How to Market to the 21st Century Bride
& Groom
Andy Ebon
owner of The Wedding Marketing Network
25 years ago, the choices for
marketing to the bride and groom were limited: Print ads, bridal shows,
and referrals. Now, wedding couples have instant access to information
at anytime, from anywhere.
Unfortunately, the ever-increasing volume of communication is overwhelming their ability to filter and process information to make buying decisions.
This presentation will discuss the symptoms and solutions, adjustments and enhancements that are critical to understanding how to effectively communicate with the Virtual Bride and Groom, in this Digital Era.
Andy Ebon operates EBS Virtual Communications, based in Las Vegas, now beginning its second decade. For the past 10 years, EBS has provided internet and other electronic marketing solutions for small and medium size companies concentrated in just a few areas: Association, Hospitality, Entertainment, Weddings and General Business.
In 2007 Andy is refocusing EBS primarily on selling to the bride and groom with his launch of The Wedding Marketing Network www.WeddingMarketing.net and its accompanying blog www.WeddingMarketing.biz. These enterprises, and others to follow, will provide a full spectrum of marketing expertise to wedding industry businesses.
Andy is active in industry associations and is a frequent public speaker and seminar/workshop presenter at industry meetings. He has also spoken at The NACE National Education Conference, The Special Event, Catering Magazine, CaterSource, Association for Wedding Professionals, among many other industry meetings and events.
owner of The Wedding Marketing Network
25 years ago, the choices for
marketing to the bride and groom were limited: Print ads, bridal shows,
and referrals. Now, wedding couples have instant access to information
at anytime, from anywhere.Unfortunately, the ever-increasing volume of communication is overwhelming their ability to filter and process information to make buying decisions.
This presentation will discuss the symptoms and solutions, adjustments and enhancements that are critical to understanding how to effectively communicate with the Virtual Bride and Groom, in this Digital Era.
Andy Ebon operates EBS Virtual Communications, based in Las Vegas, now beginning its second decade. For the past 10 years, EBS has provided internet and other electronic marketing solutions for small and medium size companies concentrated in just a few areas: Association, Hospitality, Entertainment, Weddings and General Business.
In 2007 Andy is refocusing EBS primarily on selling to the bride and groom with his launch of The Wedding Marketing Network www.WeddingMarketing.net and its accompanying blog www.WeddingMarketing.biz. These enterprises, and others to follow, will provide a full spectrum of marketing expertise to wedding industry businesses.
Andy is active in industry associations and is a frequent public speaker and seminar/workshop presenter at industry meetings. He has also spoken at The NACE National Education Conference, The Special Event, Catering Magazine, CaterSource, Association for Wedding Professionals, among many other industry meetings and events.
Alan Berg
vice-president of local sales operations with The Knot
Just having a website isn’t good
enough these days. Many businesses’ websites are actually costing them
business, and they don’t even know it. They may be getting prospects to
visit their site, but they’re not converting them into sales. Listen
and learn these “10 Ways Your Website is Killing Your Business”, and
how you can update your site to make you more money. Most will cost you
little, or nothing to change.With over 25 years experience in sales and marketing, 16 in wedding-related advertising, Alan Berg is uniquely qualified to help local wedding vendors achieve their goals. Beginning his career at the Young & Rubicam Ad Agency, Alan spent many years utilizing his combined Marketing/Accounting Degree in various companies, large and small. He was Publisher of the Hudson Valley, NY, and New Jersey editions of WEDDINGPAGES magazines before joining The Knot as a Regional Sales Director. He was promoted to Vice President of Sales in 2003, managing a local sales team of over 50 reps across the country.
Session 1: 7 Ways to Get More
Bookings from Bridal Shows
Julia Markel
Julia Markel
vice-president of AfWPi,
co-owner of Bridal ExpoSM
Wouldn’t you like to see more return on the investment
of time and money that you put into bridal shows? Here is a seminar
that will help you do just that - get more bookings and business from
bridal shows. Your sales techniques and the way you market your
business at a bridal show is far different than any other sales
situation. So, whether you are a veteran exhibitor or new to
exhibiting, you will use something from this seminar the next time you
exhibit. You will even get information that will help you get business
from shows where you have already exhibited.Julia Markel is the co-producer of Bridal ExpoSM, and is the vice-president of the Association for Wedding Professionals, Int’l. She and her husband, Richard, have 22years experience producing bridal shows. They founded and are current members of Bridal Show Producers International. Julia has presented her “7 Ways...” seminar for the past five years at national and regional conferences and at local meetings. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education.
Every year brings new designs in floral arrangements and every year the
brides want something different. In this session, Liza will fill
you in on what types of flowers are selling, and what types of flowers
are available. She'll also cover some of the
newer types of flowers that are available and where to get them -
including 6-foot roses! Plus, a new product available - packaged
wedding arrangements.After finishing up her Peace Corps commitment in Ecuador, Liza Roeser Atwood was looking for an employment opportunity. She took a paying job in flowers. She worked for several flower farms and ended up running the entire marketing department for the largest flower grower, exporter, importer from South America. She oversaw flower sales/marketing from farms and partners in Ecuador, Colombia, California, and Holland. She began her first company (which is a growing, all-women employed business) in 1998 which is dedicated to representing smaller growers in Ecuador and Colombia by selling their products to wholesalers around the world.
Session 1: Sure-Fire Secrets of
Wedding Success!
Will Hegarty
chancellor of the Wedding Marketing Business Academy
It's not enough
to just be good at your wedding specialty. You've got to maximize
your profit. Learn the secrets of the business side of the
wedding business.
Will Hegarty began as a wedding photographer at the age of 15. He earned his degree in Business Management, started Images Wedding Photography, and sold it. He has documented more than 2000 weddings. He is the founding president of Rockford Fosgate car audio, which went public. Will & his wife Patti met at a wedding, where he was the photographer and she was a bridesmaid. Patti has her Masters in Education. They organized their first bridal show in 1992 with 28 exhibitors. In 2006, their two shows each had over 600 exhibitors, the largest in America.
Will Hegarty
chancellor of the Wedding Marketing Business Academy
It's not enough
to just be good at your wedding specialty. You've got to maximize
your profit. Learn the secrets of the business side of the
wedding business.Will Hegarty began as a wedding photographer at the age of 15. He earned his degree in Business Management, started Images Wedding Photography, and sold it. He has documented more than 2000 weddings. He is the founding president of Rockford Fosgate car audio, which went public. Will & his wife Patti met at a wedding, where he was the photographer and she was a bridesmaid. Patti has her Masters in Education. They organized their first bridal show in 1992 with 28 exhibitors. In 2006, their two shows each had over 600 exhibitors, the largest in America.
Andy Ebon
owner of The Wedding Marketing Network
Since the mid-90’s, it has become a
web-centric world. It
has become exceedingly difficult to stay above the crowd of
competitors’
web sites. Creating and maintaining a business blog is one way to
continually communicate and promote your website and business, without
constant dependence on a Webmaster.In this session, you will learn to understand the differences between a blog and a website, the technical ease of setting up a blog, how to use a blog for cross promoting your business and other people’s businesses and why ‘RSS Feed’ is one of the most important new terms you need to know.
See Andy's bio, above, in the 9:00-10:00 section.
Kris Malandruccolo
owner of Elegant Videos by Kris, public relations chair of WEVA, and columnist
This presentation will show
how you can use video as a tool to market your own services and gain
more business with internet savvy brides and wedding professionals.
Experience the current trends in wedding and event video production.
Experience how today’s marketing tools, including the internet ,
blogging and the video iPod can help you get more business. Kris will
also share marketing tips to
make your website, business card and print ad stand out amongst the
crowd. Kris Malandruccolo was voted one of the "Top 25 Videographers in the World" by EventDV magazine for her profound influence in the industry. Kris is the WEVA Public Relations Chairwoman and President Emeritus of Illinois Videographers Association. Kris is the only videographer to earn the title of Master Wedding Vendor through the Association of Bridal Consultants. Kris, an award-winning columnist and contributing editor, writes The Reel Deal column for EventDV magazine. Kris is a nationally recognized speaker in the video industry.
Marketing Your Message Through the News
Media
Tom Haibeck, APR
president of The Haibeck Communications Group, Inc.
Tom Haibeck, APR
president of The Haibeck Communications Group, Inc.
What would
it mean for your business if you were profiled in your local newspaper?
Or booked as a guest on a national TV talk show? Or listed as a
"wedding industry expert" in the rolodexes of reporters and editors
throughout
the country? That kind of media coverage can be a very powerful marketing tool (just ask Donald Trump, Steven Jobs or Richard Branson -- all of whom have built their business empires through masterful media strategies). Get the inside scoop on how to get "ink" for your organization by attending this informative session presented by media strategist, Tom Haibeck.
Over the past 25 years, Tom has worked with some of North America's leading companies on a wide variety of media relations programs (see Haibeck.com). He is also the author of a best-selling book (over 100,000 copies sold) called "Wedding Toasts Made Easy" (see WeddingToasts.com). The book got a huge media hit recently when Regis Philbin used the book to prepare for his own daughter's wedding -- and thought so much of it he featured it on his show! The book will also be featured in upcoming issues of "Men's Health" and "Hallmark" magazines.