On the Future of the Wedding Industry

If you couldn't tell, the Splendid Marketing in 30 Days series has evolved (devolved?) into Splendid Marketing in 30ish Days. It will be returning soon, I pinky swear. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about something that's been on my mind over the past year and coming up in conversations more frequently in recent months.

There's a new company just in time for the holiday season: MinuteFrame. For $20, including shipping, you can upload a high-res photo and they'll print it, frame it in either a black or dark brown wood frame and mail it to the recipient of your choice. I'm selfishly hoping they add white wooden frames soon because my sister decorates her home with white frames and it would make my gifting much easier.

This is why I love the Internet. It fosters creativity if you let it. Someone took a time-consuming, annoying task -- sending display-worthy photos -- and created a ridiculously simple solution for it using tools that almost everyone has access to.

This, by the way, is the future of the wedding industry. Not photo frames, of course, but taking time-consuming, annoying tasks and creating simple solutions. More broadly, yet more importantly, the future of the bridal industry will reside in taking things that are said to be creativity killers and using them to foster creativity instead.

I'm fortunate to have consulted with some smart people creating new things for the wedding industry. I've promised not to share the details until they're ready for the spotlight, and I won't, but I will say that the future of weddings is bright. For every person who says that the Internet is killing the wedding industry, there is another person who isn't jaded enough to know better using it to create something amazing for the brides and grooms who haven't even met each other yet.




Are You Uncle Rico-ing Your Business?
Everything Old is New Again

The Global Wedding Industry at a Glance

Ever wondered what the wedding industry adds up to in other parts of the world in terms of revenue? Here's a handy infographic with some of that information at a glance:

In alphabetical order and in U.S. dollars:
Australia: $4.3 billion
Canada: $4 billion
China: $80 billion
India: $40 billion
South Africa: $3.35 billion
Spain: $17.4 million
United Arab Emirates: $5.5 million
United Kingdom: $5.5 billion
United States: $161 billion

Special thanks to Kelly Ashworth for prettying up the stats.

Wedding Deals for Small Business Saturday

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, a day to focus on supporting small businesses. Here are some of the companies in the wedding community offering promotions. If your business is running a promotion, please add it in the comments section of this post so that people can find it. Thanks for supporting small businesses!

Kelly Ashworth Design is offering 50 free thank you notes if you book her for logo design services. Thank you notes are 5x7", flat cards printed on two sides with matching white envelopes. Cards will be designed to match your branding. Please mention Think Splendid when booking.

Lulu McGee is offering 15% off all orders with the coupon code ILOVESMALLBUSINESS.

Paloma's Nest is offering Free Standard Shipping on any order (within the US) from Friday 11/25 through Monday 11/28 with code HANDMADEHOLIDAY. Local customers in our Austin boutique will receive a free gift with purchase on Small Business Saturday!

Wiley Valentine is offering 40% off everything in their Etsy Winter Shop with code HOLIDAYPROMO40.

Paperfinger is offering 15% off everything in their new shop until December 1st with code YAYNEW.

A Pinch of Lovely's Etsy shop has a promotional code for 25% off! Code: THANKS25

Stephanie is offering 15% off any services booked or products ordered from 11/26/2011 through 12/10/2011.

Events with Love is offering $300 off of Month-Of Coordination services if services are booked by 12/31/11. Also offering buy 2 bridal party blinged-out fitted t-shirts and get 2 free.

MRM Photography is offering $150 off any portrait session (including engagements) booked on Saturday! Regular price is $350, so $200 for a session if booked on Saturday. This includes a one hour photography session with him at a location of your choice in the Charlotte, NC area, editing of all photos, uploading the images to an online gallery for proofing and ordering, and 5 watermarked photos on facebook. A DVD of all edited images is included with all portrait packages. Weddings are $150 off the package.

Chic Bahamas Weddings is offering 20% off 2012 Wedding Ceremonies reserved and contracted by December 15th, 2012. This offer may not be combined with any other special offer or promotion and is based on availability.

Amy Nichols Special Events is offering $300 off Month-of Coordination, or $500 off partial-planning or full service coordination for 2012 weddings if a contract is signed by 12/4.

Calligraphy by Jennifer is offering 25% off all services booked on Small Business Saturday, regardless of ship date.

StylishO is offering a special of 20% off any wedding planning or day of coordination package (custom packages included).

Lequisha Smith is offering 50% off all wedding packages to Virginia residents only, 20% off all wedding packages for any destination wedding (in the U.S. or Bahamas).  Buy one wedding service valued $100 or more and get another wedding service valued at the same price or less for free!

Tanya Necole is offering a special black friday/small biz saturday special on those days only: full service planning for the price of partial planning, which is a 50% discount!

Brilliant Bridal has lots of  deals going on for both Black Friday and Small Business Saturday including "door busters" and 10% to 15% wedding dress purchases. All the details are on their blog and Facebook event page.

Alex Quintana is offering their Classic Package at the "Day Of Package" price!

Chenese Bean is offering 50% off gift certificates for an airbrush makeup application.

Deanie Michelle Events is offering $150 off of their Week-Of Wedding Coordination package, $300 off of their Partial-Planning Wedding package, $500 off of their Signature Full Wedding Planning package, or $250 off of a Custom Event Coordination package. Details can be found on the blog, http://bit.ly/sfuHzI

Ziva Jewels is offering an additional 10% off all our fine diamond jewelry except clearance items and center stones with the coupon code SBS2011.

Stephanie Hart, a photographer in Boston, is offering $150 off holiday family photo shoots when booked before December 10th and well as $100 off the basic wedding package when booked before March 1st.

Elizabeth Hafner is offering 20% off gallery orders and 40% off Lifestyle Sessions.

Valerie is offering 10% off all Southern Fete stationery: wedding invitations and their everyday collection (i.e. calendars and memo pads).

GATHER Events is offering 40% off of their Petite Celebration Package, offering design consulting, decor sourcing and day-of coordination for petite parties (up to 30 people).

Green Orchid Events is offering $200 off Day of Coordination with an associate planner plus a choice of one item from the full planning service such as finding a photographer or creating an inspiration board. They are also offering $500 off full planning.

Invitations by Ajalon is offering 100 one-color letterpress invitations with blank envelopes, and 100 one-color enclosure cards for $559 (offer will expire 11/30/11). They're also offering 15% off all wedding day stationery (table markers, programs, menus, escort cards, etc -- will expire 12/31/11).

Maureen Thomson is offering 5% off to anyone that books an officiant for a 2012 wedding, vow renewal or commitment ceremony on that date.

Coordinately Yours Event Planning and Design is offering $250 off of Day of Coordinations and $500 off Full Service Coordinations.

Michelle Edgemont is offering 20% on thanksgiving weekend in her Etsy shop with the code turkeyrules.

Vertical House Records is having a 10% off sale! Perfect time to stock up on vinyl for the holidays.

Sean Thompson is offering $500 dollars off wedding photography for thanksgiving weekend.

Bella and Beya is offering 20% off in her Etsy shop with coupon code "thankful" Friday Nov 25 - Monday Nov 28.

Annicee Photographie offering $50 portrait (engagement, anniversary, boudoir) sessions in Chicago, and $500 wedding packages in Chicago or NYC.

KamNCo is offering free shipping all weekend.

Splendid Communications is not connected with these promotions and is posting them in good faith. Please contact each business for details on their respective promotions and deals. 

Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Listening to the Market

Once you have identified which segment of the bridal market you want to target, you can begin listening to what people in the market are talking about. A smart marketing plan begins with and is sustained by listening, and social media has made market research more accessible and more affordable than ever before for any size business.

To begin, simply set up Google Alerts for they keywords you want to monitor. These can be as broad or as specific as you would like -- "weddings" or "yellow and grey weddings", etc. You can choose to have the alerts delivered to your email inbox or to your Google Reader account. I choose the Google Reader option because it is more manageable and allows me to keep my inbox more organized.

One of the benefits of using Google Reader is that it also allows you to subscribe to other updates as well that don't offer an email option. You can enter a keyword on Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumblr and subscribe to the updates of those and have them organized automatically into separate folders in your Google Reader account. You can also do this with Facebook updates by clicking the "get updates via RSS" option on a fan page.

These updates may not be from people you follow and you don't have to follow them to pay attention. For example, I subscribe to the keyword "wedding" on Twitter. It filters into my Google Reader and I scroll through the updates every day or two. The word "wedding" averages a few hundred tweets per day and provides an interesting snapshot into how people relate to weddings in general. It includes updates from people in the industry, brides and grooms planning their own weddings, people attending weddings, people who love them, people who hate them and think they're wasteful, and so on. For my work, being able to see how the public perceives weddings -- good and bad -- is important.

For your own marketing needs, knowing both the good and bad feelings about the topics you are tracking is also important. Don't throw out the negative because it doesn't feel as nice as the positive. The negative shows you exactly where pain points are. This is valuable information because it helps you know where your market or sub-industry is not meeting the real needs of real brides and grooms.

Pay attention to what brides or grooms are sharing on their blogs, or Pinterest and Tumblr. Is what you offer missing from the conversation? Is what you offer not being shared because it is irrelevant or because it doesn't exist yet? The point of all of this is not to jump in and leave spammy comments on the person's blog or tweet them that you are available to help with their wedding. The point is to listen: just listen and only listen. Using Google Reader and other social media platforms as listening tools and making notes of what you see will allow you to see gaps in the market that you can potentially fill as well as saturation points that can show you where to deviate from what everyone else is doing.




Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Identifying Your Target Market
Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Brand Positioning
The full Splendid Marketing in 30 Days series

Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Identifying Your Target Market

Being specific about which market you want your business to serve is critical in building a strong brand. For wedding professionals, "brides" is not a target market and neither is the "high-end bride." The latter describes a tax-bracket, not the type of purchasing that person does.

When you are deciding your target market, take into consideration what type of people you like working with. What do they do for a living? Where do they like to shop? How do they spend their free time? What places do they like to visit when they travel? What is their travel style -- off the beaten path adventures or 5-Star resort relaxation? How old are they? What is their income range? What expenditures do they prioritize at their wedding other than your services? You can be as detailed as you like, even drilling down into favorite colors, interior decor styles, music, magazines, books, and so on.

For those of you who have been in business for a while, go back through your clients from the past few years and make note of these factors for each. I recommend keeping this info in a spreadsheet so that you can notice patterns easily and review them quarterly, semi-annually or once a year.

Here is what we can see from this example of a fictional, yet realistic, couple: Both partners have demanding, time-consuming careers, so they are going to appreciate wedding professionals that skip the fluff and get to the point. Their job types and extensive education also mean that they are trained researchers who perform due diligence all day long. They will take this approach with their wedding planning as well and will do their homework before picking up the phone or sending an email. Their jobs have also trained them to be incredibly detail-oriented, even if they were not that way naturally. They may fall into the upper-middle class or high-end tax brackets, but their favorite brands show a range of spending priorities including a willingness to spend more on quality (Burberry) and the desire to be smart about spending (Target). Their hobbies show that quality of food is important to them (most people who cook as a creative outlet have a higher standard for food) and that fitness and personal health is also a priority.

By keeping a spreadsheet you can see at a glance whether or not you are attracting the type of clients you want. You can also highlight difficult clients and see if there were any factors between them that don't match the clients you loved working with and make notes of what to work on for next year.




Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Brand Positioning
Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Articulating Values
The full Splendid Marketing in 30 Days series

New Wedding Planning Book from Ritzy Bee

I'm thrilled to share that my friends and colleagues Maria Cooke and Kelly Seizert of Ritzy Bee Events have a new book coming out in January! They were tapped to write the wedding planning book for the Southern Living brand and worked with the talented Kate Headley to photograph all of the beautiful details.

One of the lesser-known aspects of publishing a book in today's world is that pre-orders are super important. They are used in evaluating various things, including future opportunities for the authors. So, if you want to support Maria and Kelly (or any author), please pre-order their book. Amazon won't charge you until it's shipped and you'll be helping out much more than you may think.

I asked Kelly and Maria to share some of their insight into writing a book and the process of collaborating with different people:

How did this collaboration with Southern Living come to be? 
Southern Living approached us almost a year ago when they were looking for an expert's perspective on wedding planning.

What surprised you the most about the process of writing this book? 
The biggest surprise was changing the way we think about our day-to-day of wedding planning. In the studio, we have our wedding "to-dos," design, planning, and production processes down to a science. The writing process forced us to step back, hit the pause button, and really think about planning from the perspective of the bride who is creating her wedding without a planner.

You worked with Kate Headley exclusively on the photography for the book. What tips do you have for creatives working together on this type of project? 
For us, it was instrumental that the content was written first. Then we worked with Kate to select images that told an inspiring and attainable visual story to help the reader picture herself on her wedding day. We created a list of buzz words about the project and inspiration board that represented the overall brand to ensure that everything we selected resulted in a consistent and creative look.

What advice can you offer for people who want to write a book? 
You only get one chance to write your first book. For us, we wanted to make sure that the timing was right and that we prioritized our schedules to allow for the writing and production deadlines. Throughout the past year of developing the book, we also were running Ritzy Bee Events with 16 events to execute to our own brand's standards. We encourage potential authors to wait for the right opportunity - whether you are thinking of searching out a publisher or partnering with another like brand.

You can pre-order Southern Living Wedding Planner and Keepsake: What to Do Before Saying "I Do" here. You can also enter to win a copy on the Ritzy Bee blog.

Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Brand Positioning

After you've articulated your core values, you can decide what you stand for as a company or what makes you unique.  When you are determining what you stand for, evaluate the adjectives you use to describe it. Do the words you use represent the same concepts that everyone shares? If so, come up with another description. If you've been in business for a while, revisit your unique selling points and see if they are really unique. Here are a few examples:

We plan stylish weddings. 
This is not a good selling point, because the word "stylish" lumps you in with every other event planner on the face of the planet. Think about it: is there any wedding planner out there who claims to plan ugly, outdated weddings? It doesn't matter if their weddings are ugly or not and yours are incredibly stylish. If they are not claiming they are ugly, your marketing sounds just like theirs. Using this as a descriptor of your services shows that you are one of the crowd, not that you stand apart from the crowd.

Our team of photographers is fun!
Again, this does not set you apart because no company's 'about page' says, "We are so boring and tedious and after working with us you will want to read the encyclopedia to add some spice to your life." Using the word 'fun' only sets your company apart if other companies are branding themselves as boring.

My company is unique. 
You may be, but claiming to be so is not. No one is claiming to sell unoriginal products or services.

The good news is that you ARE unique, because there is literally only one of you walking the earth. You just have to determine a way to tell people what you stand for as a company. When you do this, focus on what makes you unique, not on what makes you different.

Different is temporary and easy to duplicate, unique is who you are. For example, using film to shoot weddings is different, not unique, and if enough photographers think that film is what is making you so successful, you will soon be one of many using the medium.

In an age of fast, quick, cheap, a wedding photographer can set theirself apart simply by purposefully positioning themselves as slower than everyone else. Sound counter-intuitive? Exactly. In a world where many people are connected to two phones -- their work-issued Blackberry and their personal iPhone -- at all times, standing for slow stands out. For example, the photographer that stands for slow could say something like this: "We take the time necessary to notice emotional moments. We do things right the first time and never cut corners. Your wedding photos may be delivered in 12 weeks instead of the industry standard 8 weeks, but they will be worth the wait. We may be slower, but we are not lazy: we return all phone calls and emails in less than 24 hours." If your values of quality and excellence mean that your process and end result takes a little bit longer, embrace it.

One of the ideas that sets Splendid Communications apart from my competitors is my statement, "social media is a return to old-fashioned conversations, not a race to keep up with next big thing." This idea is something my company stands for because it is something I really believe. Many other digital marketing consultants focus on the tech aspect and the next big shiny platform, while I firmly take the stance that social media is all about people and harkens back to a day where people in town would gather around the coffee counter in their local drugstore to catch up, swap stories and deepen relationships. This may be the long, hard, stupid way, but it is where I believe the true value in digital media resides.

Look at the brand positioning statements you use in your marketing, including your tag line. Do they sound the same as everyone else? Do they represent what it is unique about you or do they convey that you do the same thing as everyone else?




Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Articulating Values
Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Setting Goals
The full Splendid Marketing in 30 Days series

Small Business Saturday Round Up

I am putting together a post featuring wedding companies running specials or holding events for Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday that encourages people to support the small businesses they believe in. If you are running a promotion for Small Business Saturday, please leave a comment below with details and a link to your site, so that I can include it in the round up.

Thanks!

Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Articulating Values

Today in the Splendid Marketing in 30 Days series, we are discussing values. More specifically, your values and how they set a foundation for everything you do as a company. This may seem a little odd, as values are quite personal, but marketing is not just limited to a department or line item: every part of your brand markets. Your company culture, whether you're a solo entrepreneur or a team of 500, revolves around what you really believe to be true as evidenced by your actions.

Most of us have a set of core values, but the majority of people haven't taken the time to really articulate them. That's where this exercise comes in. If you can sort through what you believe and what you do not, it can give greater clarity to what you want to accomplish and what your company stands for from a product and service perspective (which we'll discuss tomorrow).

This part of the marketing exercise isn't feel-good mumbo jumbo. 90% of millennials (the generation that makes up more than 70% of wedding clients today) will spend their money with companies who are ethical and socially responsible over a competitor who is considered to have less integrity. They've seen it all and they are difficult to impress. As a result, this generation of consumers isn't looking for companies that are flashier, they are looking for companies that are more real. Living out what you believe through your brand matters.

To start, make a list of the things you really believe and why. If you are having difficulty with this, take a list of business catchphrases and determine whether or not you agree with them. If you have employees, consider doing this as a team so that you can see where other people in your company are coming from. If you need a jumping off point for this, here is a list of six phrases I would like to see die. Go through and determine whether you agree with them or not.

For example, a piece of commonly accepted business wisdom is "perception is reality." I could not disagree more. Reality is reality. How you view it doesn't change what is actually happening. If nothing else, social media has proven that perception is often a far cry from reality. The phrase "perception is reality" implies that you can fake it or get people to believe something about you that may not be entirely true. You might be able to carry on this facade for a while, but not for long. Millennials grew up in a post-feminist society and saw what trying to do and have it all did to their mothers and it wasn't pretty. Perfectly polished and having it all together does not appeal to this generation of customers. They can see right through the brands that promote this because they know firsthand the behind-the-scenes reality of what doing and having it all really means.

Here are five of my core values:

1. People have a right to live fully, not just merely. 
I don't support needless consumerism, gluttony or excess, but I do think that everyone in the world is entitled to a full life. This includes access to the arts, music, sports, and so forth. It also means that people have a right to celebrate the milestones in their lives, big and small, in a way that is meaningful to them.

2. If design didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, snowflakes would be ugly. 
Pretty matters and beauty speaks to something deep in our souls. It's been proven that aesthetics have a psychological effect. There is nothing wrong or shallow about having a beautiful, welcoming home (regardless of size) or hosting a party where the details show the guests they are valued. Superficiality stems from the intent behind something, not from its appearance.

3. We each have the ability to do good and change the world -- in our lifetime. 
There are two major corporations I will not do business with because of human rights issues. There are many more companies I could avoid, but that's unrealistic unless I start raising goats and use their wool to knit my own sweaters, so I chose the two companies that have the worst records and who have refused to improve. This may be a small way of doing good, but it matters. Our values are little more than lip service until they affect our wallets.

4. Consistent acts of kindness are far better than random acts of kindness. 
Life is much more satisfying when we start noticing other people rather than trying to get noticed ourselves. Serve other people, all the time, not just when it is convenient for you.

5. A person who is nice to you, but not nice to your assistant or colleague, is not a nice person.
I make it a general rule of thumb not to work with people who are interpersonally exploitive, or who use others to get ahead and are only nice to those whom they think can benefit them. If a person is nice to you but has a pattern of stabbing others in the back or deliberately sabotaging their businesses, pay attention to that. You're known by the company you keep.

As you can see, these aren't stereotypical "business values." Regardless, they are used in determining what Splendid Communications stands for and what I personally stand for.

How you live your values impacts your brand. For example, a company that claims to be eco-friendly and "green" yet serves water in plastic bottles at its consultations or events, has a disconnect between their values and their message. In serving bottled water, they are actively marketing themselves as people who are eco-friendly because it's on trend and potentially profitable, not because they actually care about the earth.

Tomorrow we'll discuss how your values shape your unique selling points and what you stand for as a company.




Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Setting Goals

Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Setting Goals

I once made an off-handed remark to a friend while discussing a desired outcome for a project: "Fingers crossed!"

Without missing a beat, my friend replied, "Well, uncross your fingers and get to work!"

According to a report by McKinsey, "80% of marketers allocate their budgets by either using subjective judgments or by simply repeating what they did the year before.” With 2012 just around the corner, it's important to have a solid wedding marketing plan in place for next year -- one that is based on strategic and smart decisions and not on haphazard guesses.

Today kicks off Splendid Marketing in 30 Days, a series designed to help you map out what you would like to see happen for your company over the next year. The choice to be splendid is yours: you can opt to be part of the 20% that plans for success or you can join the 80% that simply crosses their fingers and hopes for the best.

*****

Splendid Marketing in 30 Days: Setting Goals

It's no surprise that goal setting is important -- the concept is hammered home in every business book -- but very few people actually sit down to write out what they want for their company. In order to figure out what you need your business to accomplish over the next year, you need to first know what you want.

This is easier said than done. It can be difficult -- excruciatingly difficult -- to clear our heads, set our egos aside, and really ask ourselves what we want to see happen in our lives. It's easier to just peer into other people's lives via Twitter or Facebook (or at least how they are portraying their lives) and attempt to have what they're having. We each have different dreams and it is important to honor that truth. Comparison not only kills joy, it kills the spirit of generosity.

The first step in planning out your marketing strategy for next year is to determine what YOU want. I am a believer in big dreams, but I am not into manufactured hype. I also believe that big dreams are defined by what brings you the greatest joy, not by what the rest of the world may think is important. Perhaps your first thought when hearing the saying, "go big or go home" is "home sounds rather nice." Destination weddings or working with celebrities may not appeal to you, and that is perfectly fine. Create goals with performance indicators that support what YOU want for YOUR life.

When you write out your goals, be specific. "I would like more clients" is too generic. If you only gain one more client in 2012, will you consider that a success? "I would like to get more high-end brides" is another common, yet vague, goal among wedding professionals. High-end is a tax bracket, not a target market on its own, and we'll talk more later about defining your target clients and customers. Here are some examples of making goals more specific and increasing their likelihood of success:

• I would like to do 40 weddings next year as opposed to the 25 I had this year. 
• I would like to be able to raise my prices by 40% so that I can take fewer weddings next year. 
• I would like to be able to quit my day job in the next six months so that I can work on my business full-time. 
• I would like to be able to open photography studios in three different cities in the next five years.
• I would like to be able to move my office out of my home in the next twelve months. 
• We would like our sales team to increase food and beverage revenue from weddings by 400% next year. 
• I would like to do 50% more destination weddings than I did last year. 
• My family is growing and I would like 90% of my weddings to be closer to home so that I am on the road less often. 
• I would like to work with 5 more wedding planners outside of my local region.
• I would like to have a television show in the next two years.
• I would like a book deal and would like to start the process in 2012.
• We would like to launch a product line in the next 18 months.
• I would like to triple the annual revenue in my brick-and-mortar store.
• We would like to increase the average sales total of our e-commerce transactions by 20%.

You'll notice that these are all related to the core of a business and are not necessarily "marketing goals." Your marketing should always support your business core, not your ego. 

Tomorrow we'll talk about how your values impact your marketing and can help set you apart from the crowd.

Is Your Competition Local or Global?

Many wedding professionals make the mistake of assuming their competition extends only to the vendors in their local area. It doesn't. Today, competition is global, and even in the uncertain economy, couples are choosing similar-priced vendors from out of town and paying the additional travel costs if it means getting better quality and achieving the vision they have for their wedding. 

This used to only be limited to photographers and perhaps some event planners who specialized in destination weddings. No longer.  Now couples are flying in florists whose style they love, a band who they feel confident will keep their reception dance floor packed, and even officiants who they either have a connection with or who specialize in the type of ceremony they are planning. While this may seem lavish, even couples who are on a tighter budget will scale back in other areas of their wedding to splurge on what they deem priorities - and each couple's priorities are different.

This is one of the areas where social media can help you. Networking is no longer limited to other professionals in your local area, it should now be a both/and scenario. You need to network with people in both your local market and on a national level. The wedding community is large, yet still tightly knit. Get to know people who are online. Link to others whose work you trust - whether they are local or not.

Look at and get involved in the bigger picture. Your future clients already are.



Originally published February 2010

Being Smart About Trying New Things

I went to an event recently where they served vegan sushi to all the attendees for lunch. It was delicious, except that it had tofu in it, which I can't eat due to allergies. I didn't realize what the meal consisted of beforehand because the event producer wanted to make a point: we often don't try new things because we're scared of them.

Their premise makes sense, except that I spent the entire evening and next day doing everything I could to avoid a trip to the hospital as a result of their lesson plan.

Just as there is no one-size-fits-all food, there is no one-size-fits-all business method. Do what works for you. Try out the ideas you're scared of, but do your homework up front to make sure those methods won't lay you out cold.



Originally published June 2010

When Magazines Rip Off Ideas

In May 2011, Amanda from Ruffled published a DIY project she had created on her blog, these lanterns made from aluminum sheets:

Six months later, in the November 2011 issue of Family Circle magazine, the same idea was published as one that their writer had come up with on her own:

This isn't just annoying, by also publishing it on their website, Family Circle directly impacts Amanda's business by siphoning traffic. If they loved the lanterns so much, they should have contacted Amanda and asked her to contribute to their magazine with the appropriate credit rather than ripping off the idea completely.

In another example, compare this cover of the Winter/Spring 2009 issue of Phoenix Bride and Groom magazine with this advertisement for the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago:

The Ritz-Carlton has been using this ad for several years and in 2007 even included it as the background of an invitation for an event they held in January 2008:

This sort of thing is happening more frequently and it has to stop.

It's tempting to assume that no one in Phoenix would see an ad in a Midwestern magazine. This is a mistake for several reasons. First, the Internet. While I first noticed the ad because I bought the magazine while on a trip to Chicago (I buy wedding magazines in every city I visit), a quick Google search turned up all the images used here. Second, the Phoenix/Scottsdale area is one of the most popular destination wedding locations in the United States. Engaged couples from across the country planning an Arizona wedding are reading more than just the local Phoenix bridal magazines.

It's tempting for Family Circle to assume that their target market of moms won't notice that this was a knock off of an original DIY project published on a bridal blog six months ago. Pinterest, however, makes it incredibly more difficult to copy an idea without being caught. Also, Ruffled is one of the most highly-trafficked wedding blogs in the world. There is some cross-over in readership and demographics.

Social media doesn't make a company creative or uncreative; it amplifies what they already are. Social media also raises the bar. It makes it infinitely harder to run a business on lazy creativity because it ensures that thousands of people will notice. Print media does not exist in a vacuum. If you want your brand to be known as better than anyone else, you actually have to BE BETTER. Some magazines have learned how to do this well. Others still have a long way to go.

A Note for Aspiring Professional Bloggers

A web company has been soliciting bloggers recently and asking them to blog on their site instead of the bloggers' respective sites. Their goal is to increase traffic and then split advertising revenue with the content providers. So far, totally legit. Maybe not a good fit for your business, but nothing wrong with what they are doing.

The problem arises with some of their claims. They are pitching this as a benefit to your SEO, claiming that blogging on their domain instead of your own would help YOUR search engine rank and send your SEO "through the roof." This is false. Your content will only provide SEO benefits for the domain it is published on. (Note: links and anchor text do provide SEO benefit for other domains, but that doesn't apply to the claims of this particular pitch.) Giving up your domain to blog on someone else's site will provide SEO benefits for THEIR site, NOT for yours.

Now, if you don't receive a lot of traffic, are not interested in building your own brand and are just wanting to blog solely to make money, then yes, providing content for another site in order to share ad revenue is totally fine. In this case, you are basically a freelance writer/blogger except that instead of being paid per post or article or even on salary, your revenue is completely performance-driven, based on traffic brought in through the combined efforts of you and the website company.

If you are going to give up your own domain and invest your efforts in providing someone else content to help their SEO in exchange for shared advertising revenue, then it is totally fair -- not to mention smart business -- to ask to see proof of their traffic claims. Ask for a screenshot of the past 12 months for both unique visitors and pageviews. They should be able to provide this easily from Google Analytics (and they can also grant you view only access to their Google Analytics depending on how involved they are asking you to be in their site). If someone is asking you to be financially involved in their website, either as an advertiser or revenue partner, then they should have no problem being transparent with these numbers.

If you are an aspiring professional blogger and received this pitch, or a similar one, and are considering joining forces, ask yourself a few questions before committing:

What are my end goals for my blog? Do I want to build a brand or name for myself? 
If the answer to the second question is yes, stick to your own domain. The days of building a highly-trafficked blog are far from being over. It may seem daunting, but with hard work and smart strategy, you can build a following that generates the revenue you want. If you are blogging for someone else, you may have your own name, but you are first and foremost promoting their brand, not your own.

Do I want to sell my blog at some point? 
Blogging on someone else's domain will not allow you to sell unless you negotiate an ownership stake.

I don't care about building a brand nor do I want to own a business, I just want to pay my bills and have fun doing it. 
Then by all means, combining your blog with another site may be a smart solution for you.

On Brand Confusion and Competition

When speaking with entrepreneurs in the wedding industry, I almost always ask who they consider to be their competitors. After hearing their list, which is usually off base, I'll ask, "What about Company X?"

"No, no, no," comes the reply. "We do not compete at all. We were first/we have a different service or product/we are better."

Sorry, but you don't get to decide whether or not you compete with Company X. The marketplace does. And the market often does not take into consideration the differences you are citing. This is especially true in the wedding industry where repeat clients are low and the typical client only pays attention to bridal marketing for about 12-24 months. If potential clients think you offer the same thing that another company does, that is all that matters.

If you want the world to see that you offer something head and shoulders above the rest, then you need to be honest about when and where brand confusion is happening. Sticking your head in the sand and pretending it's not is a losing game. This is harder than it seems: too often, when companies realize they are being lumped together with someone else, they tend to get louder, flashier, and more gimmicky. Focus on being unique, not on being different. Being somewhat similar is not the sin of competition. Not being true to your core is.




Scarcity, Success, and Opportunities
On Luck

On Asking for Feedback

I've talked before about the two types of people who give feedback and how both are necessary at different times in life. Today, I want to ask this: what type of feedback seeker are you? Do you ask people for feedback when in reality you are just seeking affirmation? Or do you ask and truly expect an honest answer?

If you ask a question looking for affirmation but receive a straight-shooting answer that may not be what you want to hear, it's not really fair to turn on or ostracize the person you asked for feedback. Don't ask for someone's opinion if you're not prepared to hear an opposing view. More importantly, don't spend your life hiding from the truth.




On Assuming the Worst
Successful People