Email & Snail Mail
You can meet an incredible number of brides at just one wedding trade show. If you have presence at two or more, it becomes overwhelming.
The same is true for the bride. She trolls the aisles with her entourage, having abbreviated discussions with a plethora of wedding vendors. She is inundated with information, propaganda, coupons, discounts, sales pitches, parlor games, fashion shows, and general hoopla.
By the end of the day, she has collected a bagful of printed matter, CD-Roms, DVDs, buttons, stickers, and who-knows-what-else. When she gets home, more often than not, that bag of information and goodies lands in a corner, to be visited much later, or sometimes, never again.
In my recent years, when attending bridal shows, I would register as a groom (for research purposes). The shocking result was the total lack of follow up. No one seemed to do telemarketing. Email and snail mail usually totaled a combined 5%. One pair of shows, for example, had a cumulative unique vendor count of more than 200. I received 6 emails and 2 letters.
From my viewpoint, only 2 of the 8 communications were worthwhile.
That means it included three basic items:
- Well written
- Sent in a timely manner
- Included a call-to-action
Plainly put, one should be communicating with every qualified prospect that enters your booth (signing up for something). Secondarily, one should process the show leads-list, and follow up with a slightly more general message.
If a bride has conversed with 5 to 10 wedding vendors in your category, they all start to look like a commodity. By using postcards, personalized letters, or emails, you can jump back in front of the crowd with a minimum of effort.
It’s wedding marketing basics, yet very few exhibitors do it.
How about you?
Andy Ebon
Wedding Marketing Expert
The Wedding Marketing Authority
I recently was a vendor at a bridal show in Denver. I am a wedding planner and I had some fairly good leads and have been following up with them with emails and postcards for the past two months. So far, I have received nothing back. Not even a “take me off your list” reply. I do plan to continue to keep my name in front of them by sending the emails and snail mail. Maybe I’m not asking for the right call to action. Is anyone else having this problem? I really don’t know what the brides are looking for anymore.
I’d have to see what you’ve been sending to understand the lack of response.
Thanks for your post… I’ll follow up with you, directly.
Andy
Great points Andy.
It’s incredible how few people follow up. And even the ones that do usually only follow up once. We are implementing a “drip” campaign soon. No call to action, but giving them great local wedding info once a month whether they book or not. We just want to be seen as helpful and as the local wedding expert.
We are also sending each registered bride a 16 page satin finish brochure of our services. So few people invest in a mail campaign, it’s easy to stand out.
Funny how I read this blog post yesterday and decided to blast those brides again with a new email, a new picture and a “act now” incentive. The email went out an hour ago and I already have two new consults for this weekend. Go Andy! Thank you for the reminder to get those brides.