Marketing Strategy and Tactics for Wedding Professionals

We've Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:18:00 +0000

The Wedding & Special Event Yellow Pages has moved! Our directory is now nested in our new site, Wedding Vendor Profiles (http://www.weddingvendorprofiles.com/).

Find our directory here now:

http://www.weddingvendorprofiles.com/wedding-yellow-pages

For the moment, our blog will stay put, here.

Offering an Event?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:23:00 +0000

Quick post about a service I just found out about: Upcoming (www.upcoming.org/).

If you're planning an event (or just want to spread the word about one you're attending), post it on this highly visited, free service. It's a Yahoo! site, so you know it gets traffic -- plus, you get a link back to your site from a highly ranked site, so it will help your Google performance, too.

Events are organized geographically by date -- so it's a great way to check out what else is going on in your area, too.

Brides ARE Still Out There. So, Why Don't They Call?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:45:00 +0000

So many vendors are feeling the effects of the economic slump, there's a prevailing impression that "the brides just aren't out there." Our experience at The Wedding & Special Event Yellow Pages suggests otherwise.

We've been distributing our book for just under 11 months, and have already nearly reached our 20,000 annual goal -- in fact, we're running a couple of weeks ahead of our normal distribution rate. (This despite being able to distribute much less than half our normal volume at bridal shows this year.)

Similarly, our web traffic is comparable to previous years' fall/winter results -- and, it has been the same or higher than last year throughout 2008.

Our book is of no real use to anyone who isn't actively planning an event -- so, it stands to reason that thousands of potential clients have at least begun the process of planning their weddings. But, why are these prospects not contacting and booking wedding vendors?

Based on the results of our online brides' survey, our interactions with brides, and other sources of economic and marketing information, I have a few theories. I suspect that many brides are influenced by two emotions of the moment: fear and guilt.

The fearful brides worry that they (or their fiancés) will be without a job sometime in the near future; it's hard to justify spending thousands of dollars on a single event when worrying about paying the rent/mortgage.

The guilt-ridden brides, on the other hand, may have the money set aside for their weddings -- but, may consider it imprudent, insensitive or gauche to spend lavishly during economic times that are difficult for so many. Brides may also feel the need to be 'greener,' less wasteful.

What's a wedding vendor to do? Address these emotions in their marketing programs, of course! Some thoughts on how to do so:

Allaying FEAR:

- develop some kind of prepayment/layaway type program
- offer more modest or flexible packages
- reduce deposit requirements/penalties for cancellation
- emphasize your company's experience and customer satisfaction track record in your advertising -- to help nervous brides feel they are making a sound investment
- emphasize value for money in all your materials and in the packages you establish
- provide context: for example, a $1500-$2000 service is about the same cost as a daily latte for one year -- switch to drip for a year and it's almost paid for, painlessly

Allaying GUILT:

- connect your business to local charities -- perhaps incorporating a donation with purchases
- emphasize in your promotional materials that the wedding is an opportunity for a bride and groom to entertain their loved ones -- some of whom may not feel they can afford a really great night out
- reinforce that a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event -- it justifies a memory-making celebration
- consider developing a greener side of your business -- whether by adding recycled materials, promoting local, in-season flowers, local foods and other local goods, offering living plants instead of cut flowers, or taking other steps to cut waste and transportation. And be sure to promote any aspects of your business that already qualify as environmentally friendly.

Do Something for Yourself: A Wonderful Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:37:00 +0000

Happened to be flipping through a magazine in a doctor's office over the Thanksgiving holiday, and stumbled up on this surprising personal finance offer:

Save Yourself

In a nutshell, Suze Orman and TD Ameritrade have teamed up to offer an incentive to open a new Ameritrade account, and set aside $100 per month for the next 12 months. After you make your twelfth monthly deposit, you'll receive a bonus of $100! That's like getting an interest rate of about 15% -- not including whatever return or interest you can earn on the money you deposit and invest.

With the uncertainty of today's economy, most everyone can use a little additional nest egg hidden somewhere. Here's a great way to get paid for doing what you know you should anyway. And, there's no obligation to keep adding to the account after the 12 months end. (You can also access your money before the end of the 12 months -- you would lose your bonus in that case, though.) Plus, you don't have to invest the money in stocks -- if security is your main objective, just leave it in the money market Ameritrade offers.

I encourage you to investigate this generous offer. I signed up myself and it took just 10 minutes or so.

Do You Use Stock Photos?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:05:00 +0000

I've discovered a new source for stock photos that is really affordable, has nice variety, and has an easy-to-use search engine. I purchased some images for a client's web site at $1 each!

The service is called Fotolia -- visit them at:

Images for a $1 - Fotolia.com

Layaway Resurfaces. Could it Work for Wedding Vendors?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:37:00 +0000

Layaway plans -- whereby you ask a retailer to hold merchandise you'd like to purchase and allow you to pay it off in installments, then retrieve it once you've paid in full -- had all but disappeared by the 90s. When everyone had easy access to credit, there wasn't much allure to delaying gratification. Now that credit is tight, and most consumers are nervous about taking on more debt, layaway is looking attractive once more. (Here's one article about the trend: MSNBC: Layaway Makes a Comeback.)Which got me to thinking: could wedding vendors create payment programs for their brides and grooms inspired by layaway?

Most wedding vendors sell services, not merchandise -- so, technically, there's nothing to lay away. But, vendors could offer brides the option to pay for their services ahead of their weddings in small increments -- say, monthly -- for a year or more prior to their wedding dates. Most people are less nervous about paying $75/month better than $1,000 at one time. And, such a plan would allow people who simply can't put $1,000, $2,000 or $5,000 on a credit card like they once could. Expand the concept a bit, and family members can join in by picking up a payment or two in lieu of gifts.

Just like it once did for designer bags and furniture, the option to prepay in small bits over time could help keep more expensive wedding packages in reach of more brides.

A few caveats spring to mind, though. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't have much tolerance for bookkeeping; implement a plan like this, and you'll need to do a lot more of it! You'll need to think through a cancellation policy: stores like K-Mart charge a small fee, but return money paid towards the merchandise. You'll need to decide how much you should charge for cancellations -- and whether that figure should vary based on how far away the wedding date is.

And, of course, marketing will be critical: make sure you can update your materials, your web site, and your ads to bring in enough clients to make the effort of setting up such a plan worthwhile.

Wedding Planning in a Downturn

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Since early this summer, we've been surveying brides on our web site about how the economy has changed their wedding plans. Not surprisingly, nearly all brides responding said they've had to at least consider altering their plans. However, there were some surprising responses to how they plan to change their events.

The most interesting things we learned from the survey were:

Except for videography and live music, most brides do not plan to eliminate key services to save money. Instead, 100% of brides responding said that reducing the guest count was one of the first places they will look for savings -- with more than half saying it was the place they are cutting back. Trimming the menu was the next target for savings, with 80% of brides indicating they intend to reduce food costs with a simpler menu.
Other top cost-cutting tactics were fewer/less costly flowers and decorations, and DIY invitations.
What brides want most from wedding vendors: flexibility and education. Nearly 100% said that "creative ideas for doing more with less" and "education about what really makes a wedding great" were their top choices for how vendors could help. A la carte services and flexibility (e.g., less restrictive minimums) were the second most popular choice.

The upshot: the good news is, most brides are still planning a conventional wedding with most of the major services. But, they are looking to be prudent about costs (without sacrificing quality, of course). Vendors who can demonstrate flexibility and efficiency in their services can take advantage of brides' desire to feel their making good decisions and spending hard-earned money wisely.

Excellent Article About Web Site Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:43:00 +0000

A great post on marketingprofs.com noted that a recent study showed that about 75% of consumers visit a company's web site to find information about products and services they're shopping for. I'd venture a guess that the percentage is even higher for brides, since they're shopping for things they've never evaluated before, they're spending more money than they typically do, and they're under tremendous pressure to make good decisions quickly.

Unfortunately for vendors, the study also pointed out that a much smaller percentage of shoppers -- about 40% -- are satisfied with the information on the sites they visit. (And that, in turn, bodes poorly for the vendors trying to market to those customers.)

What does that mean for wedding vendors? Most obviously, it's more proof that an effective web site is critical to your business. It is the key to making all your sales and marketing efforts effective, because once you've captured a bride's interest via advertising, a referral, a bridal show, or a search engine, she will go to your web site to determine whether or not to consider your company.

What kinds of things should you consider when developing or redesigning your site?

(1) Remember that your site must be designed with your customer in mind.

Too many vendors develop web sites that are more about their own desires than their customers needs. For example, noisy sites with lots of Flash are irritating to brides (who are often logging in from work). Ditto for heavy sites with lots of video.

(2) Invest in a quality designer.

Amateurish designs or run-of-the-mill templates can do more harm than good. By keeping the functionality or your site simple, you can save money that can be invested in a good set of custom template pages from a quality designer. What's more, this kind of simple design is easy to update with new text (e.g., for pricing and package changes) and images. You'll save money in the long run, and have a site that's more friendly to both brides and search engines.

For more on the subject, check out the original article on marketingprofs.com.

What Do eHarmony and Travelocity Know That You Don't?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Over the past couple of years, I've heard some wedding vendors boast that they've "figured out" that print advertising "no longer works" because "everyone I book finds me online." Believing they were eliminating waste, these self-styled leaders cut out advertising altogether, or restricted themselves to web advertising only. Interestingly, my impression is that these same vendors have seen their businesses decline substantially versus peers who kept up advertising.

Of course, this is no surprise to me. Nor would it be to online leaders like eHarmony, Orbitz, Travelocity, Overstock.com, Expedia and other web-only companies who spend millions advertising offline to drive traffic to their web sites. These companies only conduct business with customers online -- yet they still need offline advertising (in print, on TV and on radio) to promote to potential customers.

What do they know that you should know? First of all, they understand that offline media is more efficient at reaching large numbers of targeted customers than online media usually is. Make no mistake: web advertising is enormously effective at capturing web surfers who are actively looking for a very specific service or product. As such, it should ideally be part of any complete advertising program for a wedding vendor. But it's not efficient at introducing your company reliably to large numbers of potential buyers who aren't yet sure exactly what they're looking for. Web ads on Google, for example, are highly restricted in terms of the information they provide -- and, they are generally only displayed to a fraction of the potential audience for your product. Print and other offline media, on the other hand, assemble large audiences around targeted content, and offer you the opportunity to promote to everyone in the audience efficiently.

Second, the online giants understand today's preferred buying process. Customers today often learn of the existence of a company, service or other buying opportunity through offline media. If their interest is piqued, they then go online to gather detailed information about it. In the past, this same customer would have picked up the phone after seeing an intriguing ad. In effect, your web site has replaced your phone for at least part of the buying process.

Third, online leaders understand that evaluating web traffic accurately is crucial. Just asking isn't enough. How many "no referrer" visits is your web site receiving? Odds are, it's more than half your traffic if you're marketing offline at all -- and, those visitors are all coming from your offline advertising.

Finally, successful online commerce companies like eHarmony, Expedia, and others understand that there are simply more links in the chain between advertising and buying than there were before. It's crucial to understand where you're losing people if you're unhappy with your marketing results. For example, if you run multiple print ads, and your revenues don't grow, was the reason poorly designed ads that didn't entice readers to visit your web site? Or, was it a poorly designed web site that didn't entice customers to call you? Only a disciplined analysis will tell you for sure.

Don't Take My Word For It ...

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:20:00 +0000

When you're in the advertising business, it can be hard to tell your clients that the solution to their problems is more -- not less -- marketing investment. It can sound self-serving. But, more often than not, it's true.

Too many wedding vendors consider marketing a "luxury" that they'll "splurge" on "after they're making money" -- instead of the fuel that generates the business in the first place. I believe this is why so many wedding vendors end up pursuing their business in a half-hearted (and often half-time) way. They haven't given themselves a fighting chance to succeed.

Thankfully, you don't have to take my word for it. The eggheads over at MarketingProfs.com say it better than I do in a helpful, brief post:

Set Your [Marketing] Objectives First, Then Budget

Remember, your marketing is more likely to fail because you didn't budget proportionate to your objectives than any other reason. Underspending can be worse than not spending at all.

From the Dragon's Mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:02:00 +0000

In a recent episode of "Dragon's Den" (on BBC America), Rachel Elnaugh critiqued a pitch for a taxi-based video advertising network. In expressing her dim view of the venture's potential, she made note of a data point that's crucial for any marketer to accept: people today are bombarded with advertising messages, by some estimates receiving more than 3,000 advertising impressions every day.

What did this mean for the unfortunate entrepreneur? The potential investors weren't convinced taxi passengers would voluntarily watch more advertising. More relevant to wedding marketing, they also doubted that any message sent via this new medium would have enough impact to rise above the existing daily impression tsunami.

What does this mean for wedding vendors? A bride receives the same barrage of marketing messages every woman does -- plus, she's now receiving messages from wedding marketers, too. It may take 20 or more impressions just for your message to register as "received" in a bride's mind. That means effective, efficient marketing is absolutely critical to your success.

What should you do -- and not do? In a down economy, marketing is often the first expense people cut, but that's probably the worst thing you can do. Not only is there more competition for fewer brides in a slow economy, there is also an opportunity to get more attention if your competitors cut back. Consider the following dos and don'ts:

DO:

- Strive to maximize the number of repeat impressions your marketing delivers. That means consistency in look, feel and message across your print ads, web ads, brochures, show signage and your web site.

- Place your ads where you would look if you were a bride. That may mean paying more out-of-pocket for a wedding-specific vehicle than for a general purpose advertising opportunity, but, odds are you'll actually be paying less per bride.

- Carefully evaluate new magazine, show and web site entrants to the market. If you are feeling pinched, now is not the time to try an unproven media property. (On the flip side, if you're feeling flush and can afford to add something new, it can sometimes pay off to try something new at introductory rates -- and get a leg up on competitors who opt out.)

DON'T:

- Don't cut out advertising properties for the wrong reasons. In particular, remember that the last publication or web site that a bride saw before contacting you is not the only one that counts! It takes 10+ impressions for any advertising to register -- and, probably much more than that for wedding advertising. Any advertising in a magazine, site or show that demonstrably reaches brides will contribute to the total impression count that ultimately spurs her to contact you.

- Don't let a bride's feedback mislead you. When asked "how did you find me" or "how did you hear about me," most brides want to say whatever will get you off the subject of your business and onto the subject of her wedding as fast as possible. When she says "I found your web site," she probably won't remember -- or care to think about -- the other places she saw you that contributed to her finding your site in the first place.
Odds are, your web site is not getting you dozens of "free" prospects. Learn to accurately analyze your web traffic (e.g., reviewing "no referrer" visits, setting up tracking URLs, etc.) to avoid making bad decisions based on wishful web thinking.

Considering a Bridal Show? Start Your Research Here.

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:06:00 +0000

If you're considering exhibiting in a local bridal show, I encourage you to first visit http://www.exhibitorconcierge.net. While the site was created by the producers of the Dream Wedding Show and the Premier Wedding Show here in California, it also contains lots of general information about bridal shows that would be useful for wedding vendors anywhere.

Of special interest are "10 Questions to Ask Before You Give Them Your Check" and a handy glossary of bridal show terms.

Dealing with the Economic Slowdown (and Other Problems That Can't Be Fixed)

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:46:00 +0000

I read an interesting blog post today at MarketingProfs entitled "How to Manage Problems You Can't Fix." It immediately brought to mind the state of our market here in Sacramento, where the real-estate-driven economic slowdown has dramatically reduced the financial resources available for weddings. We can't change the realities of the market: fewer weddings are being planned with the "full boat" of services, and the brides that are booking are behaving much more conservatively. So, the question is, what is the best way to respond?

Paul Williams, author of the MarketingProfs piece, offers two possibilities for managing the situation: either find a way to live with the situation as it (now) is, or find a way to invert it, so that what appears to be a negative is actually a positive.

How might that play out for wedding businesses?

The "live with it" or "acceptance" approach might involve the following:

acknowledging that you will have fewer weddings in the next year or two -- and that your marketing investments may need to increase just to minimize the decline
using the time freed up from working weddings to build new capabilities that you can use to improve your competitiveness in attracting wedding business -- whether on the product/service side, or in your marketing
developing a non-wedding side of your business to diversify your revenue opportunities

The "invert it" approach might involve the following:

changing your own pricing model, packages or menu of services so that you're more appealing to today's budget-conscious bride.
choosing quality over quantity, i.e., target only the brides who are shopping on the high end, and aiming to do fewer weddings but with higher revenue per booking

There are no doubt other ways to take either approach -- the key idea, I think, is that either perspective is an opportunity for creativity. How will you respond?

Check out the original post here.

A Sound Bite About Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:29:00 +0000

At the VerticalResponse conference last week, I saw an excellent presentation by their marketing director on using social media to promote a small business.

She came up with a simple way to decide if a blog is likely to be successful: it must consistently offer readers something to learn, gain or enjoy. Otherwise, your blog could be perceived as just pure marketing -- and you'll likely turn people off.

Learn, gain or enjoy: a quick, straightforward way to determine if the blog you're planning for brides will actually get their attention.

Should Your Business Have a Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Wedding vendors often tell me that they have been advised by "a marketing expert" to set up a blog (or a MySpace page, or a FaceBook entry, or some other technology du jour). They're intrigued and excited by the idea of "free marketing," but also nervous: they don't know how they will fit managing a blog into their already overpacked agenda, and aren't completely convinced that doing so is a good use of their time. I think they're wise to be cautious!

For a minority of wedding vendors, adding a blog can be a useful, cost-effective marketing tool. For many others, though, adding a blog may be a misuse of precious time and energy.

How do you decide whether you're in the first group? Here are some things I believe you should consider before diving in:

1) Do you have the needed skills?

Remember that anything you do online that is connected to your business represents your business. If you enjoy writing and editing -- and are good at it -- a blog might be a good investment of your time. However, if you don't have the skills to create a high-quality blog that represents your business as professionally as any other marketing materials you'd provide to prospects, you probably shouldn't attempt it.

2) Do you have something of value to say?

Today's internet users perceive blogs as a primary source of entertainment and information, and that affects their expectations about what a blog should be -- and should not be. People expect more from a blog than just a marketing message about your company. A marketing pitch masquerading as useful information or entertainment probably won't fool enough people to help your business, and could even alienate the very people you're hoping to attract.

Assuming you do have expert insights and tips that would be valued by potential readers, you should also consider whether you want to share them. Producing a blog that has enough information value to make it worth reading might mean giving away expertise you should be saving for in-person discussions with prospects and clients.

3) Do you have the time and energy and quantity of information to keep the blog updated?

A defining characteristic of blogs is that they have a perceived shelf life, because entries are posted with a date. Can you post quality information frequently enough to keep your blog fresh?

This is more important than you might think. Information that is very old is taken less seriously, as is a blog that is updated only rarely. A visitor to your blog might even think your company is out of business if your last blog entry is very dated.

4) Can you benefit from an ongoing relationship with customers?

One of the best things about blogging is that it allows you to interact repeatedly over time with your customers and prospects, who can subscribe to blogs via RSS feeds and email updates. This is why a current, well-written blog can work marketing magic for companies like gourmet food and wine merchants, toy vendors, technology companies, high fashion retailers, booksellers, etc. Customers in these categories can be motivated to try something new in response to good information about the things they like to buy.

For wedding vendors, though, most purchases are one-shot deals. That means that the investment you make in attracting a readership can't ever pay off more than once. (Once a bride has booked her DJ or bought her wedding gown, she's unlikely to value information on those services ever again -- or at least not very soon.) And that may mean that return on investment of time and knowledge to create a blog may not justify the cost.

One notable exception to this is wedding photography. With most married couples planning to have children, photographers who offer family portraits, maternity, seniors, etc. have an incentive to create a recurring relationship with their wedding prospects and customers. (But, of course, a blog is not the only way to do so! Depending on your skills, interests and resources, other approaches like direct mail and email might make more sense.)

5) Do you have the knowledge and resources to develop traffic for a blog?

While creating and maintaining a blog is a fair bit of work, it's just part of the process. Once you've got a blog, you've got to make sure it's seen.

Ensuring your blog is accessed by the prospects you're hoping to reach is no simple task. It requires optimizing your blog's content for search engines, submitting your blog's address to relevant directories, accumulating links -- all the same things that it takes to drive traffic to any web site. Ultimately, you might find you can't reach a significant number of your prospects with your blog without paying to advertise it on Google and elsewhere -- undermining the idea of "free" marketing. And, even if you don't buy advertising for your blog, you will still need to invest significant time and energy into optimizing it (and may find you need to hire expert help for that).

Perhaps most important, if you try to develop traffic for your blog without outside help or advertising, you will likely need to be very, very patient: purely organic web traffic is very difficult to attract. It can take as long as six months to a year to get indexed and ranked by the major search engines, and your pages will likely move to the top of search results very slowly (if at all). If you choose to do a blog, it may ultimately become a cost-effective marketing tool for your business -- but, it's important to remember that it may take quite some time to see results.

6) Is your main web site as good as it needs to be?

First things first. The end result of any successful marketing you do -- print ads, internet ads, direct mail, or a blog -- is to drive more traffic to your web site. If your web site is not up to snuff, there's not much point in investing time and resources generating more interest in it.

One possible exception: if you don't yet have a web site, blogging software can be a way to help you get started with a web presence. Still, question 1 still applies: if you can't create something yourself that represents your business in its best possible light, put the resources you have into professional help instead.

The Resolution Riddle

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:51:00 +0000

When production time rolls around for our publication, we once again have the unhappy task of explaining to a number of disappointed advertisers that the images that appear on their web site are not suitable for printing in their ads. Why? Because web images are usually only 72dpi, while for printing we must have 300dpi.

This distinction is a source of enormous confusion, mainly because it's counterintuitive to believe that an image that looks absolutely fine on your monitor will look terrible when printed. How can this be?

I've never really been able to offer a clear or simple explanation for this, so I've looked for some help on the web. Here are some helpful articles I've found:

From Printing for Less (a great resource for quality, reliable postcard and brochure printing, btw!):

printingforless.com/resolution.html

From another printer -- Marsid-M&M:

mmprint.com/highres_photos.cfm

From a forum -- a greaat post explaining DPI, PPI and why those pix that look great on your computer monitor look so bad when you print them:

twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com

Can anything be done if your favorite images are only available on your web site? Probably not. The best advice I can offer is to obtain high resolution images from the photographer as well as web-ready when you prepare your web site. That way, you'll have the images you love available to use in all your marketing (and you already know how helpful it is to repeat your images and messages for memorability -- 7-10x!).

Research Shows Direct Mail On The Rise!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:58:00 +0000

If you've been here before, then you know that one of my favorite topics is direct mail -- more specifically, how direct mail can benefit wedding vendors and be more effective than direct email. My observation about direct mail has been that, since it has fallen out of favor with so many wedding vendors, there is less clutter in a bride's physical mailbox than her electronic one.

Well, now there's even more reason to reconsider direct mail: research shows that women prefer it to email. A new study shows that 85% of women will read marketing materials received via postal mail -- while only about half will look at email marketing. What's more, response rates to direct mail that includes a special offer are actually climbing aggressively -- currently 63%, versus just 54% in 2005.

For more information on the research, visit this link:

Study: More Women Read Snail Mail Than Email Direct Mail/

Media Competition: Good for Wedding Vendors? Maybe, maybe not.

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:43:00 +0000

If you took Econ 101 in college, you understand the notion that competition usually benefits consumers through more choice and lower prices. So, it stands to reason that an influx of new shows, magazines, web sites and other media into a local market would be a great boon to the wedding vendors who purchase advertising. Right? Many wedding vendors seem to think so. Unfortunately, the answer's not that simple.

Media differs in a very significant way from the typical "guns and butter" type commodities used to illustrate competition benefitting consumers. Unlike typical goods and services vendors, media providers must simultaneously serve two sets of customers.

Advertisers tend to forget that they are not a media company's only customers -- nor even its primary customers. But, a show, magazine or web site's first task is to attract, serve and engage brides. Only by successfully serving these customers does it have a product -- i.e., an audience -- to sell to advertisers.

When the number of wedding media products increases, competition soars for the scarcest, most valuable resource in the market: the bride's time. Regardless of how many shows, magazines and sites are available to her, a bride only has so many hours of free time to use them.

For example, here in Sacramento, the number of bridal shows has increased from about five major shows per year to nearly three times that many. The number of brides who can attend these shows, however, has probably not changed at all -- let alone increased by three times! And, it's certainly not the case that a bride who might have attended one or two shows is going to invest the time to attend 12 or more instead. Nobody has that kind of extra time -- and most certainly not a busy bride.

Even though the highest quality shows will invest more to try to maintain their attendance, there is only so much that they can control. Ultimately, the math is simple: a huge increase in the number of shows means that average attendance of all shows will be lower.

A similar analysis applies to publications and web sites. With more information sources vying for a bride's fixed free time for reading them, that means that each one, on average, gets less attention. Even the highest quality publications are impacted, because the 15 minutes a bride spends looking at an inferior magazine before discarding it is 15 fewer minutes she has available for reading other wedding publications.

The bottom line? Unfortunately, torrid media competition means that wedding vendors will need to spend more on advertising to maintain their presence amid the increased clutter and confusion -- not less.

Ad agencies refer to the impact of increased media chasing the same audience as "diminishing share of voice." Each new wedding media product becomes another voice that's claiming a portion of the total attention a bride can give to wedding planning -- which is fixed. When the number of voices speaking to each bride increases, you will need to speak more loudly and more frequently -- i.e., advertise in more places -- just to maintain the amount of influence you currently have. If you're not present at the moment she's consuming that media -- and your competition is -- then you've lost share of voice to your competitor. In other words, keep your advertising the same when there are more information sources influencing the bride, and you've just lost ground.

Can anything stem the tide? Of course, one positive outcome of competition is that existing publications and shows will do their best to differentiate themselves from the competition. Differentiation is the best way media properties can hold onto their audiences in the face of more competition for the bride's wedding planning research time. Look for media companies that find ways to stand out versus other media -- and have proven they can execute.

What else should wedding vendors do? Aside from understanding that even the best media providers will be severely challenged to maintain their same results when faced with a doubling or tripling of competition, I recommend that wedding advertisers do the following:

(1) Decide with your head, not with your heart.

Small business owners share many things, not the least of which are hopes and dreams for their businesses that often materialize much more slowly than planned (if at all). Marketing expenses that grow unexpectedly don't usually fit with most wedding vendors' expectations for how their businesses will progress. Yet, it's crucial for any business to evolve with what is actually happening in the market -- not with what you hoped or assumed would happen. (This concept is artfully explained in the book Who Moved My Cheese? -- a great read for any small business owner.)

When you're tempted to believe that new publications and shows produced on the cheap will deliver the same results at lower cost, ask yourself if their logic holds up when you think it through. Most important, remember that if the results you're counting on from this year's ad budget don't materialize, your business will suffer for years to come.

Don't let newbies with big promises persuade you to indulge in "magical thinking." At the same time, recognize that you will need to budget for additional marketing expenditures as media proliferate in your area. The key will be to invest in as many quality, value-driven options as possible.

Which brings me to point two ...

(2) Evaluate new wedding media claims with very careful scrutiny.

In Sacramento, we have new publications promising to distribute 50-100% more copies than existing magazines -- with absolutely no factual information to back them up! (These claims seem all the more absurd when you consider that their entrance to the market will make it harder for all to maintain current distribution numbers-- let alone double them.) Instead of accepting these numbers, question them.

Similarly, question show providers that promise they'll deliver as many brides as existing shows while charging less for booth space. How will they be able to match the advertising that current shows are doing if they're charging you much less -- let alone do the additional advertising that increased market competition will necessitate?

Companies making these kinds of claims are either lying outright, or they're simply badly managed. Either way, you lose when you invest your money with them. It doesn't matter, by the way, whether they're experienced in providing media in another context -- the wedding market differs in many ways. If a media company in another market arrogantly assumes they will be able to do everything siginficantly better or more cheaply than the existing players, they've probably got some big lessons coming -- lessons that you shouldn't have to finance.

Which brings me to point three ...

(3) Support the media companies whose products already deliver value to you.

In any media market, rapid influxes of new competitors to the market often lead to mass exits that are just as hasty a few years later -- with plenty of wreckage in their wake. The primary victims are usually advertisers who counted on these reckless, price-bombing new entrants. When the companies' inability to make a profit charging below-market advertising/exhibit fees finally catches up with them, they often leave advertisers in the lurch -- sometimes not even producing the media that was promised.

Just as important, though, is the impact on existing, healthier players. When forced by "kamikaze" competitors to invest more and drop their own prices, established players find their own profits eroding. (Consider the impact of price bombing on the airline industry over the last twenty years or so -- bankruptcies galore! While consumers have sometimes benefitted from lower prices, service has suffered dramatically, safety has become a concern, and many once-healthy companies have been forced to merge or go under.)

When profits deteriorate for established media providers -- companies the market depends upon for reliable, effective promotion -- the better managed companies may choose to exit the market. It simply won't make sense for them to continue to invest in a market in which profits have been squeezed by irrational, short-sighted price competition and questionable competitive tactics. They'll move on ... taking a valuable resource that you need to promote your business with them. Consider the long term when deciding where to put your marketing dollars -- and place your bets on the partners most likely to be around to help your business grow over the next five, ten or 15 years.

New Magazines and Shows ... They Come, They Go (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:59:00 +0000

From time to time in the wedding market, new publications and shows are announced by enthusiastic promoters -- usually coming in bunches, often promising audience numbers and results far exceeding what the existing field offers. Often the pricing also seems too good to be true. As a vendor trying to maximize your marketing budget, should you consider some of these "sweet deals"?

Given that I produce a wedding publication, I'm always concerned when there's a flood of great-sounding new publications into the market. Not, mainly, for fear of competition – healthy new competitors elevate the market. I always advise wedding vendors to invest in as much quality advertising as they can -- because it all will perform better when the messages are reinforced. On the flipside, though, unhealthy competitors do great damage to the market. What concerns me about new publications and shows is that they so often fail -- taking wedding vendors' precious marketing dollars with them.

The biggest problem is that new publications and shows are often undercapitalized – that is, they don’t have the money required to produce their magazine or show during the lean years before profitability. Inexperienced founders often don’t understand the cost structure of producing media, and don't even realize there will be lean years (!) – but, in magazine publishing, the standard estimate is five years to profitability, and shows generally take at least three years to break even. That means that founders must have enough cash on hand to fund the production and distribution/marketing of their book/show and pay their staff and their own personal expenses for at least the first three years.

What happens when newbie founders realize – in midstream – that their initial revenues won’t fund all the costs of delivering what they’ve promised? In the best case, important corners are cut. Print quantities are reduced. Paper quality is downgraded. Magazines arrive late. Distribution contracts are cancelled. Shows aren’t advertised. In the worst case, publications and shows never even materialize – and the money received from wedding vendors has already been spent.

(That is, in fact, exactly what happened in the Sacramento market just a year or two ago – when two new publishers made big promises, then disappeared – as show producer Sue Gallardo points out in her analysis -- click to read it. )

Even experienced publishers tend to misunderstand the wedding market. In fact, part of what attracts experienced media vendors to the market is the false idea that it's "easy." It’s often considered “incremental business” for a publisher whose main emphasis lies elsewhere – and, sometimes it’s meant to shore up profits that are faltering in the main business. That can mean impatience when profits don’t materialize immediately, and overpromising based on assumed synergies with the main business that don’t actually exist. The challenges of reaching brides and serving the needs of wedding vendors differ in subtle but important ways from other markets – even experienced publishers with existing products that appear strong can end up on a fairly steep learning curve. If they’re not satisfied with the pace of their progress towards profitability, these publishers can end up leaving wedding vendors in the lurch, too.

What does that mean for wedding vendors considering advertising in these new properties? If you’re thinking about taking advantage of one of these new properties, at least do your research. Even the sweetest deal means transferring your hard-earned dollars to the pocket of the new publisher or show promoter – so minimize your risk of losing those dollars. Ask the right questions – including the ones Sue Gallardo recommends in her write-up.

To my mind, though, the first question to ask is whether taking a chance on a new media property is right for you. My feeling is that the risk has more upside for some vendors than for others – and, conversely, the downside risk will be more painful in some cases as well. Evaluating whether trying out a new media option in its first edition is a good idea for your particular business will be the subject of my next post.

Smart Tips for Flyer Design

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:52:00 +0000

Found this great link with tips about flyer design -- with a solid example.

Create a Smart Flyer

Sharpen Your Skills ... By The Sea!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:55:00 +0000

The upcoming AFWPI conference is a great opportunity to get lots of great business tips and ideas from peers in the wedding industry, as well as marketing professionals. This year it's in beautiful Ventura, CA, so you can enjoy some beach-side relaxation while expanding your skills toolkit.

Speakers include web marketing consultants, executives from The Knot and Brides magazine, wedding industry innovators, and yours truly (I'll be presenting "9 Ways to Optimize Your Marketing for Results.").

For more information, visit the AFWPI web site.

Technorati Claim Post

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:41:00 +0000

Technorati Profile

"Price Shoppers": Worth Pursuing, or Waste of Time?

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:36:00 +0000

I have a confession: I’m always a little concerned when a wedding vendor tells me – usually with great conviction – that he or she “doesn’t waste time with price shoppers.” (By “price shoppers,” the vendor means brides or grooms who begin a conversation by asking the price of the vendor’s service.)

Make no mistake, unless you are competing primarily on price, I don’t think you should invest a lot of time in trying to sell people who are looking only for the cheapest option. But, the question is, does the mere fact that a bride asked about your pricing confirm she’s primarily concerned with price? I don’t think so!

Shopping for a wedding is a new experience for most of your brides and grooms. Most of them have no idea how much it will cost to get what they want – or even, in many cases, what they should want. Many brides and grooms may start with price, therefore, simply because they don’t know what else they should be asking.

Consider the last time you made a major purchase that required a lot of learning on your part – say, a car, a computer, a piece of expensive sporting equipment. Did you end up spending more than you thought you would, once you found out the options you should be considering, and why they would be important to your overall enjoyment of and satisfaction with the product?

This process of learning what things cost – and expanding the budget to accommodate what you learn you want – happens for brides and grooms, too. Especially for services that may be completely foreign to or misunderstood by people who’ve never purchased them before – e.g., DJ services, photography, videography, custom gown design, etc. The vendor who takes the time to explain the benefits of going with a more experienced pro (or the risks of the reverse!) has a better shot of both creating an educated customer who is willing to pay more AND closing an attractive piece of business.

Reconsider Direct Mail ... Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:37:00 +0000

Exactly a year ago, I posted an article urging wedding professionals to reconsider direct mail. Why? Because it's gotten much less expensive (think 1,000 postcards for under $100 -- a typical online deal!).

What's more, since most wedding professionals no longer invest in direct mail, your mailing will be much more visible than the mailings you might have sent to brides five or ten years ago.

Best of all, if you're advertising in print or participating in bridal shows, you probably get access to mailing lists for free. This represents a huge savings versus other business categories -- more typically, advertisers usually have to pay to rent lists.

Bottom line: remember that it takes 10 or more impressions of your company and your message to trigger recognition of your company in a bride's mind. Postal mailing can be a economical way to build that extra awareness you need, and prompt a bride's call.

Check out this interesting article, in which a professional marketing consultant describes the return her technology client received on investing in postal mailing --it was still a bargain for her client, even though they had to purchase use of the list. Especially noteworthy: it offered a significantly better return than "free" email!

Don't Rule Out Postal Mail -- by Shelli Strand, Strand Marketing

Redesigning your web site? Good for you! Changing the web address? Bad idea!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:15:00 +0000

With the web now so crucial to marketing a wedding business, many wedding professionals are investing in regular major updates and even complete redesigns of their web sites every couple of years. Since having a current, well-functioning, and professionally designed site is essential to maximizing the revenue potential of your wedding business -- and essential to the performance of all your other marketing efforts -- I couldn't be more supportive.

Unfortunately, though, many companies are simultaneously undermining these web redesign investments by launching new sites on new URLs instead of simply changing their existing site.

For example, a reception location called "The Tranquility Garden" might have an existing site at www.thetranquilitygarden.com and create a new one at www.tranquilitygarden.com or wwww.thetranquilitygarden.net, instead of simply changing the site that appears at that address they already have.

Why is this such a bad idea? Four big reasons:

(1) Getting indexed by search engines takes time. If your existing site has been online for a year or more, you've likely already indexed in Google, Yahoo!, etc. -- meaning that you can be found when someone searches for your company by name. The process of indexing can take six months to a year, sometimes even more -- so, if you launch your redesigned site at a new web address, your new site might not be found by brides for a year or more.

(2) Search engines penalize similar sites. If your new site contains similar verbiage to your old site and a similar name, the search engines may view it as a "duplicate" and penalize both of your sites in the rankings. Why? Because some "black hat" web companies developed a tactic of creating multiple similar sites and linking them together as a way to try to goose their web result rankings. Consequently, search engines now penalize any sites that seem very similar -- potentially even removed from search indexes altogether! (And remember, it doesn't matter if the images are different -- search engines can't "see" the pictures, they evaluate your site by the text.) Worse, this risk increases if you link your old site to your new in an effort to redirect people to the new site.

(3) Existing links lose their value. If you're a qualified wedding professional that other pros like to work with, chances are you've accumulated referral links from other companies. If you change your web site address, these links from other vendors won't direct brides to your current site. Same is true for associations that offer you a link as part of membership. Sure, you can contact these companies and ask them to change the link -- but, it can take months to contact everyone, and you have no control over whether the links ever get updated. And that means lost web site visits from brides who could have become clients.

(4) Print, bridal show, and other offline marketing efforts have distributed your old web address. If you've published print ads, attended a recent bridal show, or offered your cards or brochures to brides (via your own contacts with them or through other vendors' referrals), your "old" web address is in circulation. What's more, because brides typically hang on to wedding planning materials for a year or more -- and then often pass them on to other brides -- your old URL will be promoted almost indefinitely. Because investing in print advertising, bridal shows, and marketing collateral is so costly, this is probably the most expensive consequence of opting for a new web address instead of simply updating your existing site.

Are you changing your web address because you're afraid you'll lose the information contained in your old design? Not to worry -- you can do this even if you launch your new site on your current address. A web site is really just a collection of files -- each page is just a document, really. The files from your old site can be backed up, or downloaded to your own computer, so that you can get information from them whenever you like (or even revert to the old site if you want).

Or, are you concerned because you don't have access to the server your site is hosted on? This is sometimes an issue when you work with a new designer, but the hosting company should be able to help you out if you provide proper identification of your identity and ownership of the company. Alternatively, you can work with the registrar you used to register your domain originally to point your web address to the location of your new site -- so that brides automatically arrive at your new web site.