Sage Wedding Pros Part 2: Top Tips for a Successful Wedding Business

22 Dec Filed Under: Brand, Education, Industry Insider, Lauren, Strategy, TBL GIve-Aways

Yesterday we introduced you to wedding business superstar Michelle Loretta of Sage Wedding Pros, who has put her finance expertise to work helping wedding professionals amp up their business with practical solutions. Today we’re excited to share some of her fabulous tips for marketing, branding, and finance!

The question: what advice do you have for professionals who want to improve their wedding marketing?

1) Invest in branding identity: your business website, business cards, promotional information. I see far too many wedding businesses investing in ads before their website is presentable. You lose the marketing dollars spent on an ad if your customer comes to your website and logs off.

2) It’s important to have a good mix of promotional activities. When you make a financial investment in the stock market, you have to diversify your investment… spread our money into lots of different things so you don’t lose the farm in one place. It’s the same with marketing. Spread your efforts into lots of different areas:

Advertising
Networking
Publishing
Social Media

…and so on. There will be years where one activity brings you a ton of business. And, later it’ll fizzle out. Try something else. But keep an eye on your results and you’ll be able to adapt our marketing efforts as needed.

3) These days, being published has become increasingly important. Engaged couples look to see if wedding professionals have been published to gain a sense of trust. Being published gives you a ‘stamp of approval’ by the wedding industry. And, as the adage goes, getting a feature in a magazine or on a blog is free publicity. And, with platforms such as Two Bright Lights, getting published has never been easier. (I’m so amazed by you ladies at TBL! You really do make it easy!)

Finally: What do you think is the single most important thing a wedding professional can do to improve the success of their business?

I’m completely biased because of my finance background. And, I’m going to speak only for the wedding industry. I don’t believe enough business owners have a firm grasp on their financial results and how to use the information to assess performance.

The single most important thing a wedding pro can do is to KNOW their NUMBERS. You can have the most innovative product or service, incredible branding, outstanding marketing, and amazing operational structure. But, if you don’t know if you are making any money, and how marketing activities correlate, then those other factors can’t save you. By knowing your numbers you have the power to build your business. Numbers are the only benchmark of performance.

Be sure to check out Michelle’s blog for tons of practical business advice (like this post on Pricing Products & Services in the Wedding Industry). Thanks so much to Michelle for taking the time to share her fabulous insight!

Want more great advice from Michelle? Just in time for 2012, Sage Wedding Pros is offering $100 off The Simple Plan Exclusive which is their one-to-one partnership with small business owners to help build a business plan. Simply visit The Simple Plan website to learn more about The Exclusive and enter the discount code “TBL” when you enroll. This offer is only good through December 30th and space is limited to first-come-first-served!

(Image: Creative Commons)

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Filed Under: Brand, Education, Industry Insider, Lauren, Strategy, TBL GIve-Aways

The Client’s Perspective: The how and why of the final decision

1 Dec Filed Under: Blog, Brand, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

In May, I started a short series about the client’s perspective in photography and discussed my search for my perfect photographer. I shared how I narrowed my list and honed in on a few photographers. But, then the question remained: how do I choose? After speaking with many Two Bright Lights photographers, I came to realize that few clients ever tell them why they don’t choose them, and sometimes clients do not tell them why they DO choose them. I am going to walk you through the process that helped me choose who I did and who I did not.

Before I start, these views do not represent the views of Two Bright Lights, and I do not intend to speak for all brides. I just want to share my personal experience, to give you insight into my process in the hopes of adding value to your client acquisition process and strategy.

The Process

After narrowing down my list to about 6 photographers I spent considerable time looking at a few key items to get a better sense for who was going to be a good fit for us. I was looking for the photographer whose online and offline presentation presented and communicated the following elements the best:

Their website

In particular I looked at a few key areas:

Their portfolio: I looked for diversity in the types of shots featured: I wanted to see examples of all the different type of work they did.

Weddings: I looked for a variety of moments featured – from romantic/epic shots to the first kiss to the grandma dancing!)

Engagements: I was looking for examples demonstrating their creativity and ability to reflect the couple’s style, not just their own – so I looked for variety in style of shots and perspective.

Non-wedding Work: I was hoping to get a sense of how they saw the world and what non-wedding work struck their fancy. This gave me a sense for who they were. If it was mainly baby images that gave me one sense, if it was mainly fashion, it gave me another.

Their style

I wanted someone with a documentary approach to photography – who focused on taking beautiful pictures of real moments versus someone who took the epic, but more posed shots. Because I knew what style I wanted, when I looked at their portfolios, it helped me narrow down the list – eliminating those with different styles and keeping those who did.

Their client praise section

I know that photographers often ask the brides who they felt were pleased with the ultimate work to provide feedback to share with other clients. Understanding that what I was reading was from people who were asked – I looked at the type of praise they chose to give. I looked for comments about how the photographer created work that really reflected the wedding, about how the photographer was non-intrusive, about how the photographer was easy to work with, made clients feel at ease being themselves, and that the work was fantastic.

Their blog

Content. I wanted to see what work of their own that they chose to feature and the commentary they wrote. I was looking to understand how the photographer positioned themselves within the field. The photographs they chose to highlight gave me more insight into their style. I looked at what other sort of content they wrote about – did they highlight the work of other vendors, did they report on industry trends, did they seem up to date and excited about quality equipment, etc.

Social Media. I looked at their Facebook page and Twitter feed. I was not judging the number of followers, though I did hope to see enough to seem like they were connected to their peers. All I wanted was to have evidence of their engagement in the industry, as noted by the content of their tweets/posts and when it came to Twitter the people they followed.

Features. It was important to me that they had been featured on blogs or in magazines, and that they understood that was important. I looked for links to their features and checked out who featured them and what work was featured.

Lists and Professional Affiliations. I kept an eye out for any lists they were on, such as Green Wedding Shoes or Style Unveiled. I paid attention to what industry groups and professional organizations they belonged to. It was important that this information was easy to find and was there.

The Connection

After I had a good sense for who they were, I called them. Because I lived far away I was unable to meet them in person. I realize this is a somewhat unique position, but like in a meeting I was hoping for a good connection, someone who I felt understood what I was looking for, someone who I could be comfortable around. Their personality and professionalism mattered to me. I wanted to feel like they were excited about me and wanted my business, but were not desperate for my business – so little intonations and word choice gave me clues to this. It also mattered that they knew the answers to my questions and that the answers came smoothly. I asked about how they would describe their style, what their favorite part of shooting a wedding was, how their pricing worked, what their training was, etc. Charlie (my fiancé) also talked to them – and we compared our impressions.

Price was also a factor, but the photographers we like had almost identical pricing, so the decision came down more to fit and follow through than anything. Because we did not have a chance to meet in person, it was essential that they returned calls and emails promptly, followed up on the what they said they would send, and were quick to answer questions.

So, who did we pick and why?

We picked Otto Schulze of Otto Shutlze Photographers. Why? Well, in brief he had an extremely professional website and blog, took award winning documentary style photography, was delightful on the phone, and conveyed a genuine sense of excitement to work with us. The other photographers were also amazing, but they missed some of the key elements I outlined above.

So far the working with Otto has been amazing. Charlie and I are in love with our engagement pics (which we will feature soon) and cannot wait for the wedding pictures!!

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Filed Under: Blog, Brand, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

Build your Network and Boost your Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Easy Share Cards

27 Sep Filed Under: Brand, Marketing, TBL Scoop, TBL Updates, Two Bright Lights Update

When you are shooting at a wedding, party, styled shoot, etc you have an big opportunity – the opportunity to build relationships with the other creative professionals who helped make the event you are shooting fabulous. These relationships are a crucial to building your network and boosting you word-of-mouth marketing.

And a core part of building these relationships is sharing images. Sharing helps your business and is correlated with increased revenue and referrals. But burning disks, mailing them, and selecting appropriate images is time intensive to say the least. Two Bright Lights is built to make sharing easier!! And we wanted to make this even easier. Introducing: Easy Share Cards!

You can download them here (or go to the Help Center – Guide and Reports – and click Easy Share Cards) and then all you need to do is print out and start spreading the word. These cards make it a snap for other creative professionals to know that you will be sharing images with them via Two Bright Lights.

We like to think of them like little tickets to revenue! For each card you give away you are investing in your business in terms of generating referrals and helping other creative professionals market their fabulous skills.

Click here to download yours now!

So get hoppin’ and login now to Share!

- Shalyn

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Filed Under: Brand, Marketing, TBL Scoop, TBL Updates, Two Bright Lights Update

Free Blog or Website Analysis by Doodle Dog

6 Jul Filed Under: Brand, Community, Marketing, TBL Scoop, TBL Updates

Every company no matter how large or small is focused on figuring out how to stay relevant. This is particularly true of web-based businesses, and for web-based businesses to continue to grow, thrive, and stay relevant they are highly reliant on their branding, SEO, and design. To have a successful branding, SEO, and design strategy it is important to step back and analyze your current site and/or blog. What are you doing well? What do you need to work on? How are you doing with SEO? Does your brand communicate your core message?

But its hard to analyze your baby right? It is a challenge to look with new eyes and a fresh perspective.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if someone would do that for you for FREE?

Well AMAZING NEWS, talented designer, Doodle Dog Designs (they designed Done Brilliantly for us) loves our Two Bright Lights users and Done Brilliantly readers so much that they are willing to do a FREE custom analysis of your blog or website for you! To qualify:

Like Two Bright Lights and Done Brilliantly on Facebook
Share this post on Twitter and/or Facebook and link to or mention Two Bright Lights (@twobrightlights) and Doodle Dog Designs (@doodledogtweets)
Sign up here

Your future clients are waiting for you. So get going!

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Filed Under: Brand, Community, Marketing, TBL Scoop, TBL Updates

Branding: Building a Consistent Brand Online

5 Jul Filed Under: Brand, Education, Marketing

At Two Bright Lights, we recently updated our blog, Twitter profile, and Facebook page. Our goal? To make sure that our brand identity remains consistent across all of our online pages.

We worked with the amazing team at Doodle Dog to integrate our visual elements onto our Twitter profile and to make sure that the information on our Facebook page reflects what we want to communicate about our brand.

Your website, blog, Facebook profile, and Twitter page each give prospective clients another opportunity to find your business and learn about your product, mission, and company values. But with so many forms of media to manage, it can be difficult to make sure that your brand identity remains consistent across each one. Here are our tips and tips for online brand integration!

What do you mean by “brand integration?”

When we talk about brand integration, we’re referring to the need to communicate about your business consistently across all forms of media. When a client is searching for you online, they want to know what exactly it is that your business offers. What kind of work can they expect from you? How much do your services cost? What is the overall personality of you, your brand, and the product or service that you offer? Brand integration makes sure that you answer these questions the same way on every online platform you use, both in the way you write about your business and in the visual elements you choose, such as your logo, background, and color scheme.

How can visual elements answer these kinds of questions for my clients?

We take in a surprising amount of information about companies and products just based on what we see. Most companies will have some form of logo that helps consumers or clients to identify their brand—think McDonalds’ golden arches or the Apple logo. But more than serving as a way to recognize a company, logos and other visual elements can help to build a personality for your brand and to communicate about the services you offer. If you’re selling traditional, formal stationary, your client might be confused if your website uses bright, whimsical fonts and bold graphics. They’ll be even more confused if your blog looks streamlined and ultra-professional. You want to make sure that the visual style of your online media reflects the personality of your product or service, and that your visual style remains consistent.

What can I do to keep my brand consistent?

Now that you know why brand integration is important, here are some ways to make sure that you’re communicating effectively about your company on all of your online platforms.

Define your brand identity.

Before you can start thinking about brand integration, you need to define what exactly you want your brand identity to be. Is your brand feminine or masculine? Budget or luxury? Modern or traditional? Think up a list of adjectives that describe the personality of your company. If you think your brand is smart, bold, youthful, mature, energetic, powerful, romantic, etc., jot it down. Once you’ve defined what you want the personality of your brand to be, it will be easier to find out how to communicate these things in your content and visual elements. (For more on defining your brand and developing a visual brand identity, check out Shalyn’s post on writing a creative brief).

Incorporate similar visual content on all of your online (and offline) media.

Once you’ve decided on your brand identity and developed content and visual elements that help communicate it well, try to include these elements in all of your different online and offline marketing tools. Keep in mind that you don’t have to use exactly the same images and content on every page. Your blog or Twitter page, after all, might have a slightly different goal than your website. Take a look at the Two Bright Lights header:

Now compare that to our blog header:

The two use different fonts and images, and communicate something slightly different; our website header looks a bit more professional and tech-savvy, while our blog header is more approachable. But we’ve still kept the most important elements of our brand identity consistent through both headers, using the same graphic elements (butterflies and stars), general style, and font colors. This helps readers to identify the blog as an extension of our company and keeps our brand personality intact.

Update!

Don’t let any of your online pages become outdated. If you change something on your website, make sure to check your other pages for inconsistencies. Online and social media management takes time, but if it helps you build a consistent and recognizable brand, you’ll find it’s time well spent.

What do you think of our new Twitter and Facebook pages? What have you done to define your own brand identity? Let us know in the comments!

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Filed Under: Brand, Education, Marketing

Branding: How to Write a Creative Brief

28 Jun Filed Under: Brand, Marketing, Strategy

Last month we launched our beautiful new blog. It’s amazing what a big difference a redesign can make, especially in the wedding industry! This industry is all about the visual experience, so your logo, brand, and web design are crucial. Potential clients/readers quickly move on if the design falls short. But finding the design that fits your brand and creates a compelling visual experience is often a challenge. It was a challenge for us for sure! But there were a couple of tools we used and lessons we learned that we think would be valuable to lots of our Done Brilliantly readers and Two Bright Lights users. The first tool we wanted to share was the creative brief.

So what is a creative brief anyway?

A creative brief is the outlined instructions, guidelines, and ideas for work to be done by a creative team (internal or external). It provides an outline to help you and your creative team understand where you are now – and where you’d like to be as a result of a blog, website, or brand redesign, or a new product, etc. It usually includes overviews of the research needed, timelines, goals, information on the target audience, and brand specifications. The creative brief does not have to be incredibly long but the best briefs are clear and concise.

But how is the creative brief used?

A creative brief is used in two ways. First, it helps you clarify your thoughts and crystallize what it is exactly that you want. The process of answering the key questions is the best way to start understanding the elements that are necessary to build a new brand identity. Second, it gives the information to your team or designer they need to bring your ideas to life. It provides direction, ideas, and structure for the designers and lays the foundation to start building the shapes you envision. It basically creates a word picture and provides a bridge between what is in your head and reality.

More importantly, what does a creative brief look like?

The best way to answer this is to show you! Here is our creative brief template. We recommend that you answer the questions below and share them with your creative talent.

What is our aspiration?

How it will help our business (what are the expected business impacts of this project?)

What we’ll get (what are the deliverables at the end of the project?)

Some Boundaries

Who this is for?

Make the right impression (how do you want people to respond to your brand?)

We’ll know it worked when (how will we know if it worked?)

Who we are (can you summarize what your brand is about?)

What We Do (can you summarize your business?)

Our Personality

Our Values & Mission (generally)

Design

We created a detailed power point that included images and explanations of blogs and specific blog design aspects we loved, brands we identified with, colors we liked etc. We used power point to mock-up the flow of the blog so that the design team would have a sense for layout.

We want you to feel free to use this format and content to help grow your business!

Images courtesy of Jessica Claire Photography.

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Industry Insider: Featuring Liene Stevens: Part 1

7 Jun Filed Under: Brand, Community, Industry Insider, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

Founder of of Think Splendid and Wedding Industry Jobs

We are so excited about your new project Wedding Industry Jobs. It seems to already be catching on and getting buzz. Could you tell us about Wedding Industry Jobs and the evolution of the idea? Why did you choose to launch it now? How do you see Wedding Jobs effecting the wedding industry? Whats your long term vision for Wedding Industry Jobs?

FindAWeddingJob.com started as an idea on a Sunday morning. I started working on it that afternoon and had launched a “sneak peek” Sunday night. Monday morning was the official polished up launch. I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons:

First, in my work with Splendid Communications, I meet a lot of wedding professionals all over the country. One of the common complaints is how hard it is to find good employees who are both creative and have an office work ethic (meeting deadlines, etc). The mainstream job boards are usually cost-prohibitive (costing $300 and up for a 30 day listing) for small wedding businesses, so I wanted to create something that was accessible financially. FindAWeddingJob.com integrates with other job boards, including LinkedIn, so that their listings are seen by a wide group of people, increasing their chances of hiring the right employee.

Second, I am asked all the time if I know people in the industry who are hiring, and while I try to retweet the openings, it’s hard to remember who mentioned they had an opening and when. I also know many wedding professionals who get inquiries, and if they’re not hiring, I wanted them to be able to refer those job seekers to the job board. We’ve all been in the difficult boat of looking for a job at one point or another and it’s just good karma if someone can say “we’re not hiring, but here’s a resource that may help you.”

My goal is for the site to become an invaluable resource both for wedding professionals and job seekers. Many people complain about the industry being over-saturated, but the simple truth is that it’s not going to desaturate any time soon. I’d rather it be over-saturated with talent than over-saturated with incompetent people. Getting a foot in the door with an internship or job found on the board and learning the ropes from talented people in the industry is a much better solution than a former bride with no other wedding-related experience picking up a camera or deciding to plan weddings.

Your @weddingjobs twitter stream has already gained a lot of traction these past few days. How did you gain this traction so quickly? What do you think this says about the wedding industry? Does using twitter to connect people for jobs reflect a trend in social media? In the current economy, what role does twitter play in the job market?

I am a digital marketing strategist for the wedding industry, so the @weddingjobs twitter growth is no accident or stroke of luck. For the job board to work, both wedding professionals and job seekers need to know about it and use it. In the case of this specific product, quantity of followers is important (this is not always the case for other wedding businesses). I don’t want to give away too many specifics about the strategy since this is the type of work I consult clients on, but I will say that the growth is organic and I think that is key for anyone looking to grow a Twitter presence. There are services that will auto-follow a bunch of people to build up your followers and then clean out those who don’t follow back, but I do not recommend ever using these. If you see someone who has 40,000 followers and is following 38,000 people, they are using this type of service. It cuts out the engagement and listening and the conversion from follower to product user or client are much lower than when growth is organic. Simply having a lot of followers doesn’t pay the bills.

Twitter is huge in the current economy because, aside from personal use, people use it to stay connected to their industry, whether they’re a business owner or employee. If they’re looking for a job, being up to date on the latest news, trends and industry players gives them a competitive advantage that another candidate may not have.

How can we and others help spread the word about your new venture?

Refer people to FindAWeddingJob.com and the WeddingJobBlog.com! If you get a lot of job inquiries, consider setting up an auto-reply for those particular emails that says you’re not hiring right now but that the site may have something available. Follow us on Twitter and retweet job listings that might be relevant to your followers.

But we also love Think Splendid and Splendid Communications. For those who don’t know the story of Think Splendid and Splendid Communications, could you give us the elevator pitch?

Splendid Communications is a digital marketing consulting firm for the wedding industry. I had built a successful wedding planning business through digital and social media marketing because it was a medium that was familiar to me (I have been blogging personally for 12 years). The main arm of that strategy was the wedding blog, which generated over $27 million in revenue for the Phoenix and Washington DC areas in less than four years. My plan had always been to sell the wedding consulting company, so I decided to transition into helping other companies figure out the social media landscape in a strategic way. Think Splendid is the tagline and the brand name used on our social media platforms.

Love Liene like we do?? Then check back in next Tuesday for Part 2!

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