Oh you have that… great!

Perhaps you have a field asking: How did you hear about us?

If you do, that’s pretty good, but not good enough.

With all the communication options, these days, chance are that someone has heard about you from two or more sources. If you just give them a fill-in-the-blank field, they’ll usually give you the source of the last place they heard about your company, and no more.

That kind of incomplete information will give you misleading data on how your advertising is working. Your print advertising, for example, may drive people to your website, but you may not hear about.

In Part 2 of this topic, I’ll share the ideal way to structure customer response to give you better information about how they found you.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: advertising ROI, Andy Ebon, database, lead sourcing, website, wedding marketing

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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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Whatever you call it, bring it current. Businesses move, people get promoted, job titles change, people get laid off, new businesses open, you collect business cards at networking events, membership in networking groups and association change, [your addition to this list goes here]

In our rapidly changing world, we tend to acquire new information and contacts, faster than we process them. If you plan to send holiday cards or just keep in touch, being up to date comes first.

There is no worse feeling than having the holiday cards arrive and, only then, discovering your contact information is way out of date.

Today is the 1st day of November. Make it a 3-week project, then you won’t drive yourself crazy, when you need to use the information.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: address book, contact files, contact management, database, relationship management, rolodex

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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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Disguised as the wedding-marketing-doughnut are opportunities such as: The newest entry of bridal show or wedding publication into your market, bartering clubs, networking groups, trade associations, directory websites or leads exchange groups.

STOP! These are a ‘fool’s doughnut,’ not an actual ‘wedding-marketing-doughnut,’ These are, in fact the doughnut hole.

Ask your self this question: “Am I doing everything possible to follow up on existing leads, to make an appointment, and close the sale?”

‘Everything possible would mean actions, such as: Making an action plan for exhibiting in a wedding show, freshening its presentation, prepping and training your staff, making appointments (or sales) at the show, following up with phone calls and/or email after the show, offering a wedding showcase at your facility….. Shall I stop now?

If your marketing execution is passive: See who calls in from ads, inquires via the web, or stops by your trade show booth, then you’re kidding yourself.

Any of the aforementioned ‘wedding-marketing-doughnuts’ that will create more leads are not really the doughnut, they are the ‘wedding-marketing-doughnut-hole.’

The ‘wedding-marketing-doughnut’ is lead follow up, precise leads tracking, prospect appointments, closing sales, improving your product or service, tweaking your website, and a couple of dozen other actions.

Bottom line: Most businesses don’t really require more leads. The require incremental improvement in their business, and better execution of the sales process.

Don’t confuse the ‘wedding-marketing-doughnut” with ‘wedding-marketing-doughnut-hole.” It will be a costly mistake.

Costly mistakes can be absorbed in prosperous times. Right now, you can’t afford to throw good money at bad marketing.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: appointments, bartering club, bridal shows, closing sales, directory website, leads, leads exchange group, recession strategy, recession wedding marketing, trade association, tweaking your website, wedding publication

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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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Let’s just say that the standards for Spamming have become incredibly restrictive. Every third-party email service has procedures that qualify what you do. The basic one is Permission. Effectively, permission must be granted to your company by some kind of sign up that clearly explains that your company will be communicating announcements, etc., via email.

These days, the email formatting is pretty sophisticated. Those who receive your email can unsubscribe with one click. And, just as easily, the recipient can flag your email as SPAM, in one click. To minimize this, you can put an explanation/disclaimer message at the top of the message, reminding people that they did, indeed, sign up for this information.

In my experience, marketers have several lists:

• Brides
• Industry peers
• Industry prospects
• Press
• Fellow members in trade associations

The latter four groups generally do not present any problem. As long as you have some kind of business relationship with them, people won’t flag you as a Spammer; they will simply unsubscribe if they are not interested in your messages.Brides, on the other hand, are in a state of information overwhelm. They have been coached to set up a free email account for their engagement (Yahoo!, MSN, Hotmail, etc.), and most of them do that. However, they sign up for information and enter contests willy-nilly. Then, upon a receiving an email solicitation for wedding services, they often forget that they gave permission for it.

The result: Instead of just unsubscribing, they flag you as a Spammer.

Here’s the rub: Third-party services, such as Constant Contact, Vertical Response, and others, have limitations such as one-tenth of 1% for spamming. What that means is that if more than 1 out of 1000 recipients of your email flag you as a Spammer, you are in danger of having your account closed (typically on the second or third infraction.

For example, you email 1847 brides, and 3 of them check you off as a Spammer, you are over the limit. It does not matter that you have done everything correctly to that point. You’ve employed a proper sign up on your website, at your trade show booth, and you put a clear disclaimer/explanation on your email. If you exceed the limits, you’re out.

Why? Actually, it’s pretty simple, albeit unfair. The email services are the ones that get blocked from delivering emails should the companies they service have excessive amounts of spam counts. The wedding industry, as it has been explained to me, has a higher incidence of problems. Some industries, like home mortgages, are no longer serviced because their spam counts would never get down to acceptable levels.

What to do:

• Don’t share lists. If you accept a list from another company, you never know if they have followed the appropriate rules. Their problems become yours.
• Be holy about your sign-ups. Make sure you receive permission, absolutely.
• Keep your emails short and sweet.
• Don’t be deceptive in your message.
• Make your subject lines crystal clear.
• Cross your finger.

Good luck!

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He was reaching out to me, and other business owners, asking our experience and advice. I challenged back with some questions about his rationale for the proposed ‘new deal.’

Then I looked at his website…

I am convinced that most wedding advertising drives people to call you or visit your website. Since many brides and grooms are trying to work more efficiently, they use the web as a screening tool. Then, they select the two or three vendors, in a category, to meet, in person.

My advice to him, tomorrow, will be ‘Fix your website before you make a decision to change anything else, whether it means spending more or less money on advertising. Right now you are driving activity to a confusing, poorly conceived website. Your service is far better than your website. Fix it. Do not put the marketing cart ahead of the horse.’

It’s a question about the flow of lead activity that needs to be asked, repeatedly. If your website is not up to snuff, how many great leads never come your way?

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I continue to be shocked that most people who have websites, don’t know how to access the statistics generated about their website activity. The fault lies not so much with the website host, as with the webmaster. It really is part of the webmaster’s job to show website owners, like you, how to access the site statistics, and the importance of them.

Site usage data is the foundation knowledge you should have before major updates or a complete renovation to your site.

It doesn’t take much experience to understand the value of the information and how to apply it. And once you do, it will be like the first time you used a dishwasher, or drove a car with automatic transmission instead of a stick shift. You won’t know who you managed without it.

Since usage data comes with hosting, why do you need Google Analytics? You don’t need it. But, I’ve found Google Analytics to be much more ‘user friendly’ than any statistics package that comes with hosting. Did I mention that Google Analytics is free?

Setting up a Google Analytics account is free, and your webmaster needs to add just one strip of code to each page in your website. You really owe it to yourself to investigate further.

Oh, and when you decide that you should add Google Analytics. Ask yourself why you heard it from me, and not from YOUR webmaster. Makes you feel kind of insecure, doesn’t it? It should!

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At the risk of pointing out the obvious, giving more leads is important. Giving qualified leads is even more important.

Be helpful to prospects or clients by inquiring about what other services they need. Ask enough questions to pre-qualify them, and then ask if it’s OK to refer them to the XYZ company, and have XYZ be in touch with them. If the client says they’ll call them, ask if it’s OK to have XYZ initiate a call or email if they haven’t been contacted in a couple of days.

Now, provide all the lead information to the XYZ company, immediately. They’ll appreciate any lead. A qualified lead shows that you are really trying to make successful referral.

A funny thing happens next. As you get better at giving referrals, you’ll begin receiving more referrals, without even asking. There’s a rhythm to all of this. At first it will be a conscious effort. Before you know it, giving qualified leads will become second nature.

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