What Your Wedding Business Can Learn From Las Vegas

By 1 Comment

Las Vegas.  Sin City.  Land of Elvis, Entertainment Capital of the World, internationally famous monument to 24 hour sensory indulgence.

Jeff and I visited Las Vegas last week to present at the Mobilebeat Convention (Shout out to our DJ brothers and sisters!) and I found myself wondering…

What Las Vegas teach us about the wedding business?

Gazing out at the bright lights of the strip, it suddenly hit me.

How to Stand Out in the Crowd

Most of the action happens right the on the Las Vegas strip.  If you’re staying in town, it’s where you want to be.  And within those 4.2 miles you have 62,000 hotel rooms and 15 of the world’s 25 largest hotels slammed right up against each other.

Think about that: these hotels are all competing for tourists’ business with their biggest competitors right next door.

And we complain about the competition in the wedding industry!

So how do they do it?

Each of these hotels is famous for One Thing.  The Bellagio has the fountains.  The Mirage has a volcano.  The Luxor has the Egyptian pyramids.  Caesar’s Palace delights gluttons with its Bacchanal Buffet boasting over 500+ dishes prepared by top chefs.

Slammed up right against the competition, each hotel has no choice but to STAND OUT…or get squashed.

Each hotel appeals to a different group of people.  Becoming known for a single special feature attracts the customers who want that specialty, and allows each of these iconic hotels to thrive even in the midst of all that competition. They aren’t forced into competing on price because no one else can do what they do.

Of course, there are some sad hotels on the Strip that are famous for the Cheapest Hotel Room Rates in Vegas.  But I wouldn’t recommend modeling your wedding business after them, unless you enjoy living off the scraps of the Big Guys who make all the money and get all the glory.

The easiest way to stand out from the competition is to become known for your Unique Factor; once you are the #1 or the Only option in your market, you have no competition.

Take a lesson for the Vegas hotels and go bold.  Be different.  Declare your uniqueness to the world and reap the rewards of uniqueness.

Smash the Competition With One Sentence

What would you like to be famous for?

If you could pick One Thing to be known for in your wedding market, what would it be?

Finish this sentence:

“[Insert the name of your business] is famous for being the #1…”

Choose your speciality, own it and build it into every piece of marketing you have.  Become the #1 source of something and you’ll never have to compete on price again.

What makes you totally unique in your market?

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Competition, Home Page Tagged With: , , , ,

Two Questions That Can Transform Your Wedding Business

By 3 Comments

It’s my goal to learn something new to use in our wedding business whenever I go somewhere new. Geeky, I know, but as my step-son would say, “That’s how I roll.”

Attending the 50th birthday/promotion celebration for one of Jeff’s childhood friends was no exception. As a totally unrelated side note, we both learned something important about showing up on time for surprise parties (even when the invitation doesn’t specify a deadline) since we bumped into the birthday boy in the parking lot, completely ruining the surprise. *Cringe.*

Back to my business lesson…

While Jeff was charming the ladies he hasn’t seen since high school, I started up a conversation with Brian Altmann, owner of a very successful Poughkeepsie remodeling business and (wonder of wonders!) it turns out we both have a fondness for teaching other people what’s worked for us.

Who Thrives When the Industry Suffers?

While the entire construction industry has been suffering since the Recession, hurting much worse than the wedding industry, Brian’s remodeling business was thriving. I eagerly listened as he shared the secrets of his success for ideas that could be applied to a wedding business.

Brian uses cutting edge marketing, SEO, video and social media to absolutely dominate his local market, but his real “secret sauce” is both incredibly powerful and deceptively simple. His peers always want him to reveal the magical tactics behind his marketing success, but Brian believes the real reason his business continues to thrive boils down to his dedication to customer service.

The Post Wedding Survey

After every job, Brian’s team members do an exit survey with each customer. They ask two simple questions:

1. What are three things we did well?

2. What are three things we can improve?

“If you want your business to absolutely explode,” he said, “run your business by those answers. Keep getting better at the things you do well, and improve your weaknesses, and you’ll rocket to #1.”

Sounds way too simple to be that powerful, right?

Here’s the truth: most of your competitors are not asking these questions in the first place. And even if they do ask these questions, they’re not going to actually take action on what they learn. It’s sad, but true.

Pick the Brain of the Bride and Groom

Want a short cut to a wedding business that beats the competition and creates overwhelming demand? Ask your clients what they want and then give it to them.

I know, it’s much for fun to do what YOU want. But if you let your clients direct your business by making everything you do 100% about meeting their wants and solving their problems, it will not steer you wrong.

Let me give you an example. Some years back we had what I’ll call a “difficult” bride. She was very particular about what she wanted, and I held her hand through the whole planning process.

After the wedding, we learned in our post-wedding survey that she wasn’t completely satisfied because we hadn’t played enough of her requested songs.

This bride had given us a request list of over 75 songs, more than enough for the entire night, and 35 of them were “must plays.” And, to be frank, the songs she picked absolutely sucked. The dance floor would have been empty all night long.

We ended up playing over 40 of the songs she requested, be we skipped about 5 the lamest “must plays.” I figured that it was more important to get people dancing than it was to play every single song.

Well, that complaint let me know that we hadn’t communicated exactly the terms of the Must Play List. From then on, if it’s on the Must Play List, we play it, come hell or high water.

BUT we also explain to the couple how it’s going to work. If the couple has more than 10 “must play” songs, we ask them if they’d like us to play them no matter what, even if it clears the dance floor. We come to an understanding of exactly what they expect so that we can deliver it.

This has become a promise we make that reassures our couples and keeps them happier than ever.

Check Your Customer Service

I’m sure you think you deliver excellent customer service. But do you ask your customers how you’re doing? Do you survey them to make sure?

And if you do survey them…what was the last improvement you made as a result?

Ask these two questions and take the answers you get seriously, and it’s a compass for your wedding business success that will not steer you wrong because you’ll always be connected with exactly what your clients want and don’t want.

You don’t need fancy software or new fangled tactics to get the marketing answers you’re looking for. Your customers hold the secrets to transforming your business; you just need to ask them.

What do you think about listening to your customers and clients?

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Home Page, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

5 Minute Test Reveals How Easy It Is to Beat Your Competition

By Leave a Comment

Everyone knows that Google is the #1 search engine. But do you know who comes in #2?

I’ll give you a hint. It’s NOT Yahoo. It’s not Bing or Ask.

The #2 search engine is…

YOUTUBE.

That’s right. While Google clocks in about 3 billion searches per day, Youtube hit 2 BILLION searches per day in 2010. And that number is climbing.

Brides and grooms don’t just search on Google anymore. They go to Youtube looking for “how to” videos, inspiration and advice. On top of that, 25% of Google searches return Youtube video results!

You probably know by now how challenging it can be to get your website onto Page 1 of Google. Well, it’s a whole lot easier to get to Page 1 with a Youtube video. So much easier that you can get there in a matter of DAYS.

Do you have videos on Youtube yet?

If you’re not taking advantage of Youtube for marketing your wedding business, you are missing out. If you are a photographer, videographer or wedding planner, I’ll go so far as to say you are crazy not to be using it.

Are you getting excited about the idea of using video to book more brides yet?

Take this quick test to find out how easy it is to become #1.

1) Go to Youtube.com.

2) Search for your type of service in your local area. For example: London photographer or Cincinnati DJ

3) Now go to Google.com and search for that same keyword phrase.

THE VERDICT: If you don’t see ANY videos on Page 1 or Google, or if the top videos that come up in your Youtube search have fewer than 50 views with no comments…there is a HUGE opportunity for you to dominate your local wedding market with video.

Most of your wedding businesses are NOT taking advantage of Youtube, and it’s the easiest way to get your business front and center on Page 1 of Google in front of brides and grooms who are ready to buy.

It does take a little work, but it’s much, much easier than you think.

Want More Video Marketing Strategies?

In the Wedding Business Acceleration Summit, we’ll explore exactly what you can do with Youtube and how to make it happen with Youtube expert James Wedmore in, “How to Book Yourself Solid with Youtube in 3 Steps.”

Here’s just some of what you’ll learn:

  • 4 creative ways to use video for your wedding business.
  • Think you’ve wasted your time with the videos you already have? Just a few simple changes will get you huge results without any extra work!
  • Most pros think they’re done when the video is uploaded. Wrong! You’ll learn 3 of the 17 actions to take that rocket your videos to Page 1 on Google.
  • How we got our brand new video to #1 on Youtube in under 30 minutes and onto Page 1 of Google in only two weeks!
  • The website that sends you red hot leads and gives you a 691% better response than people who find you through Google!
  • What Stephanie and “armpit fat” have in common. Eew.

Enter Your Name and Email Below to Join Us FREE!

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Advertising, Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Home Page, Social Media Tips, Wedding Business

Tracking Results Might Not Be Your Cup Of Tea But It Needs To Be

By Leave a Comment

One of the things that has really turned small businesses off regarding marketing via social media is the fact that there has been no way to really track the true return on investment. Anytime you have a small business, wedding or otherwise, you time and money is sacred and it’s important to make sure that what you are doing for marketing is actually working. Great news from Sarah Perez in her article is that there is a new tool called Ohtootay which can actually track your social media marketing efforts, all the way to your website.

I don’t know about you, but when I spend time and money on marketing it really bugs me if I don’t see immediate results, often before the marketing has the time to actually start working. While being over anxious to try different things to find something that works isn’t a good thing (it can actually kill all your marketing efforts eventually), you do need to track your marketing result stats. A good marketing plan usually will take several weeks before you start seeing the real results, but when you are dealing with social media sometimes the results take even longer to show up.

Remember that brides spend a lot of time trying to decide what business to go with, and this is after they start learning what it actually takes to plan a wedding. Give your marketing time to start getting results, and make sure you are tracking results to make sure you are using the best marketing for your business.

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Advertising, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Personal Development, Pinterest, Social Media Tips, Website Tools & Tips, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Is the Digital Era Killing the Photography Business?

By 3 Comments

Photographers are faced with this challenge: in a world where you can get an 8×10 print at Walmart and couples are more interested in sharing digital photos on Facebook than they are in purchasing an album, how can you give clients what they want and still make money?

I recently stumbled across an interview with Nate Grahek of Sticky Albums  about a product that answers these frustrations and actually lets you leverage digital media to your advantage. I immediately emailed him because I just knew we had to get him for Book More Brides!

The result was a 40 minute interview that knocked my socks off. Not only is Sticky Albums revolutionizing the ways photographers promote their businesses (and it’s soon to revolutionize the way ALL wedding vendors promote, if I have anything to do with it!) it’s perfect for the kind of powerful, free giveaway marketing, viral promotion and partnership networking we LOVE.

What is a Sticky Album?

A “sticky album” is a custom web app that allows you to create a digital photo album that your clients can download onto a mobile device. The images are bundled together so that your brand and contact information is embedded.

This makes it super easy for brides to share their wedding photos with anyone and everyone they meet…promoting your business in the process. And it’s shared with a link.

Picture this:

A recent brides bumps into one of her college friends at Starbucks. When her friend asks how the wedding was, she pulls out her iPhone and scrolls through her very favorite pictures, gushing over what an amazing job you did at her wedding. Her friend is suitably impressed with the photos, and with your business name, website and phone number that are front and center.

Double Your Word of Mouth Referrals

Everyone knows that word of mouth referrals are the best you can get because your happy clients make the best sales people. Give your clients a tool that makes sharing easy and your word of mouth referrals will absolutely explode.

Your work speaks for itself. When you create a custom app using Sticky Albums, brides will be able to show off your photos to everyone they meet. Each person who views those photos also sees your business name and brand.

As we talked with Nate, I started thinking of more and more applications for Sticky Albums, not just for photographers, but for any wedding vendor.

4 Cool Ways to Turbo Charge Referrals with Sticky Albums

1. Give a Sticky Album as a bonus gift to the couple after the wedding. Announce, “I’ve created this special mobile app just for you,” and watch as they promote your business every time they flash those photos.

2. Include coupon images inside your sticky album. Now your couples have an extra reason to share the goodies.

3. Partner with other wedding vendors to create a coupon book for couples planning a wedding. A custom app containing $500 worth of savings will spread like wildfire, and you’ll have other vendors promoting you, too.

4. Use it to become the #1 recommendation of wedding venues. Create a custom app containing images of a high end venue…embedded with your business and contact info, of course…and let them share it with the couples. Let the flood of referrals begin!

The Drawbacks

As excited as I was to learn about Sticky Albums, there a couple features that are lacking. First, the current app requires that you know how to use Photoshop.

For photographers, that’s no problem. But for someone like me…well, I just have to get my photographer friends to hook me up. If you’re not a photographer, right now partnering with a photographer is a must.

The other missing feature is tracking. It’s essential that you know how people find you so that you know if your marketing is working. Right now, you can only track your Sticky Album referrals based on what your clients tell you or coupon codes they use.

The good news: these features will be added to Sticky Albums with the next version that’s due over the next couple weeks. I am psyched!

The easiest way to explain what sticky albums are is for you to see them yourself. Once you have it in your hand, you’ll understand the potential this has for your business.

Watch this video to see the app on my clunky Android:

What To Do Next

1. Go to Sticky Albums and enter your email to get a free sample you can download to your mobile phone.

2. Make sure you enter the contest to win a FREE iPad Mini and a whole year of Sticky Albums!

3. Listen to our interview with Nate Grahek to learn even MORE ways to promote your wedding business. It’s perfect for photographers, but there are strategies for other wedding vendors, too!

Play the entire interview here:

 

Check out this new product and leave a comment to let me know what you think. Do you love it? Hate it? How are YOU dealing with the challenges of the Digital Age?

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Bridal Marketing, Competition, Home Page, Mobile Marketing, Personal Development, Social Media Tips, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Business Technology, Wedding Industry Trends Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wedding Industry Trends and Advice from Weddings Beautiful

By 2 Comments

Recently, we had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Tucker of Weddings Beautiful. She provided some great insight and advice about the issues facing wedding planners today, along with some great ideas to help overcome challenges and have a successful wedding business.

What is the biggest challenge facing wedding planners today?

Today’s wedding planners face many challenges, including the growing DIY trend.

Planners often have to help brides once they get overwhelmed with all of the projects, and need to be prepared to pick up a situation and help. The trend isn’t going away, so wedding planners need to learn how to help make the DIY process easier for brides.

If you could tell a wedding vendor ONE THING to help them build their business, what would it be?

Build a good relationship with other vendors!

Go meet the local clergy. Volunteer at the flower shop. Offer to help set tables for the caters.

Meet absolutely everyone in person. Shake their hands and build a relationship. You want to be the person they call when they have a problem, the card they hand out when a bride asks, the first person that comes to mind. Social media won’t do that for you, but some face to face time will.

What trends/changes are you seeing right now in the wedding industry?

An increase in inexperienced wedding vendors.

People often don’t realize that it takes time to get set up, get certified, and build a stellar reputation as a wedding planner. Unfortunately, there are many, many people out there that had fun planning their own wedding and think they could start a business. These inexperienced, and uncertified “planners” often do not realize that nothing just falls into place. It takes talent and good training. Certified planners are often are called upon to come behind and fix the situation.

What advantages does a Weddings Beautiful certified planner have over the competition?

The Weddings Beautiful program is unique because students learn how to be a planner FROM a certified planner, and are also graded by an experienced wedding planner.

The top priority the program is to provide a well-rounded education for all students. The actual program is about 75% planning, and the other parts of it include a number of items: learning how to deal with clergy, a day in the life of a planner, setting up timeline, how to interact with all of the other vendors, marketing, demographics, public speaking…it’s really a little bit of everything.

Planners who complete the program are totally equipped to handle any type of wedding, and many students go on to specialize. Graduates are equipped to schedule, notify, and work with all types of vendors, from the bartender to the clergy and to make the day run as smoothly as possible.

A little bit about Nancy…

Nancy Tucker is the Director of Educational Services for Weddings Beautiful. She served as President for six years, and currently is in charge of the administration and grading of assignments.

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Competition, Home Page, Personal Development, Wedding Budgets, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Industry Trends, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why You Need To See Your Business Like Your Brides See It

By Leave a Comment

There is a lot of pressure in business to “get ahead.” While you do want to build a successful wedding business, you also need to take time to switch from looking at your business from the perspective of business owner to the perspective of a client. You might do great at what you do, and might have the highest quality product, but that isn’t all that a bride sees.

I’ve run into some business owners who thought they were the best people on the planet and ran their business in the best possible way. The problem is that often they are making at least one serious mistake in how they dealt with their clients.

When you write an email take a minute to think about what you would think if you received that email from someone else. Does it make sense? Is it succinct and easy to understand? Do you sound nice, or are you coming across as snippy? Apply this same process to everything you do. No matter how great of a person you are it is possible to make a mistake in the way that you handle something in a way that will turn people off. For more tips on business behaviors that help you reach your ideal clients better check out this article by Chris Garrett.

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Email, Other Businesses, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to Stand Out From the Competition – Video with Special Guests!

By 6 Comments

One of the biggest challenges a wedding vendor faces is standing out from the competition.

With the low cost of entry and the flood of amateur wedding vendors in the market, it only grows increasingly difficult to stand out.

It’s more important than ever that you discover the uniqueness of your business and communicate it in a way that makes you stand out from the competition and become irresistibly attractive to the couples you want to work with.

Jeff and I decided to recruit some special guests to help us understand the importance of having a uniqueness and the easiest way to accomplish it, with a specialty.

Watch this Wedding Business Marketing tips video to learn more:

What do you think about standing out from the competition? And what do you think of our “special guests?”

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Advertising, Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Home Page, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Art Of Persuasion Marketing To Get Brides To Close The Deal

By Leave a Comment

The concept of persuasion in marketing is often either misunderstood or overlooked. The definition of persuasion actually sums up the idea quite well as “A deep conviction or belief.” When used in marketing the idea of persuasion is that you are convincing people to take a certain action which might be to opt in to your newsletter, sign up for a freebie, or sign a contract with your company for their wedding.

So how do you manage to get people to do what you want them to do? According to Dr. Robert Cialdini’s brilliant article it is through measured action. You aren’t just telling brides to do something, or begging them to choose you, you are showing them that not only have others taken this action before them, but it is a no brainer to choose your product or service.

Using persuasion marketing in a wedding business can be something as simple as a photographer creating a package that not only includes the wedding photos, but a free mini shoot. It could also be something like a bakery doing a free sheet cake with the wedding cake, but only for those who book their weddings with the bakery in the next month. Wedding dress stores will sometimes advertise one day discounts on bridesmaid dresses if the wedding dress is bought at their store. However sales and freebies aren’t the only way to persuade a bride to take action. You should also use testimonials of brides who have used your service and loved you, have seasonal package deals which change out through the year, and connect to the bride on a personal level as like often attracts like. 

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Advertising, Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Wedding Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The 8 Secrets of the Kick Ass Wedding Business

By Leave a Comment

I’d like to have a kick ass wedding business. Wouldn’t you?

Let’s define “kick ass” for the purposes of this article.

A Kick Ass wedding business:

  • Is financially thriving. This means making enough to not only pay the bills, but to have some fun, too.
  • Has regular, sustainable income. No more seasonal wedding “feast or famine;” this business has a regular stream of income each month.
  • Is known and referred by everyone…or at least it seems that way. These are the vendors couples hear about from a dozen different places, making them the #1 choice.

The best way to have a kick ass wedding business like this is to model the success of the businesses who are already making it happen. Makes sense, right?

That’s exactly what Jeff and I decided to do. We reverse-engineered the creation of the kick ass wedding business and came up with 8 things the most successful businesses have in common, the 8 secrets of wedding businesses who thrive in any economy.

The Kiss of Death

Let me tell you a story…

About six years ago, Jeff and I were sitting pretty with our wedding business. We had plenty of leads, our weekends were booked up with weddings, and things were looking good.

In our neck of the woods, there is a family who owns four different wedding venues. The owner, let’s call him Big Daddy, has a monopoly of sorts, and we were the top DJ referral for one of them. As a result, almost 50% of our weddings were booked at that single location.

One day, I decided to write Something. I’ve capitalized Something because it ended up being a really big deal. I published it on the internet and innocently shared it with all our wedding vendor friends.

Well, this Something I wrote got misinterpreted and misquoted by the gossips in our local wedding industry…until it finally got back to Big Daddy. It turns out Big Daddy has a quick temper, and he didn’t like what he heard about what I’d written very much.

Big Daddy forbid his staff to refer us ever, ever again.

As a result, our #1 referral source dried up just like that.

Fortunately, we had enough referral sources to book up our calendar for the next year. But if you only have one or two solid sources of leads, and one of them gets kicked out from under you, it can be the kiss of death for your business.

Kick Ass Secret #3

Secret #3 – Kick Ass Wedding Businesses have a constant stream of leads from multiple sources.

Ever hear that expression, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” This is never more true than when it comes to generating leads for your business.

Kick Ass Wedding Businesses have at least 5 solid sources of high-quality, targeted leads. This way, if something happens to one of them, it doesn’t kill their business. They’ll still have enough leads coming in that they can adjust and survive.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, like a photographer we know who gets nearly all her leads from another successful photography company. We keep warning her, “What happens if and when they stop sending you referrals? You have to find other sources of leads.” She’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

We learned the hard way not to depend on ONE source for our business survival. The more diverse you are, getting leads from the internet, advertising, multiple venues, social media, bridal shows and other vendor referrals, the more easily you can weather the inevitable changes in the economy.

This is just ONE of the EIGHT Secrets of the weddings businesses who thrive in any economy. Want to learn more?

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

“Enter your Name and Email below to learn the 8 Secrets of Wedding Businesses That Thrive…”


 

Photo Credit

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

Filed Under: Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Home Page, Leads & Traffic, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , ,
«Older Posts