Effectively Marketing to Today’s Bride

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When you think of what brides were like 30 or so years ago and then compare them to the brides of today there are some major definable differences. One of the first things that stands out is how they shop for their wedding. It used to be that brides would go window shopping and plan their weddings based on the businesses available in their town. Of course there were some who would also go to the nearest big city as well.

Today’s bride will usually start searching online. In fact search is the key word here. Even if she doesn’t have a clue of what she wants she will start searching for ideas as soon as there is any possibility that she will be getting married. With the advent of Pinterest a brides search for ideas has become much more public and obvious. According to Michael Schrage’s article this consumer action to search endlessly is a direct result of Google.

When you build your website, or do any marketing you have to keep the fact that today’s bride is a searcher at the front of your mind. If she’s searching online she want’s ideas and pictures. She wants to know more about your business than just what you do and how to contact you. Basically you have to sell brides the artistic vision behind your business, not just the fact that she needs a wedding dress or photographer. Gaining a bride as a client means that you have convinced her that you can do her wedding better than anyone else out there. That she needs YOU. What do you think?

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Filed Under: Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Personal Development, Website, Website Tools & Tips, Wedding Business, Wedding Websites Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

How To Make Wedding Business Networking Successful

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Networking events can be tough, whether you go to one outside your industry or are just mixing at a bridal show. Patricia Fletcher points out that you don’t have to be an extrovert to make them work well for you, you just have to be prepared.

Think it through. Why are you trying to network in the first place? Do you want to build a network for bridal referrals? Are you a wedding planner trying to find businesses you like that you want to work with going forward? Know your purpose and then think through the main things you really want to talk about with people. If you only have three things to say to someone to try to get a wedding business networking relationship started, what do they need to be?

While you’re thinking that through ad in a few questions you can ask them about themselves. Remember, networking isn’t all about you, it’s a two way street. You need help, they need help and a relationship is formed when you both realize you can help the other person. Make sure to read Patricia Fletcher’s great article for more ways to prepare for networking events.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Bridal Marketing, Networking, Personal Development, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , ,

When Should You Meet With A Bride In Person?

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Knowing when to contact a bride via email and phone and when to meet in person isn’t always the easiest thing to figure out. The first contact can obviously be via phone and email, but what about after the first meeting and they’ve signed the contract?

Think about it this way. Are you having trouble working something out, or figuring out what the bride really wants? Is the bride in the middle of a melt down? Any time emotions start getting a little bit out of hand you might want to meet in person. Not only that, but in the situation where you are having trouble working an idea out with the bride you will same a ton of time and frustration by meeting with her in person. For more tips on when you should meet with a client in person rather than emailing or phoning them check out Selena Cuffe’s great article. Remember, it always means a lot to a bride if you care enough to give her wedding personal, in-depth attention. What do you think?

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How To Build A Killer Wedding Website

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Couple_On_LaptopIt’s been mentioned before, but while the layout of your website or blog may not make a huge impact on your search engine rankings it definitely makes a difference on whether brides will spend time on your site. Not only do you need great content and pictures which show off your work, but you also need a killer layout. 

I’ve spent a lot of time on wedding websites and the one thing that drives me nuts is how long it takes the site to load, and then how hard it is to navigate the site. It isn’t all about building a beautiful site. It’s about building a site which catches and holds attention, provides the necessary information, and make a bride want to sign with you. 

Oh and that music that automatically starts playing as soon as the site loads? Nix it as soon as possible. A bride is going to be flipping through a lot of sites, most of which play music, and if she’s at work she isn’t even going to look at your content before she closes down the page. For more tips on building a great layout for your site check out Matthew Toren’s awesome article. What do you think? Is your site a killer site, or does it drive brides away?

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How To Build Your Wedding Business Without Getting Sucked Into Bad Ideas

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Running_With_BalloonsI’ve listened to a ton of webinars in the last few years, and I’m guessing that is what you are doing about now as well. The problem is that unless you are listening to the right webinar from the right person or company who understands your business you are going to get a ton of horrible advice.

For instance, in the last few weeks I’ve had to talk my sister out of three different business ideas. Were they bad ideas? Absolutely not. But neither did they apply to her business. Being an entrepreneur is different than being in the fifth year of running a large company. Where they can get away with hiring people for every position, it is your responsibility to just go ahead and do the work yourself if you want to see your business make money.

You see, there is this breakdown in thought. It’s this circular pattern of thought that to make money you have to spend money, and then we apply that to every aspect of the business. The truth is that while you do have to spend some money, on some things, you don’t need to spend money on most things. Focus your money on the basics such as your website, marketing, and products. Worry about the rest when your business needs it. Make sure to read the article by James Altucher for some awesome tips on how to survive the early years of building a business. What do you think?

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What You Need To Understand About Twitter

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The world of Twitter is an interesting one. For those who use it for personal reasons only it tends to be a sleepy haven where they can chat back and forth about anything they want. For a business Twitter is a whole different ball gameTwitter_on_Phone

Twitter is a great place to get more followers and stir up interest in your product or service. Making it work for getting actual paying clients is a whole different thing all together. While you can easily boost the number of your followers the bottom line on whether you get sales out of it comes down to interacting according to the article by Chris Brogan on his blog. Posting Tweets is important and good, but you have to show a genuine interest in your followers as well. Take time to read their tweets and respond to them.

Twitter is specifically designed to build relationships and if you want your Twitter profile to work for you that is exactly what you have to do. What do you think?

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Why Businesses Can’t Just Be Optimistic

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Being optimistic is great. It is the emotion that comes from being excited about a dream and is what drives your work and focus. The problem with never being anything other than optimistic is the fact that the focus on things getting better distracts you from forming Plan B’s according to Mariam Noronha’s awesome article.

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A Plan B is the crucial backup for all ideas and plans that ensures that if by some chance something, anything, goes wrong, you have a backup plan in place that will ensure that you can still move ahead. Without that Plan B a business will eventually fail, because no matter how big it gets, without a safety net system in place there is nothing to catch the business from falling.

Optimism drives Plan A, the way you really WANT things to go, and Plan B, thought through with the realization that things go wrong, is the plan that can get your business back on track towards reaching the goal of Plan A. What do you think? Do you have your Plan B’s in place?

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Why You Should Avoid Print Advertising

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shopper-crossingBridal magazines have been around for decades. It used to be that those magazines were one of the only places for brides to get their ideas and therefore the ads placed by businesses in the magazine pages would bring in major revenue. Well according to the research done by Think Like A Bride the era of bridal magazines is just about over.

Brides aren’t looking at magazines as much as they are running Google searches. It used to be that bridal magazines cost an exorbitant amount of money but you can now get a subscription extremely inexpensively (trust me I’ve done this for the last three years just for fun). Bridal magazines are desperate for subscribers and getting a subscriber is more important that charging a lot and not getting anyone.

What does this mean to a wedding business? Well Think Like A Bride is encouraging wedding businesses to stop throwing their money at the magazines for advertising and to focus their marketing budgets at getting ads on Google. You are far more likely to gain leads online than you will from a print advertisement. What do you think?


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Why You Need To Take Cues From Your Brides

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Bride_on_Street

Listen to your brides. Don’t just think in the box and do what every other wedding business is doing. Do your brides love shopping online? Then find ways to cater to them like installing a couple of computers in your store for them to browse through.

This is the message coming from Think Like A Bride’s article as they watch the trends of bridal businesses that are making it in today’s economy versus the businesses that are having to close their doors after decades of being in business. Brides are changing and either a business keeps up with those changes or they run a huge risk of eventually having to close down.

Take time to read the bridal magazines and follow the trends of top businesses. Take a stroll through your favorite shopping district and notice which businesses are busy and which are quite even during a weekend. What are the busy businesses doing right that captures the attention of shopper in your area? Do they have a mini coffee bar, a little sitting room for tired shoppers? What do you think? What do brides in your area really want out of a business?

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How To Get Your Wedding Business Found On Google Places

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Modern_Bride

Getting your business found on Google Places is one of the best ways to make sure your wedding business is seen by local brides. But just listing your business isn’t enough. You must make sure that your listing is consistent with every other listing you have on the web. This means the address has to perfectly match every other address you have listed for your business on your website and on other directories.

Scott Harvey wrote a great article where he highly recommends posting photos and videos of your business on your Google Places listing. It draws people in and sets your business apart from the other listing plus Google loves them and will list your business higher in the search results. What do you think?

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