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Marketing Tip for Wedding Photographers

October 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Dear photographers, I have a marketing tip for you today.

You know that the primary way that today’s brides and grooms find their wedding vendors is by personal referral, right? Well one of the places they are going for those referrals is to their planner and the other wedding professionals that they hire. That makes these professionals very important to your marketing picture.

Do you know one of the best ways to woo these professionals? Give them what they need most for their marketing, Pictures! Now that is pretty easy, isn’t it?

So why aren’t you doing it?

I was speaking with Lisa of Scoobie Photography and Courtney from A Magical Affair Saturday when this topic came up. Here is the deal, by Wednesday, Courtney will have, at the very least, some sneak peek images from Saturday’s wedding. With some other photographers, she can wait weeks or months for images. Those images are an integral part of marketing her planning firm. The more weddings she does, the more photographers she can refer.

All things being equal,  she is going to refer the photographers that are conscious of this and get her images quickly. Wouldn’t you agree?

So why aren’t you doing it?

It isn’t just planners that this works with. Think about all the vendor portfolios a bride and groom looks through as they plan their wedding. If they are

Ivory wedding cake with swiss dot and sugar ribbon and bows

consistently seeing the same watermark pop up in portfolio after portfolio, that means something.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. When I was doing cakes, one photographer, Martin O’Connor, always did it right. I knew that by Wednesday I would have an envelope in my mailbox containing an 8 x 10 image like the one in this post.

When I pulled out my portfolio to grab that image, it was funny that about every 5th page had an image like this. Now even if I never actually spoke his name in conversation with a bride, she knew his name.  Now imagine that they saw similar images in the portfolios of other cake designers and florists and caterers and bands and DJs. How much power do you think that had.

I will admit that these images hadn’t been corrected nor had the photographer taken the time to work his Photoshop magic on it, but this was 10 years ago and things have progressed immensely since then. What it took Martin hours to do, you could do in much less time.

So why aren’t you doing it?

I know that you have your hands full taking care of your clients, but if you want that pipeline of future brides to keep flowing, this is a great way to do it. Yes it take some of your time, but unlike when Martin was doing this, you can send them all digitally. It’s not like you have to print them and put them in the mail!

So why aren’t you doing it?

The wedding professionals you work with have to feed their social media stream. If they are tweeting and updating during the lulls in a wedding, they want to be able to show their followers more as soon as they can to keep the hype going. Wouldn’t it help your marketing to have them speaking well of you and showing off you images as part of that?

So, one more time, why aren’t you doing it?

 

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Marketing, Outrageous Marketing, Rants & Raves, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Tips From a Master on Getting Press for Your Wedding Business

July 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

With everything you have to do, worrying about getting press for your wedding business is probably not high on your to-do list. Well it should be.

For most wedding businesses, by press I mean getting your work out the on the top blogs as well as the multitude of local and regional wedding blogs. Those are, after all, where today’s bride is finding her muse and inspiration.

Just as important, being able to show all those posts on your own Press page is a huge boost. Somewhere in the back of many of today’s brides mind is the secret dream of having their wedding splashed all over their favorite blog. If they see that you are regularly being published, that is one more point in your favor.

Now the question is, “How do you get your work on all those blogs?”

I have one client that is a master at it. Kathy Best, owner of Front Porch Farms seems to do it without really trying.  Truth is, Kathy has a bit of an advantage over most of us, she also owns Front Page Publicity, a PR agency in Nashville. When she started Front Porch Farms she had no problem using those skills to promote her new venue. Bottom line, she knows the power of PR and how to get it.

fpf on Style Me pretty

Here is how she does it.

 I do think my PR background played a huge role in our success. I know from PR that images are everything and there are times when I go way above what I’m paid to do or what is included because I want the images for the website. Everyone fusses at me about this but I look at it as a form of marketing…we want weddings to be a certain look at our venue so we were making them that way long before brides could really afford to do it.  Brian finally got used to everything we did having to be about the photos. Now he gets it.

First of all, she makes sure that her event are “press worthy.”  We live in a visual age and Kathy know that it is all about the pictures. That often means going above and beyond the original contract.

(Brian is her hubs and partner. He builds many of the cool props they use)

The next thing Kathy does is seeing to it that her work gets submitted to Two Bright Lights. I know this because I maintain her site and I see the emails. Today she had one picked up by a blog in the UK. Not bad for a site in the hills of Tennessee that is just over 4 years old!

“But Christine”, you ask, ” Two Bright lights only accepts submission from Photographers. I can’t even get them to send me images how do I get them to submit to TBL?”

Make you events press worthy.

As Kathy said, go above and beyond if you have to. Think of it as part of your marketing budget. Believe me, the bit you spent on some extra flowers or better linens is a pittance compared to what you would spend in advertising to get the same exposure. I am not saying do it on every wedding, but if you have one that comes close, do what it takes to get it there. Re read this part of the quote “we want weddings to be a certain look at our venue so we were making them that way long before brides could really afford to do it.”  Doesn’t that tell you that now they do “afford it”.  Kathy made an investment and it is paying off.

Ask them!

I don’t know many photographers that don’t want their work praised and raved about. Who doesn’t want to be published. If you give them “press worthy” events they are going to want to show them off. Ask them to submit to Two Bright Lights. The more often your events get picked up, the easier it will be to convince photographers to submit. If all else fails, hire your own photographer even if you have to write it into your contract.

Beyond TBL, you can still submit your own work to the blogs individually. You will have to have the approval of the photographer that holds the copyrights. Read and follow their submission guidelines carefully. Submit to the blogs that already showcase your style. Another tip is to find out what blogs your brides read and submit to those.

Yes, Kathy has an advantage but only because she has done PR for so long.

You can do it if you try.

One more itty-bitty thing: You may be on blogs and not even know it. Set up a Google alert for your company name, that way you’ll know.

 

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Blog, Inspiration, Marketing, Outrageous Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Bridal Shows: Break the Rules

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Before the show opened, I visited a booth that had a nice display, but failed on my pet peeve, NO SIGNAGE. Not bad signage, none! Hmmm.This was a cake booth and I know just a little more about cake booths than most. There were no pre-cut samples, there was a table in the front of the booth with ~gasp~ a chair behind it.  This I had to keep an eye on.

This is the line outside her booth an hour later.

Here is why…

Because she was hand cutting those samples, she got to talk one on one with every person that sampled her cake. Her booth placement helped; she was the first cake booth.  I am sure she gave out far fewer samples than the other cake vendors, but every single one counted. (I checked. She gave out about 50% of the other cake vendors.)

Unconventional thinking; I love it. This was an interesting twist and I doubt that it would work on a really large show or for a different type of vendor, but for a smaller more elite show…maybe.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Blog, bridal shows, Marketing, Outrageous Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Top Post for 2011-Groupons for Weddings

December 30, 2011 By 2 Comments

With all the controversy and news of closings and consolidations in 2011, who would suspect that a story advising against wedding vendors getting sucked into the Groupon culture would be number 1?

Groupon for Wedding Vendors? Not!

I am willing to wager that it wasn’t wedding vendors looking for a boost that sent that traffic through the roof. Now as far as I know, there are still more brides than wedding vendors. (Although some days I question that!) I will bet you money that it was brides looking for a deal. You should see the list of search terms used to find Think this year! Of the top 50, 10 were Groupon related.

  • wedding groupon
  • groupon wedding
  • groupon for weddings
  • groupon weddings
  • groupon wedding deal
  • wedding groupons
  • groupon wedding deals
  • wedding deals on groupon
  • groupon for wedding
  • wedding planner groupon

Right about now you may be thinking , “Hey, I could get a lot of traffic if I did a Groupon”.  Well, yes, yes you could most likely use that to get a ton of traffic, but is it the traffic you want? You may want to read this first…

A photographer works for free for a year through Groupon

Sounds like fun to me.

Here is what brides have to say on Wedding Bee. You might want to notice the comment by the bride than got a deal on here engagement photos…not a word about her booking them for the wedding. Hmmmmm Also the one that bought cake pops, didn’t see her commit to a cake from that baker.

What does this mean to you? Front and center it means brides are looking for deals, but you already knew that. I think that you would be smart to find a way to offer some deals, just not through Groupon-type sites. Come up with your own deals and publicize it yourself with your social media. Put it out on Facebook and Twitter. Publicize it on the local wedding platforms you advertise on.

You might even consider doing it in a Groupon-type manner. Limit the number and require a tipping point. Have a deal on a regular basis, say weekly or monthly posted on your website to keep brides coming back to check.

I can’t even begin to tell you what kind of deal to offer. You will have to think long and hard about that one. Make sure that it gets them into your store or your website. Make sure you will at least make something off of it. Make sure that you don’t do something that will overwhelm you.

Just don’t do what the photographer above did. I want you around next year!

 

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

Hire a Photographer!

November 29, 2011 By 3 Comments

I hear it and see it all the time: wedding vendors that do fabulous work but have lame photos to show for it. They spent hours sweating over the perfect food display or those gorgeous tissue paper pom-poms hung perfectly from a tree or the centerpieces on top of the perfect linen. Then after the fact, often months after the fact, the wedding photographer, after much arm twisting and begging sends them a file of stunning prints of the B&G, the wedding bands and a picture of shoes! Wow, score!

Now whose fault is this? Well it damn sure isn’t the photographers. They were hired to shoot the B&G and the list they sent them, not your details. (unless they were on the brides list, that is)

Here is a tip: 

Hire your own photographer!

Then they are working off of your list. You should get the images in a timely fashion and have just the shots you want.

OK, here it comes…

I am about to get hit by photographers that forbid other shooters at their weddings. In this instance, get over it. These vendors are hiring their own professional so they get the marketing materials that they need and have every right to own. Besides, you obviously aren’t shooting what they need in a way that helps them. Your client is the bride. You need to find a way to work this out. I mean come on, 9 times out of 10 this outside shooter will be done before the guests arrive and you won’t ever see them.

But WAIT! There’s more!

Hey you photographers just starting out…

I am always asked how you can break-in with the top designers and planners. How about you start hitting them up to shoot their details? Do a good job over a period of time and they may just add you to their roster.

In my outsider, twisted opinion that is a win for everybody.

  • The vendors get exactly what they need.
  • The wedding photographer doesn’t have to worry about shooting for the vendors.
  • The new photographer gets some real world experience and some new contacts.
What’s not to love?
Oh, and I get great images to work with when marketing my clients.
Filed Under: Ask Christine, Back to Basics, Building Your Business, Marketing, Outrageous Marketing, Website Design 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: , , ,

Soul. Does Your Product Have it?

February 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Soul is a quality that is tough to define. Some products have it and some don’t; it is a uniqueness that makes it easy to fall in love with. It is a certain something that sets it apart from the herd.

Mini Coopers have it, so does Harley-Davidson.

I am rereading one of my favorite books on trends and came to the section on soul and it got me thinking of it in terms of wedding products and marketing {OK, I know, what doesen’t get me thinking in that direction}

I think the way it translates to us is in the uniqueness, that certain je ne sais quoi that our work has that no one elses does.

I came upon a photographer recently and showcased her on my other blog. There is a quality, a something that is undefinable in her work that transforms it for me from photography to art. I find myself looking at images now and wondering what Rene would have done with the subject.

I know a local cake designer that has it. She follows no trends and always goes her own way. Amazingly, her cakes don’t look appreciably different than they did 25 years ago when I first started decorating, but they still have it. They are still stunning in their grace.

It is difficult to see what it is that sets you apart. Your clients and your competetors can see it. So can your admirers. You have to find out what it is about your work that makes it what it is. What gives it soul? It was only yesterday while cleaning out some files that I figured out what it was about my cakes that gave them soul. Darn shame I’m not still doing cakes.

Once you figure it out, your job becomes using that quality in all of your marketing. Your print, your copy, your shop,  your website and every customer interaction should must capture that essence.

Here is just one example of using it to flavor all of your client interactions. Most Mini’s are custom build which takes up to 12 weeks. On their website you can “Follow my baby” while you wait. Now that line wouldn’t work for any other car, but it works brilliantly for the Mini.

You can continue to dillegently market to the mediocre middle or you can find your soul and your calling and build a tribe around it. Do it and watch your business skyrocket with clients that not just want your product, but love it beyond measure. Aren’t those really the people you want to attract?

I hope I got you looking for the soul in your product.

Bowls by Storykeeper

Cake by Dessert Designs

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Branding, Outrageous Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

The Power of Poo: Outrageous Marketing

November 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yep, I just had to use that headline. It got your attention didn’t it?

I read an article last week about a company in Texas called CowWow that makes an all natural fertilizer made of liquified dairy cow waste. More specifically it was about a marketing campaign that they used. It was risky, it was expensive and it scared them enough to think twice before going forward. It was also a HUGE hit. Please read the original article.

So what does cow manure have to do with marketing your wedding business? Well, nothing really, but the risky campaign they ran has some great lessons.

Much of marketing is about name recognition and buzz. Sometimes you just have to do something totally outrageous to get that.

For example, Preston Bailey and the flower sculpture he did for the Knot’s party in New York this fall. You can’t tell me that the thing wasn’t outrageous or that it wasn’t marketing. The minute I got the Knot branded bulk email pimping Preston’s blog I knew that it had been done on some sort of trade. So bottom line, Preston did it for the marketing potential. The sculpture was seen by anyone and everyone in the wedding industry at one of the industry’s biggest weeks of the year. Then pictures of it flew around the net at break neck speed. Gee, you don’t think that had any effect on brand Preston, do you?

Two other master brand marketer that tend to pull outrageous stunts are Oprah and Richard Branson of Virgin. You don’t think O gave away a car to everyone in her audience because it made her feel all warm and fuzzy do you? Yes I know, they have tons of money and they can afford it. Guess what, they have been doing this kind of thing since the beginning. Branson, espescially so.

So how does that translate to you, the micro-biz owner?

How about we start out by rethinking your marketing plan for next year. Do a deep analysis and dump a couple of the the things that aren’t really doing a lot for you. Use that savings to build a slush fund named Outrageous. Then start to keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities.

Your opportunity may be something as obvious as the bridal show you do every year. Instead of just doing your booth do something outrageous. Bring coffee and breakfast for all the vendors if you are a caterer. If you are a florist build a damn 15 foot tall tree in the entrance that is dripping with flowers. If you do gowns hire a bunch of model to walk the show floor in gowns. If you are a band or a DJ, buy a quad and rent a dance floor and hire a few people to act as plants and get a party going.

I never said that outrageous equaled cheap.

If you are a venue, host a “Kick-Off” party or an “End of Season” party for the vendors in your area. Make it a killer event, make it free and fantastic.

Once you have found your opportunity, make an entire campaign out of it. Use all of your social media to support and reinforce it. The florist with the 15 foot tree should be posting pictures of the frame in progress on his blog, twitter and Facebook. Just sneak peeks. Then right before the show make sure to flood the network with “don’t miss this” messages. After the fact, post your pictures and full story on your blog. Any advertising going forward should have a picture of this now famous piece on it.

You can’t just pull an outrageous stunt and just let it lie there. You have to tap it gently on the behind and push it out into the world.

The secrets here are to establish the slush fund, be open to oportunities, do something BIG and be fearless.Then promote, promote, promote. Your tribe will take it from there.

One thing that you may have noticed is that not all of the ideas I mentioned are pointed at brides. Word of mouth is still the strongest tool in pulling in wedding business. You should work dilligently to make sure that the other wedding professionals in your sphere of influence are recommending you.

Go back and read the article that started all this. They were scared through the whole process, but thier gut kept telling them YES.

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing, Outrageous Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Why You Should Cherry Pick Your Lead List

July 7, 2010 By 5 Comments

We all know about lead lists. I’ll bet most of you do one of 3 things: Ignore it, Email blast it or send out a single post card. Suppose you did something outrageous instead?

It’s tough/expensive to do much more than the three things I just mentioned with a lead list of 500 to 2000. With direct mail, you have to put together a piece that will get noticed. How many postcards do you think brides get right after a bridal show?  What is going to make yours stand out enough to even get noticed? Add to this, it is proven that you need multiple mailings of standard direct mail before you have any chance of the lead acting on it. So now it isn’t just about sending out 500 to 2000 post cards; it is about multiplying that by at least 5 to get the response you need.  Now that is starting to get expensive.

Blast email can work with a couple of caveats. For one, you have to have permission to send them. Any reputable bulk mailer will require that you have gathered the leads yourself. That means that the list that you get from the shows or from bridal mags you advertise in are usually prohibited. What’s more, even if you found a way around the system, about half of those email addresses are bogus or are just junk mail dumping accounts. The second caveat is to get around the spam filters you really have to know what you are doing when you craft your email. That is particularly true in crafting your headline.  If you start getting caught by the spam filters you may well find your email address or isp blocked altogether.

Of course at least these two options have a bit more of a chance than doing nothing. Unfortunately, that is what most people do with the lead lists.

Now suppose you really analyzed those lists ,compared a few different lists, pared them down to only the really juicy prospects, and separated them by wedding date? You may end up with maybe 3 leads some months, maybe 7 to 10 for others. Now that is a doable number. You could pull out all the stops to get their attention then, couldn’t you?

So now what? That is where your unique creativity comes in to the equation. How outrageous do you want to get and how much are you willing to spend to get a great client?  I read something recently about a house cleaning service that would cherry pick their leads and send the ripe ones a DVD player with a DVD full of testimonials of happy clients shot in their clean homes. Now that is pretty dang outrageous, but if you get one out of 3 and stand to make a good bit of money on their weekly service, it was worth it. They did this once a month and grew their business by at least one or two new clients a month.

Now I am not saying you need to send brides DVD players but there are other outrageous things you could do. I spoke with a florist recently about sending out a small floral arrangement to 3 leads a week. She would just order a bit of extra flowers and deliver them herself. I can guarantee that she will be on that bride’s radar so much more that an email or postcard would have done. If you are a baker, how tough would it be to send out a few boxes of cupcakes a week?  Hey DJ’s, how about a CD of the 15 Best First Dance Songs?  Caterers, could you invite 4 couples to a tasting a month? Remember, you are only hitting the very best prospects, those prospects that your close ratio should be high on if you can get their attention.

I know a bridal salon that does appointment only champagne shopping on Sundays. There are signs posted and she tells the brides that come about it. How much more effective would it be if rather than waiting for brides that already had been in her shop to book an appointment she started sending out selective invitations to good prospects off of her lead lists. Maybe do a private fashion show once a week for a select number of girls.

Yes, all of this costs money; all marketing does. This kind of marketing is done on a small scale and is highly trackable. It is also so outside the box that you are bound to get noticed. Or you can keep doing what you have been doing and hope it works.

Filed Under: bridal shows, Outrageous Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Never Underestimate the Power of the Suck-Up

January 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Has it ever occurred to you that some of the best dollars you can spend in your wedding marketing is spent on sucking up to your fellow vendors. I’m not kidding. I have seen it done using big bucks and small bucks. It can be something as simple as a timely thank your note or as elaborate as a five course dinner.  .

Doesn’t it make you feel wonderful to receive a gift for no reason?  Or as a nice thank you, job well done pat on the back?  It let’s you know someone thought of you and appreciated your product or service. It makes you remember the giver and think of them in a good way. Bingo!

Now, spin this with the fact that referrals are still how most brides find their vendors.  Once a bride finds a vendor she trusts, she is going to ask for referrals for her other services. The goal here is to get the vendors who already have your target brides to refer you. First you have to get them to not only notice you but also to be in the front of their mind when asked for a referral.

Of course, the best way to do this is to ‘use what you do’. For me that was easy.  Heck, I fed everybody every chance I had.  At bridal shows I always held back a box of samples to feed the other vendors while the brides were tied up at the fashion show. Head to their booth, schmooze a little, hook them up with a sugar buzz to get through the last half hour and break down. I was a god!! Well not really, but they sure did remember me.

My favorite photographers always sent me very nice shots of my cakes.  They did it unsolicited and quickly. Because of this, their work was all over my portfolio for every one of my clients to see. When someone asked me for a referral, their names were on the tip of my tongue. I am fairly sure that they did this for a lot of vendors besides me. Did it cost them money? Of course, but a lot less then a full page color ad in a magazine would. Let me add here, that these guys are some of the most heavily booked photographers I know.

A limo company I work with used their resources to spoil a whole group of vendors. When a local wedding magazine decided to host a Christmas party for its advertisers the owner of the limo company got the guest list and provided car service for the guests. Result, one very happy magazine publisher, (because it made him look great) and a whole list of very happy wedding vendors. All of whom I am sure will refer this limo company. Did it cost her anything? Again, sure, but it was a Tuesday so her cars probably weren’t fully booked anyway. She had to pay her staff, but count that against the advertising budget.

If what you do doesn’t easily translate into gifting to other vendors, send a note to the vendors you worked with last weekend to say how much you enjoyed their flowers or food or professionalism or what ever. The more often you write a note like this, the easier it gets. An it only takes a minute. Anytime you have occasion to meet one on one with other vendors, take a goodie basket.  Even if you had to buy it.  At the very least, bring the coffee and the bagels!

Martha Stewart, love her or hate her, is a marketing genius and has used the art of the suck up to perfection.  She always took a basket of muffins or a box of fresh baked cookies when she went to seal a deal. It may sound trite, but it works. Keep it up and over time it will pay off in a tight knot of friendly vendors who regularly refer you.

Filed Under: Blog, Building Your Business, Outrageous Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: