Apple retail stores have taken a page from Facebook and other social media sites, but face-to-face.

Rabid Apple-fanboys (and girls) are so eager to chat with Apple employees about the next-great-thing that it had created a logjam at the Apple store Genius Bar.

Watch this video for the whole story…

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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The Wedding Marketing Authority, Andy Ebon is en route from the the DJ Think Tank Conference in Miami to the National Association of Wedding Professionals, Naples Chapter.

The afternoon seminar (registration at 2:30pm, 3-6pm) topic will be: Building A Focused Social Media Strategy.

Andy will also give a talk for the chapter’s general membership meeting, which begins at 6:30pm. The presentation is titled: Success By Association.

Both events will be held at The Naples Beach Hotel , 851 Gulf Shore Blvd North, Naples, Florida.

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When it comes to social media, one of the biggest mistakes is the imbalance in communication. We tend to post far more than we read. Reading, or in my metaphor, “listening”, is far more effective in focusing your attention to peers that count.

As your friends list continues to grow on Facebook (or followers on Twitter), you should take advantage of the tool, called Lists. You can create up to 100 lists on Facebook, 20 on Twitter, to create sub-groups from your friends. This is, essentially, a simple database function that allow you to assign any friend to one or more groups.

For example:

• Venues in your market
• Businesses in your industry (regionally, nationally)
• Members of different local associations (in separate groups)

Once you have set up various groups, you can click on a particular group and just see the news feed on that group. This function enables you to focus on any sub-group, individually, filtering out all else. You can read what people are talking about and respond as appropriate.

Manage your friends, listen with two ears, and speak with one.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Men and their tools. In our minds, we form an image of a man at Sears, drooling over the latest drill or gadget. Kind of funny… Somewhat sweeping, in its generalization.

One can have the latest tool for home improvement, but if you don’t know how to use it, the effort will be a failure.

The same is true in the wedding industry. The tools are wedding marketing media: magazine ads, social media, bridal shows, websites, postcards, and much more.

When a business has a marketing failure, it MUST have been the medium: the magazine, the wedding show, a lack of traffic to the website, or whatever the medium in question.

My response to this:

“Laying the blame on the wedding marketing medium is usually off-point. Far more often than not, the culprit is failure to have a well-crafted message.”

Business people are easily drawn to the new shiny object. The new bridal show in town, the new publication, the latest social media tool.

That’s all very nice. There is always something new to carry your message.

But in the end, if you don’t know how to swing a hammer, it doesn’t matter how shiny and new the hammer is. Why not take a lesson or two on using the hammer. In the case of wedding marketing, develop better ads, really prepare for a bridal show, keep your website current, have a Facebook strategy, and don’t let your blog get lost in the weeds.

Come to Wedding MBA and learn more about swinging wedding marketing hammer.

September 21-23, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

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The purpose of this post is to remind, cajole, and perhaps nag you. This week, the calendar flips to July, and we begin to count down the days toward 2011… dare I say.

Among the hundred other things on my agenda, I’m reassessing my own marketing plan, accomplishments, sales, and the like. I figure, if I’m doing this for myself, I have to drag you this, too. The questions I’m asking are challenging. The answers are both positive and negative. The goal is this little exercise of self-evaluation is mid-course correction and, in some cases, celebration.

Some of the questions on my mind are these?

1. Have my sales through June met or exceeded expectations?
2. Are my sales projections for the balance of the year on track?
3. How do sales track with the past 2-3 years?
4. How does my business match up with my nearest competitors? This is hard to measure in sales, but one should consider visibility, name recognition, product offerings, etc.,.
5. Is my sales mix (types of jobs, and percentage of business) to my liking?
6. Am I disproportionately depend on the referrals of too small a group? If the answer is yes, your business health is quite vulnerable to a simple job change by one or two people.
7. Who are my Top 10 clients or contacts? What am I doing to honor those relationships and not take them for granted?
8. Am I consistently participating in my local associations and networking groups?
9. Have I built a blog?
10. If I have a blog, am I posting on a regular basis, such as 1-2 times per week?
11. Do I have a social media strategy or have I fallen in the trap of too many “ham sandwich posts” on Facebook and Twitter?
12. When was the last time I refreshed and updated content on my website?
13. Do I put down my cell phone and turned it off when I’m having lunch with a colleague or friend?
14. When was the last time I sent someone a handwritten thank you note.
15. Am I keeping up with continuing education in my field and in my role as a business owner/manager?
16. What industry-specific conferences am I committed to attending during the second half of this year?
17. What business worries are keeping my up at night, and what can I do to address them?
18. Am I taking sufficient time off, to recharge, or do I prefer to play the role of martyr?
19. When was my last vacation? (A vacation does not involved relatives. It does involve reading fiction, perhaps some sun, and consuming umbrella drinks).
20. Do I have a vacation planned for the second half of this year?
21. Do you have a written marketing plan?

What other questions are you asking (or should I be asking)?

Another reminder: Remember to breathe and eat lots of green leafy vegetables.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Sonny is giving a social media overview, and has just offered a statistic that is worth restating for your consumption.

• How many brides are there in the United States? Roughly 2.2 million
• How many brides are Facebook users? Approximately 1.6 million… about 75% of all brides

These are not just factoids. They indicate that your business should find creative ways to connect with brides on Facebook. Have you developed your Facebook strategy, yet?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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A good blog, even a decent blog, is a wedding marketing goldmine. Offering a highlight reel of one’s business and observations on your involvement  in client and industry events does far more than feed the search engine optimization beast.

Writing quality posts enables you to present your personal and business personality, while shining the light on people, companies, and organizations you interact with. It positions you and your company as the thought leader in field, in your market, and beyond.

Yet, in spite of these substantial benefits, so many business bloggers are running on empty.

So, I present to you the 10 Top Excuses For Not Posting To A Blog

1. Posting to Twitter is easier because there is a maximum of 140 characters, and I have a short attention span.
2. I don’t have an original thought to write about.
3. I’m too busy watching reruns of American Idol,  Jersey Shore, and World Wrestling Entertainment.
4. It’s easier posting about my ham sandwich lunches on Facebook.
5. I have so much business, I couldn’t possibly accommodate any more activity resulting from publishing a good blog.
6. It’s been so long since I posted that I forgot my login and password.
7. It’s more fun looking for the next shiny object than profiting from polishing the current shiny object, my blog.
8. I’m thinking about going out of business, and I wanted to accelerate the process.
9. To make sufficient time for blogging, regularly, I’d have to give up either shampooing my hair or vacuuming.
10. I’ve come to the realization that I’m an undisciplined, lazy bum, who prefers undermining my success, rather than executing the tasks that will enhance my chances of success.

So what’s your excuse? Or someone you know? Stay tuned for Part 2 of this combination rant/guilt trip, and exposé of incalculable lameness-in-blogging.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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On the road again. This time to Atlanta, Georgia, for two wedding marketing seminars, hosted by The Georgia Bridal Show and The Southern Bridal Show.

Bridal Show Producer, Tommy Vaughn, is bringing me in to present, Selling to Today’s Bride and Building A Focused Social Media Strategy, in two afternoon sessions at the Gwinnett Center, in Duluth.

As always, session material has been refreshed, recently, to keep pace with industry and communication changes.

If you do business in Greater Atlanta, there is still time to register. If you know someone in the area, who you think might benefit, please pass on the information.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Today, I’ll be making two presentations to the Anchorage Chapter of NACE, one on Social Media, the other on Marketing and Selling to the 21st Century Bride.

In preparing for these presentations, it’s not so much a matter of customizing them, it’s making sure that the information is current.

Yesterday, in the Milwaukee Airport bookstore, I picket up a copy of TIME Magazine. Facebook was on the cover. I devoured yet another round of information and details about this social media juggernaut. The main thrust was privacy, but the article included a slew of background information and chronology.

So, there I was, yesterday, and again, this morning, incorporating fresh material into my presentations.

The message for me, and for you, is “Don’t hide under a rock; changes will occur with, or without, your acquiescence. You must do your level best to keep up with the times, or be left in the dust.”

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Several months ago, I wrote a post about the limits of stable relationships one can reasonably expect to maintain.

The magic number, as researched and popularized by Anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, maxes out at about approximately 150. This, of course, runs counter to the ‘relationships’ we amass on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the like.

So what exactly is the difference?

Just came across this video, from Robin Dunbar, himself. Give it a look.

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Authority

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