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Tuxedos, Old Spice and Wedding Marketing

August 3, 2010 By 1 Comment

I have been following the articles over on eWedNews concerning the demise of the formal wear industry. So, you know me, I started looking at their marketing.

First question: What marketing? Why isn’t there a gorgeous man in a gorgeous tux in every bridal gown ad? Isn’t there usually a groom at most occasions to wear a bridal gown?.

Second, the ad I do see most is the Men’s Wearhouse ad that speaks directly to men. Pffffft! If you want men to wear tuxedos you have to pitch the brides.

Which brings us to the Old Spice Man. If you haven’t caught this bit of viral brilliance then you have been living in a cave. What started as an ad on the Super Bowl transformed itself into a social media phenomenon with the Old Spice man responding to tweets in YouTube video spots. Brilliant social media marketing, but that isn’t the point I want to make.

*pause for random opportunity to include gratuitous half naked hunky guy video

This is: 80% of the purchases made in the US are made by women. The Old Spice campaign is aimed at women. Yes it is a product for men, so are tuxedos. However, body wash isn’t something that most men think about, neither are tuxedos. They are both something women think about. Whether it is a wife or partner that does the shopping and decides which body wash to buy or a bride deciding what to dress the men in the wedding party in, it is the women that make the decision. That is why you need to pitch to her.

Seriously, do you really think that an ad with a hunky half naked man was created to appeal to MEN? I didn’t think so. But what happens to the single guy that sees his date pay attention to said hunky half naked guy? He is going to pick up that product thinking that he may get her to pay that kind of attention to him. Either way, it was the woman’s influence that drove the sale.

Back to formal wear. If you want men to start wearing tuxedos, you are going to have to sell women on the idea first.

Say for instance, when the most recent Bond movie came out, why wasn’t there a tie in with how sexy Daniel Craig looked in formal wear? I mean come on, he had on a tux in the poster for Casino Royale!!! Sexy man> sexily dressed. Pitch perfect for a campaign directed at women.

Here is another, I ran across a couple of beach wedding pictures that had the bride in a traditional formal gown and the groom in cargo shorts and a bowling shirt. How about a picture like that with the tag line, “Don’t you deserve better?” Maybe if the tuxedo manufacturers produced a line specifically for the beach weddings, after all the gown manufacturers have.

Back to the gown ads. Those ads I do see in magazines with men in tuxedos usually have him looking disaffected and women fawning over him. That is pitching to men. Let’s turn it around, how about have him looking on adoringly at her? Every girl is crazy about a sharp dressed man, but on her wedding day the last thing she wants is all of her bridesmaids fawning over her new hubs. The better story is “Look at this gorgeous man that only has eyes for me.”

More important than the end user of your product, think about who is most likely to influence that purchase. That’s where you aim the pitch.

Filed Under: Announcement, wedding marketing, What's Hot Tagged With: , , ,

More Than One-Third Of Women ‘Addicted’ To Facebook

July 12, 2010 By 1 Comment

Yep, more proof that Facebook is still a good bet. The above title is from a Media Post Study released 7/7/10.

Here is the juicy quote:

Showing the degree to which Facebook has become the gateway to the greater Web, nearly half — 48% — of all respondents now claim to get more news through Facebook than from traditional news outlets.

In addition, shedding new light on the dynamics of female social networking behavior, 50% of respondents believe they could rely on a “Facebook friend” for their help in a crisis; while 46% say it’s okay to be Facebook friends with someone they don’t like in real life.

Read the whole article for yourself

Tomorrow I’ll have some things your can do to spice up your Facebook page.

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

Twitter vs Facebook

July 9, 2010 By 1 Comment

There seems to be a huge push by certain people in the wedding marketing industry this week to convince you to abandon Facebook as a marketing tool and put all your eggs in the Twitter basket. Hmmm, where is this coming from.

On Tuesday Lienne Stevens of Splendid Communications posted this article about the supposed mass exodus from Facebook.

Then today I found this press release from two bright lights saying…

Most wedding professionals should spend less time blogging and on Facebook, and reallocate this time to building a business presence within the wedding Twittersphere

I Call Bullshit!

bullshit_detector

One of the things that has gotten me where I am today is the massive amounts of data I ingest everyday. I analyze information from sources both within and outside of the wedding industry. Well, just let me tell you, what I have read above just didn’t ring true with I am seeing.

And here’s why…

It has always been my position that if you look at your twitter followers that you would find that the majority of your followers are fellow wedding professionals. In fact, I even say this in my seminars and in my blog. Apparently, it isn’t just me. I posted an article earlier this week siting the very interesting infographic that NearlyWeds had posted regarding Twitter followers. NearlyWed did the math folks. They are self described as a bunch of geeks, I trust their data.

Having said that, I also want to say that I still believe that Facebook is your better bet and here is my backup on that.

Check out this article on eMarketer.

Here are the juicy quotes:

Unsurprisingly, despite Facebook’s growing appeal to older users, 18- to 34-year-olds spend the most time on the site per week, at 8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online.

And this:

In Q1 2010, comScore found that the visitors who spent the most time on Facebook also spent the most money online. Targeting users who not only spend large amounts of time on the site but also devote a large proportion of their total online activity to the social network could translate to going after the most lucrative portion of the audience.

I have to tell you, I still think Facebook is a good bet. People are still using it to connect, not just to play Farmville. As long as your target market’s friends are on there, your target market will be there to connect and keep up with their tribe.

The other aspect of Facebook that works in my mind is the “peer pressure”, if your tribe Friends something, you will be prompted to Friend it as well. It is word of mouth marketing on a whole new level. One thing that Facebook does very well is to read your tribe and use that data to make recommendations. You may not like it on a privacy level, but on a marketing level, I’m not going to pass it up.


Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Rants & Raves, Social Media Tagged With: ,

Who Are Your Twitter Followers?

July 2, 2010 By 1 Comment

If you have ever been to one of my seminars on Social Media then you know that one of the things I recommend is that you take a look at who your followers really are. I have long suspected that most of the phenomenal growth in followers and friends is with other wedding professionals. Stated simply. it isn’t brides-to-be following you, it is most likely other wedding pros. Finally someone has done the heavy lifting to prove the point. Many thanks to bloggers at NearlyWed Blog for this fab infographic. Go read the whole article, it’s fascinating.

Well now, what does that mean? Should you bail on Twitter? For me, that is exactly where I want to be because my primary clients are wedding professionals, but what about you? If you are thinking about Twitter as a marketing tool how much time should you be investing in it  if it isn’t attracting clients? Twitter and building your network of like minded professionals isn’t with out merit. Networking is always valuable, but it isn’t the be all to end all in marketing. Don’t get me wrong, I have made some lovely friends because of Twitter, none of them brides. I go back to the question, how much time are you spending tweeting and are you thinking you are marketing? Well, you aren’t marketing, but you are building your personal brand. If a potential client want to know more about you it’s out there for them to find. (Do I need to remind you how search savvy today’s brides are?) Be careful what you say on social media. I suspect that the same is true if you sort through your friends on Facebook. Facebook however may just be a much smarter place to be. I’ll give you some more of the how’s and whys on that one in an in-depth look later this month.

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

Do You Think Like Your Bride?

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

For years now I have been telling you to think like a bride; the question is: are you thinking like the right bride?

If you have ever heard me speak then you know that one of the first questions I ask is “Who is your target market?” followed immediately by “Brides is not the correct answer.”   I’m sure my subscribers are smart enough to have defined their target market better than the vague term bride. You know what her general socio-economical range is, what her educational level is and you understand to some degree her desired level of formality. Now I ask you, how closely have you looked into what her psychological motivators and primary drivers are?  In other words, why is she buying from you instead of your competitors?

We already know it’s not price; unless you are WalMart. It most likely isn’t location; these girls will go to the ends of the earth to get what they want for their wedding. It isn’t your advertising; Gen Y doesn’t pay any attention to advertising. It isn’t your unique creative style; there is nothing new under the sun and you know as well as I do that they will steal your ideas and take them down the street in a heartbeat. So what is it that makes you the chosen one?

Closing the sale and making the deal is entirely about how you make them feel. I know that sounds vague and rather touchy feely but it is what it is. The question becomes, how do you make the clients that choose you feel? The corollary to that is how do your clients wish to feel?  Once you know the answer to that you know immediately who and how.

Take for instance the bride that needs to feel like she is cutting edge; you are not going to sell her the same way as the bride that wants to know that all her choices will be viewed as ‘correct.’ Is your bride someone that needs to have her choices validated or one that needs to be led to her decisions?  Are her choices dictated by her social standing in the community and if so, how does choosing you reflect upon that?

What is it about your personality and the personality of your business that most people notice?  Here is what I mean. There is a planner that I am acquainted with that has two things about her style that characterizes her. First, it has to do with social standing in her market. Yes she is way up there at the top of the reputation heap but she didn’t just place herself there. There was obviously something that was appealing to her target market. Trust me, it wasn’t her great flamboyant cutting edge personality, this woman is a mouse. It wasn’t her gentle handholding.  No, it was that she would listen to your ideas, formulate a design and then damn near eliminate every single decision a bride had to make. “Do you want A or B?” The bride either picked one or the other; if she took too long the planner said something along the lines of “A it is. Moving on.”  She was a freight train at full throttle. Spot on perfect for the bride that hired a planner to actually plan her wedding, not hold her hand as she vacillated between choices.

I know another planner that will accompany a bride to each and every vendor meeting. Her brides are looking for a best friend or Mom substitute.  Trust me, these two planners will not appeal to the same bride.

My point is, your brides choose you, not for the reasons you may think. They choose you for some pretty deep psychological reasons. It is up to you to figure out what they are and use that to tweak your marketing. Think back on your most successful clients and see if you can determine what their motivating factors were. Of course you could always ask them but I doubt if they know themselves.

For some further insight into how women form their buying decisions and consequently, how to market to them differently you should read the excellent group of posts by Michelle Miller at Wonder Branding.

4 Neighborhoods of Female Customers

Neighborhood #1: The Regal Queen

Neighborhood #2: The Sorceress

Neighborhood #3: The Healer

Neighborhood #4: The Guardian

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

Another Peek into the Mind of GenY

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

So how do you think Gen Y would like their lives to look? What do you think they find disturbing about the world as they know it? You may be surprised to see what they are thinking.

I read a very interesting article about Gen Y this month, Eyeing Their Futures, Kids Today Turn Back. You can read the article here It seems that they are longing for a simpler time. This is the generation that was told they should do it all, excel at everything. They were told that in their safe shiny protected world they could and should have it all. No matter how badly they played soccer they still got a trophy. The world was their oyster and by golly they had better take. They were over marketed to and over scheduled.

Now they just want to live in the life showcased in “That 70’s Show” where you could live simply and just hang out, and be OK with that.  Hmm interesting.

The article goes on to hypothesize that this may be a reaction to both 9-11 and the current economic situation. That their shiny, have it all world has been rocked at its very foundation; much as the generation that experienced the Great Depression was changed.  I don’t know if it is all that, but I think there may be some basis to it.

I do think that this generation has been fundamentally changed by recent events. I think as a whole they are more cautious, particularly when it comes to money. Do you realize that one of the trendiest places for kids to shop today is Goodwill? Go into a big one on a Saturday and it’s packed.

How does this reflect on our market? I think you are seeing it in a call for less formal, more casual intimate weddings. I think you are seeing it in smaller guest lists and more DIY and yes, in smaller budgets. They are placing more emphasis on their future lives together than the wedding.

I don’t think these changes are temporary either; rather I think they will have impact for quite a few years to come. Here is why. In the first year that our economy started to take a hit brides were in denial about their budgets and what their dollar would get them. Today, they are, by and large, approaching wedding planning with adjusted expectations. I didn’t say lowered expectations, just adjusted. They are finding that they can have as much if not more meaning on less show. That is what is different; meaning is deeper. What hasn’t changed except to be more crucial to them is the requirement that their specific needs be met.  In short, they are becoming more demanding particularly in the area of customer service. That is only making our jobs more difficult.  On the upside, it may help to weed out the less than professionals in our industry. There is always an upside, it just may not be as pretty.

What you can do as wedding professionals is to understand that this generation has some heavy underlying fear that even they may not recognize. Use that knowledge to ease those fears and make them feel safe and confident in their decisions. You have to be a combination of their hero and their comfort food. Wow that sounds a lot like their parents doesn’t it? All they while being hip and cool and one of them? No, their hip cool friends need to refer you, you just need to be you.

Filed Under: What Brides Say Tagged With: ,

Tribes and Word of Mouth

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It is a given today that the strongest marketing is word of mouth.  Brides are more likely to trust referrals that they get from their Facebook friends than from any advertising you do. So how do you get that?  You let your tribe do it.

Huh?

We are a vast and diverse population, our brides are no different. At one time, lives were centered on family and small communities. Today the world is global, but we as people still need that small connected community. To fill that need we tend to form into tribes around the things, people, places and ideas that we are passionate about.

Brides display this same tendency. There are the DIY brides, the traditional bride, the VFW brides, the Offbeat brides, the Socially Conscious brides and the list goes on.

In every tribe there are the influencers; further, tribes can become influences in their own right. Tribes coalesce because they are passionate about something, not because it’s just OK. It is human nature to want to share those things we are passionate about. Hmm, that’s word of mouth.

Here is the idea, build a tribe around your ‘thing’. That can be you unique style, your particular cuisine, the way you treat brides, that one thing that you do better than anyone else. Market it, talk about it, trumpet it. Shout it loudly enough that the influencers for whom that ‘thing’ matters take notice. Stop trying to be all things to all people.

Seth Godin had an interesting post recently that got me thinking.

Here is part of what he said

“People don’t coalesce into active and committed tribes around the status quo.

The only vibrant tribes in our communities are the ones closer the edges, or those trying to make change. The center is large, but it’s not connected.”

You need to stop looking for your tribe in the center. I don’t remember what movie, some Matthew McConaughey fluff , but the line is perfect

“You have a freak flag…you just don’t fly it.”

If you want to attract a tribe you had better start. As Godin alluded to, tribes don’t form around the status quo. Normal just does not build word of mouth. If you want the influencers to notice you have to be not just better, but outrageously better or you just aren’t worth talking about. Now what the heck is it that you do that you can hone into “outrageously” better?

I don’t really think it matters what form or shape your freak flag takes; if it is outrageously better enough, there are people that will be attracted to it. From those people you begin to build your tribe. Provide information on that ‘thing’. Say for instance you are a photographer that really excels at black and white photography, blog about little things like lighting and texture that brides can include in their wedding that will really stand out in Black & White photography. Sort of feed their habit, play into their passions. As your influencers talk to others in their “I love Black & white wedding photography “  tribe they will pass on your information. Eventually you will begin to see your own tribe forming around you.

People belong to more than one tribe. Some of your tribe of B&W brides may mingle with the offbeat tribe. They will spread your information into that tribe. Some of those members will in turn spread it to even more groups.

Remember, you aren’t trying to be all things to all tribes. You are trying to build a loyal tribe around what you do. A tribe that is passionate about your ‘thing.’

So who is your tribe? Are you obsessed with that massive group in the middle? If you want to change things and build a loyal tribe of brand enthusiasts you had better start looking at the fringes. The fringe is where passion lives.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: , , ,

How Brides Search

March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Do you realize how important the images on your website are to your search traffic?

I was speaking to a regional conference of ABC members recently and was telling them about the way their target market searches when planning their wedding. In the early stages they primarily are searching for images.

One young lady stood up and identified herself as a member of Gen Y. She then went on to say that not only was it true that  they were looking at images but that in truth, they rarely took time to read even the smallest amount of copy. Only if an image really caught them would they bother to find out more. Half of the time they never even bothered to visit the website hosting the image, just surfing though a panel on Cool Iris that matched their search.bride+cooliris

How does your website fit into this pattern?

First off, if all of your images are locked into a Flash gallery, they aren’t search-able at all. You may have the most beautiful image of “Winter Candle Centerpiece” but if it in a Flash gallery it won’t show up in a Google (or Bing or Yahoo) image search.

Your images need to be labeled and described using related keywoods; including any long-tail keywords that apply. This is the sum total of what the search engines see; they don’t “see” pictures, only the words attached to them.

I see so many websites that are Flash that have been optimized to get the homepages to show up in search. They are  full of metatags and some even still have hidden text. I have news for you, that is not where most people land from a search, they usually land somewhere in the middle on a specific image, page or post. If we are talking about GenY, it will most likely be an image.

So, knowing all this, how does your web presence stack up?

If it doesn’t, give me a shout.

Filed Under: Blog, Website marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Wedding Sticker Shock

January 20, 2010 By 1 Comment

I was following a thread recently on wedding sticker shock. I thought some of the things these brides were complaining about were rather amusing.

As expected, gowns and photography headed the list. I chalk the gown part up to brides being uninformed. Most major magazines list the prices in their editorial content. Couple that with the huge difference between top end and moderate priced gowns and you can have some surprises, although I really thought it would be the other way. If you look at bridal editorial most of what they show are on the high end, very many of the gowns in salons are at the high-moderate to moderate side.

As for the photography, you can blame part of that on Craig’s List and part of it on brides simply not understanding just how important it is to have skill behind the lens. Just because someone can purchase a nice digital camera doesn’t make them an artist with it. Photographers need to do a better job of getting that point across.

Here is where I started getting amused. Chair covers. There were several that were having complete fits over the cost of chair covers. Some were flabbergasted over $3 apiece. Now come on, that’s barely going to cover the cost of cleaning them, extremely reasonable. My guess is that it sounded like a great price until they multiplied it by say 200 guests. So have you seen the percentage of clients using chair covers drop lately? Are they falling into the category of “I can live without it?”

The other biggie was veils. They just can’t get their head around the cost of “a piece of tulle and a comb,” as one poster described it. Having been around a few salons over the years, I know that these are often considered a profit center with higher mark-ups. I think the brides have picked up on that. (NO, I’m not the one that told them)

What all this tells me is that the “gorgeous wedding at any cost” fog has lifted. Brides are evaluating the goods and services they purchase for their wedding on a different level and set of criteria today. They are not afraid to buy off the rack. They aren’t afraid to rethink what is mandatory. They are willingly saying no to bells and whistles.

Do you think it may be time to adjust your core business accordingly? If you have been propping up your bottom line with add ons, now may be the time to re-evaluate your core business. You are being evaluated on what they get for their money; be prepared to show them the value in your product/service.

You will notice I didn’t suggest dropping your prices. If you offer packages, you may want to de-construct them. If you bundle things, you need to show them exactly what they are getting. “show me the money” has morphed into “show me the value.”

Filed Under: What Brides Say Tagged With: ,

Why You Should Cherry Pick Your Lead List

January 9, 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 track-able. 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: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,
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