7 Important Things to AVOID when working wedding shows

Even in the digital age, wedding shows continue to have a place in the marketing mix. For many wedding businesses, wedding show participation is a great way to generate new sales, build relationships and create brand awareness.

But before you print out your show badge and grab your lead scanner, make sure you’re ready. Here are 7 common wedding show pitfalls to avoid.

1. Going in blind.
Make sure you plan, plan and plan some more. Set proper expectations for the event, including training for staff, review messaging, and do your research on the exhibitors prior to arriving. Details matter. It is a big investment to attend a wedding show, so make sure to everyone is on top of their game and that you know who, what, where, when and why way before the actual event.

• Who: Know who is going to be at the event, both internally and externally. A well trained staff member can be the key to a successful event. Also, knowing who’s who at the event is critical in targeting. Consider printing the exhibitor list and highlight the customers, prospects, and then coming up with an action plan to get the most out of the interactions.

• What: Many exhibitors don’t know what their purpose is at an event. If you are there to hand out collateral and stress balls, you probably didn’t plan for success. Make sure you have a purpose for being at the event, understand the audience and why they/you are there, and then position yourself accordingly.
• Where: Location is key. Know where the event is located, where your booth is on the show floor, how you and your staff will get there, and where the local hot-spots are.

• When: Don’t show up late for setup! Get to the event at least 30 minutes before registration begins to ensure there are no loose ends. Keep an event agenda handy so you can manage booth staff during high and low traffic times.

• Why: So your company is 100% certain that exhibiting at wedding  shows is essential to brand awareness, generating pipeline, and closing business. Or do they? Did previous wedding show ROI influence your decision to exhibit? It must absolutely make business sense to make the investment, so do your homework before signing up.


2. Under- or over-staffing.
Ever been to a trade show where you feel like the staff outnumbers you five to one? Nothing looks worse than a bunch of guys in their company polos sitting on their thumbs and checking their iPhones every 30 seconds. Not only does this decrease your productivity, it cuts the amount of real estate you have to hold decent conversations with prospects. On the other side of the spectrum, you want to make sure you have enough resources to effectively represent your brand and engage with prospects. Not only does the quantity of staff count here, but the quality matters most. You want to have at least one product superstar there to field product and technical questions.


3. Holding onto a conversation for too long.
Ideally brides will be lining up at your booth to talk with you about your product. Don’t keep ‘em waiting. If your conversations last for more than five minutes during peak traffic periods, you are going to miss many more conversations. If you feel a conversation is very interesting, there’s no problem with scheduling a follow-up to discuss their interest in depth. After all, you’re at the show to represent your brand, not to do a discovery call.


4. Forgetting relevant conversations.
So let’s say things are going great at the wedding show and you’re having conversation after conversation. Will you remember what was said in the first conversation? Sales reps cringe at the idea of a lost opportunity. Make sure your staff logs the key points of each conversation, either on the back of their prospect’s business card or on a sheet of paper you can staple to the card for reference. This will make it easy for you to insert notes into your CRM for a targeted follow-up based on your conversation.


5. Missing Deadlines.
We all know wedding shows are expensive to begin with. The cost of missing discount deadlines will come back to bite you in the place it hurts most: your wallet. Many events have early bird specials for registration, shipping, hotels, A/V and electronics, etc. If you procrastinate, you may be essentially be paying double the price. So plan early, bookmark or print your exhibitor kit, and make sure you stay on top of all deadlines.


6. Blending in with the rest.
It doesn’t matter if you have the prettiest booth; if it doesn’t draw traffic, you will not be returning next year.  What have you done to promote your presence at the event?  Think of ways to create a buzz. This can be in the form of social media (tweeting from the show floor); booth swag and other giveaways; or launching a new product, service or feature at the event. Remember, there are other exhibitors and sponsors at the event who are trying to connect with the same bride you are. Make sure you give that bridee a reason to come and talk to you.


7. Not following up in a timely manner.
One of the most critical factors in turning your wedding show participation into revenue is your lead management process. The best time to plan for follow-up is before the show. The longer a lead sits untouched, the colder and less interested they will become. Develop a systematic lead handling (collection and retrieval) system, set timelines for follow-up, and measure the results. It is critical for marketing to own this piece of this process, so hot leads will be distributed appropriately and Sales can prioritize their time and follow-up promptly.

It takes a lot of time and effort to manage a wedding show from pre- to post-event. Success depends not only on the people you scan, but the people you staff as well. So keep these common mistakes in mind the next time you exhibit at an event – and then, go get ‘em.

- The Bridal Marketing Group is here to help you prepare your wedding marketing plan with ideas and tips that work.  For more information as to what we can do for your wedding business visit www.bridalmarketinggroup.com or give us a call at 1-800-431-4628.

5 reasons why you're not closing the deal with brides

Your wedding marketing company has done its job.  They’ve filled your funnel with wedding sales leads.  The sales department followed through on the leads provided but somehow your close-ratios are dropping.  What happened?

This scenario isn’t unusual, sometimes leads fall through cracks or systems fail, but the important thing is to identify the weak links in your lead generation chain and avoid the blame game between when you get the lead from your marketing techniques and the close.

If you are finding issues in your lead generation process, check these 5 reasons why you may be losing opportunities and what you can do to fix it:

1. Your Lead Scoring Is Off The Mark

The work you do on the front end has a huge impact on the back end of your sales process.  Nowhere is this more evident than in your lead scoring system.  If you don’t have a complete profile on who your ideal sales lead is, you’re basically throwing proverbial pasta against the lead generation wall and hoping it sticks.  In other words..target the right audience from the get-go.

Encourage regular meetings between sales and marketing to grade and adjust how your lead scoring is performing.  Make this a consistent part of your planning and you’ll not only stay on top of your fine-tuning, you’ll foster a stronger relationship between sales and marketing, as well.

2. Your Lead Nurturing Is Spotty

Once those wedding prospects are in your sales funnel, they should be integrated into a well-timed, regular touch program.  If those leads you thought were hot are cooling down too often, then it’s time to examine how well you are continuing the conversation that started when they agreed to give you their email addresses.

Be sure you are covering these aspects of reaching out to prospects:

§ Contact them within 5 minutes of when they subscribe

§ Engage in at least 4 reach-outs to keep them interested

§ Don’t have your sales department contact leads before they are sales-ready

The process of lead nurturing puts a spotlight on the communication between marketing and sales.  If prospects sense a disconnect within the system, they’ll be less likely to put their trust (and their dollars) in your business.

3. Your Message Doesn’t Compel

The ideal content marketing message is one that provides relevant information, educates and compels brides to act.  That thread must weave through every piece of content, whether on your website and social media channels, in your blog or throughout your email marketing.  Without a consistent message, prospects will look elsewhere.

Above all else, decide what it is you want brides to do.  Do you want them to download a whitepaper or sign up for your newsletter?  Tell them!  While there is a fine line between pushing and motivating, there is no substitution for a call to action.

4. You Don’t Understand How Brides Think

You may be skilled at collecting names but a stuffed top of the funnel does not equate to the same amount of sales.  Your dwindling results may be due to the fact that you don’t understand how brides think.

You need to understand the differences between latent and active brides.  Some come in as hot leads and flow through the funnel quickly to sale but leads that need more time must be followed up with differently.

This goes back to lead scoring.  Do you know if your lead is the primary buyer or a contributor?  What is it  that may keep them from pulling the trigger?  The myriad of details that go into bride's decision making should be top of your mind as well, so you can create a message that brings them value and a series of reach outs that fit their schedule.

5. You’re Not Keeping Track Of The Numbers

Industry stats indicate that 40% of prospects become leads.  But as we know, not all leads are created equal.  If you don’t know why your conversion rates are less than impressive, maybe it’s because you haven’t really looked at the numbers closely (or often) enough.

Your metrics should take into account conversion rates over time by type.  For example, do trade show leads perform better than pay-per-click (PPC)?  PPC leads may cost more but if they convert more quickly they may end up costing less per customer.

Throughout the sales process, the foundation to success is sales and marketing alignment. When marketing understands how to find the best bride leads and sales gives feedback to which prospects became the best leads, then both can benefit from future forecasting based upon on-going results.

If you are experiencing cracks in your sales funnel mortar, go back to the basics and get both sides of the team on the same page.  You’ll see conversion rates soar.

Need assistance filling your marketing funnel with brides so that you can turn them into sales?  We can help with that.  Please download the FREE wedding marketing book; "21st Century Bridal Marketing - Taking back your piece of the pie" at www.bridalmarketinggroup.com for advice and give us a call.

We're a full service wedding marketing firm specializing in reaching brides with the right message about your company at the right time...resulting in an easy sell for you.

"6 Ways to Grow your Wedding Business using Social Media" webinar today.

Today, Jakki Millo, author and wedding marketing guru taught a workshop on wedding marketing.  Here's what she covered.

"The social media revolution has changed the traditional way wedding vendors advertise into a two-way dialogue with customers and potential customers.

Social media:

• ·         Allows wedding vendors to learn more about brides and what they want easier and more affordably.

• ·         Levels the playing field for large brands and small brands alike because it’s not about how deep the marketing pocket book goes.

• ·         Harnesses the power of real time communication

• ·         And it has a greater reach with a huge pass along rate as compared to to other marketing channels.

What this means for wedding business is that if you’re not taking advantage of social media yet then get to it my friends and I’m going to teach you how.  While social media marketing is no small task there are six objectives every wedding company should have at the core of their social activity.  

• 1.       Build Brand Awareness

• 2.       Make Customer Service Personal  and Immediate

• 3.       Market your events using it

• 4.       Launch new products and services on it

• 5.       Use social media to build your sales pipeline

• 6.       Get brides to take action and spend money with you

At the webinar she went through each of those six objectives and provided an overview of why each one is important and how to do it." 

Hopefully the information helped the wedding vendors who attended jump-start their social media success.

If you attended, what did you think of the webinar?

Question: I'm on a tight budget. How do I reach brides locally without using social media, bridal shows or print advertising?

A wedding vendor in Detroit emailed me this question and I thought that you may want to know what I suggested to him:

1: Cross promote with jewelers - Engagement rings are one of the first things people buy when they get engaged.  Over 60% of couples get engaged before having engagement rings and then they go out and buy them.  Create some sort of incentive for jewelers to hand out your card/postcard/flyer etc.  For example, propose to have their bags printed in exchange for handing out your card to all newly engaged couples.

2: Create some gift packs that include coupons for monies off your services with your logo and contact details.  Also include promotional pieces like a pen, notepad, wedding planning workbook, etc. You should include a catalog, price lists, etc. For every meeting give them an introduction packet.

I had several other ideas for him like hold a "bride war" at his shop...that I'd be happy to discuss with you.  If you'd like more information please give us a call at 1-800-431-4628 or register online for a webinar at www.bridalmarketinggroup.com/webinars.htm .