My entrepreneurial instinct is to turn any problem into a business opportunity. Obviously, I thought, people everywhere are probably experiencing a similar state of being overwhelmed.

The next two thoughts were:

• Master or conquer the state of overwhelm
• Write a book about it

OK, that sounded good. I need a book title, and a domain to go with it. My brain is geared to work in headlines, domain names, and titles. That skill is derived from being enamored with the creative style of billboards which fuse copy and images better than almost any other medium. The copy guideline: 7 words or less was the norm. For domains and book titles, one things in even fewer words, preferable no more than 2 or 3.

Magically, it hit me: “I’ll call it Dot Calm!” It’s a play on the phrase dot-com. “Simply brilliant,” I thought.

Then, in a moment of humility, I thought I’d better search Amazon.com
, in the unlikely possibility that someone had the same thought, had written a book with that same title.

Well, whaddya know. There it was… dotcalm: The search for sanity in a wired world.

I wasn’t terribly disappointed. I simply bought the book. It was brilliant. And it stands up very well, today. So, if you’re touched by the occasional or constant problem of TMI (too much information), buy yourself a copy, new or used, from Amazon.com.

I reread it periodically. It’s that good.

Technorati Tags: amazon.com, dot-calm, overwhelmed, TMI, too much information

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It’s also a day when many service business are not open at all, or not open regular hours. One often does find the workaholic business owner at the office on Black Friday, working on long overdue paperwork. Is that you?

It occurred to me, today, that you might want to have your own Black Friday Promotion for wedding or holiday business. I’m suggesting that you, specifically, target this promotion to open leads that have not yet converted to sales.

Pick a dollar number you’re comfortable with, perhaps $25, $50 or $100, depending on the nature of your business. Or, tie the dollar amount to the size of the quote/sale.

Then, send an email or electronic postcard to your prospect, offering that discount or added-value, only if they call you on Black Friday, during specific hours.

This is a soft business day, and you might just turn it into promotion that closes hundred or thousands of dollars worth of sales.

Stand out from the crowd. Do something cool.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: black Friday, Christmas, company parties, holiday shopping, retail biz, sales promotion, wedding

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In advertising, I find cliches incredibly annoying. I also find them unimaginative and ineffective. Possibly because the proliferation of cliches, such as perfect, thoroughly water down any impact. It is lazy, uninspired copywriting, period.

In what is a visually interesting ad for company parties, its cliche approach to copy falls short. It is an image that was embedded in an email. Might have been used in print, too, but I can’t be sure.

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, Cliches, copy, Dennis Miller, rants, uninspired, wedding marketing blog

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Tell your story!

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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Card Scan

In a post from November 1st, I suggested that now would be a good time to update your contact files. One  easily neglected tasks is transferring business card information to your address book, contact management or database software.

There is a highly effective tool for accomplishing that work, quickly and effectively. It is Card Scan; a scanner-software combination that makes short work transferring information from a pocketful of business cards into your computer-based records.

I have an earlier version of Card Scan, and judging by recent reviews, the latest hardware and software are even more efficient. I’m going for the upgrade, and suggest you do, too. It’s one of those specific-use products (such as Dymo Labelwriters) that perform extremely well for what their designed to do.

Card Scan is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: address book, Andy Ebon, business cards, contact database, contact management, scanner, scanning software, wedding marketing blog

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Obama campaign iPhone App

Election results behind us, it’s helpful to take note of the absolutely exceptional communications and marketing work the campaign.

From the very start, part of the overarching strategy was to engage supporters to the greatest extent, possible. At every rally, meeting, and miscellaneous opportunity, volunteers and staffers collected phone, email, and address information.

This procedure is the very essence of permission marketing. Now, after receiving that permission, the question becomes: What do they do with that permission?

In this case, the answer was: Almost everything possible!

The usual contact includes: Door knocking and phone calling. That’s fine, but it was the electronic marketing that surpassed all competitors, in the both the primary process and the presidential campaign.

It has been well-publicized, that the Obama campaign received an incredible number of small donations, from many people, via its website. One of the main reasons was periodic, relentless email messages, delivering news and information, and always suggesting a donation… no matter how small.

Campaign volunteers not only received emails, but text messages. If the primary had moved on from one state, the volunteers were kept in-the-loop with results and news from elsewhere. No matter how small a volunteer’s involvement, they were made to feel as though they were an extremely important part of the time.

To me, the most striking element of the campaign’s use of electronic marketing was its iPhone Application. Within just a couple of weeks of the release of the ‘new and improved’ iPhone, an Obama ‘08 Application magically appeared in the iTunes Application Store.

The application was free, and immediately gave you a window to the world of the campaign. The screen shot (shown upper right) gives a simple, clear menu to keep people involved in the campaign. My guess is that the application will not go away, but evolve into information about the transition to the presidency, and then an ongoing connection for grassroots support.

My girl friend, Jessica, had been a Precinct Captain. She was emotionally invested in the campaign. Last night, her devoted volunteerism and involvement was rewarded by several things: A win for the candidate, the knowledge that she had played a small part in a historic campaign, a victory celebration with several thousand other Obama supporters at the Rio Hotel Casino, and a personal text message of thanks from the President Elect, himself.

Less than two hours after the Barack Obama was declared the winner, Jessica, and thousands of volunteers across the country received personal text messages, thanking them for the time, contributions and support.

When her cell-phone ‘dinged’ to indicate a text message, she guessed it was a message ‘from the campaign.’ When she read the personal message from Obama, she burst into tears of joy.

THAT is connecting with a supporter, a volunteer, a fan…

Ask yourself this: What are you doing to personally connect with your employees, your customers, your referral base, in a timely, and personal manner?

It’s entirely possible that a concerted effort to use the latest technology for more than social networking, but targeted communications, can boost your business to the top of the stack.

Here’s a New Year’s Resolution for you: Become the best communicator among all your competitors.

You’ll be unbeatable.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: barack obama, digitial media, text messages, texting, wedding marketing blog

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Las Vegas was an expansion for Bob, about two years ago. He is in active member of the Orlando Chapter of NACE and other organizations, in Florida.

Upon planning an expansion, he utilized his Orlando contacts to connect him with key counterparts in Las Vegas. He immediately added membership in Las Vegas NACE and other local trade associations.

Bob donates photographic services to chronicle local meeting and events, in both markets, and makes certain that the organizations receive a CD-Rom of the images, promptly.

He sends postcards, periodically; and emails, from time to time. Today, I received one of those emails. It was formatted in Constant Contact, and was really quite simple. It was cute photo, halloween-themed, and had a soft-sell, but clear headline.

What Bob Christie is doing is not rocket science, but it’s well planned, timed nicely, and well executed.

One other thing: Bob Christie is polite, kind, and easy to do business with. Can you say all that about your marketing and yourself?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Email Marketing, event marketing, Las Vegas, NACE, orlando, wedding marketing blog

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Always adding new wrinkles and updates to his presentation, Andy promises to stir the pot for an audience that has new challenges on its plate, due to the further economic uncertainty of the past few weeks.

If you are interested in attending, just click through to the Las Vegas NACE website, and register online >>

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, Las Vegas NACE, Marketing and Selling to the 21st Century Bride, marketing strategy, Wedding Marketing Blogger

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1. Develop a simple email newsletter about your business to send to past clients. Be in touch, perhaps quarterly. Past customers are a great source of referrals, but YOU have to stay in touch.
2. Order Thanksgiving cards, not Christmas cards, and send them to wedding industry contacts. Be the first in your market to touch base for the holiday season. You will stand out, and perhaps receive some December referrals with this strategy.
3. Identify five great contacts who refer you significant business and take them to lunch or coffee. Talk movies, ask about them, and simply show your appreciation. They’ll ask you about business, just let them bring it up. When they ask about how they can help you, make sure you ask about how you can help them.
4. Be relentless about giving thanks for referrals. THREE TIMES: When you receive the lead. When you book the business. When you complete the work.
5. Stoke some great employee morale. Enclose a short thank you note with every paycheck. Give some specific praise about work done during that pay period (i.e. great poise shown with a difficult client, pinch hitting for an ill co-worker, staying late to get some task done, etc.,.). Catch people in the act of doing a good job.

Have a great tip of your own. Share it here, in a comment.

And…. if you have not already done, subscribe to this blog by email or RSS. And, share the site with an industry peer.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, Christmas cards, email newsletter, employee morale, giving thanks, Relationship Marketing, wedding industry contacts, wedding marketing

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Too many business owners take an approach that suggests reaching the most prospects (usually through email or telemarketing) will bring in the most sales. Somehow, that strategy doesn’t seem like it will be either effective or efficient, in most cases.

In early 1989, I joined the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, during my days operating Designer Music. My major involvement, over several years, was participating in lead exchange groups (Business Alliance), run by the highly creative and very competent team of Irv Spivak. Irv, and his co-chair, Suzanne Tucker. The group met twice monthly, at the ghastly early hour of 7:30am.

The networking skills I learned during several years in Business Alliance were critical to the success of my business. One major point that Irv hammered home, was the definition of a qualified lead. He explained that giving another person a name and a number is NOT a sizzling hot lead.

He made it clear to the thirty of us, in the room, that the goal was to learn enough about the businesses in our group that we were an extended sales force for each other member. We should be able to ask enough questions of one of our contacts to connect them, clearly, with one of our fellow Business Alliance members.

The converse is even more important. In order to receive sizzling hot, qualified leads, it’s important to give them. It is your currency for reciprocation. When people see you are serious about improving their sales, there is a natural tendency to respond, in kind.

I would suggest that in lean times, one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal is focused networking, giving qualified leads to wedding industry businesses. There is no sale that closes more easily, and is less price sensitive, than a qualified referral.

Ask yourself this: What people/businesses do you have relationships with, that you should be connecting with on a much more frequent basis?

Come up with a half-dozen answers to the question, and go get reacquainted. Make sure you listen, and find out how you can be a stronger ‘referrer of business.’

Be in touch. Stay in touch. Make qualified referrals. Get qualified referrals.

How tough is that? Irv & Suzanne would be pleased.

Technorati Tags: Email Marketing, leads, networking, Relationship Marketing

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