“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.

Related posts:

1. MUST DO – follow up those wedding and bridal show leads
2. Always try to finish the loop for maximum marketing ROI
3. The Power of APPLICATIONS! Easy, Low-cost, Results – Expand Your Brand plus Direct Market in Facebook & MySpace
4. Teleseminar recording with exceptional wedding/bridal marketer Lori Osterberg
5. Direct Email Marketing and the Rule of Seven

She wrote:

“I did what was supposed to be a BIG wedding show. … I checked my {website} stats from this weekend and there were really very few hits. I am surprised. I had by far the best booth and some of the best work. I actually had one young lady tell me I deserved an award for my booth. It was very welcoming and people were able to set in comfortable chairs. … I have done follow-up emails already today to each person individually and my stats have not increased.”

“It was on my signage (my signage was 4×8 feet), my card 4×6 , my beautifully packaged pricing info that I only handed to really interested brides (in the form of a folder so not to get lost). Basically everything in very clear writing. I also added it and my blog as links at the bottom of my follow up email. I don’t get it. I checked my website both days to make sure it was running.”

As you can see she did an excellent job of presenting her website URL, she took her site name to the top, but what was missing was a reason for people to visit her website. It is important to get people to your website because it makes another contact and reinforces your brand during their decision making. But, if you don’t provide them an explicit benefit to visit they will not close the loop for you.

When you present your website information always try to think in terms of a brief statement with an explicit benefit for visiting. It can be a free report, tips, a modest upgrade to a package, newsletter sign up, your blog, a drawing etc. The more benefits you can share the more likely someone will be motivated to take the effort to actually visit your website.

So; 1) ask them to visit your website, 2) share the address, and 3) give them a good reason to do it. And, that’s the completing the loop.

Related posts:

1. It’s a Slam Dunk – the power of wedding show lead follow up
2. MUST DO – follow up those wedding and bridal show leads
3. Another New Year’s Blogging Resolution, details details details
4. Direct Email Marketing and the Rule of Seven
5. How Flash websites prevent “Word of Mouth” internet referrals

I think this is the most important graf from Andy’s post. Hard proof!

“In my recent years, when attending bridal shows, I would register as a groom (for research purposes). The shocking result was the total lack of follow up. No one seemed to do telemarketing. Email and snail mail usually totaled a combined 5%. One pair of shows, for example, had a cumulative unique vendor count of more than 200. I received 6 emails and 2 letters. …

Plainly put, one should be communicating with every qualified prospect that enters your booth (signing up for something). Secondarily, one should process the show leads-list, and follow up with a slightly more general message.”

You should really read Andy’s entire post.

When you start preparing your follow-up think first how you want to lead to an action … “asking for the order”. Then begin preparing your follow-up to support that the idea of that action. And conclude your follow up specifically asking for that action.

For more creative ideas of what and how to include in your follow-up message, review my earlier post of 17 ways to get 300+ inquiries.

Always communicate and frequency is key. Use your wedding and bridal show follow-up as just one of a few targeted messages to your qualified leads. It is not just one message that may make the difference, it is the number of messages. As I posted a number of months ago, it has been found that typical prospects need from 6 – 8 messages before they easily reach a decision.

Email or regular mail is acceptable. For email I recommend using a service like Aweber or MyEmma the tracking options are well worth the price in learning what gets responses and what does not. But lately, I am thinking that this economy is returning people to value traditional, simple, meaningful and tactile. So I would explore using standard mail for the follow up to at least your most qualified prospects. And to make it potentially very memorable, if it is timely, I would send them with a memorable postmark.

Use a Valentine’s Day postmark! (Again, if it is timely.) Many towns have a special postmark for mail during Valentines Day. All you need to do is request the Postmaster to use it on your letters. Here is how if you want this year’s special Valentines Day Loveland Colorado postmark on your mail to brides-to-be.

To have your mail re-mailed with the Loveland postmark, enclose your pre-stamped, pre-addressed envelopes (envelopes should each have 41-cent postage; postcards should have 26 cents postage), add extra stamps/postage for heavier/odd shaped valentines, mail in a large stamped envelope to:

Postmaster
Valentine Re-mailing
446 E. 29th St.
Loveland, CO 80538

Deadlines for re-mailing and delivery by Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14:

• Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing outside of the U.S. to other countries and international destinations should be in Loveland by Monday, Feb. 4.
• Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing within the U.S. and outside of Colorado should be in Loveland by Saturday, Feb. 9.
• Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing within the state of Colorado should be in Loveland by Tuesday, Feb. 12.

In many ways we are in the love business and I think that this might really make your message stand out, at least she will keep your envelope for a long while.

Face it, you are not going to get the business unless you ask for it. Bridal and wedding shows are expensive … get the most you can out of it.

Related posts:

1. It’s a Slam Dunk – the power of wedding show lead follow up
2. Teleseminar recording with exceptional wedding/bridal marketer Lori Osterberg
3. A new marketing agency devoted to only wedding and bridal businesses
4. Today’s brides-to-be want your email
5. Direct Email Marketing and the Rule of Seven

For anyone that hasn’t been the “lucky” recipient, here is a copy of one of the most recent of the scam emails-

Subject – Wedding Taking Place in Austin TX
From – Mrs Rose L. W. <lola.walters@gmail.com>

Hello, My name is Rose Winans, I Live in Austin Texas,
but presenlt in Tennesse for the sake of the my Son's
Wedding, I will be back soon I am deaf if not i would
love to call about this enquiry, I will like to Make an
enquiry Concerning my Son's Wedding which would be
Coming up on the 29th of November 2008 , I need a Good
photographer who will be Covering all the event (5 hours)
In TX. Please let me know if you are Available and if
you have facilities to accept Credit Card Payments
(No Paypal, i dont have a paypal acc). Hope to hear from
you in other to know your Prices. ROSE

No related posts.

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.

Related posts:

1. Insights to Facebook and MySpace friends and our upcoming May 28th teleseminar
2. A new marketing agency devoted to only wedding and bridal businesses
3. MUST DO – follow up those wedding and bridal show leads
4. Recap of our recent Branding for Wedding Professionals teleseminar
5. Comparing three web marketing options on your profits

Advertising on social network has had infrequent success. The initial comparison of social networking sites to portal sites Google or Yahoo has been proven wrong as network members demonstrate an established resistance to clicking to off-network websites.

Plus, the nature of social networks and expected privacy standards also make it impossible to easily include social network friends in direct marketing efforts.

Building your social network of friends can be expensive. While participation in most social networks is free, actively networking in their environment is very time consuming.

Yet there is a a very powerful, and mostly overlooked, low-cost way to build strong brand relationships and generate leads for direct marketing from your social network based target markets.

For full understanding first allow me to review some why and what related to users of social networks.

• The reason why, is that social networks can be incredibly rich in certain demographics. For example, while engaged people comprise lees than 1% of the US population, they are as high as 6% within some networks on Facebook.

• Secondly, what is a social network profile other than a collection of personal information that the profile owner desires to share with her friends.

These two points, a discernible richly populated target market with individuals wanting to share personal information is a potential “treasure”.

The way to reach this social network treasure is through a social network application that supports the targeted profile owner’s desire to share some particular piece of information, while at the same time extend your brand and support non-social network direct marketing efforts. In other words, someone using your application on their social network profile is virtually providing you word of mouth advertising and allowing you contact information needed to support direct marketing through regular email.

When we first began our efforts on MySpace almost two years ago I noticed that quizzes were madly popular. So we created our own quiz to appeal to our target market and provide traffic to our website. The quiz was just a few simple questions and a formula that, dependent upon the value of different answers, presented a banner to be displayed on the quiz taker’s MySpace profile. The quiz is named “Which Princess Bride Are You?” and has five different bride types. This created a huge number of links and dramatic increase in website traffic.

And, last year when Facebook opened up their application platform. We developed an application to place in her profile an engagement announcement and a fully functional self-created Google wedding map where she can share all the important location details of her wedding. This application allow us to extend our brand to a large number of Facebook members who are engaged and supports volume lead generation for direct marketing efforts for us and our client wedding professional subscribers.

I have also developed custom applications for a social cause (womens shelter), clients and helped others to do the same. While these social network applications cost from a just a few hundred dollars, they will operate for months with almost no time (and money) consuming personal involvement from the owner or assistant while providing measurable results 24/7/365. Leads, traffic and virtual “word of mouth” advertising – automatically.

After many discussions and brainstorming sessions, I think that almost all business can benefit from an application, because almost all our businesses provide some services, goods and expertise that our clients would enjoy sharing with their friends. If you would like to talk about how an application could be linked and useful for your business or the value of targeted applications in general just send me an email*. I would be glad to share more specific in-depth thoughts.

(* – Or if you are a wedding professional who would like to participate in our unique bride-to-be leadstream.)

Related posts:

1. Insights to Facebook and MySpace friends and our upcoming May 28th teleseminar
2. Can MySpace increase your search engine ranking
3. Direct Email Marketing and the Rule of Seven
4. Teleseminar recording with exceptional wedding/bridal marketer Lori Osterberg
5. Anyone using MySpace for marketing these days?

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.

Related posts:

1. Today’s brides-to-be want your email
2. Direct Email Marketing and the Rule of Seven
3. MUST DO – follow up those wedding and bridal show leads
4. Teleseminar recording with exceptional wedding/bridal marketer Lori Osterberg
5. Yet Another Blogging Resolution, use your blog for “look forward” marketing

Newsweek has a helpful article online by Steven Levy covering Facebook and MySpace friending, “How Many Friends Is Too Many?” The article provides excellent info contrasting the two social networks and how their prime users manage online friends in the virtual social network.

Our free teleseminar on how to use Facebook and MySpace to increase your business will be Wednesday May 28th, 8pm EDT, 7pm CDT, 6pm MDT, 5pm PDT. Mari Smith published Facebook business author, business development consultant and former wedding DJ will be featured guest speaker.

If you would like to participate in our teleseminar just send me an email I will reply with call in phone number and access code.

Related posts:

1. The Power of APPLICATIONS! Easy, Low-cost, Results – Expand Your Brand plus Direct Market in Facebook & MySpace
2. Teleseminar recording with exceptional wedding/bridal marketer Lori Osterberg
3. Can MySpace increase your search engine ranking
4. Anyone using MySpace for marketing these days?
5. Monthly Facebook Visits Overtake MSN, Nearing Google and Yahoo

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.

Related posts:

1. Today’s brides-to-be want your email
2. Indeed – Email Marketing Still Works!
3. The Power of APPLICATIONS! Easy, Low-cost, Results – Expand Your Brand plus Direct Market in Facebook & MySpace
4. Always try to finish the loop for maximum marketing ROI
5. Comparing three web marketing options on your profits

It is my view that part of the reason for this is that leads and the communications directed towards those leads is not effectively managed. All sales happen from effective communication. Yet many of us are using only “sticky notes” or spreadsheets to time and follow-up with potential customers.

I have used lead tracking and contact management applications finding them invaluable but complicated. I thought that there needed to be a better solution for today. So I did a little websurfing to see what was available in lead tracking software and found an excellent new solution and it is FREE!

Simple Sales Tracking is a web-based application so you can use it from any computer connected to the internet. It is extremely simple to use and has an almost intuitive layout. You can use it to manage and plan almost all your communications and actions to close a sale. Even keep track of costs. It is always backed-up and your data is transportable.

Recently with Shane Redlick the creator of Simple Sales Tracking, we did a wedding professional focused teleseminar including live questions and answers to help people learn how to use Simple Sales Tracking in their wedding business. You can download and listen to it here. (mp3, 6.8mb)

Related posts:

1. MUST DO – follow up those wedding and bridal show leads
2. The Power of APPLICATIONS! Easy, Low-cost, Results – Expand Your Brand plus Direct Market in Facebook & MySpace