MARKETING PREDICTIONS FOR 2011

With 2010 coming to an end and 2011 right around the corner, we thought we'd share with you a few of our wedding marketing predictions for 2011:


ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WILL GET EVEN BIGGER

We've already witnessed the upsurge of Social Media, Blogging and Online Advertising among the wedding industry and most of us have adjusted our marketing to accommodate this new wave of online movement. In the New Year more and more wedding professionals will be shifting their marketing budgets to online mediums for the mere reason that online is where the bulk of their audience is. While print marketing is not about to bow out by any stretch of the imagination, most wedding professionals are going to realize the need to mix their Marketing Campaigns with Online Marketing Campaigns in order to get the most bang for their marketing bucks.

In 2011 we'll see more wedding professionals jumping on the Social Media bandwagon as they'll have a better grasp of what Social Media is. Those who just didn't "get it" this past year will be trying it out in the new year. (In other words, if you're not on Social Media, you might want to get on that).

You will also begin to see more career paths dedicated to Social Media Marketing (meaning you'll see more wedding professionals assign or hire team members for the sole responsibility of listening and researching in social media communities, social gaming and social video as well as handling marketing in these areas on a day to day basis). As a result, wedding professionals will seemingly be everywhere all at once.

As well, more educational opportunities will be popping up both in formal educational institutions and informal seminars for wedding professionals (or any professional really) to gain more knowledge on how to best use SMO for their marketing practices.  That said, that excuse you've used all of 2010 that you just don't "get" Social Media will be tossed out the window my friend.



SEO AND SMO WILL EXPAND AND COMPETE EVEN MORE

In the past couple of years wedding professionals have been focusing a lot of energy on increasing their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and well I'd certainly hope so as it's pretty much been the number one way of getting found by your target market. However with the emergence of other search engines as major contenders like Bing, MSN, Ask, etc it's become not just about being on the first page of Google anymore it's about getting on the first page everywhere. So guess what? Now your SEO is on-par is more important than ever.

Then you have social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more which provide new ways to be found online. Toss in Mobile Searches and Geo-Location Searches and voila -- you have so many more places into which you have to get your brand.

Acknowledging that there is so much more than just Search Engine Optimization on Google is the first step to increasing your brand's profile. Embracing the new practices and using them is the next one.



STAGING WILL BECOME MORE PROMINENT


It works for the real estate, fashion and culinary industries and while it's was embraced rather slowly in the wedding industry it's usage is anticipated to pick up speed in 2011. 'Fashion shoots' are no longer only for the fashion industry. These days wedding professionals - from cake designers and decorators to caterers and wedding planners -- are styling, staging and photographing tabletop designs, theme decor, food and more in classic 'high-fashion' style as a way to showcase their talent for design and detail in their portfolios, blogs and as a gateway to the media.

While 'staging' in the wedding industry is definitely not a new concept, fashioning and photographing wedding concepts in 'high-fashion' zine-like style for self-promotion is. Gone are the days of simply setting up a table yourself and taking some photos with your own camera or hoping that a high-profile magazine will offer to do a shoot for you. While it can be costly, these days wedding professionals are hiring or partnering with other professionals in the industry to put together full theme concepts (aka their 'vision') and having established photographers skillfully capture it. Everyone who participates essentially wins with equal promotion and let's face it, it looks so much better than if we did it with our rinky-dinky point-and-shoot.

Staging has become the newest form of collaborative partnership among industry professionals and can be expected to increase in the New Year.


MOBILE MARKETING HAS A RUNNING START

With the success of the iPhone and the introduction of the iPad and Google's Android, Smartphone technology is booming and so mobile marketing has sped up from a light jog to a full on run.

In the New Year mobile marketing won't just be about texting, emails or applications. We'll see an escalation of new applications, new devices (ahem...the new iPad anyone?) and an increase in technology making our networks that much faster and technology that much smarter. That said, our marketing efforts will expand to Smartphone technology services like location-aware programs, mobile games and applications that will feed interest to our consumers and send them in our direction. Where will you see the most wedding professionals in 2011? You'll see more wedding professionals develop their own 'Apps' for their services or making use of Wedding Apps that already exist like iWedding and more.



ONLINE VIDEO WILL GET EVEN BIGGER (YES IT IS POSSIBLE)

One thing that stood out in 2010 was the increase of numbers of people watching online video. With an abundance of video sharing sites like YouTube, Loomia and Woomu and video hosting sites like Hulu

While using video for marketing purposes is not a new concept,  (promo videos, 'trailers', recorded interviews, etc. have been used for the last three years in practically every industry from entertainment to publishing to fashion and more) there has been a dramatic increase in using video for marketing among wedding professionals as a result of this increase in what's being referred to as 'Social Video'.  From 'wedding trailers' to 'video testimonials' you can expect to see more promotionally-aimed videos coming from the wedding industry than from the wedding couples themselves.



PERSONALIZATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WILL BE EVEN MORE OF A KEY FOCUS

More wedding professionals are realizing that 'personalizing' their marketing efforts are getting more personable results meaning that by tweaking their marketing to capture the interest and needs of their 'target market' they see a stronger presence of that specific audience in their ROI (Return on Investment).

In 2011 you'll likely see more wedding professionals 'getting personable' with their target audience as well (and not just with direct marketing methods). More conversations will be sparked by wedding professionals in online social communities, more wedding blogs will surface (but more importantly more wedding blogs will reflect and attract specific audiences) and more attention will be paid to how customer service is handled.

Speaking of customer service,  2010 proved that consumers don't want to wait for an answer to their question or a solution to their problem. Everything had that "I want it now" mentality. Some professionals labelled this mentality as "demanding".  Other professionals saw this mentality for what it was -- a desire for real communication in real time.

As a result, in 2011 you'll find that many companies will be providing 'real-time' customer service to engage and appease their consumers in this fast-paced era. Consumers now have more than one option of obtaining customer service. (ahem...remember the good ol' days of waiting on hold for what seemed like eternity?)

In 2011 you'll likely see a decline in the use of online forms as a way of obtaining customer service and instead you'll see more direct email options and direct phone numbers. You'll also likely notice an increase in the use of Live Online Chat or Messenger Boxes for customer service which  provides the highest level of 'Real Time' Customer Service.



These predictions don't mean that we've looked into some magic crystal ball and are telling you what you must do in 2011. These predictions are the marketing trends that we anticipate will impact the wedding industry as a whole in 2011. And as a wedding professional your key to success will be to develop a marketing plan for 2011 that will reap the most benefits for your business.

AND IF YOU'VE NEVER DEVELOPED A MARKETING PLAN, GUESS WHAT YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION SHOULD BE?

A LOOK BACK AT 2010: WHAT MARKETING TRENDS WORKED & WHAT DIDN'T - PART II

A LOOK BACK AT 2010 - PART II: 

RING IN THE NEW

2010 marked a giant leap in marketing trends, especially online. What was a phenomenon in 2009 quickly became an everyday reality in 2010. Marketing tactics leaped from one dimensional conversations to two-way relationships and listening and responding to consumers became every wedding business' top priority.


Here are the Marketing Trends in 2010 that not only made a huge impact in how we marketing our businesses but that actually worked:



SOCIAL MEDIA (TWITTER, FACEBOOK, BLOGGING, YOU TUBE, ETC)

I'm really hoping that the climb of Social Media hasn't come as a surprise to you all. After all, with the need and desire for everything in our lives to be in real time, Social Media simply did the polite thing and stepped up to the challenge of delivering it. The success (or failure) of Social Media for most wedding professionals however depended on how it was used. Many wedding professionals are still in the dark about how Social Media can optimize their marketing efforts while others have embraced the notion of 'interacting' rather than simply 'broadcasting'.

Social Media enabled wedding professionals to be found by consumers who were simply searching in general rather than only by those consumers who were searching for them directly. This has opened doors of every shape and colour for wedding professionals and has expanded their reach ten-fold...if they're embracing the Social Media age that is. Those that still view Social Media as simply a passing phenomenon will be left behind by the side of the road. Social Media is forever changing and expanding, hence shedding light on new opportunities for wedding professionals every day.

If you're not yet on the band-wagon you had better buy your ticket fast.



REAL-TIME SEO


While Google was once the end-all-be-all to SEO, it's had to adjust its practices to embrace the Real-Time revolution. More and more people have begun to do their searching for products and services through Social Media networks which has left Google, etc. in a flurry to catch up. As a result, Search Engines have now integrated Twitter and Blog feeds making our businesses, services and discussions that much more visible and allowing greater opportunities for professionals to connect with their consumers. And it likely won't end there. Eventually all social networking feeds will likely wind up in the almighty search engine which means that ensuring that your SEO is up to par is of huge importance.



FACE-TIME MARKETING

The concept may not seem all that new, but the number of wedding professionals embracing this trend is. Face-time marketing is not just about the typical Bridal Show which, let's face it, has been around forever and is not about to go anywhere anytime soon. It's about interacting, engaging and listening to consumers in real time, in a real place and most importantly, face-to-face. Think of it as Social Media but without the Media part...so basically 'Social'.

In a digital, hurry-up-and-wait age like ours many wedding professionals are shying away from the once-popular marketing method and opting for the 'new-age' trends like social media, online advertising and print. However, face-time marketing has been proven in 2010 to still be a major front-runner in marketing. What's considered Face-time Marketing? Launch parties, Public Seminars, Sponsoring and Presenting at Wedding Productions like Fashion Shows, etc. While more and more research is done online, consumers are still out and about and enjoying physical interaction.

Real time marketing is about capturing the consumer's attention and engaging them in the moment. What better way to capture the attention of our consumers than to offer something tangible...our product and service face-to-face.



MOBILE MARKETING

Yes there's an app for that. Hundreds of them.

In 2010 Mobile marketing has made an enormous impact on outreach to the consumer without actually making a lot of noise. Just like our mobile devices get more sophisticated every year so does the way we interact with consumers on such devices.

Whether it's providing an easier, quicker way to use or purchase products on the move as with App's,  sharing thoughts and ideas through mobile Internet and social media applications or connecting communities of like-minded individuals together through texting contests and promotions with companies like ThumIt, Mobile Marketing has brought individuals even closer than before and has brought products and services literally to the fingertips of consumers. 

“We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day”.

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

A LOOK BACK AT 2010: WHAT MARKETING TRENDS WORKED & WHAT DIDN'T - PART I

 

“Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.”
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

In just a few short weeks the Holiday hub-bub will dwindle down and we'll be (*gasp!*) heading into a brand New Year full of new hope for successful wedding businesses and new marketing plans to make it happen.

Of course to do that we have to re-evaluate our marketing plans from the past year and determine what has worked and what hasn't (or for those of you without marketing plans you'll have to actually create one!).

Following along the theme of looking back on what has worked in terms of marketing your business and what hasn't, A Look Back at 2010 examines a few of the marketing trends that took off in 2010 and a few trends that are on their way down.

A LOOK BACK AT 2010 - PART I: 

RING OUT THE OLD

DIRECT-MAIL

I'll likely take a lot of heat on this one as there are many marketing companies out there that still thrive on the Direct marketing route, but hear me out. We live in a world that's obsessed with saving time. We send emails over Blackberry because it's faster, we opt for self-check-out at the grocery store because it's quicker than having someone else do it and we have cell phones because we can no longer wait to get to a landline to chat. That said, the idea of having to sort through endless Direct Mail pieces in our mailbox to get to the  mail that actually means something to us is a waste of time (not to mention a waste of paper). Most Direct Mail pieces are viewed as "junk mail" nowadays and are simply ignored.

That said, if you plan to remain loyal to your Direct Mail campaign ensure you're piece is doing two very important things: 1) visually eye catching with the right call-words and  2) connecting your consumer directly to something online (and fast!).

TELEMARKETING

I'm really hoping that I don't have to explain this. Telemarketing is one of the most inconvenient marketing methods imposed on consumers and yet there are a ton of companies out there that missed the memo.

Put it this way, there's a reason that "Do Not Call" lists exist. Better yet, think of the last time you were contacted by a telemarketer and then tell us how hooked you were on whatever they were pitching to you.

Exactly.

PRINT ADVERTISING

Now I'm not one of those people who is going to join the "Print-is-Dead' parade because I truly don't believe that. However I am going to be completely frank here:  the print mediums that are surviving out there are the ones that have integrated their print efforts with their online mediums. Those that don't are in danger of fading into the "remember when" category. Why? The amount of people doing their research online is increasing every year. Consumers want real-time reviews and photos of products and services and they want their information in great detail and this can't easily be done with a print ad. Gone are the days of the thick Yellow Pages book or when consumers looked forward to thumbing through catalogs in the mail and here are the days in which with a simple click on an online ad a consumer can be immediately transported to a page or web site that's chock-full of information that the consumer wants about that product or service.

If you look at the wedding magazines that are still enjoying great success you'll notice that they all have one thing in common: they have online counterparts that take the print content and propel it into real time digital-tangibility. If you're opting for Print Advertising, ensure that it has the capability to connect with an online campaign and make that you have your web site prominently displayed on that print ad. After all, where do you think the consumer will go after seeing your print ad? Think about it.


TELEVISION ADVERTISING

There's a reason that sites like You Tube are thriving. More and more consumers are watching television programs and video online than ever before, making television commercials less effective than they once were. Also, with the wonderful invention of the PVR which grants consumers the power to fast forward through commercials, successful television advertising has become dependant not only on the delivery-style of the information but the strategy of timing and placement.

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in.  A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”

~Bill Vaughan

Stay tuned for 

A LOOK BACK AT 2010 - PART II: RING IN THE NEW!

WHY WORKING FOR FREE SUCKS

There are many 'professionals' in the wedding industry who feel that in order to build up their professional portfolios they have to work for free or severly undercut the industry by doing the same amount of work as their colleagues but at an extremely low fee. What happens when they do this is they tear apart the value that others in their profession have worked so hard to create.

Harlan Ellison, a Hollywood writer, sums why working for free and undercutting the industry just plain sucks. Of course he's referring to writing in Hollywood but his sentiment resonates with just about any profession in the wedding industry.

Bravo Mr. Ellison...Bravo.

TWITTER FACT OR MYTH

While Twitter has become as much of a staple in our personal and business lives as Facebook, there still remains an overwhelming number of wedding professionals who are in the dark about what Twitter is, how to use it and how it can be beneficial for your business. Even more so, there are many misconceptions about what Twitter is that deters many professionals from even attempting it.

Well folks, below you will find some of the most common thoughts or remarks about Twitter and Marketing UnVEILED is going to dispel the myths and clarify the truths.



 
TWITTER AND FACEBOOK ARE THE SAME DAMN THING:

 



 While Twitter and Facebook are both elements of the Social Media phenomenon, they are two completely different entities with different goals. Here's the diff' in a nutshell: Facebook is all all about reconnecting and furthering relationships with people or 'friends' whom you already know. Twitter, on the other hand, is about creating new relationships. It's about sharing ideas with like-minded individuals from around the world and engaging complete strangers (read potential consumers!) into conversations and creating a desire to "follow" you and learn more about you.

So what does that mean for your business? With Twitter, by creating new relationships you are opening yourself to new opportunities through others and are exposing yourself to a new demographic that may have not discovered you otherwise. It's essentially a circle effect. For example, if you 'follow' Joe the Photographer and start interacting with him, he, in turn, may 'follow' you. Now Jennifer the Bride who was also 'following' Joe the Photographer has noticed you interacting with him. This has peaked her curiosity and so she has checked out your Twitter profile, likes what she saw and is now 'following' YOU!  Viola! Potential consumer! Not to mention a great new connection with a fabulous photographer!




ETIQUETTE STATES THAT IF SOMEONE FOLLOWS YOU ON 
TWITTER YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW THEM BACK 


I can count on both hands how many times this has come up for debate. Here's our take on the matter: some of the most promising and business-successful relationships were created by professionals following one another. After all, the point to Twitter is to connect and network with one another right? That said, you should be aware of who is following you and connect with them appropriately. You never know what may come out of that newly budding relationship. However, that does not mean that you have to follow every single person who follows you just out of sheer politeness. Can you imagine what your Twitter feed would be like? How many un-interesting tweets (in your opinion of course) you would have to filter through just to read up on those you're interested in? Who has that kind of time?

Consider Preston Bailey for example. At last count he has 8,938 followers but only follows 303. Does this mean that he's being rude or arrogant? No. It simply means that while he appreciates his massive following, he only has the time to follow and connect with those tweets that genuinely interest him.





THERE ARE RIGHT WAYS AND 
WRONG WAYS TO USE TWITTER



There aren't too many "rules' when it comes to Twitter. After all this isn't the Church of Twitter or anything but there are some foolproof ways to LOSE followers. Here's what they are:

1. SPAMMING: Sending your followers sales pitch after sales pitch is basically the number one way of losing followers. Informing your followers of the occasional sale or promotion is fine, but making every second tweet about a sale or sales pitch is a giant boo-boo in Twittersphere.

2. USING A DEFAULT TWITTER PHOTO: If you're using Twitter as a marketing tool and your Twitter profile photo is the iconic Twitter-Bird you have a serious problem. How can you expose your brand on Twitter if you don't have a brand? And no, I don't mean putting up your personal photo. I mean your logo people.  Oh and don't forget to include your web site on your Bio!

3. OVER SHARING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE OR NOT SHARING ENOUGH OF YOUR PERSONAL LIFE: This is a biggie. Yes, it's important to have a bit of personality with your tweets, meaning that if you're using Twitter for marketing it's OK to share a personal-life comment once in a while. After all, your followers want to know that you are an actual person and not a robot. Having a balance of personal and business will keep your relationships with your followers fresh and intrigue new followers to join you.

However, sharing nothing of value but your personal life or sharing what's considered 'TMI' (otherwise known as 'Too-much-information') can put you in the doghouse. Not all your professional contacts want to know about your latest conquest from last night or want to listen to you whine about personal matters...know what I mean?

4. POSTING EVERY FIVE MINUTES: OK, so you may think you have a lot of great, important things to say, but posting every five minutes -- especially if it's nothing relevant -- just becomes annoying and is the second quickest way to be dropped like a bad habit. You're merely cluttering up your followers' Twitter feed. Don't give them a reason to do some spring cleaning.

5. USING 'TWITTER-BOTS':



YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY BLOCK OR UNFOLLOW  ANYONE WHO POSTS A NEGATIVE COMMENT/ARGUES WITH YOU/ETC.
  

OK, so you tweet about a particular subject and out of the woodwork comes Mr. Negative who strongly (and publicly I might add) disagrees with you. What do you do? Do you immediately block them? Do you unfollow them?

No. You engage them into a discussion. Defend your point and see what Mr. Negative has to say in return. He will likely follow your lead and defend his position and so on and so forth. Why is this important? Because you've now created a lively discussion into which your followers (not to mention his!) can tune in. You've created content. You're listening. Your sharing. Your interacting. Welcome to Twitter!

Now, there may come a point where the conversation is dragging on with no end in sight. At that point you should drop the conversation but not the follower. When should you drop or block a follower? When their responses or tweets become rude, disrespectful or just plain nasty or if you truly feel they are damaging your reputation for no reason other than spite.



  

CONTENT IS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO DRAW A FOLLOWING



 I have mentioned countless times that it's not the number of people who follow you, it's who is following you that truly matters. After all, does it really matter that you have 40,000 followers if only ten of them can actually impact your business?

Now that having been said, how do you attract those you want to follow you? Aside from directly connecting with your potential followers, you also have to ENGAGE them. And how do you engage them? With content that interests them, inspires them and encourages them to interact with you. Posting that you had spaghetti for dinner doesn't exactly scream "come follow me!". On the other hand, posting "just had the most amazing spaghetti at www.lapastahouse.com and they have gorgeous wedding facilities too!" has just provided relatable content to those who you want to follow you -- brides, grooms and fellow professionals. Posting thought-provoking or debate-provoking questions or comments invites potential followers into conversation, giving appropriate shout-outs to vendors encourages interaction and posting links with your posts gives meat to your posts. The point to twitter is to share, listen, interact and engage. Best way to do that? Have content!






TWITTER HAS NO ROI.




If you are investing a lot of time in Twitter and you are gaining nothing in return (otherwise known as 'return-on-investment' or ROI) then you are doing something wrong and should examine how you are using Twitter to market your business.

Now ROI can take many forms. Your return on investment can be anything from direct bookings to established business connections that may connect you to consumers in the future to Brides who follow you and while they don't become your client they retweet your info to future Brides they know.

If you're lacking any form of ROI try examining how you're Tweeting for your business. Are you starting conversations? Are you communicating with your existing consumers? Are you using viral tactics to spread your message?

And of course, if you feel that you are gaining absolutely nothing in return for your well-planned Twitter-efforts and it is truly becoming a "waste of your time" then it may be time for you to leave the Twitter-sphere. There are many forms of Social Media out there and no one has ever said that you have to be everywhere. If Twitter just isn't working for you and is becoming a source of stress rather than marketing, move on to something that will provide you with some form of ROI.






TWITTER IS TIME CONSUMING.


The main rebuttal I get from reluctant Twitter-marketers is that Twitter takes too much time. One client I have said quote "I barely have time to update my Facebook, how am I supposed to find the time to continuously post what I'm doing, where I'm going, etc, etc, etc on Twitter???"  This misconception goes hand-in-hand with a couple of my posts above. You don't have to tweet a lot to be noticed. If you can only tweet once a day or hell, once a week, that's perfectly fine! Just make sure that the one tweet you do post is worth reading.

There are also numerous software programs out there from Uber-Twitter to Hootsuite and more that can make your Twitter existence easier to manage whether it be by tweeting on-the-go via your mobile device or scheduling your tweets in advance. Find what method and frequency works for you and roll with it.

Well there you have it folks! Now that your most common concerns about Twitter have been clarified or dispelled, you're running out of reasons why you're not on Twitter.  Try it out, tweet a bit and see where your wings take you!