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Are you Selling “Happy”

December 16, 2011 By 2 Comments

I was doing some much needed maintenance today on my Google Reader and ran across a post from last week on Broke Ass Bride and had another one of those light bulb moments. Take a second to run through the images on that post and see if you get they same “well damn” flash.

There are few moments in life that should evoke “Happy” the way a wedding does. It is at its heart a day of joy and hope.  Shouldn’t  a smile be one of the symbols used to market it? Now look at all those faces in that post. One, only one shows any real joy. Guess who’s ad it is.*

I know, you are thinking, “But C, those ads are about the dress, not the wedding.”  Hold it right there Bucko!  Everything we do is about the wedding, it’s about the fairy tale, it’s about the JOY!  Are you selling JOY or just some item or service?

Have a look today at your marketing materials. Is there JOY? Are people smiling?

There is an old saying, that no one ever goes to Home Depot because they need a drill; they go because the need a hole.

Your client needs JOY, not a flower or a planner or a dress. Those things are there to help create the fairy tale that she envisions. The fairy tale that, in her mind, will bring her JOY.

* Oh ya, the ad is from David’s Bridal. Any wonder why so many brides gravitate to them. There is a sense of pure joy in their photographs, not high fashion.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Back to Basics, Marketing 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: , , , ,

Market Local

November 22, 2011 By 1 Comment

Want to know where to put your marketing dollars?

Think Local!

How much money do you waste advertizing in places like the Knot, Party Pop or the one I find most ridiculous, Grace Ormond? Do you really think your brides are there looking for the florist to do their bouquets? or their cake? or their DJ? Please.

OK, let me ask you in a different way. Do you think you are smarter than Google? I found this quote in this month’s Fast Company

Google covets the $140 billion local ad market.

If Google covets it there is only one reason; because it works. it will work for you to.

Last week at Blog Camp I was asked where and in what order wedding vendors should put their marketing dollars. Here you go:

  1. Your own website.
  2. Your social media (use it to point back to your site)
  3. Local wedding or event website. In NashVegas that is Ashley’s Bride Guide.
  4. Local Bridal Shows that have magazine and website tie ins.

That’s it.

If you have money left, think events and promotions.

I have only one caveat to this whole “only local” thing.  Wedding Wire may be a national site and I doubt seriously if you will ever book a bride directly off it, BUT it is worth the spend to have their Review Widget on you website. Brides trust it. In essence, that is money spent to enhance your own website, so it fits the criteria.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , ,

Why Should I Buy From You?

September 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We have been having a discussion over in the Wedding Water Cooler about Costco and their continued push into the wedding market.  I find it interesting that so many of our members are  in denial. Costco pushing weddings isn’t new. They were doing bridal shows at least 4 years ago.  What is new is that they are now more aggressively pursuing the market.  They have added wedding gowns and are doing it in a trendy way: pop up sales.


They have been doing this with flowers and cakes for a while now. If you want flowers from Costco you can order them in bulk, but you can’t specify a specific cultivar.  So you can order red roses, but not a specific one. You are still going to save a bundle and no one is going to argue with you over your choices. You can order a tiered cake, but you can’t get high style decorating on it. People know what the value proposition is for Costco. They accept that when they walk in the door.
Every one knows what to expect from Costco and David’s and any other big box operation. They are selling reasonable quality products at a deep discount in a no hassle, no frills, no pressure  environment. The fact that people know what  stores like this represent is what brings them through the door.The problem with so many small bridal vendors is that they haven’t expressed or publicized what they are selling that adds value.

Think about this for a minute…

No one ever went to Home Depot because they needed a drill;

they went to Home Depot because they needed a hole.

I have been reviewing a lot of websites lately that clients want me to update. I am running across the same thing in many of them. Nobody is telling me WHY?

  • Why should I buy from you?
  • What makes you different and a clear choice?
  • Why is your product different?
  • What makes you stand out from the other gajillion photographers/planners/florists or DJ’s?
  • How do you fill my unique need?

With some clients it is like pulling teeth to get an answer. If you don’t know what sets you apart, how are you ever going to express that it in a way that has brides beating down your door.

You know me, here is an example.

Bridal salons, by an large market using the designers and lines they carry. News flash, brides believe that they can buy the same thing on line and with a lot of lines, they can. Why on earth should they pay you more for what they believe is the same item. So the lines you carry don’t make you unique.

Here is what makes you unique. You have seen hundreds of women in hundreds of gowns. You know who cuts how, you know what designers and style work best on which body types. You know whose shade of  ivory works best on what shades of skin and a dozen other things that matter. In short, you are the expert. They can bring you a picture of the gown of their dreams and you can find a similar gown that will be more flattering, easier to alter and in their price range in your damn sleep. That is what you should be marketing.

Look, brides need a gown, but really what they need  is a garment that works for them to make them feel and look special on a very special day. They need to walk down that aisle feeling confident that they look the very best that they could. They need your expertise to put them is the gown that is right for them. That is what you should be marketing.

I don’t mean to pick on bridal salons. It is true with most every type of vendor; in and out of the bridal world.

If you want your marketing material to work, you need to know what you are really selling. If whomever is designing your marketing material doesn’t have this information they can’t give you great marketing and without great marketing you can’t hope to survive.

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , ,

Of Fairy Dust and Pretty Pink Unicorns

September 13, 2011 By 3 Comments

I had lunch yesterday with friend of Think, Ashley King of Ashley’s Bride Guide.  Much of the conversation revolved around Fairy Dust and Pink Unicorns. It’s really scary how much Ashley and I think alike.

First up, Fairy Dust.

All you need to do is advertise with me and you will have all the brides you want.

You hear this from just about every sales rep you meet.  They know your marketing budget is small and they want all of it.  Sadly, you also hear it from the talking heads that represent the major players like the Knot and Wedding Wire. The truth is that no one place is going to do it for you, you have to spread your exposure out as well as you can and have it all point to the one place you truly control: your website.

All you need is a Facebook page.

No, again your Facebook page is just a sign post to your website. If you post all your content on Facebook they have no reason to go to your site and all that traffic goes to Facebook, not you. Facebook is important, don’t get me wrong, but it is only a piece of the puzzle

The Wedding industry is recession proof.

Wrong. While it is true that people will keep getting married, even that is less true than it used to be. There as been so much written about this, including a lot of it on Think, that I won’t bore you with it. Beyond that, the amount that couples spend is directly effected by the economy. When people are struggling to pay their mortgage and put gas in their car they aren’t going to spend $500 on a custom aisle runner or card box. They are going back to basics, back to what matters.

If you offer low end alternatives no one will buy your high end offerings.

Really? Nothing could be farther from the truth. Why would you purposely leave money on the table? More importantly, if you give budget brides a gateway into your offerings if they find extra money they may well buy your higher priced items.

 

Pink Unicorns

It was interesting that it isn’t only me that hears the constant cry of, “I only want to do luxury weddings.” ~sigh~

Long before I started writing on this public blog, back in the days when Think was subscription only, I began trying to dispel this myth. Yes there are some really high end weddings in America, but no where near enough to support every vendor that is chasing them. Yes the weddings that brides see in the major blogs tend to be high end.  Yes, a large group of brides want a Style Me Pretty wedding but not many can afford it. The problem is that when it comes time to write the check to make those weddings happen, very few (and shrinking) can actually ante up. When faced with the cost, most regroup and back way down.

Here is one more point you may want to consider. The really high end weddings, a quarter of a million and up, are being planned and designed by the people that have been planning and designing for that family or peer group for years. Not someone they found on the web.

“Wait! ” you say, “I want the $100,000 to $200,000 weddings.”  That market, the upper middle class, is the one that is shrinking faster that all others.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal was addressing how giant Proctor and Gamble is restructuring to match the new realities and had this little tidbit.

In the wake of the worst recession in 50 years, there’s little doubt that the American middle class—the 40% of households with annual incomes between $50,000 and $140,000 a year—is in distress. Even before the recession, incomes of American middle-class families weren’t keeping up with inflation, especially with the rising costs of what are considered the essential ingredients of middle-class life—college education, health care and housing. In 2009, the income of the median family, the one smack in the middle of the middle, was lower, adjusted for inflation, than in 1998, the Census Bureau says.

The slumping stock market and collapse in housing prices have also hit middle-class Americans. At the end of March, Americans had $6.1 trillion in equity in their houses—the value of the house minus mortgages—half the 2006 level, according to the Federal Reserve. Economist Edward Wolff of New York University estimates that the net worth—household assets minus debts—of the middle fifth of American households grew by 2.4% a year between 2001 and 2007 and plunged by 26.2% in the following two years.

P&G isn’t the only company adjusting its business. A wide swath of American companies is convinced that the consumer market is bifurcating into high and low ends and eroding in the middle. They have begun to alter the way they research, develop and market their products.

Does that last sentence remind you of any high end wedding gown designer? It should, it’s exactly what Vera Wang is doing.

So what does this mean to you?

It certainly doesn’t mean you should give up, I am not trying to spout doom and gloom. It means that you may need to rethink your goals in light of what is really going on with your target market. Is there a way that you can offer some product to the lower end bride?  It is really smart to put all your marketing drive into getting a market that is evaporating?  There is money out there to be made, it just may not be where it used to be.

 

 

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

Branding. Are You Confused?

September 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The topic of branding has been nudging me a lot lately, sort of like my cat does when he wants attention. I have talked a lot about branding in the past; about what it is and why you should pay attention to it. It seems that recently branding has become one of the darling buzzwords of the industry and creating your personal brand is all it takes to become a gajillionaire and land your own TV reality show. Gah!! What are you thinking?

 

Here is what branding means to me.

 

Branding is the visual (or auditory, think Intel) signal that triggers a response in people. That response should be the instant recall of all you do, have done and stand for. It should imediately evoke in them a knowledge of your style and place in the industry.

It is not enough that they recognize ‘it’, they must recognize everything for which ‘it’ stands. What’s more, it had better ring true.

You can’t hang a shiny new upscale logo on a meat and potatoes caterer and think you are suddenly upscale. First you have to earn it. The same thing works in reverse.

 

It doesn’t matter whether you are just starting out or are well established, your visual trigger, or brand, has to represent the whole backstory. It has to tell the tale.

There is only one way for that to work, you have to know the backstory, you have to know who you are and what you stand for. What’s more, you have to be honest about it to both yourself and your consumer. Today’s consumer can smell a fraud a mile away.

 

You see, it isn’t really the visual signal that matters, it is what it represents.

 

You know me, here are a a few examples.

I work with a association of wedding vendors. They have established over time an repetition a solid brand represented by a certain red circle logo.  New board comes in, hate the colors and wants to change the entire look of all the marketing material.  I got to test this out last month at a series of bridal shows.

I would first hand out a piece of the new marketing material and the response would be the typical bridal show blank stare.  I would then hand them a piece of the old collateral and the response was one of immediate recognition.  They not only knew the association but had been to its website and loved it. All it took to change the response was a single red dot icon.

What do you think, should they lose the red dot device?

 

I am working with another client, a caterer who started out as a meat and potatoes, simple fare kind of operation.  Over the years  her business has grown dramatically. She has established a reputation that is trusted as a qualified professional operation and she has hired a wonderfully creative chef. She is now able to offer a decidedly upscale, gourmet type of cuisine. Unfortunatly, her logo still evokes pot roast instead of fillet with truffle butter. There is nothing inherently wrong with the logo. It is just that in the minds of potential customers is still means pot roast.

The challenge is, to create a new logo to represent what her company has evolved into without losing the positive response that already exists. The backstory has evolved, the visual trigger has to as well. The plan is to subtly change the logo, keep the colors and redo the website and copy.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Then there is the dear friend that has built a personal brand with out even thinking about it.  What logo and branding there is came about more by chance than design.  You have all heard me talk about eWedNewz and Paul Pannone. His brand has skyrocketed in the last year just by relentlessly doing what he does, by always being true to himself and never being afraid to put it out there. Today, newz with a “Z” means something. It means edgy, honest and unafraid. He didn’t go into this with the goal of claiming the letter ‘Z’ as his own, but it got hung on him and he is running with it.  In this case, he built the backstory, the brand if you will, and the visual icon just developed.

A great logo and the right colors aren’t going to make you or break you, what they stand for will.

 

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

Notes from a Bridal Show. Part 2

August 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

Anatomy of a BoothBridal show fail

Some people do the same booth every show.

Some people grab whatever is handy at the last minute.

Some people don’t even try.

 

…and then there are those that consistently grab the bat with both hands and KNOCK IT OUT OF THE PARK!

 

This is the story of one of those hits.

I have been watching the ladies from Enchanted Florists for several years. Their booths never cease to amaze me. This time I was in a position to watch their booth creation from empty floor to thing of beauty. From the time the floor show opened for set up until the show started, they were like a team of busy, industrious bees.

Take a look at the set up.

From a bare concrete floor, to a shaby chic, boho thing of beauty.

Here is my question to you: If you are going to participate in a bridal show, are you going to do everything it takes to make the most out of it? With bridal shows, it really is “Go big or Go home!”

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Blog, bridal shows, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Marketing to Grooms

June 3, 2011 By 1 Comment

Now that we have established this new dynamic going on in the wedding industry, specifically grooms having more input, how do we use it?

First things first, you have to decide if your service or product is one that is likely to fall in their laps. Some things like gowns and flowers probably won’t. Face it,  you show a groom a bouquet of all white carnations and another of white phaleanopsis orchids and most are going to see two white bouquets. Just about everything else is fair game.

Next, let’s take a look at where he is mentally on this whole thing. He is probably going to have an attitude of “Well heck ya I can do this and I’m going to look damn good doing it! i’ll knock this out of the park.” Underneath all that is doubt and fear at entering an arena in which he has never been. Add to that the knowledge that this is the first really big thing he has undertaken in his budding role as “husband” and the outcome will forever color the opinion of not just his wife but also her mother and sisters. Let’s not forget that he still wants to look manly to his bros. No pressure.

Men Shop Differently

Much of the marketing we do aimed at women can best be summed up as ‘wooing’. We strike her emotions and become her friend. She buys the team, he buys a commodity.

Your first goal will be to put him at ease. A little humor will work wonders here.

You will want to clearly state the benefits of your product or service. Even go so far as pictograms and charts of why you are different. Remember, the nuances that she would see must often be pointed out to the men. Also, men are visual.

You need very clear calls to action. Don’t just list your phone number or contact info. Put in a big button.

Give them clear steps to follow.

  • know your budget
  • know your guest count
  • choose your style (see options)
  • review our menu suggestions (click here for menu)
  • set a tasting
  • book your event

    •  

    Here is the deal, women shop a bit like the students in a Montessori program learn, by seeking out and discovering on their own. Men want a clear orderly list of actionable steps to success. Your goal is to give it to them.

    In the end, your couples are probably going to make the final decision together, but an increasing portion of the leg work is going to fall on him. You need to be ready.

     

    Disclaimer: I am not talking about all men, nor am I talking about all couples or all women. I am in the most general terms trying to help you be ahead of a trend I see on the horizon. As with most trends, this is happening first in the more urban areas with the couples least bound by tradition.

    Filed Under: Ask Christine, Trends Tagged With: , , ,

    When Advertising Fails, What Then?

    January 11, 2011 By 5 Comments

    I have been following some interesting discussions on what advertising works and what doesn’t. The general consensus is that none of it works; at least not consistently. Not print, not bridal shows, not wedding portals, not online adverts, nothing, zip, zilch zero, nada.

    So what do you do?

    You know you have to market, you are even willing to drop a few coins in the pot to do it; but if nothing works what is the answer?

    Here is where you begin. Notice that in the above copy I used two different words: advertising and marketing. They are not interchangeable. Advertising is static and marketing is active.

    Time was when a bridal vendor could buy a page in the local glossy bridal publication and that was all it took.  That was advertising, set it and forget it. OK, maybe do a bridal show or two and then forget it.

    Marketing is constant.  Marketing is networking.  Marketing is PR.  Marketing is reaching out to the people who can bring you work. Marketing is fluid.

    Marketing for today’s bridal vendor is in two places: online and face to face.


    Point 1:

    A truth of the industry that has always been and I imagine shall always be is that the majority of brides find their vendors by referral.  Yes, a lot of that is from other brides but a lot more is from other vendors.  To sell today’s bride the biggest trigger is that she feels comfortable with you and that she trust you.

    Yes, I know their opening salvo is always about price, but believe me, if she trusts you she will pay your price.

    So, once she finds that one vendor that she trusts, she will take their recommendations in the highest regard. You need to be who they are referring.

    This is the face to face aspect. If you aren’t out there networking with local vendors you are missing the boat. This doesn’t just mean calling them and asking them to refer you. Seriously, some people think that will work. No, not even close.

    The real essence of networking with other vendors is getting to know them and building relationships with them. Work with them, help them, refer them, support them. All the work you put into and qualities you expect from a friendship are inherent in good networking.

    This is an ongoing process and belive me, it is marketing. The more positive relationships you have with other vendors with in your market the more your business will grow. I promise you.


    Point 2:

    The other marketing today that does work is your own website. It is your marketing tool when you aren’t there. Again this has to be an ongoing project.

    You need to keep  your website constantly updated for 2 main reasons.

    The first is search. Everytime you update or add to your site the search engines take a fresh look and index more pages. The more content, the more long tail keywords, the better chance you have of showing up in the long, complicated search strings that brides type in to their search engine. Keep adding content and keep fueling the search. This is the main reason that having (and using) a blog as part of your website is so powerful.

    The second reason is that if your website looks stale and dated, that is the impression that prospective clients will have of you. If you look stale, they won’t even call. That wedding from 2008 may still be your favorite, but it probably looks old and tired to brides that have been searching the net for months. Give yourself a fighting chance. Keep updating your portfolio with new and exciting images of your work.


    Just about now is where you are starting to argue with me that you just don’t have the time for all that. Tough. Make the time or invest those old advertising dollars to hire someone to do it for you. In today’s world, this is what it takes.

    Marketing works,

    advertising just doesn’t anymore.

    Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    Where are Brides Online?

    January 4, 2011 By 5 Comments

    I think that we have already established that today’s brides are doing most of their research online. The question is where. To answer that, you need to figure out how they are doing their research.

    From what I have looked at, here is my drill down.

    1. Image search
    2. Planning research
    3. Community
    4. Local Search
    5. Reviews and Community Referrals

    Let’s take these one at a time.

    Image search.

    The first thing they do is go look at all the pretty pictures. I know it sounds trite but that is just the way this generation is. They are very visual. What this means to you is that you need to make sure that your images come up in a Google image search. The best way to do that is to be sure you have done a good job of tagging your shots when you put them on your website. For more information on just how to do this, read Labeling Your Images for SEO Gold. Now mind you, this won’t make them call you, in and of itself, but it will start the process of making them familiar with your name.

    Planning Research.

    Trust me, the newly engaged are completely clueless when it comes to planning a wedding. So they hit the internet for planning tips and tools. You know as well as I do that there is enough info on this topic on the internet to fill a good sized library. Most of it is bullshit, some of it is down right scary, a lot of it is worthless marketing junk and a tiny bit is of real value. The problem is, it doesn’t come color coded, so a bride is likely to mistake the garbage for gold.

    You know what I am talking about. How often have you sat in a client meeting and wondered where they came up with such a harebrained scheme. She got a tickle of an idea in the back of her brain and then found some source to support it. ~sigh~

    Which brings us to our next destination…

    Community.

    This is in reality where brides that spend the most time online will be: in the forums and bulletin boards of places like WeddingBee.com and WeddingWire.com.

    According to a recent report, the only sites in the top 10 that didn’t lose ground are the ones that support community. Even the venerable Martha Stewart Weddings took a hit. The comments on Bee and the forums on Wire are very heavily trafficked. What our brides are doing is talking about their wedding with other brides and learning from them. They have become the primary authority on all things wedding. God help us. It is like kids that learn all of their sex-ed on the playground.

    The other place they are finding community is on Facebook. They may notice your page there but that isn’t why they are there. They are there to socialize.

    Local Search.

    Now we are getting down to it. They start looking for you. Notice I did not say that start looking at the ads on the Knot, or any other site for that matter. They go straight to their favorite search engine. Ok, so ya, Google, but there are others too, at least that is what I hear. ;-) Something else you need to know, these ladies are really good at search. They don’t type in “DJ in New Jersey” they type in “DJ,Trenton NJ, Not Cheesy”. They don’t type in “Wedding Dress, Bellingham WA” They type in “2Be Brides by Gavin Michaels Style No. G233916S + WA”

    As you can see, they have already decided what they want and know how to search to find it. That is the reason that you need to put as much information on your website as possible.

    Reviews and Community Referral.

    Now that they have found you and looked over your website, they still aren’t ready to contact you. They want support that they are making a good choice. For they they go back to their community and ask if anyone knows anything about you. Once comfortable that you are who they think you are, they will check your review on Wedding Wire and Yelp. Save them the step and put the WeddingWire.com Review widget right on your website. Something else the net savvy bride will do is type in “{your name}+complaints”.

    Now, maybe, if you have come out on top on all this, they might send you an email.

    As to the original question, “Where are brides online?” the answer is search. They aren’t paying attention to banner ads or paid listings, they are doing their own research. When they finally hit your website, it had better be top-notch. It might be the only shot you get.

    Filed Under: Blog, Facts & Stat, Marketing, Website marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,
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