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Yet Another Blogging Resolution, use your blog for “look forward” marketing

December 31, 2008 by Marc Leave a Comment

I think too often we tend to look at the past when creating blog posts. For the New Year I will try to use my blogging to explore potentially emerging market segments.

What I mean is that blogs are supposed to be a dialog with our site visitors and too often we don’t risk advancing new ideas through that dialog. For example when we carefully craft a blog post using tools like Google’s keyword analyzer we are looking at the past. But we know the market changes with time. And the related keywords may not have developed enough to be very popular, but could be used enough in the internet to provide an edge.

Keying in on what Rebecca Grinnals noticed about the change in “Sex In The City”, I would add phrasing that includes terms related to “meaningful”, “valued”, “lasting”, “family”, “friends”, “warmth”, “permanence”. And because I am working with a couple who are paying for all of their wedding costs and bought their home in 2007 (planning on getting marrided this Spring ’09) and now owe more than it is worth, I also intend to “forward explore” using keyword terms related to “affordable”, “economical”, “wise”, “freedom”, “financially responsible” and other similar terms.

By using a few of your blog posts to explore effective evolving search marketing terms you don’t risk confusing your recognized brand position, but are still able to “see” where the market may be going by tracking the visitor referral stats for those blog exploring postings. Without committing to the unknown risk redrafting all your package and product/service descriptions.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Search Engines, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: blog posts, blogging, market research, marketing, Wedding Marketing

When upscale brides downshift

December 29, 2008 by Marc 5 Comments

It is time to shift your positioning.

There are probably some lessons here for wedding professionals as we go into the booking season.

Regardless of client base, many of us have already noticed that for 2009 it seems that ostentatious luxury is “out” and here are a couple of articles with some measurements.

First from Conde Nast on the recent holiday sales results. Out of all types of purchases, luxury items had the largest decline.

Next, even Prada is having in-store sales and Chanel is striving to reduce expenses.

Luxury for the sake of luxury is in decline and the major leading brands are shifting their marketing focus as a result.

Thankfully weddings are persistent. We will always have weddings, but the motivations and desires of bride-to-be for their wedding, reception and honeymoon seem to be changing. So for the best results consider changing with them.

UPDATE – 1/1/09

I just wanted to add this article from the Washington DC area into the post. It is from Aug 2008 and relates how many couples, while still getting married, were reducing costs. Includes a good reference to a NACE survey which found that about half their 465 responding members said 60% of their clients were “buying less expensive meals and avoiding luxury items”. I do not believe that this means that couples are not living their dream, only that many couples are working harder to afford their dream and choosing with care what has the most meaning and lasting value. It is my thought that this shift, creates an opportunity to advantageously re-position your business stressing heartfelt meaning and lasting value.

UPDATE – 1/3/09

I came across this article from the New York Times, dated Dec, 20,2008, titled “Recession? Time to Slash the Flower Budget“. It seems a little pessimistic but does relate what a number of couples are facing and doing to keep their wedding plans together. It is a good read to understand the reality of the circumstances and reactions by both couples and wedding professionals. Here is a excerpt:

“… As the financial condition of the country worsens, the wedding industry, so long considered recession-proof, is seeing fairy-tale weddings stripped of their sprites, their sparkle and everything else that suggests splurge.

Some couples are slashing guest lists to include just immediate family and very dear friends, leaving aunts, cousins and the friends of friends out entirely, and bridal consultants say that they are seeing more couples postponing their events until they can be more certain they will have the money to pay for the wedding they want. Others are ratcheting up plans for quick, simple weddings that allow them to more readily take advantage of a safety net woven from the government and corporate benefits available to married couples.

Still other couples, armed with the skills they learned in a go-go economy, are trying to forcefully renegotiate with vendors to keep some semblance of their ideal wedding.

One bride had put down a deposit and locked into a contract with a site in a town south of Philadelphia, where she and her fiancé live. Given the amount of debt piling up from their graduate school studies, she suddenly thought that the $30,000 to $40,000 she had planned to spend on her wedding seemed ridiculous.”

Filed Under: Advertising, Profits, Sales, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: economics, luxury, marketing, upscale brides, wedding planning

Can your wedding business thrive during a recession

December 23, 2008 by Marc 3 Comments

Yes! It is possible for a wedding professional to grow their business during this difficult time. In fact, this may the best opportunity you have had. Fortunately people will always be getting married so as wedding professionals we can count on continuing demand. But to grow (or maybe even to continue) we must innovate to meet the changing taste, style and budgets of today’s couples.

Innovation is the key! If we look to the past we can see repeatedly how difficult economic times have rewarded innovation.

Big things can happen. The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building were built during the Depression. GE, Disney, HP, Procter & Gamble, Alcoa, McDonald’s, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Supercuts, Chilis, Cablevision, Industrial Light & Magic, Famous Amos Cookies, and Oakley were all started in depressions or recessions. I think we can all recognize that these companies and projects began and thrived because of innovation. But, their opportunity was even greater because the change of an economic downturn opens the market mindset for new approaches and innovation.

At this time, in this economic reality, here is where we need to look to innovate in our wedding and bridal businesses

1) Branding and positioning. A time for change. As I have pointed out in other posts wedding budgets were never what was so often presented so you need to be sure that your branding positions you for the true spending patterns you want to attract. At the same time this economic environment is making some fundamental change in what brides-to-be value. Until recently it seemed that the appearance of luxury and extravagance were important aspects of many wedding plans. Now it is emerging that meaning and value are much more important. Review your branding and positioning and innovate.

2) Look at your services and products. What were they developed for, luxury or meaning? The innovative changes here are subtle but important. If your demo albums or videos or brochures were developed to portray luxury, consider ways to target meaning and heart. Think of the difference between the old TV shows “Dynasty” and “The Waltons“. The day of the $7 drink coaster has set.

3) Advertising and marketing. Now that we have examined how we can position and brand, and what we need to offer we should look at how we advertise. Remember, this new economic reality is emerging to value meaning and heart. So in all forms this is what you need to emphasis in your services and even your background info. For years many of us have kept low return on investment (ROI) advertising and marketing avenues just because. Now is the time to fully evaluate your advertising and marketing avenues and eliminate the low return spending and invest in new options. (And, by all means, do not increase budgets in low return avenues, thinking all they needed was more prominence. Even with more prominence they will still have a low ROI.)

One of the least expensive and most innovative ways to market is your web presence. The web has continued to evolve over the last 15 years and there are many new options just over the last two years. Your web presence is unique, easy to change, green and it can even create a conversation with you prospective clients and take orders. Plus, natural search is free, Google doesn’t charge you to show up … even on the first page. Being on the first page is like getting a huge yellow pages ad for free, (and it works better). High search results rank mean both more traffic to your business AND more credibility. This means more clients and higher margins. Run your website through Hubspot’s free website grader and see what its score is … if it is not in the 70′s you need to make some major changes. If you have a Flash site you may need to wrap it in a better more search friendly platform like a WordPress based web/blogsite. If you have a separate blog on something like Blogger you may need to move it to your own web URL. If you have an old style HTML site move its content into WordPress. (ps – I can help you with all this, for a very low cost)

If your print ads were stressing luxury, time to change towards meaning and heart. Even look at your fonts, images and most importantly message. Follow through with the wedding guides, get them to change your listings and ads. And if they are still positioning to reach the high-end luxury bride … consider if you want to use your dollars to reach the market of the past.

4) Put it to work! A while ago I posted 17 things that you could do to get 300+ inquiries. Now that you have revamped your branding, positioning, services and marketing, go through the steps. As Nike used to say “just do it“. If you do, with your new message for this economic climate chances are good you can rise above the times and your competitors.

Filed Under: Advertising, Search Engines, Websites, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: bridal, economic, growth, innovation, marketing, recession, spending, values, web/blogsites, wedding

How to write with “effective keyword density”

December 15, 2008 by Marc 1 Comment

Often you will find a reference that SEO experts know how to write content for your website with effective keyword density. Well you can, too. Just include the details. The who, what, when, where, why and how. I never imagined that my high school Composition class teacher was trying to train us in SEO, but it turns out she was. Be as explicit as possible and your website will have many more search engine referral visitors.

To get you started, here is a simple example

Bad – “I was doing a session for a client at a really nice nearby location. It was beautiful. (nothing here, who will search “nearby location”?)

Good – “As a Nashville based wedding photographer I have developed a fondness for the Hermitage and that was the location for last Saturday’s wedding. The couple had decided to be have their wedding ceremony outdoors in the Hermitage’s beautiful garden. I just had to share a few photos of Sue and Steve, what a beautiful couple.” (look at all the search phrases; “Nashville wedding photographer”. “Hermitage”, “outdoor wedding ceremony”, “garden wedding” and for the couples friends “Sue and Steve”.

To share the needed detail to create keyword density takes a little more writing, but it will give you some special Google mojo.

Filed Under: Advertising, Search Engines, Websites, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: keywords, marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, writing

What is a top search result showing worth to your business

December 12, 2008 by Marc 2 Comments

What is it worth to your company to show up in the top search results for your type of services or products? Shouldn’t that be the primary goal of your website? Shouldn’t your website market you, rather than you having to market your website?

Many of us make decisions about our website without first determining the primary goals for having a website. Instead we chose what seems pretty or something similar to our competition. I have nothing against pretty, but it is subjective and difficult to use for the evaluation of results. And I think it is very good to have better results than your competition, so don’t automatically do what they do either. Doesn’t it make sense that a primary goal should be improved marketing through high search results?

What do I mean by high search results? Just this, “high placement based upon likely generic search phrases“. For example, it is not significant to rank high on a search term like “love story wedding videography Miami” because really how many brides would be searching on a phrase that specific? Virtually none! What is important is a generic phrase like “Miami wedding videography”. That is an almost universal type phrase used by many South Florida brides seeking video services. And would result in a lot of website visitors for any videographer ranking high based on that phrase.

Let’s examine some of the other benefits of high search results, besides increased visitors. How about greater credibility, allowing for higher margins? Yes! Two recent studies have found that surprising outcome related to placing higher in search page results. First a report from iProspect revealing that “top rankings in search results transmit brand value to fully one-third of online consumers” and second this comprehensive study out of the University of Indiana titled “In Google We Trust: Users’ Decisions on Rank, Position, and Relevance” that had this finding

“An eye tracking experiment revealed that college student users have substantial trust in Google’s ability to rank results by their true relevance to the query. When the participants selected a link to follow from Google’s result pages, their decisions were strongly biased towards links higher in position … This demonstrated trust in Google has implications for the search engine’s tremendous potential influence on culture, society, and user traffic on the Web.”

So a wedding business that has a high search ranking with generic search terms can also have higher brand value making for higher income margins. Not only will high search rank provide more business, it helps support higher prices. Here is an example from an article titled “What is a #1 Google Ranking Worth?”.

Even better, how about an example from a successful wedding photographer? Many of us have heard of Houston wedding photographer Christine Tremoulet of Houston TX. Her photography is gorgeous. Christine has put the lesson of high search ranking to work by using the ideal of a WordPress based web/blogsite (with Flash limited only to portfolio galleries) that gets tremendous search rank and traffic. We can see this because she has also generously chosen to share her recent site activity through her site tracker. (Thankfully for the rest of us, true market leaders and innovators like Christine are almost always willing to share with the rest of the profession). If you take a look at the tracker you can see that her website regularly gets over 200 visits a day, with 50%+ coming from Google searches. Her largest single search term … “Houston”. Google “Houston wedding photographer” and she will almost always come up in the first page or two of results. And not because of costly Google Adwords, but free natural search. All this helps allow not only for a lot inquires, but also fees sufficient for a good income. That is the purpose of good marketing. Learn from leaders, she does not market her website, her website markets her.

So when trying to determine what to use for your website; if income is important to you, I recommend you chose what will get you the highest search results … a WordPress based web/blogsite.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Profits, Sales, Search Engines Tagged With: blogsites, marketing, search optimization, SEM, SEO, SMO, website marketing

How to get 300+ inquiries, you’ll make so much more money

December 6, 2008 by Marc 10 Comments

David Jay’s Open Source Photo (OSP) forum has quickly become a favorite. It has a great easy attitude and a tremendous amount of helpful information is exchanged.

Outstanding is a list put together and recently shared in the OSP forum by Matt McGraw, of Matt McGraw Photography which he directly titled “How to get 300+ inquiries, you’ll make so much more money“. I think he is right. His list is a great reality check for anyone in the wedding business. Go through it and use it to check what you are doing to build your business. Each item has the potential for very beneficial application. Some of it I have been doing in my business, some I need to improve and a couple were brand new! Use your own perspective, but put it to action and your 2009 could be great.

I appreciate Matt letting me share his list of ways to increase your business.

How to get 300 inquiries

1. Vendors vendors vendors, vendors are important: From reception people to cake makers… I do a pre-questionnaire for my brides and grooms. In that questionnaire I find out who I am working with from DJs to Florist to cake people to ministers to reception places etc. I obtain all the contact information for these vendors. After the wedding I compile a list of photos that each vendor would find interest in. I splash my logo on the photos and email them the pictures and say if you would like any of these photos in high res and without my logo let me know I can email you those photos. For reception places: if it is somewhere I have never worked I’ll send them a 20X30 print with my logo splashed all over it and 4X6s of the same photo with my contact info to pass out to potential brides. I’ll also send them a disc with images they might be interested in and tell them they can use whatever photos they would like to… Become buddies with the vendors too. For example, I’m on a “hug basis” with the sales directors of 5 major hotels in town. Their cell numbers are in my phone. I shoot their kids… I’ll sometimes meet them for a beer or 2… I never talk about my photography it’s always buddy talk. Sure we talk shop sometimes but it’s not my goal. They feel comfortable around me.

2. Newsletter/blog: Start one… I use constant contact set up a page and send mine out once a month. My email list is 5600 strong. Most photographers have a webpage set up. We do not.. I’m not opposed to that but I just prefer the email newsletter. Next question for you is how we get 5600 people on there. Anyone that emails me gets on the list. The only people who do not get on my list are emails that are inquiring where I am not available. Also I advertise in 2 magazines where they provide a lead sheet. I’ll copy and paste emails of brides and grooms where I am not booked. I do this once a month right before I send out the newsletter.

3. Advertising: spend most of your advertising money online as opposed to print. Print is just name recognition. They’ll see or hear your name and see an ad and say I’ve heard of this photographer…

4. Online advertising: There are a lot of free resources to advertise. Go online and be a consumer find out what wedding sites come up first. Type in your city and photographers … these are common search words for brides and grooms. You can also add the word weddings.

5. Search engine placement: There are companies that specialize in this. I use localpull.net and partypop.com I spend about $80 a month on the two to make sure my name stays on top of the search engines.

6. Every person you meet represents 10 people: Sounds cliché… but when I introduce myself I always say “Matt McGraw”. I hear all the time that they’ve seen me or heard my name somewhere. My wife gets asked when she says her last name if her husband is a photographer. It gets on her nerves.

7. Local publications: Not just wedding magazines. Local magazines are always looking for material. In my case there is a local magazine that has a wedding section. So once a month I submit photos from weddings that I’ve shot. I ran into the editor one day and she said I was the only photographer that sends in photos and she was very appreciative. If they don’t have a wedding section send some anyway. And suggest they start one.

8. Bridal shows: I do one every year. The same one… I’m the only veteran at these shows, and when asked why I continue doing them… I say that it’s because it’s an opportunity to keep my name out there. I don’t want to become a photo snob. I don’t need to do a bridal show… but I do anyway. I was talking to a veteran photographer the other day and he asked me how many weddings we had booked next year for he was way down. He said he only had 1 booked. He never does a bridal show never puts his name out there never goes the extra mile. He thinks his name will get him through. Never never have this attitude. Never think for a second that you don’t need to market yourself. And never never never think your better than everyone else. There are a lot of good photographers out there right now.

9. Website: make sure you have your best stuff on there. It’s a first impression. All too often I’ll look at a website and see subpar material. I know these guys too and know they have much better material. It boggles my mind.

10. The drip rule: … There is not one in particular marketing rule/campaign that will work above all others. Meaning you will not get immediate results… but do not think that they have failed. I read on my “how did you get my name” question a lot…”from a few places friends etc.

11. Business cards: throw away your 2X3 cards… Everyone uses them. Do you know where the business cards that people have given you? I use a 4X6 photo with my contact info all over it… When I shoot a wedding I’ll use a photo of them for my business cards. It is a 4×6 photo of the couple or of a bridal photo with my contact info. I’ll put them out on a table somewhere. It’s a photo it will not get thrown away. Do not use the traditional business cards.

12. Email management: I use Microsoft outlook. Do not have a @hotmail or a @gmail acct for business. Your email should be @yourphotocompany.com… be professional and be a business. Treat it like a business. I have a very detailed and organized contact cards. I have a vendor folder, client folder… if I need to get a hold of someone it takes me just a second to find the contact. This is a must in marketing. It keeps you organized.

13. Be accessible… nothing bugs me more than leaving a message. I use my cell number. If I don’t answer the phone one of my guys answers it. Someone sends me an email they’ll get a response fairly quick. On my contract it gives my cell number and below it says put this in your cell number and feel free to call me anytime.

14. Be creative in your marketing. For example: mywedding.com, they called and asked me to advertise… I did a little research and what I found was there were 45 photographers advertising in this particular city. That’s crazy and a waste of money. I asked if it would be ok if I advertised on the reception site. It was a good idea. I was the only photographer on the reception page and got a number of calls.

15. Always always have a good attitude at weddings. Have fun. You’ll be known as a fun photographer. If something doesn’t go your way, who cares… its part of life. I hear stories of photographers blowing lids for the most stupid things. You’ll get a ton of referrals because of your fun attitude.

16. Slideshows for reception sites and vendors. If your like us we shoot at the same places quit a bit. If you do compile a portfolio for these particular places and make an online slideshow for them. the slideshow below is an example of a high end reception place near my home town. When I emailed thist to them they were estatic. They immediately put on their website and in turn we immediately started getting calls. Below is that slideshow. I did this for all the reception sites in town. http://slideshow.mattmcgrawphotography.com…runnerweddings/

17. Charity work.. no not the soup kitchen variety… I mean doing shoots for free or greatly reduced price because of the marketability in this shoot. For example, A friend of mine who is an excellent videographer wife is having a baby… he asked me to come and shoot the baby in the hospital. he offered to pay but I refused… here’s why A he’s a good friend. and B. he sends out a newsletter to 2600 people with all kinds of personal things in his life. He’ll be putting these photos on this newsletter with my name splashed all over the place. Another example: our church has about 5000 people who attend… the head of the children’s education committee asked me to photograph a program that my kid was in. He wanted to pay… I refused to let him pay.. here’s why these photos are going in a program and being handed out to 5000 people. with my name all over the photos. and of course my kid is in the program and I was going to be shooting it anyway… Only do charity work once. If he ask again then I’ll charge him. it can turn on you where they’ll expect it every time. so be careful…

Filed Under: Advertising, Profits, Sales, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: business, how-to, income, Leads, Sales, Wedding Marketing

Why should I care about this SEO stuff?

December 5, 2008 by Marc 4 Comments

The most basic question is often the best question. And this is also a question that my brother-in-law asked. My brother-in-law said after listening to a lot of words about SEO he still didn’t understand the value of it or why the proposed fees were so high. Might I help him understand?

To keep it simple and direct, I tried this analogy.

Almost any website places your business in the “white pages” of the search engines. Where you can be found, but only if some one is looking specifically for your business by its name. So you are pretty much lost. And like the regular white pages in the phone book it has little marketing value.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is about marketing your business using the search engine. Or in other words it is like placing your business prominently in the “search engines’ yellow pages”. Where your business can easily be found and chosen by people searching just for the services you offer and not needing or even knowing your name.

To get more prominent placement in the search engine yellow pages doesn’t take a lot of money. Or arcane difficult to learn knowledge. It just takes a little awareness and planning.

As I have recently outlined in some previous posts here, it only takes a website that is structured to be receptive to search engines and content that is relevant to what your target market is seeking. If your website presents your business well to the search engine, the search engine will present it more prominently to anyone seeking what you have to offer. And unlike the phone book yellow pages … at no extra charge.

So if marketing is important to you, require that your website provider demonstrate in an easy to understand format that they they offer can provide quality “yellow pages” search engine results. Why have a website if people never see it?

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Search Engines, Websites, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: search marketing, SEM, SEO, SMO, Websites

Use your blog/website’s unique properties for search engine marketing

December 4, 2008 by Marc Leave a Comment

Many of us over look a unique power of a blog/website for search engine marketing.

In addition to Google, blogs and blog/websites have another type of search engine that can benefit your business. These search engines are dedicated blog search engines like Technorati.

And, just as it is beneficial to verify your website with Google, it is also beneficial to verify your blog/website with Technorati. Many in our target wedding market demographic use Technorati as a search engine for the most current information. Having Technorati rank and authority will increase you presence in a growing search forum with fewer competitors and less clutter.

Matt Antonino of the blog/website Nil to Mil just completed a very simple, tight series of four short items explaining the value of Technorati and how to to use it to increase your search engine marketing. If you have a blog/website and not exploiting the benefits of Technorati please go read and then verify your site.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Search Engines, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: blogsites, marketing, search optimization, SEM, SEO, SMO, Technorati

Some of the most important customers to “see” your website are not human.

December 2, 2008 by Marc Leave a Comment

We all agree, the purpose of your website is marketing. But what good is your website, if very few prospective clients ever find it?

This why you need to consider both customers for your website; the HUMAN customer and the search engine’s SEARCH-BOT customer when you develop or enhance your website.

While the search-bot is hidden and is not planning a wedding, in many ways it is the gatekeeper of your website. If your website does not provide the information the search-bots need, chances are the bride-to-be will never see your website.

See a search engine uses the search-bot to find the websites that are likely to best meet what the human searcher wants. The search engines’ even have semantic evaluation of your website so that it understands that a “wedding cruise” is very different than the Tom “Cruise wedding” and will return the websites most likely to make the search engine’s end customers happy. So if your website does not have its content readily available in the way the search-bot “reads” it … it will not be displayed in a list of sites having what the search engine’s customer wants.

All this is called “on-page SEO”. In reality it is very simple. All you need to do is have a relevant title for your page then the content laid out in standard text. Headline tags will help the search-bot understand importance just like headlines do for us when we are reading an article. All the hype about meta tags you can pretty much ignore, most search-bots do and they are invisible to your human site visitors. And, if someone touts the value of the “keywords meta tag” become very skeptical about the rest their SEO advice. The keywords meta tag has been useless since at least late 2002.

What will presenting your website’s content in simple search-bot friendly get you? More human visitors to your website who are potential customers! Free! To get an idea of how well your site ranks in this facet of search marketing visit Website Grader and enter your URL for a free online evaluation. It is not perfect but it will show you a rank and some insights.

Filed Under: Advertising, Search Engines, Websites, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: search bot, search engine, search marketing, SEO, SMO

Another perspective on SEO for Wedding Photographers

November 21, 2008 by Marc 1 Comment

This is one of the most accurate and complete discussions of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that I have read lately.

SEO Is Not Just For Wedding Photographers Anymore

Plus it mentions a number of helpful specific action points to improve most site’s search ranking.

(Although I do think he is a little optimistic on the likely possibility of flash sites being in the top ten for most markets using general search terms)

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Search Engines, Websites, Wedding Marketing Tagged With: Flash, Google, photography, rank, SEO, Websites

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