TheWeddingMarketingBlog.com

Perhaps you have noticed. Halloween has passed and Christmas decorations are everywhere in sight. Thanksgiving barely registers as a bump-in-the-road anymore.

If Christmas is a scant 50 days away, can the new year be far behind?

Okay, now that I’ve successfully boosted your blood pressure, it’s time to take inventory on marketing. Please pull out your 2008 wedding marketing plan. You have a written wedding marketing plan, don’t you?

In either case, set aside some quiet time for planning. My definition of quiet time means no distractions. No phones and no extraneous people. What you need is your marketing materials from 2008, your financial information, sales data, and media kits for all the new marketing opportunities in 2009. A Sunday away from the office, with just you,  your laptop, business partner, and/or marketing mentor should do it.

Gee whiz… I really didn’t mean to scare you so badly.

Tell you what. Do three things, right now.

1. Block a half-day or full day on your calendar for this planning session.
2. Begin to gather and organize your materials for that session, giving yourself enough time to prepare.
3. Obtain current media kits and rate information from any publications, websites, wedding shows, networking groups or other marketing options you should be considering.

I’ll get back to you on the rest.

Quote: Tomorow’s starting now - John Legend (quote inspired by Marcello Pedalino, MMP Entertainment)

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: 2009, Andy Ebon, goal setting, marketing plan, wedding marketing blog

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: 2009, Andy Ebon, goal setting, marketing plan, wedding marketing blog

This may come as a shock to you, but people don’t know what you do. More precisely, very few people you deal with know everything that you do (and don’t do).

What they know about you is a function of the context in which they’ve seen your work.

For example, the average age of a bride is about 27. Typically, if you provide service for class reunions, she’ll be having her 10th, when she’s 28. Does she know you service reunions?

If the bride is working, then she may be a contact for a company party. You simply can’t assume she knows either of these capabilities of your company. Brides are focused on weddings; their wedding… period.

The same thing goes for venue contacts. If they’ve seen you at their property for one kind of event, don’t assume that there is either the knowledge, or the curiosity, to understand the range of your capabilities and skills. At larger properties, the catering manager may not even be at the event. The event is turned over to the banquet manager. Even at smaller venues, the catering manager may depart once the meal is served. (OK, catering managers, maybe you need ask the question…)

These days many DJ services also provide videography or photography or both. Lighting too. Particularly if you have added these services over time, there is likely to be a knowledge gap about your company.

This is not limited to companies that provide services at an event. Bakers, florists, and the like, provide product and services for a plethora of celebrations. You are unlikely to be referred if people don’t know those possibilities.

Limitations are important too. Some companies specialize in Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and Schools. Others don’t do them, at all.

The goal should be clear: Clients, contacts, and peers should all have broader awareness of what products and services you provide, what you specialize in, and what you don’t do.

To the extent that you can accomplish that single goal, the flow of referrals will increase to a tidal wave.

Put that down as your first New Year’s Resolution. Better yet, get to work on it, now.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: products and services, referrals, Relationship Marketing, what you do, your specialty

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: products and services, referrals, Relationship Marketing, what you do, your specialty

The image of the sign in this post appears in the office of one of my doctors. It lives behind the glass, facing the hoards of patients, killing time in the waiting room.

In the last couple of years, I’ve spent way too much time in waiting rooms. I’ve read every magazine, worked on my laptop, and considered every possible piece of good or bad news that might face me when I actually get in to see the doctor.

The sign posts a change of insurance acceptance from May 15, 2007. HELLO! It’s now November 2008. Either remove the date or remove the sign.

The sign is a symbol of internal blindness that many small business owners suffer from. We don’t notice obvious evidence that the external faces of our businesses is covered with cobwebs.

• Does your website boast?: Last updated 10/7/06
• Do you have trouble opening documents sent to you, by email, because your software is more than two versions old?
• Does your company logo look like it was designed in the late 1970’s?
• When your crew shows up to deliver or set up, are they wearing Grateful Dead t-shirts, or polo shirts, sporting your company name?

Time flies, and we have a different threshold of awareness when it comes to ourselves, or our businesses. Designing and implementing a new logo is a big deal. Others tasks… not so much.

Get an outside opinion. A fresh set of eyes and ears. In a time when money is tight, you’ll be surprised how many actions you can take to bring matters up to date, without spending a king’s ransom.

Once you figure out what those tasks are, you actually have to perform them.

You can do it!

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, Grateful Dead, logo, outdated, stale, website redesign, Wedding Marketing Blogger

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Andy Ebon, Grateful Dead, logo, outdated, stale, website redesign, Wedding Marketing Blogger