As of late yesterday, almost 60 wedding professionals from Greater Cleveland (including Akron, Youngstown, and beyond) had chosen to invest one business day and a few dollars in Wedding University, a 4-seminar presentation by THE Wedding Marketing Authority, Andy Ebon.

Today’s Bride, a full service wedding marketing company (bridal show, magazine, and website) is hosting the wedding marketing seminars.

The all-day seminar series will cover a variety of topics designed for wedding industry businesses, including: Website Usability, Effective Bridal Show Promotion, Print Ads That Sell, and Building A Focused Social Media Plan. The day will be capped of with a catch-all, question and answer session.

This is an 11th hour call to spread the word to any wedding industry peers you have in the Greater Cleveland market.

Today’s Bride is a member of BSPI (Bridal Show Producers International).

Andy travels North America and beyond, presenting single seminars, half-day and full-day sessions, as well as speaking at national and international industry conferences. To inquire about bringing The Wedding Marketing Authority to your market, please feel free to inquire via this site or call 702-227-9926.

Cleveland Rocks!!

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Wedding Industry Analysis and Opinion

In the wake of yesterday’s stunning announcement by Conde Nast, closing down both Elegant Bride and Modern Bride magazines, I thought it wise to step back and analyze the prospects of wedding industry print media and how the local wedding business is affected.

Consolidation

Yesterday’s news was as much (or perhaps more) a consolidation, than a simple pair of closures. Conde Nast explained its intent to increase the publication frequency of Brides Magazine. That decision will absorb some of the content that otherwise would have appeared in Elegant Bride and Modern Bride.

Rack Space vs. Redundancy

Part of marketing cereal, soda, magazines or any retail product in a grocery store is roadblocking competition by offering multiple choices from one company. However, for Conde Nast, having three separate wedding publications seem to have reached the point of diminishing return. Its move to consolidate doesn’t necessarily represent a sudden, massive realignment in the weddings industry. Rather, a logical, reasonable move for greater efficiency.

Conglomeration

It is fact that virtually all wedding publications also have websites. Many local publications also produce bridal shows. Those that don’t produce shows often are sponsors of bridal shows.

Small Business Relevancy

Is this news about national publications important to the local business? Not so much.

Small business owners are notorious for being easily distracted and failure to have a cohesive marketing plan.

What is the purpose of wedding publications for the advertiser?

Despite the fact that it is a web-centric world, to be sure, brides still read wedding publications, in all shapes and sizes. Free publications, fee-based and subscription publications; local, regional, and national publications. As such, the primary purpose of advertising in print is to drive traffic to one’s website.

Small business often misconstrue the failure of their print ads, blaming it on the publication, specifically, or more generally, on the demise of print. Nonense!

Most Wedding Print Ads Stink

My criticism of wedding print ads comes from reading many publications, in many markets. The ads are often pretty, but they still are ineffective. In my view, I set the stink-factor for local print ads at 75% or more.

Some of the major reasons for poor ROI on print ads are:

• Failure to use a compelling headline (the name of your business is not a headline).
• Cluttering an ad with too much information – The purpose of the ad is to make the phone ring or drive people to a website. One doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) attempt to include any feature or benefit within an ad.
• Using cheesy illustrations or second rate photographs rather than professional images.
• Using images of the business owner rather than the happy bride in the wrong situations (there are exceptions, here).
• Failure to update/improve one’s ad on a regular basis.
• Failure to track the inbound source of leads, thoroughly (or at all).

The list is actually much longer; however, I think the point is clear. Any wedding publication is a messenger. It is responsible for delivering your ad to brides, in the context of wedding editorial (articles and pointers), packaged in a pleasing, easy-to-read package.

Do not confuse the effectiveness of a second-rate ad and poor lead tracking with the strength or weakness of a specific publication or the decline and fall of the entire wedding print segment.

Here’s your assignment

Without asking you to have a written marketing plan, today (I’ll do that closer to year-end), I urge you to do one thing. Hire a professional copywriter… to refashion your print ads and update your website copy, from top to bottom.

Often, a publisher will accept the task of producing your ad. They often do a fine job of creating excellent finished artwork for a lousy ad because you supply them poor copywriting and concept.

Typically, websites are populated copy that was originally conceived for brochures. That may have been fine, ten years ago. Not today. Surfing brides scan copy. Crisp sentences, paragraph breaks and bullet points are key. The purpose of the website, as it relates to prospect, is to stimulate a phone call or an online inquiry.

The unlimited capacity of websites can seduce one into overstocking it with extraneous content. It becomes like a cluttered closet. Websites can be so overstuffed that the viewer can’t find the important content among the outdated junk.

Seeing The Future

Publishers cannot be solely in print media. To have a present and a future, they must deliver content and advertising in multiple media. Get Married Media is probably the best example of a growing, multi-media company, targeting the wedding industry. They are about enter Season Three of their Television show, they have a national website, with local advertising opportunities, and they are launching their new magazine, this month.

Get Married’s use of Microsoft Tag Technology, beginning with their Premier Issue (October 2009), offer brides the opportunity to transition from the print page to a website/video. This connection between print and web make their magazine stand out by innovation. This technology will spread quickly; however, right now, Get Married Magazine is the first to apply Microsoft Tags in the wedding category.

In Conclusion

Focus on improving your ad, not on the market dynamics, locally or nationally. Business categories tend to expand and contract through natural market conditions. Two publications in your market may be fine. Three may be too many.

Newcomers make big promises. Let other advertisers take those risks. Give the edge to established, ethical, trust worthy publishers (bridal show producers, websites, etc.,) and work on improving your ad content.

THAT is my recommended assignment.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

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The Magic Wedding Marketing Pill

Some of the recurring questions I get, typically at seminars and conferences is: “What’s the right social media to do first?” or “Should I cut back on print advertising?” or “How come my website isn’t working like it used to?” or “How do I find the time to understand all the latest technology?”

All these question are, in essence, the same question. “Andy, could you please give me a list of the optimum marketing methods to make my business successful? I need the Magic Wedding Marketing Pill.”

Sorry, no-can-do. Answers in Wedding Marketing are not that simple.

I taught college for eight years, and one important thing I learned is that students were look for THE right answer. Sometimes I would present a real life business situation that I had experienced. Along with the scenario, I would present four or five possible alternative solutions to address the problem. The class would discuss it, and then would vote on the preferred path.

I would coyly try to move on to another subject, and students would interrupt with, “But what’s The right answer?”

With a smile, I would respond, there is not ONE right answer. I can tell you what decision I made, and why. However, there may be several effective choices; sometimes none.

In the same way, as a wedding marketer, you are looking for the Magic Wedding Marketing Pill. You want the correct dosage, the least side effects, and the best schedule to make it work.

When working with a client directly, I can recommend one or more courses of action. Even then, if you don’t take the pill on schedule, or take too many, all the recommendations are for naught.

Many marketing wizards believe that you should be spending up to 50% of your time on marketing (that should include selling). Perhaps a more efficient and effective person might be able accomplish the same level of sales with a 35-40% commitment. Typically, improving marketing/sales efficiency come with plugging the holes in the the leaky boat.

Beware of the Bright Shiny New Object: This is the axiom for we ADD business marketers who fail to follow a strategy to its fruition because we get distracted, drop the ball, and move on to something else.

• One blogs, perhaps somewhat effectively, but get distracted by trying Twitter. With no goal or strategy for Twitter, we drop the ball on both, and fail miserably, announcing that New Social Media doesn’t work.
• The new bridal show or wedding publication comes to town. They can’t sell booth or advertising space at retail, because they have no track record, but manage to attract commitment. Let someone else waste their money on testing these new shiny objects. If you wouldn’t pay retail for them, why should you bother with them, at all. Stay with what you know, and improve your ad, or booth exhibit.
• I’m not sure whether to focus on Facebook or LinkedIn. Facebook seems like more fun. I think I’ll do that.

Marketing is an endless set of alternatives. How many phone calls to you make? How many emails or postcards do you send?

Here is the solution: Measure the effectiveness of everything, and then start optimizing, based on results.

If you don’t have the tools or methods to do that, you better get started. Otherwise, you are engaged in seat-of-the-pants-marketing. And that, my friend. is like rolling the dice.

Spoken like a true Las Vegan!

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Remember, about ten years ago, you were still excited to receive email. You were thrilled to get anything new in your email box. How times of changed.

Let’s not kid ourselves, we like to see our numbers rise: Friends on Facebook, Connections on LinkedIn, and Followers or Twitter. As an astute wedding marketer, one should realize, the 80/20 rule applies. 80% of the our activity is done with 20% of these people. Maybe less than 20%.  We love to see the specials from Priceline for the last minute cruise or airfare, but we rarely (never) respond.

Getting straight to the point… I am tightening the reigns on all kinds of communication and connections to improve my overall result. Essentially, I have taken the position that  my connections, friends, followers, and email subscriptions are like clothes in my closet. They tend to accumulate to the point of obscuring my view. It’s only when I remove some of the clothes that don’t fit, are out of fashion, or are just old that I can truly see and enjoy what remains.

I have developed a simple list for eMarketing Maintenance. I expect to use it 3-4 times per year (depending on how quickly eClutter accumulates). Thought I’d share it with you.

• Email pruning
  • Ruthlessly unsubscribe from eNewsletters and promotional letters that you are not reading or actively utilizing.
  • If you cling to certain eNewsletter subscriptions, set rules to automatically route them to a particular reading folder and read them in bunches.If you didn’t realize that your email software enables you to set rules, then consult the help section or software manual. It won’t take you long to master, and will save you a ton of time.
  • Enable junk mail – spam filtering.
  • Probable result: You should be able to reduce your inbox email volume by 50% or more. Because you will be routing certain emails to specific folders, the remaining inbox emails should be fewer, and easier to act on.
• Facebook Friends:
  • Scan your friends database, name by name. If you don’t recognize a name, visit their profile. If you don’t instantly recognize a reason for being connect and you have had no interaction with them, unfriend them.
  • If you unfriend someone, they will not receive a notice. They can contact you again, for connection.
  • Create list sub-groups from your overall friends list. It is simple to organize specific special interest sets, such as: Family, Friends, College, Clients, Trade Associations, etc.,. You can add a person to one more of these subsets. This way, you can focus time and attention on like-minded people.
  • Probable result: Unfriending marginal connections should remove 10-25% from your list. Organizing your remaining friends will result in more efficient communication (social or business).
• LinkedIn Connections
  • Using the same perspective as Facebook, prune marginal connections for a cleaner list. As with Facebook, people do not receive a notification that you have disconnected them. If you don’t have much of a real connection with them, they will not even notice or care.
  • Make Recommendations: If you give some, you will get some. Find 10-15 people truly know, professional, and give them a nice write up. You will get reciprocation from some. Don’t hesitate to ask others.
  • Probable result: Reduce your overall connection list by 10-20%. Spark activitiy with recommendations.
• Twitter Followers
  • If you don’t have a specific reason for being on Twitter, determine one, now. You should be able to define the commonality of your followers and the theme of your Tweets, clearly and easily.
  • Go through your followers, one by one, and delete any X-rated sites, MLM promoters, wannabes that haven’t posted a profile photo (or website link, or bio), and people outside your industry (except personal friends).
  • Just because someone follows you, doesn’t mean you have to, or should, reciprocate. You can change your mind as time goes on. unfollow as appropriate.
  • Probable result: Reduce follwers by 10-40%. Reduce following by a similar amount. Reduce overall traffic such that you actually read and respond to Tweets.

Don’t feel the need to do this all at once, Budget a half-hour a day, over a couple of weeks, to refresh your online social media presence. While you’re at it, make sure your profile information is up to date, for those you choose to share it with.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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I first met Sam Day (Wedding Painter) online. He contacted me through LinkedIn to be a part of my Wedding Marketing Network on LinkedIn. He became part of that group and I took a look at his website.

Sam has an unusual skill. The ability to pain a wedding reception, live, in oil. It inspired me to write a post about him on September 29th. The last line of my post proved prophetic: “When someone asks you for something ‘new, cool or different’ for their reception, send them to Sam. There’s photography, videography, and then there’s Sam Day. He may be based in Seattle, but I’m sure you can fly him wherever the big event may be taking place.”

Fast forward: A couple of weeks ago, my friend and wedding consultant, Juliet Douglas (Green Orchid Events) had a last minute client request for an unusual service for a wedding at Reflection Bay, Lake Las Vegas. She needed someone to paint a wedding, live, so she posted a request for a referral onto Facebook. Within minutes, one person made a suggestion. Within the first ten minutes, I chimed, emphatically recommending Sam. I sent Juliet and Sam an email, introducing them to each other. A few days later Juliet let me know that the client had hired Sam. The event was last Saturday and I spoke to Juliet last night at a Las Vegas NACE meeting. I asked her how it went, and she gave me two thumbs up.

Two thumbs up, not only because his artistry was great, but because for the first time, ever, Sam painted both a wedding and reception.

I spoke with Sam, prior to the event, and unfortunately, our schedules didn’t match up to meet face-to-face. Nevertheless, I was excited about having made a qualified referral of a great talent to an excellent local wedding consultant, all made possible by Online Social Media.

All too often, people ask about the specific ROI (Return On Investment) from Online Social Media. I prefer to talk about is impact. I assert that when one has a quality online presence, with clear goals and strategy, connections and referrals occur, and the cash register rings.

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Last year’s Wedding MBA, in Phoenix, was so much fun, I thought I’d bring it home with me

Actually, it’s great to announce that Wedding MBA Show Producer, Will Hegarty, has done just that. I’ll save the words. Just watch this 5-minute promotiional video to get a feel for it. Hope to see you there… I mean here!

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Lately, the seminars I’m being asked to present, most often, are about blogging and new social media. It’s exciting to present. I always feel as though I’m filling an information void, but I’m still concerned.

The rate of change in internet-based promotional tools for wedding marketers and all marketers is evolving and shifting at warp speed. More than ever, one cannot rest on one’s laurels for any significant length of time. It is necessary to self-educate, attend local association meetings with real program content, take seminars, and go to regional and national conferences.

Yesterday, a business owner approached me after I gave a short talk on new social media. She expressed the desire to have me help her company build a blog and coach the company on other social media. Later in the afternoon, I took a few minutes to visit her website and see what presence the had. The website was circa 1999, and not very good at that.

Having a good website is not the future, it is a marketing basic. Having a company blog and a Facebook account is not state-of-the-art, it is current and basic in a marketing plan. Having a Twitter account is interesting, and still experimental, but you should have some knowledge about it. If nothing else, you should learn what it means to have a Twitter account, and follow some thought leaders.

The Challenge: Block time for continuing education and seminar/conference attendance.

It doesn’t matter whether you are comfortable with new marketing technologies or not. You must take a couple of  hours, every week, to familiarize yourself with, and experiment with, new marketing opportunities. In fact, if this is not your natural tendency, it’s even more important to do so.

The longer you defer updating your knowledge, the steeper the learning curve becomes. You may be saying to yourself, “I’ll just outsource this stuff.” Nonsense!! A lot of your best options are best handled by you. And, more important, if you don’t know the right questions to ask of a vendor, it’s near impossible to outsource effectively.

Here is your assignment:

• Make a list of what you need to investigate
• Block the time
• Do some exploration
• Attend a seminar
• Get some advice
• Implement new marketing or polish up existing marketing
• Repeat for the rest of  your life

Don’t lament that this is a chore. Celebrate the fact that if you do this effectively, and your competitor doesn’t, you’ll always be out in front.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Get connected

You’ve just returned home from a conference… The Special Event, Mobile Beat, NACE Leadership or catersource! (Hmm, sounds familiar). Magically, you find business cards in every pocket, your purse or wallet. What to do?

If you’re an online networker, the first thing to do is head for your LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or Plaxo accounts and search for these folks. If you find them, and they have a photo posted, you should be able to connect the name and face (By the way, YOU DO HAVE A PHOTO POSTED, DON’T YOU?). That connection will likely help you recall the conversation or instance in which you met.

Now, if you think there is an imminent or future business or personal connection, ask for friend or business connection on one or all of these services.

Many people fear that others won’t remember us. It’s always more likely to be ‘top of mind’ if you reconnect quickly. Rubbing shoulders, in person, always making connecting in cyberspace an easier process.

Remember it’s not so much who you know. It’s who knows you.

What else are you doing with those business cards? Inquiring minds want to know.

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Andy Ebon will be revisiting his old digs, the San Francisco Bay Area, next Tuesday and Wednesday, to address the Silicon Valley Chapter of NACE.

At their meeting, Tuesday evening, Andy will be delivering a presentation suitable for Inauguration Tuesday: Fast Track Your Marketing for the Current Economy. The Silicon Valley NACE meeting and dinner will be held at the San Jose Hilton.

As a follow up, Andy will be giving a 2-hour seminar, 8-10am, Wednesday morning, titled: Blogging Your Way To Success. One can attend either of these events or both, and non-members are welcome, too. The blogging seminar will also be held at the San Jose Hilton.

Information for RSVP’ing for the meeting is posted on the Silicon Valley NACE website. Details for the attending the blogging seminar should be posted by the end of business, today (1/14).

The seminar, Blogging Your Way To Success, is based on the chapter Andy contributed to the book, The Power of the Platform: Speakers On Success.

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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
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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