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Mrs.J’s Baking & Catering

October 13, 2011 By 3 Comments

I’ve been busy busy in the pixel mines of late. Good thing the treehouse has direct access to their deepest darkest recesses!

First up is a new client  Mrs J’s Baking and Catering that was, of course, a referral from another happy friend of Think. Celeste Morris, the owner, was living with a site she hated and had very little control over. Oh, she could add some content but not much and had little or no control over the look or the galleries. Well now you know I was going to fix that nonsense!

Her site looked generic with no real branding to match what she did. You see, unlike a lot of caterers, Celeste specializes in southern style comfort food. Not much except the menus reflected that. So here at Think we fixed her right up with a new logo and new branding to go with her shiny new site.  An hour or two of my standard tutorials and she was able to update anything she wanted.  She has started to blog and this fall we have her signed up for Ashley’s Blog Camp! 

Tale a look. (I just love her background) The image is a link to her site.

Mrs J's Baking & Catering website

Filed Under: Announcement, Blog, Inspiration, Portfolio, Website Design, Website marketing Tagged With:

Blog Camp. Be There!

October 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

Are you afraid of blogging?

Do you struggle with what to write?

Many of my clients know they should be blogging as a way to market their business but are intimidated by the process. They don’t know what to write, think it has to be some long winded post or don’t feel that their writing skills are up to par. I give tips and ideas but often that isn’t enough.

Help is on the way!

Ashley King, long time friend of Think and owner of Ashley’s Bride Guide is finally hosting her fabulous Blog Camp again.  She hasn’t done one of these since 2009 but people are still talking about it.

Unlike so many seminars out there today that only spout generalities, Blog Camp is hands on, down to the nitty gritty and jam packed with valuable take-aways.

The blog camp will take place over 2 days and will cover just about everything you have ever wanted to learn – from setting up your blog to helping Google find it to promoting it on Twitter.   I assure you, this will be a very hands-on, informative camp – designed to get you motivated and to give you a step-by-step plan for taking your blog from idea to reality. I’ll discuss key obstacles and how to get around them along with how to grow your readers.

Don’t believe me, look at what some of Ashley’s former students have said.

I was ‘forced’ to sign up for Ashley’s Blog Camp by my daughters who said I would never be successful at my business & was warned “the world will leave you behind” if I didn’t learn how to blog. Thinking I could never learn about blogging, I had rather stand before a firing squad than go to blog camp.
Ashley was a wonderful teacher & certainly knows all about the blog world. She was not intimidating at all. She never continued in the class until she was sure you understood each step.
The class was fun & when it was over Ashley assured us that if we had any questions we could email her anytime.
Going to her class was one of the best tools I used in advancing Bella Weddings.
~Vickie Stanton / Bella Weddings

The blog camp was well organized and presented with lots of energy and a great working knowledge of the subject.  It is a must for anyone in any industry seeking more insight into the world of blogging.  It’s probably one of the best values for the money spent that I’ve participated in in years.

Martin O’Connor Photography

www.martinoconnorphoto.com

Ashley’s Blog Camp for wedding professionals was a very informative experience me as a Nashville Wedding Professional.  I attended the 1st blog camp in 2009 to give social media insight but took away so much more information.  Ashley is passionate about helping vendors reach their full potential at the same time connecting them to potential brides.  Whether it’s Google Analytics or finding your voice, she definitely practices what she teaches in BlogCamp  & gets results!
The “icing on the cupcake” is that she is a great encourager & cheerleader for new wedding professionals in helping them reach their full potential online. I would highly recommend Ashley’s Blog Camp to new wedding professionals & existing professionals needing a refresher!

A. Latrice Cushenberry
www.LatriceCushenberry.com

Event will take place on Sunday – November 6 & 13, 2011. Workshop will start at 3pm and will last for approx 4-5 hours, depending on questions.  For any of you in the mid south, this is a must attend.

For all the rest of my readers spread across the globe, Ashley has promised me that if there is enough interest she will host another one that is on a single weekend and arrange hotel deals for you. If you aren’t able to attend this on, either contact Ashley directly or leave a note in the comments telling her you are interested.

 

Ready to register?

 

 

Filed Under: Announcement, Back to Basics, Blog Tagged With: ,

The Picture of A Great Website

August 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

I loved the phone call I got on Wednesday.

I had a site go live for a client, PictureThisNashville.net, on Monday. On Wednesday Elaine, the owner, called to tell me she had booked a wedding from the site and for the first time the client said they had found her on Google.  That 3 days to go from not showing up on Google at all to showing up on the front page. Not bad if I do say so myself.

Here is what Elaine had to say

Where do we begin to thank you. Christine you are amazing and we are so glad we met you.  I will never forget our first meeting I knew right then and there you were the person to help us get our business heading in the right direction. Since you redid and relaunched our website we have had a 42% jump in viewers and we booked a wedding from someone that found us on a google search which I know you helped with.

Thank you so much. You ROCK!!

Elaine Pardo – Ingram
PICTURE THIS NASHVILLE
www.picturethisnashville.net

Have a look for yourself. (the image is a live link)

By the way, Elaine’s concept for a completely new type of Photo booth is killer. Please check it out, especially if you at all techie. It’s worth a look just for the Touch Screen iMac’s. They are so fun to play with!

Filed Under: Announcement, Website Design Tagged With: , , ,

Websites to Sing About! How’s Yours?

August 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I have been a busy, busy bee. Lot’s of my client sites were in need of an update, but I still found time to build a few new ones.

First up, A Song for Her. Gil Grand and his PR agent Melissa Mathews first approached me with their idea in the spring and it was a great one. Gil is an award winning singer songwriter and now you can have him write a custom song for you. Need to say “I love you” or “Dang, I screwed up” or “I miss you?” Then Gil’s you guy.

Now I will be the first one to admit that I know virtually nothing about music or the music industry ( ya, ya I know I live in NashVegas) but by listening to what they wanted and what they did, I was able to identify their target audience and give them what they needed. Have a look

To make a long story short, Gil and Melissa were so happy that when Gil’s company, Grand & Gee were nominated for CCMA Music Publisher of the Year they called me to do their ad! We wish Grand & Gee all the luck in the world, they deserve it.

Filed Under: Announcement, Marketing, Website Design, Website marketing Tagged With: ,

Bridal Show Success Goes Live

August 2, 2011 By 1 Comment

You’ve read the book, now hear it live!

I will be at the Marriott Southwest in Minnetonka, MN on August,17th to do a live seminar on Winning at Bridal Shows for the Professional Wedding Guild of Minnesota.

It takes more than showing up with a portfolio and a bowl of mints to get any kind of return on your bridal show investment. I dig deep into my 25 years of working shows, helping my clients maximize theirs and assisting bridal show producers to give you what you need to squeeze every dollar you can out of yours. I show you everything from how to pick the right show for you, plan it, work it and then do the all important follow up to really win.

Thank to Gary Swartz, publisher at Perfect Wedding Guide of Minnesota for inviting me. Not only is Gary a publisher, but he also produces bridal shows.  He wants his client to succeed!

You can get more information at the the Professional Wedding Guild of Minnesota’s site..

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    • Filed Under: Announcement, bridal shows, wedding marketing

    The Changing Face of The American Wedding

    June 29, 2011 By 3 Comments

    I set out this morning with the intention of doing one of my Trend Tracker post. You know, where I run through about 1000 posts in my reader quickly to see what jumps out. Well today, what jumped out was a little deeper than colors and feathers, circuses and painted signs.

    What jumped out was a different way of thinking about weddings, to be more precise, how couples are thinking differently about their wedding.

    There seems to be a feeling or yearning for the small town, tight knit community of family and friends. Gone is the urban chic. Even the Mad Men look was no where to be found. I felt transported to a time and place when life was simpler. A time of picnics in the town square, concerts in the band shell, carnivals that appeared magically on the outskirts of town, a time of farmhouses and faded picket fences.

    I saw more and more of families pitching in to help the couple realize their dreams. Think of the new American wedding as a modern day barn raising.

    If you will notice, I used the word ‘couple ‘ in the 4th sentence instead of ‘bride’. That is another change that is just beginning to emerge. Because weddings are increasingly being financed by the couple, the men are becoming more involved and to a lesser degree, more excited by the wedding planning process.

    I have long maintained that more and more, brides are getting their information from blogs, chat and forums. I ran across an interesting thread that helps to explain why. There are several pages to this thread, but this one statement tell the story better than I ever could. Mainstream wedding media, pay attention.

    Shortly after getting engaged, a recently married co-worker suggesting I check out Weddingbee. She said of all the wedding websites, Weddingbee was her favorite as it followed real brides on real budgets. (emphasis mine)

    Two more  interesting threads concerns the desire of some brides to blow off the fluff and pouf altogether. The first is from Weddingbee and illustrates that despite their desires, brides were into full on planning mode due to pressure from not only their families but also the groom.  In the second thread the Tribe Community manager for OffBeat Bride explains that she really isn’t all that OffBeat. This quote explains why she wasn’t a fit for traditional wedding media:

    I don’t do the poetic schmoopy thing very well, but to ME, being offbeat is putting your marriage and relationship ahead of your wedding and being true to the people you are every day. It means that your wedding (ie: a party) exists to honor the two of you, and to celebrate you choosing to spend the rest of your lives together with the people you adore. It’s not a showcase of wealth and taste, carefully tailored to inspire envy, covetousness, and awe in as many people as possible … it’s a showcase of your love

    Well said Ang.

    More and more I see the face of the American wedding changing in some very positive ways. Oh maybe not positive for the wedding professionals that still yearn for the “More is better” heyday of  2008; but a big plus for our society and for the vendors that change and adapt with it.

     

    Oh ya, the Trend Tracker

     

    Colors are softer, dresses are softer, finishes are softer, it is like the world is looking at wedding by squinting.

     

     

    {Source}

    Filed Under: Announcement, Trends, What Brides Say, What's Hot Tagged With:

    My Flip Wedding and Staying Ahead of the Curve

    March 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

    I have built a reputation of being pretty spot on in terms of trend tracking, well here is the next one.

    I rarely take on clients for full on marketing campaigns anymore, but this one was too hot to pass up.  I want you, my faithful readers to be ahead of the curve.

    In the coming months, your brides are going to be asking you about My Flip Wedding. What, you ask, is a Flip Wedding? It is the brain child of the wonderful folks at Storymix Media and it is a way for brides and grooms to capture the memories of their wedding (before and beyond) in a DIY way with amazing results.

    Storymix Media will rent the simple to use little Flip cameras as a package, your bride then gets them into the hands of the people who know her best, her friends and family. Once they have filmed the bits and pieces of the big day from their unique point of view, the cameras are packed up and sent back to Storymix Media. They upload the footage and then the bride can use their easy-peasy storyboard editing system to pick the scenes, the theme and the music. The Apple Certified Pros at Storymix then edit them into a wonderful highlight reel.

    Videographers, don’t panic. This isn’t to replace you, this is in addition to you.

    I think, even cooler than couples using it for their wedding are all the other applications I am seeing. Grooms are using them for their bachelor party, brides are capturing their shower and girls day. Couples are taking them on their honeymoon. The possibilities are endless. You see the thing is, sometimes your best friends and family see things that you (and your videographer) miss. It is like getting to be a guest at your wedding.

    You can find out more in today’s press release. You can also check out the Man Registry for a post later today. Next month, OffBeat Bride is doing a feature on My Flip Wedding.

    Here is one more thing that you might find useful. Mike and Ariane Fisher, the brains behind Storymix Media are offering an affiliate program. If you have a retail storefront or are a planner, this is one more way to add a little cha-ching to your bottom line. Think of the impluse buy possibilities. We are still in the building stages of the affiliate program, so if you have some input, let me know.

    Here is another heads up. I am seeing some copy-cats start to climb out of the wood work. Don’t go there. Mike and Ariane at Storymix Media have been doing this since 2006 for pros and consumers alike. The new part is that now they have launched a wedding division specifically for the bridal market. Trust me, the team at Storymix Media knows what they are doing.

     

    For the record, no this isn’t a sponsored post but they are a client of mine.

    Filed Under: Announcement, Trends, What's Hot Tagged With: ,

    Group Therapy for ‘Gorilla’ Marketers

    March 9, 2011 By 10 Comments

    I can not believe the tremendous response to the video presentation on ‘Gorilla’ Marketing that aired yesterday on Book More Brides’ 6 Figure Wedding Business Summit. If you missed it, you can see  it here.

    I want to thank Stephanie and Jeff for hosting such a wonderful program.

    Having viewed the comments that poured in, it occured to me that for many of  you leaping out of the comfort of the vanilla box of marketing can be a little daunting. What if there was a place that you could bounce all those wild ideas off a select group of like minded gorillas? Kind of like group therapy for marketing.

    Here is what I propose:

    • Small groups of 5 or 6 for video conferences.
    • Organize groups based on geographic location so that you aren’t sharing with competetors in your own market.
    • Meet once a month to help each other create and flesh out plans for outrageous marketing and mostly to learn from each other.

    If there is a big enough response, I will be happy to put it all together on Skype. All you would need is a free Skype account, a web cam and a high speed connection.

     

    Filed Under: Announcement, Outrageous Marketing, Personal Coaching, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

    “Gorilla” Marketing

    March 8, 2011 By 5 Comments

    I know that you have been following all my posts on Outrageous Marketing for wedding professionals. Well now you have to catch the video!

    Stephanie and Jeff Padovani of Book More Brides have put together a series of video presentation, 6 Figure Wedding Business Summit and I was honored to be included.

    When they asked what my followers would like to know more about, there was only one answer-Outrageous Marketing! So there you go, one hour of the full deal on how to market your wedding business “outside the box.”

    I give you the lowdown on just what “Gorilla Marketing” is (hint: think of Gurella Marketing on steroids)

    There are real world examples of wedding professionals that have used these ideas to market outside of the box with outstanding results.

    I give you ideas on where to find the money to pull off some of this stuff without mortgaging the ranch.

    It is all about how to fly your freak flag, how to show out, how to be down right flambouyant (even if you’re not) to get you and your product out there.

    Come on along for a fun hour that will transform your marketing plan for years to come!

    You can click the link in the side bar or just follow this one.

    This is one you really don’t want to miss.

     

     

     

    Filed Under: Announcement, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

    Wedding Dish

    January 14, 2011 By 1 Comment

    Some of you may not be aware that I actually have another blog, Wedding Dish. It is directed at brides with real world tips and answers.I added a link in the Menu bar of  Think.Wedding Dish

    In light of my recent rant about the bad information on the internet I thought I should be honest about my ‘other life.’

    I am not one to always take my own advice so I don’t post to this blog as often as I should anymore. This one seems to be taking all my time these days. Still there is some pretty funny stuff over there and I have always tried to be as real with brides as I am with you.

    Do me a favor and give it a read. You just might find something you can use.

    Filed Under: Announcement, Blog, Trends Tagged With: , ,
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