Brilliant Wedding Marketing

March 14, 2012 By ndulj 4 Comments

Marketing is tough. How do you decide where to start, where to invest and how to design your marketing material.

You are getting pitched daily by this one and that one telling you have to advertise with them.

“You have to do print!”

“I can deliver (insert ridiculous number here) leads to you a month!”

“If you want to do well in this market you have to do this bridal show!”

Who do you believe?

The only real way to know what to do and who to believe is to build a marketing plan specifically for your business and stick to it. Don’t you wish someone would just tell you step by step how to market.

BINGO!

Brilliant Wedding Marketing is the step by step guide to building your marketing plan in a logical, layered way.

It tells you where to start and why. As you grow your business, add a layer.

Not only where and why, but how to perfectly execute each facet of your brilliant plan. From what to include in your website to how to design an ad for print, here are the answers. What about Email? It’s covered! Outrageous marketing? You didn’t think I would leave that out did you?

It’s all here in one clear, logical road map to marketing your wedding business brilliantly!

What do you spend in a year on marketing your wedding business? Isn’t it worth $19.95 to make sure you get it right? You bet it is. One decent print add will run you at least $2400! Isn’t it worth less than 20 bucks to get that right?

I know there are about a million books on marketing, but how many of them are written specifically for this wacky industry known as WEDDINGS? More than that, how many of them are written by someone you already know and trust? One of the reasons you read THINK is for marketing advice in a clear and easy to understand style. No bullshit, no gobldygook; just straight talk from someone who has been there.

Brilliant Wedding Marketing boils it all down to a step by step plan to keep you on track with your marketing.

Get the e-book today!

$19.95
Still haven’t bought Bridal Show Success? Let me tell you, Bridal shows are a key part of your marketing plan and you also have to do those right. If you buy both ebooks I’ll take $5.00 off.

Buy the e-book bundle and market like a pro.

$29.90

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Filed Under: Announcement, bridal shows, eBooks, email marketing, Marketing, Website Design, wedding marketing Tagged With: advertising, bridal marketing, bridal shows, Brilliant Wedding Marketing, internet marketing, lead lists, Marketing, search optimization, Target Marketing, website design, Website marketing, Wedding Business Success, wedding marketing

New Ideas for Bridal Show Email Follow-up

February 3, 2012 By ndulj 2 Comments

OK, you’ve invested your time and treasure in a bridal show, or several and you have a fat, juicy lead list. Now what?

I have already given you tons of ideas to use both short-term and long-term like cherry picking your lead list and outrageous marketing. The question people still are asking is what to put in that first email?

An interesting answer popped into my inbox just this morning that I think you should give a try.

How about instead of telling them something you ask them something?

Check this quote from today’s Research Brief from The Center for Media Research.

A new survey from Cint shows that 62% of those surveyed said they were more likely to purchase a brand’s product if their opinion has been sought by brand in a study. The survey highlights the importance of customer insight, says the report, as over half of the 1,200 consumers polled felt more loyal to a brand if it takes the time to find out their opinion.

Personally I can’t think of a better way to get them engaged from the very beginning. You know me, here is an example. If it were me sending the email for Indulgence Custom Bakeshop I would have said something along the lines of:

“Hey there {add first name}, it was great to meet you at the XYZ Bridal Show. I was wondering if I could get your input on something. It’s a new year and I really want to add some new and exciting flavors to the menu. If you could have any flavor or combination of flavors for your wedding cake or dessert what would it be?”

Better yet, put in a very brief survey or poll.

Don’t be crass and ask what their budget is. Ask them something that they may just have an interesting opinion on and ask it like you mean it. Give them some reason to believe that their input matters. Tweet the answers like a horse race. Build some excitement. Keep a tally going on Facebook. Foster engagement.

Here is one more tip that you probably already know but needs to be reinforced.

That email needs to be finished and uploaded to your bulk mailer BEFORE you set up your booth. As soon as the show is over you need to load the emails you collected in your booth and hit the send button. That night. I know you are tired; shows can be brutal. Not taking care of the follow through is the biggest mistake that bridal vendors make when using bridal shows to market.

Bonus.

Here is another great article I just found on Asking as Marketing.

Filed Under: Back to Basics, bridal shows, email marketing, Marketing Tagged With: bridal marketing, bridal shows, email, lead lists, Marketing, Target Marketing, wedding marketing

There is Help Out There

October 10, 2011 By ndulj Leave a Comment

I had a very interesting conversation last week with virtual assistant Larissa Parks. Larissa and her company specialize in wedding industry clients.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with virtual assistants and what they do, think of them as a nerd in your pocket. Now I mean that only in the best way. You can have them handle things like your email campaign, market research, client retention, spreadsheets and even field your email inquiries. Some of them are skilled at making simple updates and changes to your website. Some of them are masters at handling your lead follow-up. All of those paperwork-y details that have to be done but take time away from the things you do best.

Back to Larissa. A former wedding planner that still loves all things wedding. She has built her VA business around and for the wedding industry. Just like I took my skills off in a new direction but found a way to help the industry I love, so has she. What makes her special is that she specializes in the wedding industry. She know what you do and how to talk to brides. That is a deal maker for me.

Two things that I think all of you could use a VA for is lead follow up and client retention. Give her your lead lists and let her do the cherry picking, email and lumpy mailer design and creation and get them out in a VERY timely way. You have better things to do with your time.

Client retention. Yes you can have repeat business. Very few wedding professionals can’t think of some other way to serve their newly married clients after the wedding. There will still be birthdays, babies housewarming and job promotions that will need your services. Let your clients know you will still be there to serve them after they say I do. Have your VA maintain a database of your clients anniversaries and send them greetings just to let them know you are still around. It is easier to maintain clients than to create new ones.

Please connect with Larissa and she how she can help you do more with your time.

Filed Under: Back to Basics, email marketing

Email Marketing: Your Welcome Letter

March 25, 2011 By ndulj Leave a Comment

It seems that my fair readers are finally convinced and jumping on the email marketing bandwagon. Groovey! I have set up more email lead generators lately than I can count, so how about a little in depth on some of the finer points.

From today’s email bag-o-tips…

Your Welcome Letter

So many times we are just in a rush to get things going when we set up our email marketing systems that we just use the default welcome letter or don’t use one at all. I know this was true of me. My welcome letter is old, tired and boring, but I plan to change that. It have been in place since 2005, high time for an overhaul.

If you don’t think the welcome letter is important, check this statistic:

According to a recent Epsilon survey of 200 retailers, fewer than 2/3 of retailers do not send a welcome message at all, even though the welcome messages tracked had an average open rate of 50-60%.

That is a lot of juice to ignore! Not sending a welcome letter is a lot like ignoring a customer when they walk in your store.

What should a good welcome letter say? Well, think of the interaction that you have when you first walk into one of your favorite shops. You are greeted warmly and offered assistance. If you are new to the store, they offer to show you around a bit and give you the need to know. Then a great sales person will back off and let you experience the shop with out hovering.

Well your welcome letter should do the same thing.

Thank your new subscriber for joining your list.
Give them a quick rundown of what they can expect.
Tell them a bit about any hidden treasures on your website or store.
Lead them with links to the good stuff and then back off and let them browse.

That’s it. Oh, make sure that you welcome message carries your branding and that sort of thing. Your welcome email should only begin the process by engaging them with your brand. Save you sales push and coupons for later broadcast emails.

Filed Under: Back to Basics, email marketing Tagged With: bridal marketing, direct marketing, email, lead lists