The Carrot or the Stick Motivation: How to Check the Stubborn Tasks Off Your To Do List

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Sometimes getting things done is HARD.

How many times have I had a task on my To Do List that gets bumped again and again? The never-ending task list. The job that never gets done. It’s frustrating! And for a girl like me with a driving need to check things off that list, it feel like failure.

Fortunately, I have learned some very effective techniques for getting things done and eliminating that unending To Do List. We share one of the easiest ways to get yourself to do something you really don’t want to do in this video.

Watch this video for more:

What’s your favorite tricking for getting things done?

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Filed Under: Home Page, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

7 Ways to Grow Your Wedding Business During the Holidays

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While the wedding season is winding down for a lot of pros, there’s still much to do. And there’s no reason why you can’t boost your bottom line during the holiday season, too.

Here are some ideas you can use to market your wedding business, make more sales and earn referrals during the holidays.

1. Tap Into Holiday Buying Power

People buy in an emotional state. Sure, we like to think that we’ve carefully considered the pros and cons of getting that Mac Book Pro to reach a logical decision, but it’s always an emotional need that gets rationalized afterward.

Why not tag along on the emotional buying frenzy created by shop-happy “holidays” like Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

People who open their wallets on these shop-a-holic days are primed to purchase again and again. Offer them a special deal to channel some of those economy boosting funds your way.

2. Thank Your Local Customers

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to send a card that doesn’t get lost in the deluge of greeting cards in December. You have a much better chance of standing out from the competition.

Even better than a thank you card, give your brides and grooms a special gift. An informational article or video filled with holiday tips and ideas is a great way to show your appreciation, earn customer loyalty and get extra sales.

Don’t forget your wedding vendor friends! Show them the love so that they shower you with referrals.

3. Showcase Your Holiday Wares

If you have a product or service that makes a great holiday gift, this is the time to show it off. A special deal or promotion makes it extra enticing.

For photographers, holiday photo shoots, portraits or mini-albums can be a big hit. Think Groupon, if you dare, and fill up those empty spots in your studio calendar. Wedding DJs might offer a special mid-week holiday rate or rent a Santa for a family party. Event planners could offer a class in holiday planning entertainment.

You’ve already earned the trust of the brides and grooms who’ve hired you. Come up with a cool gift they can give to their family members or friends and make them a repeat customer.

4. Get the Promotion Wheels Turning Well in Advance

Start promoting your holiday specials early. Submit press releases, tweet and Facebook about it in social media, and get the buzz going. When the shopping season officially kicks in your fans and followers will know exactly where to go.

Promote, don’t over-promote, with social media. DO let your fans and followers know what you’re up to, but make sure you keep providing valuable tips and information that isn’t a sales pitch. Don’t promote your stuff more than 50% of the time or people will tune you out altogether.

5. Sponsor a Local Event or Give to Charity

The holidays are the perfect time to embrace the spirit of giving. Earn some good karma and some good PR for your wedding business by giving back to your community. It earns goodwill and makes people feel good about doing business with you.

6. Publish a Holiday Gift Giving Guide

Desperate brides and grooms (especially grooms) are scouring the internet for hip and cool gift-giving ideas. Make it easy for your couples by sharing a top 10 list of the best holiday gifts.

Some of these gifts might be your products and services, but even simply sharing original gift ideas on your blog will attract eager website visitors.

You might make your holiday gift guide a PDF giveaway report, a blog post, a video, or send it in your email newsletter or by mail. If your ideas are good, they’ll be well appreciated.

7. Host a Holiday Themed Contest

People are always hungry for good gift-giving ideas, holiday entertainment tips and yummy recipes. If you don’t have any to share yourself, hold a contest for the Best Holiday Gift Idea, the Best Gingerbread Cookie Recipe or if you want to stay wedding-themed, the Best Romantic Holiday Gift.

Contests are easy to pull off yourself with applications like Rafflecopter and Wildfire that leverage the power of social media to spread the word. A holiday themed contest is a great way to tap into the excitement of the holidays to promote your wedding business.

These are just a few holiday promotion ideas. How do you market your wedding business during the holiday season?

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

Ready to Act Fast? Free Surprise Bonus for Busy Wedding Pros!

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A couple weeks ago I asked this question…

If you could have a training created to show you how to do ANYTHING, what would it be?

We got dozens of emails from wedding vendors with so many good suggestions that my head was spinning!

We’ve picked the most popular request to include FREE as a last minute, surprise bonus when you purchase Summit Secrets. Wanna know what it is?

Watch This Video to Find Out How to Get the Surprise Bonus Free!

Now that was fun! It’s always a good time when I get to humiliate myself on video. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll just have to watch it.)

We’ve got 4 DAYS LEFT of awesome, action-packed marketing strategies you can use to book more weddings. Make sure you join us before it’s too late!

Enter Your Name and Email Below to Join Us FREE!

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Filed Under: Home Page, Other Businesses, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

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.

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, 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: , , , , , , ,

The Not So Secret Habits of Wedding PR Savvy Pros

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by Meghan Ely  

I’ve always been particularly envious of wedding pros who could grab a 120″ linen, a handful of flowers and some table numbers and turn it into a thing of beauty.

Me? I’ve always been an excel spreadsheet girl. My couples’ Grand Entrances always started on time and my post-reception “what do we do with all these leftover candles and tulle” checklists could rival anything NASA is churning out. I learned long ago that I simply wasn’t design savvy so I relied on the experts around me to show me what looked fabulous, leaving me more time to fine tune my spreadsheets.

Wedding PR is a popular strategy among wedding pros for increasing their brand awareness and unlike my ability to pair colors, wedding PR savviness is a learned skill. Wedding pros need only to incorporate a handful of habits and strategies into their everyday thinking to better position them for the press they desire.

So what are some of the no so secret habits of wedding PR savvy pros?

  1. They understand their goals. Simply having the goal “of just getting picked up” is just not an option. Throwing PR strategies against the wall to see what sticks is an ineffective use of one’s time. It’s time to ask yourself the big question- what do you really want to get out from increased press? One you’re able to come to a solid conclusion, you’re then able to fine tune your efforts for maximum impact.


  2. They do their research. A blind media pitch is as good as no pitch at all. Wedding pros who enjoy a steady stream of press have taken the time to research their top blogs and magazines for content. A pitch or submission customized to a given media outlet is far more likely to be well received versus one that looks like it was created for the masses.


  3. They think like the media. Journalists are constantly on deadline and the sooner you can start thinking like an editor, the better. Learn their rules for submission, as well as upcoming editorial deadlines. Keep your pitches brief, timely and to the point, and you’ll be far more competitive in the long run.


  4. They see potential in their story. Not every piece of news to come out of your business is worthy of a press mention and it is imperative to understand that. On the flip side, a wedding PR savvy wedding pro can see the potential of a story forming within their company and act on it.


  5. They aren’t afraid of the word NO. Let’s face it- wedding PR is designed to be a heartbreaker. You could have the swoon-worthiest wedding out there, and it may not be the right fit for your dream magazine or blog. The fact is, if you’ve done your due diligence, you will more than likely find a home for that fabulous real wedding submission or pitch.

Wedding PR can be a fantastic addition to a strong wedding marketing campaign and by picking up just a few good habits, you too will reap the press rewards enjoyed by your wedding PR savvy colleagues.

Want More Wedding PR Marketing Tips?

Watch Meghan’s entire FREE presentation, “Effortless PR: How to Generate a Promotional Buzz Without Working Your Tail Off,” at our Wedding Business Acceleration Summit!

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

  • The mistake most wedding vendors make with an otherwise perfect press release that completely turns journalists off and makes it a waste of time.
  • 5 things you must include in your Real Wedding submission so you get picked up by the best wedding blogs and magazines.
  • What brides and wedding blogs REALLY want to see in Real Wedding submissions…it’s not what you think!…and why most photographers mess this up.
  • How to know immediately when someone is talking about you or your company anywhere online for FREE.
  • The free program that connects you with news hungry journalists so you can get your business featured in the news.
  • The real wedding pet peeve that makes Stephanie madder than a wet hen.
  • And LOTS more!

Enter your name and email below to join us for free!

 

Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding marketing and wedding PR firm OFD Consulting. She is the exclusive wedding PR columnist to wedding marketing journal WedLock magazine and will be traveling to Europe in the coming weeks to speak at The Business of Weddings Ireland and the First Annual Association of European Wedding Professionals Wedding Industry Workshop.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Bridal Marketing, Home Page, Other Businesses, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Industry Trends, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Wedding Industry Trends and Advice from Weddings Beautiful

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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.

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

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

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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?”

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

The Importance Of Research Before Marketing

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I’ve come to realize that there are two types of marketers. Those who come up with an idea and throw money at it hoping it will work, and those who do their research before starting a marketing campaign and see good results. If you are having trouble seeing any results from your efforts in bridal marketing it is probably because you didn’t do enough research on the exact method and whether it would work for your market.

The reality is that different types of marketing work for different types of people and they work differently in different areas of the country. Of course there are general ways to market that typically work, but you still have to tweak it to your audience. For instance, bridal shows might work great in New York, but they are a complete waste of time and money in my area of Colorado.

When you come up with a new way to try and attract more bridal leads take the time to find out what people in your area are saying about that method. If it’s a new method of marketing that works great in other areas of the country and hasn’t been tried in your area then you should probably give it a go. On the other hand if you notice that there aren’t a lot of vendors at your local bridal show, take time to find out the typical attendance before jumping on the band wagon. Brian McGovern posts a great video by David Ogilvy on his website that was ahead of its time in pointing out the differences in marketing and the importance of research. What do you think? 

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, Leads & Traffic, Personal Development, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Wedding Industry Trends: On the Rise or Going Down the Drain?

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What do YOU think about the state of the wedding industry today?

We recently asked this question in an email and were amazed at the differences of opinion and perspective.

(A special shout out to Penny, Heather, Lou, Marie, Richard, Gary, Shirley, Dana and Diana for your thoughtful replies.  Thanks!)

WATCH THIS VIDEO to learn what they had to say about wedding industry trends…and what Jeff and I are fighting about.  :)

There’s one thing Jeff and I do agree on; you can blame the lousy economy for what’s going on in your wedding business, or you can take charge of your own personal wedding economy and take some action to improve it.

Regardless of how bad wedding industry trends may be in your local market, you do have control over the meaning you give those trends and whether it drags you down or builds you up.  Like I’m always saying, “If what you’re doing isn’t working, anything else has a greater chance of working than what ISN’T working right now.”

For more strategies you can use to make sure your business has what it takes to weather ANY economy, enter your name and email to watch our FREE video series here.

What do you think about the wedding economy?  Do you agree with the opinions in this video?  Leave a comment below to let us know what you think.

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

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

The 8 Secrets of the Kick Ass Wedding Business

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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…”


 

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