’m not going to pass it up.