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It’s a Slam Dunk – the power of wedding show lead follow up

Marc — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:37:58 +0000

This is a continuation of my earlier post in that it is a note from the same person, regarding her website traffic improvement and upcoming appointments by following up on the contacts from the wedding show.

“I know you love this stuff for your blog, so I thought I would update you.

After sending a follow-up email to those that I gave a pricing packet to and signed up for my email. I have 3 consults on Sat. and 3 brides who can’t make it but are serious shoppers. I guess those stats are pretty good since I selectively handed out 27 full info packets and my stats are way up since Sat. 116 for this time of the year that is good for me. Follow up is SUPER Important and works!“

Note – This person has also become a client for a new Kertesz WordPress based professional photography web/blogsite to “wrap” her existing Bludoman Flash website, to integrate her blog, dramatically improve search rank/marketing and enhance overall accessibility. So there be more updates, soon.

Teleseminar recording with exceptional wedding/bridal marketer Lori Osterberg

Marc — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:29:00 +0000

A lot of people have asked when this recording would be available and I just finished the editing and upload. I think it was the best, most valuable teleseminar for wedding/bridal marketers yet!

This last Wednesday evening was our regular monthly Great Wedding Network wedding/bridal marketing teleseminar.

Guest expert Lori Osterberg CEO of Vision of Success and author of “Six Figure Wedding Photographer” provided some great advice and insights. Our discussion ranged from how she grew her wedding photography business to the marketing power of blogs as websites to improving direct email marketing to understanding how to use social networks for business. Lots of useful information from someone with first hand experience.

I invite you to download and listen to the mp3 at your convenience. Here is the link (mp3, 9.9mb) to the teleseminar recording.

Today’s brides-to-be want your email

Marc — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:04:00 +0000

If you still think that email doesn’t work, please read this very recent article from eMarketer. It is an excellent summary of recent consumer direct marketing channel preference.

Some important information from the article:

“Asked to judge the acceptability of various channels for marketing purposes on a scale of 1 to 5, respondents gave direct mail an average score of 3.9, followed by e-mail at 3.7. All other channels averaged under 3.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they had made a purchase because of a marketing message received through e-mail. More than three-quarters said they had made such a purchase in response to direct mail. …

About two-thirds of respondents to that survey said they preferred e-mail when dealing with businesses, and about as many said they expected to continue to prefer e-mail in five years.”(emphasis added)

The article has more info and very useful tables showing preferences by age groups. Please take a short read of the full one pager.

What the surveys used in the article should reveal is that if you are not getting good results from your email marketing it is probably the result of the marketing message. Don’t settle for poor results.

With the cost of direct email being less than 10% the cost of direct mail while nearly as acceptable to the customer (and the fact that I also offer a unique quality targeted bride-to-be leadstream) one of my objectives is to help wedding professional clients refine their marketing message to reach today’s brides. I do that not only through this blog, but also a weekly ezine newsletter, frequent teleseminars, dedicated small online groups and individual review.

The marketing messages many of us have relied upon have seemingly lost much their effectiveness as our prospective Internet savvy bride-to-be clients have become more sophisticated. Thankfully it usually only takes a minor rethink and some simple changes to recapture marketing success. Direct marketing still works and direct email has the best return on investment.

Indeed – Email Marketing Still Works!

Marc — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:10:00 +0000

For another insight into the value and power of well managed direct email marketing read this recent eMarketer article.

A few important grafs -

Half of US adult e-mail users surveyed in April 2008 for Merkle‘s “View from the Inbox” study, conducted with Harris Interactive, said they had made an online purchase in the previous year as a result of permission-based marketing.

In addition, e-mail was second only to customer reviews on Web sites for influencing online purchases, according to DoubleClick Performics‘ “Green Marketing Study,” conducted by Opinion Research Corporation in February 2008. E-mail was roughly equal to search results in terms of influencing online purchases.

“There is a substantial gap between what marketers believe is relevant to the consumer, and what consumers rate as valuable,” said Lori Connolly, director of research at Merkle.

This last point contributes to what I have been stressing in our weekly newsletters as we are attempting to help wedding professionals redesign their marketing communications.

There is a lot more info and statistics in the article. Worth the read.

It is not the format! It’s the story! Change your message for success.

Marc — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:18:00 +0000

The buzz on wedding marketing is to use blogs and newsletters/ezines. Unfortunately many of us are simply putting the same low results text content into these new formats. And we wonder why we are not getting improved sales. Because we haven’t changed the old message. Putting the same old message in a new “envelope” is not change.

Everyday we are presented 3,000+ buy messages. And we have become, particularly GenY and Millennial, very good at ignoring them. To effectively reach today’s bride-to-be requires sharing stories and building relationships.

Our current wedding generations are focused on relationships. Their formative and current entertainment such as Battlestar Galactica, Roswell, Seinfeld, the Office to Charmed, movies from the “Breakfast Club” to “Sense and Sensibility” are all about relationships. Last week I was reading about a screen writer who shared that many of her best story lines for Dawson’s Creek (what show was more relationship anchored?) came from Jane Austen novels. Look at the size and power of social networks like MySpace and Facebook, it is all about relationships.

Long ago I had a sales manager, who told me that “a salesman is only as good as his story”. Stories are how we learn and share knowledge. If interesting, stories are able to pass through the defenses we have created to withstand the 3,000+ daily buy messages. What could be more interesting and persuasive to a bride-to-be than stories about what you do for weddings and the professional relationships you foster?

And this is why blogs and ezines can be so effective. Blogs and ezines are the superb at easily broadcasting your wedding stories to today’s internet connected brides-to-be. Share stories!

If you want to discuss this approach further send me an email and we can arrange a telephone conversation.

Direct Email Marketing and the Rule of Seven

Marc — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:55:00 +0000

How many products have you ever purchased based upon the first and only commercial information you had? Any? That is the foundation for the Rule of Seven. And it is important because it is one the marketing rules, that when followed, will make you successful.

The Rule of Seven stems from marketing research work that Dr. Jeffery Lant and others have done that find in order to enter a prospective clients consciousness it takes 7-8 messages. So it has become known by many as the Rule of Seven.

It makes sense once you consider how many of the marketing messages you come across are repeated. How many times have you seen the same commercial on television? Why is it repeated? Simply because it works!

It is my opinion that brides-to-be are possibly a little easier to reach. After all a bride-to-be is very “tuned-in” to any attractive, informative and helpful wedding and bridal information. Still if the average person is 7-8 messages, even reducing this by half because of a bride’s focus on her upcoming wedding means that you should be prepared to deliver at least four different direct emails providing information about your product or service. Each of the four being at least a little bit different in content and layout.

It is not just the frequency though that makes an impression; it is more importantly the value in each repetition of communication that makes the “right” impression. Always be sure your different marketing emails are “client centered” and are

interesting,
helpful,
include appealing relevant images, and
have the courtesy to allow for the receiver to opt out of receiving any future emails.
include promotion, but limit promotion to 30% of content

All important elements which must contain anyway if you want to demonstrate that you truly care about the bride-to-be’s wedding. Emails that include those four elements are rarely felt to be “spam”.

What do you get if you do this? Well, more than few direct marketers convert over 10% of their direct email prospects to sales.

The best parts of direct email marketing;
1) We can easily afford to change our message and send again in a week or two.
2) The conversion rate and ROI is very high compared to any other method of marketing.

The tip -
Be helpful. Be informative. Share your benefits. And, be willing to ask more than once.