Wedding vendors who are new to email marketing often ask us, “How should I write my subject lines so that brides will open my emails?”  Brides are usually inundated with emails from wedding vendors.  Take a look at these titles.  They tell you who the email is from.  They also tell you briefly what the email is about.  These titles also don’t sound like a salespitch from an advertisement.  Put your company name in the subject line.  There’s no reason not to.  Even if the bride doesn’t open the email, at least she’ll be exposed to your company name. 

1. Privileged Insights Sales & Marketing Newsletter
2. Privileged Insights Update (Oct 31 - Nov 4)
3. Privileged Insights May 2008 News Bulletin
4. Privileged Insights Newsletter - February 2008
5. Privileged Insights Newsletter - January 2008 [ *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|* ]
6. Privileged Insights and SalesLauncher Invites You!
7. Happy Holidays from Privileged Insights
8. Invitation from Privileged Insights
9. Privileged Insights - Website news - Issue 3
10. Upcoming Events at Privileged Insight

Compare the titles above to these titles below.  The ones below have a horrible open ratio.  A lot of times, because of the title, it will get sent to the bride’s spam folder.  Ask yourself.  Would you open these emails?

1. Last Minute Wedding Gifts - We Have The Answer
2. Valentines - Shop Early & Save 5%
3. Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday
4. Valentine’s Day Salon and Spa Specials!
5. Gift Certificates - Easy & Elegant Giving - Let Them Choose
6. Now Offering Wedding Services!
7. It’s still summer in San Francisco!
8. Joe’s Photography -  Holiday Sales Event
9. Jenny’s Real Estate -  for your next dream home.
10. Relaxing Resort - Spring into May Savings

Bottom line:  When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell the bride what’s inside, and the worst subject lines sell what’s inside. 

How are you currently marketing to brides?  Do all brides get the same email?  The same marketing newsletter?  If so, read on.  Not every bride is created equal.  Some brides have wedding budgets of only $5,000 whereas, you’ll find brides that have budgets of $200,000 on up!  Quite a difference there and the way you win their business will be different as well. 

Bridal segmentation strategies is a way to market into discrete bridal groups that share similar characteristics.  Bridal segmentation can be a potent way to identify unmet client needs.  Wedding vendors that identify and understand underserved brides can typically outperform their competition by creating new ways of servicing this industry that has a turnover rate of 15 months. 

Bridal segmentation garners the most results when wedding vendors creates customized offerings to brides that will bring them the most dollars for time invested.  For example:  A bride that lives in Beverly Hills should be sent emails and marketing material for honeymoons in Tahiti or the Maldives by a travel agent instead of the Caribbean or Mexico.  If you are going to send out marketing materials via mail or email, why not get target with honeymoons that will make you the most money?  For a wedding caterer, it could be as simple as sending the bride an email with lobster served with organic vegetable confit instead of roast chicken breast with rice pilaf.  To the high end bride, she would be much more inclined to read the email and contact the caterer.  It doesn’t take much more time or effort, but it will in the long run, make you much more money. 

This prioritization can help wedding vendors develop wedding marketing campaigns and pricing strategies to elicit maximum value from both high end and low end brides. 

To implement a bridal segmentation strategy, you must first understand the market that you are in.  Are you dealing with high end brides or low end brides?   Are you in an affluent area or not?  Do you have what it takes to market to the couture bride?  Do you understand what the high end bride wants in your area?  Brides in different areas of the country have different ideals as to what is high end or low end. 

First, divide up the wedding market into assessable segments according to the bride’s needs.  This is based on results of your previous encounters with brides.  Second, figure out the potential profit of each product/service that you offer.  You will have to analyze the revenue and the cost impacts of servicing each bridal segment.  Third, determine your potential profit and your ability to service the bride’s needs.  Don’t forget that working with higher end brides means more time spent with them as they are known to be a more demanding group.  Lastly, you will have to invest resources to create new marketing materials and ways to reach your target bridal group.  Some will decide that they would rather service the lower end bride and do volume but less hand holding and others will want to service just a few brides but have a much larger ROI.   

If your site is already optimized for Google but still hasn’t been indexed, here are some tricks to get your site indexed quicker, in many instances, less than 24 hours. 

This is how you can tell if Google has indexed your site.  Go to Google, type in your URL.  For instance, I typed in http://www.PrivilegedInsights.com and this is what i see:

Wedding Marketing Strategic Business Consulting Experts … - 30 visits - May 4

Privileged Insights provides marketing consulting to the wedding & honeymoon industry. Empower your search engine marketing (SEM), SEO analysis, …
www.privilegedinsights.com/ - 7k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

It shows my title, my description, and my website address.  If nothing shows, up, then your site has not been indexed yet.

To get indexed quickly, type into Google, a broad term that defines your industry.  For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, type in:  “wedding photographer.”  You are going to look for the sites that have the highest PageRank.  The higher the better.  The scale is from 0-10.  Anything higher than a 5, and you will want to email them and ask if they would be kind enough to do a link exchange with you.  It would help to have a link from your site to their site before you email them.  To check PageRanks, just download the Google Toolbar:  http://toolbar.google.com/T4/index_pack.html

If you link your website to a site with a page rank of 5, your site will get indexed in three days or less. If you link your site to a site with a page rank of 6, you can get your website indexed in less than 24 hours.

If you need help, or have further questions, feel free to drop me an email! 

Did you know that you should always keep close tabs on the websites that you choose to link to?  Do not associate your site with other sites that post on link farms, splogs, or those that employ black hat SEO techniques.  If your sites is caught associating with those websites, Google can penalize your site as well.  Guilt by association.  Unfair, but it can happen.  Just because a site today has a good Google PageRank, doesn’t mean that tomorrow they won’t use blackhat SEO techniques. 

Networking is a huge key to success in any industry but especially in the wedding industry where referrals and alliances formed can help keep business booming when a recession looms overhead.  Are you a wedding photographer, floral designer, wedding reception site, ceremony site, DJ, wedding videographer, wedding cake designer, bridal salon, bridal consultant, or wedding caterer?   If so, read on because if you’re not already part of an industry association, you may want to think about joining.

There are quite a few wedding industry associations .  Many are national associations with regional branch offices.  They typically hold monthly meetings and mixers where members can network and get to know one another.  Business ideas are shared as to what is working and what is not working in terms of booking weddings.   The associations that will be covered include:  the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC),  Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI), Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), Association for Wedding Professionals International (AWPI), National Association of Catering Executives (NACE), International Special Events Society (ISES), and the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD). 

The Association of Bridal Consultants is a great resource for bridal consultants.  A few benefits of joining the ABC  include their comprehensive Professional Development Program, job placement service, business name search,  advertising to brides on a national level, referrals, seminars, and local meetings. 
The Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) is a great marketing and networking association for wedding photographers.  Some reasons for joining them include:  attendance at WPPI’s Annual Convention & Trade Show, WPPI’s Referral Network can bring your wedding photograph business added photography assignments through their referral site, group buying rates and services. 

The Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) represents the best wedding photographers from around the world.  The WPJA sponsors seminars, conventions, and workshops geared towards wedding photojournalism.  The WPJA also provides a listing of its members for brides to search from. 

The Association  for Wedding Professionals International (AWPI) strives to strengthen the wedding industry through networking, marketing and promotions.   Your wedding business will be listed in their online and print directory.  You will receive a  monthly lead  list of brides that have requested a directory or assistance, can participate in their networking mixers, and referrals through their wedding hotline. 

The National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) provides the catering business with industry specific  education, networking with other professionals, seminars, conferences, and awards programs, internationally recognized professional certification, and a listing in their directory. 

The International Special Events Society (ISES) provides its members with professional development and education, a listing in their directory, networking parties, local meetings, and subscription to their Special Events Magazine.  This association is great for event planners but has members in all sectors of the wedding industry. 

The American institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) is a great association for wedding floral designers.  It is a great resource for brides to find a wedding floral designer in their local area.  Members have access to floral designs, floral shows, and accreditation programs.