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Game Changers in the Wedding Market

April 8, 2011 By 3 Comments

I talk to a lot of different wedding businesses over the course of a week. I also talk alot about change and our changing marketplace.

When I run across the former that really gets the later I want to jump up and down with joy. You have heard me talk about photographers that are switching focus, florists that are changing to showcase rental and planners that are putting thier talents into an Etsy store with all the things they make for weddings.

Here are two that are jumping into the wedding fray from other industries that might just be game changers.

My Flip Wedding:

My Flip Wedding is the brainchild of Storymix Media. These guys have been doing editing and fusion media for pro-photographers for a long time. Now they are jumping into the retail side.

Couples can rent Flip Video cameras and have their closest friends and family members video their wedding, shower, stag & hen nights or any other part of their celebration. Then they send the cameras back in the pre-paid envelope and let the Apple Certified pros create a highlight reel. It’s fun, it’s easy, it’s really inexpensive and couples are loving it.

I know that videographers are going into convulsions right now. Look, this doesn’t have to be about cutting you out, it is about adding a different POV. It is also an option for the 70% of couples that weren’t going to hire a pro anyway.

Here is a company that read the numbers, found a new solution using cutting edge tech and are poised to be the hot new trend.

Just an example of reading the market and giving them what they want in the way they want it.

Something Borrowed NY:

We have all watched the changes happening in the bridal gown market. Vera Wang saw it coming and hooked up with seemingly strange bedfellow, David’s Bridal.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Brittany Haas last night of Something Borrowed NY. Haas and her business partner met while in university studying fashion, both design and business. As they watched their older sisters and friends search for the perfect wedding gown and grapple with the cost, they listened and learned.

It seems that the newest generation of bride still longs for that high end designer fairy tale gown, but don’t attach the same sentimentality to it as generations past. Yes they want to wear it, but once the wedding is over, they could care less. After the wedding, these same brides tried, mostly in vane, to sell their very expensive gowns. Despite the now seeming abundance of resellers and consignment sites on the web, they had no takers.

As a response Haas is working the plan and building the foundation of what may well be a new trend. Rentals. It may not take off tomorrow or next week, but mark my words, as more and more Gen Y brides enter the marketplace this will become acceptable. They are already comfotable with concepts like Rent the Runway and Bag, Borrow or Steal. When it comes time to decide what to wear on the big day, well, Something Borrowed NY will look pretty good.

Yes, it is a fledgling business in a fledgling concept, but when it hit’s; look out world. Something Borrowed NY is an idea whose time may very well have come.

(I purposely did not include Something Borrowed website because is isn’t ready for prime time, but give them a follow on Facebook and watch these dynamic ladies leap forward?)

How are you changing the game? Or are you content to just stand there and get run over.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Rants & Raves, Trends, What Brides Say Tagged With: ,

DIY Your Niche

February 14, 2011 By 4 Comments

My friend Sheryl shared a press release she ran across about how Micheal’s is upgrading their wedding section to add more upscale designs. It just so happened that I had the opportunity yesterday to poke my head into the wedding aisle at this mecca of DIY. What I found got me thinking.

It wasn’t the products that intrigued me, but the shopper. Here stood a lovely young women, looking flustered, frustrated and not at all happy. Such is the truth about DIY.

To read the forums, the blogs and the magazines, crafting and creating all the details of your perfect wedding are a pleasure and a joy unspeakable; something akin to walking barefoot through a field and picking daisies. Well, as a life long crafter, I am here to tell you that is about as far from the truth as it gets. Then you go and add a deadline, a million other tasks and the looming presence of “The Biggest Day OF MY LIFE”  and you have a recipe for a major meltdown. I wonder just how many weddings have been canceled by grooms witnessing an overload of DIY?

I know, just make them stop doing it and we will all be a lot happier. Sorry kids, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

But…

You can use it to your advantage.

How you ask?

Trust me, when they finally cry “uncle” the person that picks them up, dusts them off and helps then finish is going to be their hero and they will pay handsomely. You have to have the right attitude about it, you can’t be all “I told you so” you have to be the kindly big sis/brother that just wants their day to be perfect. You will want to explain ~gently~ that you do of course have to pay your staff.

Business success has always been about finding a problem and then solving it. I am here to tell you, this is a problem!

Filed Under: Blog, Building Your Business, Horror Stories, Trends Tagged With: , ,

Look Outside of The Industry for Ideas

February 11, 2011 By 3 Comments

Are you stuck in a rut of only doing either what you have always been doing or just doing what is working for your competetors? What makes you think that the only ideas for the wedding industry are IN the wedding industry?

It’s time to start thinking out side the lines.

Here is just one idea.

I am working with a bridal salon that was struggleing with whether or not to stop taking walk-ins. Brides keep telling her that she is the only salon in town that will take walk-ins and that is what brought them in. Her staff was getting overwhelmed trying to wait on everyone at once. The brides would get antsy waiting and this was putting a lot of pressure on the sales consultants. All in all it wasn’t working and the owner was ready to abandon, rather than embrace one of her strongest selling points.

After a bit of conversation we came up with an idea.

Nobody likes to wait, but with a few accomadations, clear communication and the right reason, we all do it. Really? Yes really. Have you ever been to a hot restaurant on a Friday night with out a reservation?

The restaurant takes your name, gives you an idea of how long the wait is and points you to the bar. I suggested she do the same thing.

They set up a comfy little area with drinks and tiny snacks, stacked the coffee table with wedding books (not magazines, we don’t want them looking at other gowns) and pointed them in that direction.

If they are really busy, she now has a list of nice little restaurants in the area that she suggests and gets their number and offers to send them a text when their name comes up. The bonus with this is that our owner knows that brides get hungry and cranky during a long day of shopping, this fixes that.

It has taken a few Saturday’s to get the system running smoothly but her staff love the idea and the brides still get to just walk-in.

Where can you look to find answers to the issues you are having in your wedding business? What other industries have similar problem? There is your answer.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Inspiration, Personal Coaching Tagged With: ,

Why What We Do Is Expensive

December 16, 2010 By 2 Comments

The next time your client want’s to know why they need a professional or why it costs what it does, show them this.

Time lapse photography by Whitney Carlson of Dove Photography,

Courtesy of wedding planner Angela Proffit

Location, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, Nashville TN.

Filed Under: Blog, Building Your Business, Inspiration Tagged With: , ,

I Just Want to Close Them

November 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I got an email last week asking for my advice on a social marketing seminar. The bridal vendor that forwarded me the information included the following statement:

interesting, so much information telling us what to do. what is the real answer, just want to close them’

Frankly, that is backward thinking. All the marketing in the world; be it print, bridal shows or social media won’t help you “close them”. All marketing can do is get them to your door, virtual or brick and morter.Then it is up to you to “close them”.

You need to take a close look, microscopic really, at every.single.thing that a potential client experiences once they have made the decision to contact you.

How do you answer the phone? How do you respond to emails? Does your tone reflect your professionalism and unique style? If it doesn’t you may lose them right there.

If you get past that hurdle, then you need to concentrate on the face to face.

I have talked a lot in the past about how women differ from men. Women have much wider peripheral vision, they see and notice every tiny detail. They notice the smells and the sounds. They notice the colors and the textures. They pay attention to how you and your employees dress and speak. They notice the neighborhood. Do all aspects that your business presents reflect what will make your target market comfortable?

Did you catch that last word? Comfortable. That is what they are really looking for, you know. They want to be comfortable and secure in their choices and decisions.

Long gone are the days when using fear to close the sale worked. This generation doesn’t buy into it. Tell them that you may not be available on their date if they don’t sign today they will just shrug. They know that there are more just like you down the block.

Here is what it takes today. They want to feel like you validate their choices. After all, this is the generation that was told that 2+2 could equal 5 if it made them feel OK.(Alright, that was an exaggeration but not by much) They don’t want you to guide them, they want you to understand and support them. If they ask for your guidance by all means give it, but listen to their wants first. This bunch is most comfortable when they make the discovery on their own.

With every decision, they feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. If you can lift that weight and make them feel comfortable with their decision to use you, you have made the sale. Really, that’s all it takes.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? It is if you have paid attention to all the little details first. Yep, go reread the fifth paragraph. Everything.


Filed Under: Back to Basics Tagged With: , ,

Prices on Your Website?

September 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It seems to be a question as old as the internet. Should wedding vendors put prices on their website?

My answer has always been yes for the simple reason that brides to be just wanted to know if you were in their price range. Today, that isn’t the only reason.

Take a look at this quote from Media Post:

According to the June 2010 UNICast What Women Want from the Web Report, 64% of women plan to use the Internet to find sales and compare prices whenever they plan to make a purchase, for small- and big-ticket items alike. In fact, women 18 to 24 are much more inclined to do this kind of comparison shopping research solely online.

“Plainly put, women are utilizing the Internet as a resource for simple and complex purchasing inquiries. They enjoy, arguably more so than men, educating themselves through the use of the Net,” says Emily Carroll, manager, Strategic Insights, Leapfrog Interactive. “They’re looking for more shortcuts to save time and money. In doing so, they’re searching more, browsing more, consuming more content, and seeking input from their trusted friends and confidants online.”

So, if that is the way women are shopping and using the net in thier day to day lives, they will expect to be able to do the same in thier wedding planning.

Look at it this way. When a woman first jumps into wedding planning, it is truely a different world. Take gowns, even bridesmaids dresses. For their entire lives they have gone into a store, tried things on in a variety of sizes and walked out with the one that fit best. Now, she most likely won’t be able to try on anything close to her size; she has to take the bridal salons word that alterations will make it fit, then she has to wait sometimes 3 months to see if they are right. Everything about shopping as they have known it is turned on its head.

If you can give them some familiar connection to the ways they are used to doing things, so much the better.

Before you start, I understand why things are this way, but she doesn’t. Which brings me to my second point. Education.

I read so many threads and talk to so many vendors that are bent because brides just don’t understand what a realistic budget for what they want is. $150 cake budgets, $500 for photography, $600 for the entire floral budget, $8.50 per person for the reception, the list goes on and on. Do you think it could be because no one tells them?

Flowers, all they know is how much they spend at Costco or Whole Foods to pick up a bouquet for their dinner party. They don’t understand containers or construction or the labor involved in prepping the flowers. Their only frame of reference is that dinner party bouquet. You have to tell them.

So many vendors keep their prices a deep dark secret, “It’s so important to be able to explain what all is included.” Oh hogwash! If you think the only way to do that is face to face you are either not comfortable with your prices or you really don’t understand the way today’s brides shop.

I used to advocate that you just put a ball park price on your site, but I have started to rethink that. Brides really do want to make realistic choices so why not give them the tools. Suppose, you added prices to some of the photos on your website. Something like, “This centerpiece was priced at $xxx. Your price may vary depending on the flowers chosen and the season.” “This cake was priced at $xx per serving. Prices may vary depending upon fillings.”

Yes, I understand that as creative talents that design something unique for each bride, no two wedding will ever be priced exactly the same. Just give them some jumping off point and add a disclaimer that prices listed are only an example of how your prices run.

I know, you don’t want your competetors to see your prices and then undercut you, right? Well guess what, brides are taking your bid across the street already, whether you know it or not. That is where selling them on your persoanl charm and service comes in. If they feel that they trust you more, a few pennies won’t make a difference.

Let me repeat what I said before: Anything you can do to make their wedding planning experience closer to the way they are used to doing things, the better. The more comfortable they are, the more likely they are to spend with you.


Filed Under: Back to Basics, What Brides Say Tagged With: , , , ,

Simply Weddings

August 13, 2010 By 2 Comments

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.

Filed Under: Announcement, Clients, Portfolio, Website Design, Website marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Is Branding Still Important?

June 30, 2010 By 1 Comment

July 2010

I have been reading some interesting things lately about branding and the Wedding Industry. For years now I have been telling you how important branding your business is, and to a certain extent in your local market , it is.

Where I see it beginning to change in on the larger national level.

Let’s take a look. First you have things like Vera Wang banding together with David’s Bridal. That pretty much dilutes her brand to smithereens. She has done the same thing with her line for Macy’s. Once a brand that epitomized luxury and understated elegance, the Vera Wang label now is within reach of anyone.

While we are on the topic of bridal gowns…

I recently interviewed several of the bridal salons that I have worked with over the years. These salons all carry both moderate and couture labels. The one thing that they all said was that brides were no longer seeking a specific label of designer but a particular style and price point. As opposed to saying, “I am looking for a Reem Acra” they are more like to say I want a trumpet style in the under $1000 price range.  This is a strong departure from just a few years ago when high end brides would often identify themselves on forums as being “ A Reem Bride.”

I am getting a sense of this happening across the board. With such a glut of wedding vendors in the market place today, brides are finding what they want in a variety of price ranges. Those labels don’t mean a lot anymore.

Take for instance invitations. Having Crane invitations once said a lot about your wedding. Now  brides just buy Crane paper and print then at home.

As the average budget for weddings is dropping due to the current economic stress, the label, it seems, has been the first thing to go.

What does that mean for the small local vendors?

For one thing, it means that you can no longer depend on the lines you carry to draw in clients. You are better off trumpeting the fact that you offer goods and services in multiple price ranges than advertizing your lines.

As for branding your own business, I think that is still important in a local market. But you had better be doing it on customer service rather than price. Build your brand and your reputation around an image of being the most dependable and honest vendor in your category. Brides know they can get anything cheaper just down the lane, but it is still true that for this occasion they are willing to pay a bit more for peace of mind and anything to relieve stress.

Here is one tip, go back through you testimonials and rearrange them putting the ones that compliment your customer service closest to the top.

Get in the habit of asking your brides what you can do to make their planning easier? It could be something like if you are a florist you can arrange their linen rental for them.  First, you have made their planning easier but you should have also made a little extra coin on it.

Photographers; you could offer to recommend, even set up consultations with make-up and hair professionals for your brides.

Band, DJs, are you recommending dance instructors?

The beauty of all this is that you are offering them help at a time of certain stress in their lives without it costing you any coin, just time.

You won’t have to cut your prices if just holding their hand gets you the sale.

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

How Social Media Will Forever Change Customer Service

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I want to further explore the Real-time Review trend and its effect on the wedding industry and customer service.

Real-time review is by definition, hair trigger. Suppose you are sitting in a restaurant and it seems to be taking a long time for your food to arrive, so you tweet your displeasure.  That tweet is read in real time. What if one of your followers reads it and decides to head to a different restaurant to avoid the slow service?  Later, when your food arrives the waiter explains that the reason for the delay is that he took one look at your steak and knew it was not the way you had ordered it and had Chef recook it. Rather than the bad customer service you thought you were getting, you were really being well taken care of. Hmmm, you hair trigger tweet still cost them a customer. Come to think of it, did you even bother to tweet an update? If not, since twitter is searchable, you may do much more damage than just that one customer.

Here is a great video example from Gary Vaynerchuk

That may be an extreme example but look at it in the light of the highly charged emotions that surround all things wedding. Once upon a time, you had some leeway. Today you don’t.

You have all had customers that you had to calm or manage or cajole at some point in your relationship. You probable ended up making them happy-happy before it was all over. The problem is that in the new reality of real time review you may not get the chance to do that before they have drug your name and reputation through the mud. One miscue and they whip out their cellphone and tell the world; no chance for you to fix it if it even needs fixing.

Time was when bridal salons biggest fear about cellphones was the camera in the dressing room. Suppose now she is in there tweeting away about how she thinks you are mean for not letting her play dress up to her heart’s content? Never mind that the very next dress you bring in is the one and the tears of joy start to flow.

Suppose you are 20 minutes late delivering the cake even though it is still hours before the reception. If your bride is edgy to begin with she could have done a lot of damage to your reputation in those 20 minutes.

Time was that your biggest concern was a post at some point after the wedding if something displeased a client. “After the wedding” means that you have undoubtedly already done the backflips and somersaults needed to make your client happy and to repair, remake, refit, recover, rewhatever to make sure their day was perfect. With realtime review you have lost that cushion.

Here is a little story that a florist friend of mine told me. She had dropped off the personal flowers in the bride’s room and moved into the church to decorate it, then on to the parish hall to decorate the reception. Before she left, she stopped back by the bride’s room to remove the boxes she had used to deliver them. The bride’s mother was upset, claiming that the florist had forgotten the boutonnières. She hadn’t. She pulled back the corner of the tissue paper in the box to reveal two packages of lovely boutonnières the mother hadn’t bothered to look for or ask about. I wonder just what was tweeted in that hour?  Scary, isn’t it?

Now, more than ever before you have one shot and one shot only to make your clients happy. If you customer service and more importantly, your client communication isn’t top notch you may be in for a shock. Oh, and you might want to keep track of what is being said about you online in real time.

Filed Under: What Brides Say Tagged With: ,

Are you a Leader or a Firefighter?

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Since I know all of my readers are going to make giant leaps in their business in 2010 I want to address some things about how you manage your staff and in some ways your clients.

One of the problems I have is that a client or one of the freelancers I hire comes to me with a problem or glitch my natural tendency is to jump right in and fix it. If you are a parent then you know the drill; it is so much quicker to tie the little darlings shoes as you rush out the door than to take the extra time to show them how one more time. The reality is that if you take that time to let them struggle you will save yourself much more time in the future.

As business owners, many of us are control freaks. When something happens with that little darling that is our business we all have the tendency to jump right in and just do it. The reality is that that attitude is going to limit your growth in the long run. In order to grow you have to let go and let others put out their own fires, or at least attempt to before you rush in to fix it. I know its hard, but just like the child with the untied shoe, if you give them a chance to do it on their own you not only free up your time but you empower them. Both of those are good things.

Your staff has to know that you trust them to handle situations as they arise. If you don’t , you need new staff. Yes I understand that there are situations where that isn’t the case but it is up to you to set those parameters. Once you have, you need to step back and let them figure out the solution on their own. Otherwise they are nothing more than a 911 switchboard with you the only responding firefighter.

Cory Miller wrote a nice article on Solving Your Own Problems With The 30 Minute Rule. This is a technique I use all the time with my clients. My website clients get great customer support and extensive tutorials, so I know they have the knowledge to handle most stuff that comes up. If it is an issue that I haven’t covered in their one on one then I go in and teach them how to handle it. After that, if they ping me with an issue we have covered, I’ll give them a half a day or so to try and solve it on their own. Please understand, that the sites my team builds are designed to be managed by the site owner. I give them the tools and support and then I have to let them learn the system. Some days it may take 5 or 6 emails back and forth to talk them through the solution to something that we could have easily done in about 5 minutes. Had I just fixed, I would be fixing it every time. By taking the time to let them struggle a little on their own first they 1) learn what they did wrong and either don’t do it again or know what to do if it happens  and 2) they get this great sense of “Hey,I did that”

Whether you are thinking of your staff or of your clients, neither one is going to die if you give them some time to figure it out on their own. If you constantly step in a put out their fires you are tying up time that you could be doing more important things.

2010 is going to be busy. Your time will need to be spent on leadership not putting out every tiny fire that comes along. You can do it. Just grit your teeth and trust.

Filed Under: Back to Basics Tagged With: , ,
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