Tag Archives: Wedding Fairs

If You Only Have a Hammer Every Problem is a Nail……

Posted on 03/06/2012 by admin
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My lovely new daughter is currently being very challenging indeed. She cries because she is hungry, because she is tired, because she is bored, frustrated, has poo’d, because her teeth are starting to hurt or because she just wants a bit of attention. Whatever the problem is……. she cries and this is because at 4 months old it is the only tool she has at her disposal and it is the only way she can communicate with me. The other day I was outside, silently counting to 10 (more like 100) because she was crying yet again and I started to think about one of my most favourite quotes,  from Abraham Maslow - ’If you only have a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail’

Marketing can be like the nail – people have a downturn in trade and they start to think about the nail and get out the hammer, and if it doesn’t work at first they either get a bigger hammer or they just hit harder and harder. The more tools you have in your box the better when it comes to marketing. You may have had a successful way of marketing in the past but if it dries up then what do you do? It is really important to constantly have a really good marketing campaign going and that could involve Email marketing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telesales, Wedding Fairs, Leaflet distribution, Mailshots, Blogs, Competitions and advertising (as a last resort of course, you probably already know how I feel about advertising!!!) .

So ALL these marketing tools compliment and develop with each other so that when you have a slight dip in business, rather than getting out a great big hammer all you have to do is up the volume in all areas just a fraction and it will make a BIG difference to the amount of clients you attract.

So – start developing that marketing campaign and acquiring those skills and you’ll never be short of business again. And of course if you need help in either of those things then just give me a shout and I will be happy to help icon smile If You Only Have a Hammer Every Problem is a Nail......

 

Claire x0x

 

Delivering low-cost marketing solutions to the Wedding Industry

 

 

 

Wedding Fairs – The Right Mindset and Preparation

Posted on 03/21/2011 by admin
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I often go to Wedding Fairs to keep up with trends and ideas and generally see what people are selling and what brides are going for and interested in, after all the only way to know your customer really well is to get close to them. Whilst walking round the wedding fair I am a completely amazed at how many suppliers go to Wedding Fairs with the sole purpose of manically selling to the brides at the fair! This is all very well but imagine if you are a bride and you go into a wedding fair and there are 50 or so wedding suppliers desperately trying to sell to you as soon as you get through the door. The poor bride may have only got engaged a couple of weeks before and my be just there to gather a few ideas and think about what kind of wedding she wants to plan, she may be getting married abroad or the other side of the country, may be planning a big or small or wedding or may just not have a single clue so she REALLY will not appreciate the hard sell!

On the other hand, I’ve seen the suppliers that are completely opposite to this, they sit on their chair near their table/stand and they hardly say anything unless a bride starts to ask questions, then they answer the questions with knowledge and enthusiasm and the bride smiles…… and walks off never to be seen again! In this scenario it IS possible to be TOO nice, after all your not there to just impart information you ARE there to actually sell, otherwise why bother going?

I’ve also been to wedding fairs where the people manning the stand spent the entire time either talking to each other or being on the phone and I don’t think they actually spoke to a SINGLE bride! I wonder how many sales THEY got? I’ve also walked round fairs where the stand holders were miserable to the point of being rude and I’ve gone away thinking that they would have actually done themselves and all the brides a favour if they’d have just stayed at home.

One of the many things I’ll cover in my next Teleclass is how to get into the right mindset for a wedding fair and to get straight in your head the EXACT reason you are there! Yes, it is of course to make sales but there is definitely a way to do it that can make it much more pleasurable for both YOU and the bride!

So – next time you do a Wedding Fair, get your head right, put on a smile, be friendly, and don’t be desperate!

 

Claire xox

 

Do you need help to put together a Marketing Strategy for your business that will make it SOAR? Are you ready to Step Up??? Click Here NOW

The Difference Between Features And Benefits….

Posted on 03/14/2011 by admin
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When I start working with a new client we have a good look at their website and marketing materials to see what message they are sending out and one of the things I often see is the listing of lots of FEATURES of their service but not the BENEFIT and this is a mistake thats always done and easy to correct, so whats the difference between features and benefits?

Well if you are a photographer for instance you may say that you take over 1000 photographs per wedding- THATS a feature! Your potential client will read that and think to themselves “What does that mean to me?!” Well the answer to what it means to the bride – It means that she has loads more shots to choose from and it ensures the perfect moment is captured is the benefit!

Let take a stationery example which many designers use…. “Our designs are completely bespoke and tailored to you” Thats great but its a feature, how is relevant to the bride? Well to get the feature all you need to do is complete the sentence so…
“Our designs are completely bespoke and tailored to you” which MEANS that your wedding will be completely unique and all your stationery will expertly and tastefully match the feel and style of your wedding day <—-NOW THATS a benefit!!!!

When writing anything to your potential clients you MUST focus on the benefits to the client, the features are all about what YOU do but the benefits are all about whats important to the customer.

So read through your copy today and decide whether you are highlighting features or benefits and if you are in any doubt then just get in touch and I’ll happily point you in the right direction.


Claire x0x


Do you need help to put together a Marketing Strategy for your business that will make it SOAR? Are you ready to Step Up??? Click Here NOW

Are you ‘different’ enough to survive the Wedding Industry???

Posted on 02/23/2011 by admin
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Whenever I walk around local wedding fairs to have a look at what people are selling and how people are selling it you tend to see the same thing over and over again and I go to fairs from the perspective of a bride (no, I’m not getting married) but without sounding too sad and pathetic I try and put myself in the mind of the bride and walk around to see what appeals and what doesn’t. Of course not all brides have the same taste as me so the products themselves will appear to some brides and not others but some Wedding Suppliers are indeed ‘different’. This has got nothing to do with what they are selling, this has to do with the people selling them.

If you want to be different and really stand out in the wedding industry then you have to be ‘extraordinary’ and do things that none of your competitors do. If you ask any supplier what makes them different from everyone else then they will say things such as good quality products, great service etc etc – EVERYONE  says this so in fact they are not being different at all, they are being just like everyone else.

In order to rise above everyone else you need to raise the bar! When I was wedding planning I found online these gorgeous silver frogs with little gold crowns – they were really cute and tasteful and they cost me about £30 each so not cheap. Every time I signed a new client (which was generally worth about £3k to me) I would send the couple one of the frogs to thank them for choosing to do business with me and they loved them!

How many of you send your previous clients anniversary cards every year? Do you send thank you gifts for referrals received? One of my lovely clients send gorgeous hand made cards that she writes and send by snail mail to new clients (snail mail in this age of everything electronic can be incredibly effective!)  Do you go out of your way to make your clients feel really good about their decision to work with you? If you do they will be falling over themselves to get everyone else to choose you as well.

The key to going the extra mile it consistency – come up with extraordinary acts that you can do EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!! And do them!

I’d love to hear your comments about what you are going to start doing thats extraordinary in your business!


Claire x0x


If you want to increase you sales and propel your Wedding Business to new heights in 2011 then the Wedding Wealth Program is for you! Sign Up NOW,

Don’t Wait To Step-Up Your Bridal Marketing…

Posted on 11/25/2010 by admin
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Well its almost the peak engagement season of the year – more than a quarter of engagements take place in December so thats a hell of a lot of future brides you need to be marketing too. But if they get engaged  in December then surely you should beef up your marketing in January right? WRONG!!!  I know, this normally comes as a shock to most people but lets think about it for a few minutes, how many of those engagements are completely out of the blue ? I would suggest that about 95% of those getting engaged have been thinking/dreaming about it for some time and you can guarantee that in that time of dreaming they would have already started planning for their big day, they would have already started looking on the internet and thumbing through magazines so much that by the time the proposal comes they already have a good idea of what they want their wedding to look like.

Most couples book their suppliers within 3 months of getting engaged but this definitely doesn’t mean that they’ve only spent 3 months looking at suppliers, its much more than that so when the peak engagement season approaches, which it is right now you should be aware  that those getting engaged next month are looking at you NOW!!!! So dont wait any longer, get that marketing message sorted right now and reap maximum benefit.

Of course its also reaching peak Wedding Fair season- January -March and you should be fully exploiting this marketing opportunity too, sign up on this page for my FREE download on Top 10 Secrets of Profitable Wedding Fairs.(If you don’t get the download within 24 hours then let me know because its a new addition and gremlins keep appearing! x )


Claire xoxo