How are you re-inventing your business?

Last night I was at a networking event and had the opportunity to speak with quite a few wedding professionals in a wide range of categories. I saw an interesting pattern emerge.

There are a lot of very smart people either in the middle of or in the beginning phases of completely re-inventing their businesses in light of the new economic realities in the wedding market. Instead of continuing to do the same old thing they are reading the market and rolling with the punches.

Two different photographers are seeing the light, one is fairly new and the other is a seasoned pro, but both are no longer putting their emphasis on shooting weddings. Instead, both are moving into the portraiture market but in entirely different ways. Both are using their established connections and unique skill sets. Very Cool!

I spoke with a new linen company that is completely re-inventing the wheel. I am interviewing them later to get the skinny for an in-depth article on this topic for the members content side of Think.

I also got to check in my florist friend that is placing her emphasis on rentals to both brides and florist. She is in the unique position of having ‘things’ that other, new florists haven’t had the time or treasure to amass.

I also met the owner of an invitation company that is branching out into event planning. (OK, don’t get me started on new planners but at least they are re-inventing)

What I want to know is how you are reading the market and re-inventing yourself? You all know what I did six years ago to re-invent brand “ME”. What are you doing?

I am putting together an article and if you would like your unique story included, just leave a comment of send me an email.

My readers are some of the smartest wedding professionals out there, I can’t wait to hear your stories.

I create blog-sites for a lot of different clients. They all have different reasons for doing it.

At the root of why most of them blog is for marketing, but not always. I have had a few that want to keep their website but add a platform that they have control of themselves. A lot of them understand that they can just replace the old site with a blog-site and maximize all there efforts into one url.

If you are only blogging because someone told you that you have to then you are bound to fail. You will end up resenting the effort you have to put into it and your writing will show it.

The best blogs come from people that have a genuine desire to share. They want to share their knowledge, or the cool things they find, or brag on their friends, or tell a story that is evolving over time. The best bloggers love what the have to share, they are connected to it and in turn to their audience. You can’t fake that.

I run across clients from time to time that over think it. As a consequence they never post, they are paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong.

Here is the best advice you will ever get to get you started:

Think of your blog as a conversation with a friend. That friend that you can talk to for hours.  That friend that values your opinion even if the disagree with you. That friend that shares your passions. Then write ever blog post as if you were talking to them.

Write in the same tone you would use with them. Think of your readers as your perfect pen pal.

Then just enjoy the ride.

Once you have found your voice, then you can worry about all the geeky details.

What Influences Woman’s Buying?

In a word, everything. A recent conversation with a bridal salon got me thinking about how the purchasing habits of women are influenced. There is always talk in the industry about price and how that is the determining factor in closing the sale. That’s not altogether true. It may be a factor in whether they ever meet with you but price alone won’t ultimately be the only influence in their purchase.

Women are hard wired differently than men. They see, smell and hear everything around them and on one level or another are influenced by it. Men tend to hone in on the things that are of interest to them with complete focus and clarity. Why does this matter and what can you do with it?

First it matters because your customers are primarily women. Even if this wasn’t the bridal industry it would still matter; women make or influence 85% of all purchases.

Even if you provide men’s formal wear women control the purse strings.

If a woman loves your work, accepts the price and isn’t put off by your contract you may still lose the sale on something that you never even considered, like say your lighting or your bathroom. Remember I said woman see, smell and hear everything. Do you? You probably don’t because you see it everyday.

From the time a woman makes contact with you, everything counts: how fast was their email answered, was the phone answered by a human during business hours and were the answers given helpful? Remember also that you are dealing with them at a highly emotionally charged time in their lives. Even the slightest perceived disconnect may take on more significance than usual.

The shop owner I spoke with asked if I thought that personal appearance mattered. Yes, everything matters. Women pick up subliminal clues. If your appearance does not match what you are saying they will catch it. For instance, if your style of photography is hip and trendy but your clothing is stodgy and traditional you are projecting a disconnect. If you are selling high fashion and your manner of dress is purely for comfort with tennis shoes and old sweaters your clients aren’t going to trust your judgment. I don’t know how often I have said it here but perception is reality. What your customers perceive you to be, you are.

This same philosophy carries all the way through what ever contact you have with your clients. If you meet with clients in an off site location like a restaurant or coffee house you need to consider how that location reflects you and your product. While the local diner may be convenient and familiar does it project the image you want to send? If the image you are trying to project is upscale you may do better to set up camp in a chic dessert shop across town. Everything matters.

Sometimes we are to close to the situation to really see it. An interesting, though sometimes painful exercise is to ask a trusted friend to tell you what they see. Pick a friend that can be brutally honest and have them meet you as a client would; dressed as you would be in the place you most often meet clients. Find out what their perception is. Does it match what you were hoping to project? I often send articles I am working on to an editor friend of mine with the subject line “Shred my copy”. Sometimes it hurts, but it always makes me a better writer.

It may come to a point where you need to reallocate some of your already stretched marketing budget and hire a consultant to look over your shop or office to get a new perspective. Be sure and have a clear picture of the image you are wanting to project; an image that reflects the style of your work. Remember it is the total package. I know some people that are wonderful at their chosen field but struggle because they just aren’t projecting the right image. It may sound sad or petty, but in today’s highly competitive world it is the tiniest pieces that separate the winners from the losers.

This is another tidbit you can use from the archives of Think Like A Bride. To read more articles like this subscribe to Think today

I keep hearing people say they can’t blog because they don’t know how or what to write. Just stop that. You do know what to write and you do know how; well that is if you are capable of carrying on a conversation about something you are passionate about with a friend. That’s what blogging is really, a conversation with a friend that shares your passion.
Blogging, and all of social media for that matter, is about personal engagement. It is about sharing your thoughts on a particular topic and inviting feedback. You aren’t writing your thesis and there isn’t a white collared professor that is going to nit-pick your syntax. If you can use spell check and have mastered elementary school grammar, you’ll do fine.
With that out of the way, the question of what to talk about is next off everyone’s lips. Don’t over think it, my friends. There are only 2 rules to this:
1. Stay on topic
2. Think about what your audience wants to know

Stay on Topic: this is easy if before you ever start to blog you write the tagline or mission statement for your blog. Use one brief sentence telling your audience what they will find in your blog, then just stick to that. It doesn’t have to even be a sentence, just a phrase works. For instance:
Beautiful Wedding Gowns and the Things That Go With Them

Now just keep every post to that topic; don’t go off the reservation and start posting about your dog or your vacation. If you own a bridal salon you can’t tell me that you don’t run across at least 3 things a week that make you go, “Ooooh,pretty”. Isn’t that why you got into the business in the first place? Now keep a list of those things and start sharing. Use as many descriptive words as you can and tell why it made you notice it. There you are done. No research, no struggling, just a running stream of consciousness on something you love.

What your audience wants to know: Whatever business you are in, your customers ask questions. Well here is your platform to answer in detail after you have had time to think about it. Let’s keep with the bridal salon example. Show a real bride in a gown and explain why the cut of that particular dress worked well on her particular figure. Tell why the color works when a different one wouldn’t. Give them real information; they will keep coming back for more.

As I said at the start, blogging is just a new form of conversation. You mastered conversation via email and you can master this too.

Now that I have convinced you that you can do it, tomorrow I go into why it works to help your search rankings and how you can master that too.

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Headed by Christine Boulton of Think Like A Bride, The Agency @ Think is the only marketing and web development firm that understands the unique needs of those trying to market to brides.

Because we are all industry insiders, you don’t have to struggle to explain your target market to us. Learn more …

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