6 Strategies For Creating Effortless Content for Your Wedding Blog, Videos, Emails and Tweets

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Question: How do I come up with new information for my blog, email newsletter/ezine, free Bride Bribe, videos, etc?

Hi, guys!

Here’s my question, though.  And it really doesn’t just apply to Bride Bribes.  How do you come up with different information for the Free Offer, blog posts, and ALSO an ezine/newsletter?  I am totally overwhelmed.  Not to mention that I want to do videos.  I don’t want to do a crossover with the ezine and the blog, because I feel that this should be “special” information.

Please help.  I’m on overload.  Also, I know a lot of people write new articles for their ezine each month (or however often they release), but I would prefer to have it be just a few – no more than 12 and they run in a particular order for every client – number 1 is the same for all clients, regardless of when they sign up.  At least until I have got my footing and am less overwhelmed.  What are your thoughts on this?

I really appreciate everything you two do.  You have been so wonderfully helpful and it has made a HUGE difference for me.  Thank you!

Kiki

Answer:

Hi, Kiki!

I’m glad you asked this question.

You can cover the same topic 100 different ways.  Once you start brainstorming, you’ll never run out of ideas.

6 Effortless Content Strategies

1. Write down 100 topics your brides/grooms are interested in.  Put pen to paper and just GO.  You’ll be surprised at how easily it will flow!

 2. Get inspired by other wedding blogs.  Check out the Top 100 Wedding Blogs and put them in your reader.  (Watch this video “What to Tweet in 5 Minutes or Less” for instructions.)

 3. Re-blog other peoples’ great content.  Don’t copy their words, but write 100-200 new words about the topic, then link to the article.  Quick, easy blog post!

 4. Do short video interviews with other wedding vendors.

 5. Blog about whatever weddings you’re working on: share an idea, do your own “real wedding” post, etc.

 6. Blog about other wedding vendors and venues you love.

I like to keep a list of article ideas so that I’m never “stuck.”  As soon as you have an idea, write it down.  You’ll soon find ideas everywhere!

Ditch the Ezine

There are two ways to send mass emails: either through an autoresponder series (also called “drip” or “follow up,” depending on the service you use) or broadcast emails (like a monthly e-zine or newsletter.)

I’m a fan of using an autoresponder follow up because it saves time and works very effectively.

Autoresponder Pros

Write the emails once and use them FOREVER.  Less work is good!
Once you have a proven sequence of emails or a “conversation,” you can predictably lead the prospect down the road to booking you.

The biggest disadvantage of using an email autoresponder is that you aren’t able to add links, images or examples from your latest work each month.

A monthly newsletter is a lot of work to format and it’s time you have to invest every month FOREVER.

A more efficient alternative to a monthly e-zine is to send a “blog broadcast” email that can be automatically scheduled and sent.  

Aweber offers this blog broadcast feature, as do other email marketing services.  This lets you send a formatted email containing links to your latest blog posts once a month without having to set it up and schedule it.

Whenever you can do LESS work and still get results, I’m all for it!

Do you use an email newsletter or follow up series to market to brides and grooms?

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9 Ways to Get More Brides on Facebook Without Paying For It

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Question: Has Facebook advertising killed free marketing for businesses?

Hey Steph,

I wanted to ask you if you have heard much about Facebook changes that force you to pay to reach fans from your business page.

I know that reach has been limited by an algorithm, but I’m hearing that a post might only reach 10 to 20 people out of 1000 potential fans and you have to pay to reach more than that tiny group.

Curious about your thoughts.  Seems to signal the end of current social media practices as far as business go.

If I have 200 fans and I’d feel lucky to get one booking from a fan page, then why would I pay money to get no ROI.

Curious about your thoughts.

R.

Answer:

Hey, R.

Yep.  Facebook has messed with us again.  However, the truth isn’t as bad as it seems and it IS still possible to communicate your message to your fans without paying for it.

In September of 2012, Facebook rolled out a new update to its algorithm (also known as EdgeRank.)  Around the same time, Facebook advertising began offering promoted posts as a way to promote your posts to more of your fans.

If you’ve been tracking your Facebook Insights, you may have noticed that your “talking about” numbers and interaction tanked right around that time.  This has led many business page owners to assume that Facebook is now forcing us to pay for our fans to see our stuff.

The truth isn’t that simple.

The Truth About Promoted Posts

Facebook estimates that only 16% of your fans will actually see your post in their feed.  This is caused by many factors: only half your fans are actually online each day, probably for 30-60 minutes.  With all the other posts in their feed competing for attention, it’s easy to see how yours is missed.

Most of your fans have been missing your posts since way before the Facebook algorithm changed.  

Facebook claims that the update reduced unwanted “spammy” posts in the news feed.  According to them, if you were doing a good job of delivering valuable, interesting posts to your followers, you wouldn’t have been affected after the algorithm update.

In other words, if your numbers took a dive after the update, it’s because you weren’t posting things your fans actually want to see.  Check out Tech Crunch’s blog post for some statistics that support this argument.

Another study by Edge Rank Checker shows Facebook business pages seeing a decrease in reach and fan engagement across the board after the update.

So what do we do now?

Next Generation Free Marketing with Facebook

Our experience also corroborates a decrease in engagement after the latest Edge Rank update.  We’ve been experimenting with buying promoted posts, and they DO work.  But will we be forced to “buy” eyeballs for our Facebook posts from now on?

If you want to make sure more of your fans actually see your posts, you have TWO options:

  1. Post interesting, relevant, compelling content your fans like, comment on and share.
  2. Buy promoted posts.

Facebook isn’t behaving much differently from Google here; they’re trying to deliver relevant content to users.  In a similar way, we have to play by the rules they make if we want to be seen.

You can no longer promote your wedding business all over Facebook with lame posts no one cares about.  Well, you can, but now you’ll have to pay for it.

If you want more fans, more likes and more attention for your wedding business on Facebook, you have to earn it with great content that gets a reaction.

This isn’t the end of social media for business; it just means our strategy has to change.

How to Get More Brides On Facebook…Without Paying For It

Most businesses can increase the number of fans who see their posts organically (in other words, for free) to 20-35% by using the following strategies shared by Mashable, Buzzfarmers and us.

1.    Post more photos and images.  These get more likes and shares than any other type of post.

2.    Use the words, I and me in your posts to get more likes.  Be opinionated in your posts to get a stronger reaction.

3.    Post content from 4-6pm Eastern time, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.

4.    Ask questions that allow your fans to express an opinion.

5.    Ask people to like and comment.  It’s simple, but it works!

6.    Host contests that require people to like and comment to win.

7.    Use the Fans Flood app to invite your website and blog visitors to “like” your page in exchange for a cool freebie.

8.   Find and “like” other local wedding business pages that have bride fans. Like, share and leave helpful comments on their posts as your business  to build relationships with other vendors and so that brides (eventually) click through.

Warning: do NOT blatantly promote your business on other people’s pages or it will drive brides away and irritate potential wedding business partners.

9.   Say something nice about other wedding businesses in your posts and tag them to encourage sharing with their bride and groom followers.

There’s still Facebook marketing that can be done for free, but it takes a little more creativity these days.  Once you know your return on investment for your Facebook fans and leads, it can and does make sense to invest in some paid advertising.

How is your wedding business doing on Facebook these days?

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Urgent Pinterest Update for Wedding Pros

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Just last week Pinterest introduced a new feature you need to know about: Pinterest business accounts.

While there really aren’t any benefits to having a “business” account versus a “personal” one right now, if you’re already using your Pinterest account for your business, you need to convert it to a business account as soon as possible.

Here’s why:

Pinterest updated their terms of service to now require that any account being used for commercial purposes must be a business account.

That means, just like with Facebook, that if you’re using your personal account for business purposes, they can shut you down. It’s not likely they’re going to do that any time soon…it wouldn’t be very fair since they just made the announcement…but if you value your Pinterest account, I’d say it’s better safe than sorry.

How to Convert to a Pinterest Business Account

  1. Go to this link and login to your Pinterest account.
  2. Follow the instructions to fill in your company name and type of business.
  3. Hit “save” and you’re all set!

Keep your eyes on Pinterest for what comes next. The stats report (depending on the source) that 80-97% of Pinterest users are women, and wedding planning is one of the top uses for Pinterest.

The brides are there, and with the new addition of Pinterest business accounts, it’s likely that you’ll be able to purchase advertising or perhaps even “sponsored pins” in the future to promote your wedding business even more effectively.

I’m dying to know… Are you using Pinterest for your wedding business? What do you think about it?

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Filed Under: Advertising, Bridal Marketing, Home Page, Leads & Traffic, Mobile Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media Tips, Wedding Websites Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

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

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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!

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

Free Event for Wedding Vendors Shows You How to Book More Weddings Fast

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The top concerns of wedding business people are…

  • Getting more leads.
  • Booking more weddings.

That’s what the Wedding Business Acceleration Summit, a free event just for wedding professionals, is all about!

It’s 7 days of totally FREE, high value wedding marketing strategies you can use to book more weddings at higher prices.

Watch the video below to learn more:


Enter Your Name and Email Below to Join Us for Free!

Here are the awesome presentations lined up so far:

DAY 1 – “21 Must Have FREE Tools and Resources to Turbo Charge Your Wedding Biz” with Stephanie & Jeff Padovani of BookMoreBrides.com. (That’s us!)

DAY 2 – “Power of 10: How 7 Small Changes Can Double Your Profits!” with Brian McGovern of BrianMcGovern.com

DAY 3 – “The Power of Pinning: How to Get More Leads and Customers With Pinterest” with Melanie Duncan of PowerofPinning.com

DAY 4 – “Effortless PR: How to Generate a Promotional Buzz Without Working Your Tail Off” with Meghan Ely of OFDConsulting.com

DAY 5 – “Blog Swapping: How to Steal Other People’s Traffic, Fans and Readers…and Have Them Love You For it!” with Kathy DalPra of BrideAppeal.com

DAY 6 – “The Secret to Getting Brides on Facebook in Only 15 Minutes a Day” with Christine Dyer of BridalTweet.com

DAY 7 – “How to Book Yourself Solid with Youtube in 3 Steps” with James Wedmore of VideoTrafficAcademy.com

This is a ground-breaking, one of a kind event just for professionals in the wedding business, with experts from inside and outside the wedding industry, so don’t miss out!

JOIN US HERE.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Free Resources, Free Wedding Business Tools, Home Page, Leads & Traffic, Personal Development, Pinterest, Social Media Tips, Website Tools & Tips, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

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

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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.

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Is the Digital Era Killing the Photography Business?

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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?

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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: , , , , , , ,

Facebook Privacy: The Good And The Bad For Business Owners

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No matter how much we love Facebook for wedding business marketing the truth is that privacy issues and questions regarding possible privacy issues have been a problem from the beginning. While that doesn’t stop most people using Facebook it does create frustration. The one good side of things is that there is almost always a way to block information from being shared that you don’t want the world to know about (and yes, some of it just requires using common sense).

Facebook believes in the importance of constantly evolving with the demands of their audience. This has led to a new way of collecting data on people both online and offline for the sake of their advertisers. Obviously this is raising red flags for many people, but thankfully, there is a work around. Make sure to check out Thorin Klosowski’s article to learn more.

The good side of Facebook’s constant research on tracking data is the fact that they are able to help their advertisers target the right people better than almost anyone else. This means that your advertisements go out to the group of people that might actually be interested in your business, and no one else. What do you think though? Do the benefits for targeted advertising outweigh the privacy risks?

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Whether They Follow You Or Not, Brides Expect To See You On Facebook

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Over the last few years the look of marketing has drastically changed. People have gone from using phone books and listening to radio and TV ads and have switched to checking out websites and looking up companies on Facebook. It’s not that TV, radio ads and phone book listings are irrelevant, the actual issue is that the majority of consumers expect your business to be active online, and if you aren’t it can be a huge red flag to potential customers.

The movement behind the switch in expectations: The truth is that once Amazon really caught on people got used to finding out in-depth information and reviews in an easy to find format. They want to know what you are about, and what other people think of you. They can’t find this out in an ad directly from you. On top of that, reviews and information online tends to be written in a much more interesting format. People don’t want to just take your word for it; they want to know they are making the best decision possible.

So why do brides expect to see you on Facebook? In part it’s because in the last year wedding businesses have started to get the picture that people want to see actual images of their products. Facebook is a no pressure, easy to navigate place where brides can check out your work while they are catching up on the news with friends and family. Essentially you are putting your wedding business on Facebook in the same place where brides hang out. To find out more about current stats on consumers on Facebook check out this interesting article by Sarah Love. What do you think?

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Like It Or Hate It Google+ Is Great For Your Business

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You might not like Google+ for business; in fact you might even hate it. Or you might have jumped on the bandwagon right away and love it to pieces. But like it or not, Google+ will do things for your search standings that nothing else can possibly accomplish. Getting used to any new platform takes time, but when it’s something that can benefit your business it’s better to start using it sooner than later.

Google+ is obviously connected to Google which means if you post an event, or have a business page on Google+ it will boost your ranking in search results. On top of that, Google+ was specifically designed to give you benefits that other social networks don’t have. For instance you can set up an online event and stream it live to your viewers directly through your Google+ page. How cool is that? On top of that +1ing something on Google plus will automatically show up in search results, meaning the more people who +1 you, the more people will know you are worth looking into. For more information on what Google+ can do check out this article by Aki Libo-on. 

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