As I sit on the balcony, gazing into the sunset, the rhythmic sound of waves, crashing softly on the beach, provides the soundtrack. Kids, laughing and playing, pierce the air with joy. Couples stroll, hand-in-hand, into the heavy air that coats the evening breeze.

I am at the Naples Beach Hotel in Naples, Florida. Life is beautiful.

There is just one thing…. For local businesses, the inquiries have slowed. The phones ring less frequently.

You see Naples is on the West Coast of Florida…. the Gulf Coast of Florida. You’ve heard about the BP Oil Spill, haven’t you?

Newsflash: THERE IS NO OIL HERE!! And it is projected at a 1% chance that this area will see any oil.

Yet people listen and watch cable news with one ear and one eye, if that much. It’s maddening enough that businesses is the center of the actual tragedy have to suffer. But why should this area, and others, suffer, too.

Not wanting to wait for the public relations cavalry, some area businesses started a blog: The Coast Is Clear Naples. It just has a few posts and pictures, so far, but it’s a beginning. It brings voice to this beautiful region of Florida and explains to the world that Naples is Open-For-Business.

Tomorrow, I will teach a seminar on social media and give a presentation for a membership drive, to members and guests of the National Association of Wedding Professionals – Naples Chapter. It may seem unlikely to some that a band of mostly small business owners can make sufficient noise to bring business to their community.

I, for one, don’t doubt it for a second. After all, they’ve taken the first step, in the right direction. Hear the rippling waves roar.

Visit Naples!

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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We have heard volumes, over the last couple of years about recession. Many people in business, today, had not experienced a significant economic downturn in their lifetime. The massive upheaval, of recent times, has thrown both business owners and individuals, into turmoil.

The companion word to recession is deflation, and it bears better understanding and discussion.

The Definition of Deflation

Deflation is occurring when asset and consumer prices continue to fall. This may seem like a great thing to consumers, except that the cause for deflation is a long-term drop in demand. Unfortunately, a drop in demand means that a recession is already underway, with job losses, declining wages, and an ongoing decline in the value of your home and your stock portfolio. Deflation is a result of businesses dropping prices in a desperate attempt to get people to buy their products.

Most business people will agree with these profiles, but almost as many probably believe that market conditions do not apply to their business. That is blue-sky thinking of the worst kind.

Examples of industries that wear ‘supply and demand’ on their sleeve are categories such as: Real Estate, Travel, Hotels, Airlines, among others. When big business catches a cold, small business gets pneumonia.

Living in Las Vegas gives one a magnified view of these factors, and the financial relationship between big and small businesses.

While a small business may grouse about not being able to close sales at 2007 levels. Go ahead and complain. I look at first class hotels, such as Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas, among many others that were charging $350+ per night, and now, frequently ask $129 for the same room, including some credit give backs for other outlets within the hotel.

Just this week, a new hotel, the Cosmopolitan begins booking its doors to 3000 new rooms that will opening December 15, 2010. This,  in a city that would benefit more from a room reduction. The hotel sits on the west side of the strip, shoehorned between the Bellagio and the new City Center complex. Cosmopolitan has no affiliation with a larger hotel group in Las Vegas, so it’s decidedly on its own.

One of my all-time favorites, Southwest Airlines, bucked the industry trend of charging for checked luggage. At a recent shareholders meeting, it was learned that the strategy had earned them an additional 1% in market share. That single percent, in the airline industry is worth a boatload of gross sales and profit.

So what about you? We, as a country, and the wedding industry, too, have been mired in recession, and yes, a deflation for a considerable amount of time.

Have you made the necessary adjustments in your business, and more important, in your thinking, to reconfigure, reframe, reorganize. One can’t just slash prices. It takes massive planning and reassessment to address a plethora of issues.

For me, Exhibit A & B are two of the top hotels in this city… or any city, Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas. Their radical pricing, to keep occupancy at acceptable levels, tells me that no business is immune.

And for the upside, where there are problems, there are usually opportunities.

It is not a time for tweaks and adjustments. In many cases, it is time for massive action.

What massive action are you taking?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

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Every decision you make about advertising, networking, printing, website, social media, and a host of other opportunities, comprises your total wedding marketing effort.

The question of the day is this:

How much dedicated planning to you put into your wedding marketing effort? In a day, week, month, or throughout the year.

Before you answer, let’s examine the word, dedicated. My notion is that dedicated time means uninterrupted and focused. By yourself, or in a meeting with other key people.

If you are making these decisions one-by-one, then you don’t really have a wedding marketing plan. It takes a global view of your sales, leads, appointments, closing ratio, as well as the elements of each promotional effort to assemble and manage a cohesive wedding marketing plan.

The final question is this:

Do you have a cohesive wedding marketing effort, in a written plan, or seat-of-the-pants wedding marketing decision making?

Your thoughts are welcome.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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As posted on this blog, The Wedding Marketing Authority, Andy Ebon, has become a regular contributor for the new wedding publication, Wedlock Magazine. As part of its regular offerings, Wedlock will be presenting two webinars, monthly, to its subscribers.

No time has been wasted in putting Andy to work. He has submitted his first column for Wedlock‘s second issue. In rapid succession, Wedlock is inviting you to sample a webinar presentation, by Andy, titled: Business Success Through Associations.

This promises to be more than a basic networking presentation. Rather, it will get into more complex issues about relationship building and the unadvertised benefits and pitfalls of involvement in trade associations and networking groups.

You are invited to participate, with my compliments (that means, at no charge). Here is the complete text of the invitation by Wedlock Editor-In-Chief, Jayne Hallock.

You are  invited to register for next week’s webinar, which occurs on Wednesday at 7pm EST. Our guest host is the irrepressible, very experienced and uber-charming Andy Ebon.

Not only is he our new WedLock columnist (look for his debut column in next month’s issue), but he’s agreed to talk to WedLock readers about how to squeeze the most out of their association memberships! We all have them…now let’s really put them to work for our businesses.

This webinar,  titled “Business Success Through Associations” and here’s what Andy and Chris will cover:

“Andy will take us on a guided tour of the various kinds of organizations that call for involvement by wedding industry businesses, and appropriate strategies and techniques for maximizing one’s investment of time and effort.

Some of the takeaways will include:

• What are realistic expectations for your involvement?
• What the *published* benefits of membership in an organization…and what are the hidden gems?
• The differences between a 501 C-3 non-profit organization and a for-profit organization.
• Knowing an opportunity for a good donation when you see it, and understanding how and when to say “No.”
• Understanding the difference between membership, volunteerism, and leadership.
• Which organizations, by type, and which, specifically should get a closer look from you.

Remember – the first hour or so is dedicated to Andy’s presentation, and then we open the lines for questions!

Click here to register now, and reserve your spot!

~Jayne Leigh Hallock
Editor-In-Chief
Wedlock Magazine

Hope you’ll join the webinar. Please feel free to share this post and spread the word.

Thanks in advance,

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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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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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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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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The Velvet Rope Effect

As someone who was born into nightclubs and baseball, it is ironic that I am incredibly adverse to waiting in lines. However, inversely, I admire businesses that can create that situation.

In the disco era, the height of the Velvet Rope Effect was Studio 54 in New York City. Not only were you forced to wait in line, but greeters would cherry pick who would, or would not be, admitted to the club. If you were not chic enough, or beautiful enough, you were left standing in the street. This continues today at ultra lounges in Las Vegas and hotspots around the globe.

A more benign version is seen when there is a sporting event with high ticket demand, combined with an expectation for a sellout. I lived in San Francisco, when the Giants built a new baseball park, about 10 years ago. The combination of a competitive team, several marquee players (notably Barry Bonds), the excitement about the new venue, and superb marketing, led to an anticipation of tickets being sold out for the entire season.

This, in fact, became a self-fulling prophecy. The Giants released waives of tickets, on a priority basis, to preferred seat license holders, previous season ticket holders, previous multi-game package buyers, and, finally, the masses. I fell into the ‘previous multi-game package group’, which afforded me the opportunity to scoop up single-game tickets, before the masses.

Yesterday, marked the official introduction of the Apple iPad. I noted several significant interesting marketing outcomes, both incredibly positive and annoying, too.

• News Reporting: iPad received a boatload of coverage, both leading up to the release, and this weekend, in particular. General news coverage was everywhere, but often off-point and cliche in their reporting. The upside is in overall brand and product recognition, and synergy showing the excitement of being one-of-the-first to buy/own the product. In large part, that effect mirrors the initial release of the iPhone.
• Tech Industry News/Blogs: More than general media, the industry coverage was far too concerned with predictions. Success or failure, based on a couple of hours of using the product. Comparing the iPad with netbooks (which is the ultimate cliche of comparing Apples and Oranges). An analysis of how the iPad is deficient (what it lacks, particularly from the needs of the tester, not necessarily the masses).
• Apple Store appointments: Wise buyers made online appointments at Apple Retail stores to efficiently make their purchases.
• Buying in the Blind: The amazing reality that several hundred thousand people bought this new product, essentially, without the kind of kicking-the-tires that usually goes on. The iPad is not another computer. It’s an entirely new category of device. Can you say anything close to this, unequivocally, about YOUR business?

All of these scenarios are examples of Velvet Rope Marketing. When one creates a scarcity, an exceptional demand (for various reasons), or some other compelling reason to attend, purchase, or hire, then sales and profits ensue.

One also creates a buyer/client mindset where price is way down the list of important factors. Availability becomes the most important factor. When people believe that buying your product or service is an exceptional choice, what you offer becomes more desirable, as perceived by the buyer. This can be true, both in one-time purchases (brides) and in ongoing relationships (referrals or agency).

Ask yourself these questions?

• Do buyers/referrers/agencies perceive by business/brand/product service with urgency and high measure of desirability?
• When prospective business comes my way, is the buyer qualified and truly interested in MY business? Or just shopping around?
• Is my business frequently losing bookings because of price?
• Is my company perceived as a local industry leader, in my business category?
• Fill in more self-evaluation questions, here?

Your answers, to these questions, in part should tell you how your business, and its image, is perceived in the marketplace.

The next step is to ask what you can do to enhance…. even radically enhance its reputation and image?

To the degree that you can differentiate your business from others, and created a huge gap in desirability, your company will lead to the front of the pack, in real terms: Demand, sales, and profitability.

Seems like a good idea. What are you going to do to make this happen?

Your comments and feedback are welcome.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Online Networking

This week I passed something of a milestone on Facebook: 2000 Friends. It got me to thinking about the actual meaning of such a lofty number, and a previous post about The Dunbar Number (worth reading if you missed it).

The Social Media total, as of today, looks something like this.

• 2016 Friends on Facebook
• 702 Connections on LinkedIn
• 4411 Followers on Twitter
• 4787 People & Businesses that I follow on Twitter

Among the reasons for these numbers… I’ve lived a few years (reminded of that, because today is my birthday). I’m involved in a number of trade organizations, and have been so for many years. I travel for business to speak at meetings and conventions.

The Facebook reality is that having 2000+ friends doesn’t REALLY mean one has that many active relationships. On the personal side, Facebook has reconnected me with many old friends, a number of whom I’ve truly rekindled relationships with.

At a business level, people follow my activities, and I follow others. It’s interesting to learn more about other people, personally and professionally. Sometimes, what people post is TMI (Too Much Information) or just plain drivel. The same is true for LinkedIn, Twitter, and most other social media.

It’s nice to have the possibility of mass awareness on connection, but I’m going to follow the 80/20 rule. I’m going to put 80% of my effort into 20% (or less) of my connection. If one connects and communicates in a less random fashion, the results are likely to be light years better.

What do you think?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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Social Media

During the next 10 days, Andy Ebon, The Wedding Marketing Authority, will be making meeting presentations and doing seminars in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, hosted by local chapters of NACE (National Association of Catering Executives).

• Tuesday, March 16th: Chapter Meeting, dinner and presentation titled, Electrifying Your Marketing Edge
• Wednesday, March 17th: Building A Focused Social Media Strategy (a 3-hour seminar)
• Details: Silicon Valley NACE

The following week, I head to Los Angeles NACE.

• Tuesday, March 23rd (afternoon): Building A Focused Social Media Strategy (a 3-hour seminar)
• Tuesday, March 23rd (evening): Chapter Meeting, Dinner and Presentation: HEADLINES: Print Ads That Work
• Details: Los Angeles NACE

If you are in the area, consider attending. If you know someone in the area, who might benefit, please pass the word.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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