The Wedding Business Sales Chain: Are You the Weakest Link?

Last week Jeff did a really cool little video explaining a concept that is absolutely vital to making sure you never waste a penny on expensive bridal advertising that doesn’t work.

This much is easy: if your advertising isn’t working for you, DITCH IT.

The hard part is…how do you know if it’s not working for you?

Many times I hear wedding professionals complain about this or that advertising that, “doesn’t work.”  It might be Facebook ads, the Knot or a print magazine.

But chances are good that it DOES work.  The problem is that a link in your “Sales Chain” is broken.

The Bridal Sales Chain

Think of it like this: your marketing is like a chain that connects your potential customer (the Bride) to you.  There are several links in this chain and if any one of them is broken…NO SALE.

Watch Jeff’s nifty video below explaining this concept with a spiffy diagram for a great visual of this Wedding Business Sales Chain, narrated in his impressive bass. 

The Weakest Link

Here are the 3 links connecting you to the Bride and how you know if it’s broken so that you can fix it.

CAUTION:  In many cases, it’s not the advertising medium that’s broken; it’s your ad or worse yet…it’s YOU. 

1) The Advertising Medium

This can be a website, magazine, radio station or social networking platform, wherever your ad lives.

It’s broken if:

• There are no people there at all.  No traffic, no visitors, no listeners.

• There are people, but those people aren’t your ideal client.

• Your ideal client is there, but she isn’t looking for your service.

Your Ad

It’s broken if:

• Your ad doesn’t attract attention.  It’s invisible.

• Your ad message doesn’t speak to exactly what your ideal bride is looking for.

• The services you’re advertising are NOT what your ideal bride is interested in.

First Point of Contact

This is where the bride ends up when she clicks on the ad or makes a phone call to learn more about you.  Usually it’s your website or your phone.

It’s broken if:

• It’s unattractive, confusing or makes a bad first impression.

• Your ideal bride doesn’t find exactly what she was looking for.

• She can’t find an easy way to contact you.

The Verdict

So if your advertising isn’t working, is it your advertising medium, your ad, or you?

You’ve got to be able to trace each link in the chain with tracking such as Google Analytics on your website, click through rates, or a spreadsheet of your lead sources.

It’s easy to blame the Big Guys who are taking our hard earned money.  But only when you know where your sales chain is broken can you say for sure that it is NOT working for you.

Have an experience with a great bridal ad…or a really bad one?  Leave a comment and share it.

Photo credit