SECOND OPINION

After all the uncertainty at the beginning of the year, it has thankfully been a very busy season, as weddings have finally been able to take place. As things quieten down on the alteration front, Sue Lovell of SNOB, can start to concentrate on other matters – her marketing strategy for the year begins now

Working on 2020 postponed weddings, 2021 weddings, selling to 2022/23 brides and watching the 2020 Olympics, has made me unsure of what actual year I am in.

My working rail has gone from the brink of collapse to a refreshingly manageable amount, as each week that passes, dresses are taken away and finally make their trip down the aisle. It’s time for me to focus on my marketing strategy for the year ahead.

Who is she?

Getting your marketing right is the key to targeting your bride. Identifying your bride is the starting point. Who is she, where does she live, what is her style, her budget? Where does she search for inspiration?

Once you know who she is, then you need to know how to find her. Is she more likely to be reached via Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest? Which search engine will she use – Google, Yahoo or Bing? Did you know that more people use Bing at work – so will your bride be looking for dresses in her lunch break, on her work computer?

The majority of my brides come through recommendations, but I can’t just rely on that, I have to keep up ‘the noise’. According to my BridalLive statistics, over 70% of my clientele comes from a recommendation, a fact that still amazes and delights me. One bride has brought in 15 other bridal sales through recommendations!

We are not an industry where repeat business is necessarily an option, but recommendations are a really positive and highly cost-effective form of marketing. The power of Facebook, and the continued connection it brings is invaluable.

Putting together a strategy is certainly time consuming, but time and money aside, and to focus on my marketing, it is vital to know what my quarterly plans are, and to have everything in place, so it actually happens, regardless of how busy I am. Having a dedicated marketing budget is important, identifying where you want to spend it is essential. You cannot afford to get this wrong. The general rule of thumb is to attribute at least 10% of your turnover to your advertising/marketing needs. Making sure the budget is spent in exactly the right places is more crucial than ever today.

The right message

It is exactly the same for suppliers – they also have to identify their potential stockists, to ensure that the bride who aspires to wear the gown, knows where to buy it.

A good supplier will promote and support their stockists, helping drive customers to our door. So their marketing has to be attention- grabbing, aspirational and informative, appealing to both stockist and bride.

By marketing to the bride, and directing them to where they can find the dress, and by stores working to promote the labels we stock, we can capitalise, and piggy back on much bigger marketing budgets.

Keep this in mind... always

Supplier Marketing needs to say to the bride “you want this – then you can find it here, here, and here”.

Retailer Marketing needs to say “You want this – then you ONLY need to come here”. To maintain a level of presence through social media channels, and to be found organically on search engines, does take some work.

You can, of course, employ an agency to run your social media and website for you, but do they really know your business and can they

Supplier Marketing needs to say to the bride “you want this – then you can find it here, here, and here”. Retailer Marketing needs to say “You want this- then you ONLY need to come here”.

deliver the content that is in keeping with your voice and brand? On top of that, they are generally quite costly, and you can, with a little learning, undertake the basics yourself.

Make your presence felt

Your website, should clearly be up-todate and you should aim to re-dress it once a month, just the same way as your shop window, or the content and interest will become stale. Plus Google loves changes! While there are lots of DIY website builders out there such as the likes of Wix and Squarespace, these are best avoided if you want your website to be fully optimised. Wordpress continues to dominate the serious web building space and for good reason. It has countless plugins and a whole community of support, and any serious web designer would only build a site in Wordpress. It can be fine tuned to maximise the organic search criteria of the search engines and will get you found!

Websites are evolving, with static content being replaced by informative and product led video, so make the effort to get video content uploaded and bring your site alive. Endless pages of content are no longer relevant – brides want to see wedding dresses, video, and how to book in with you. How many times have you landed on a website to get the telephone number only to find it hidden on a ‘Contact Us’ page, which is never prominent! Top of your page should be your address, your email and your telephone number and a button to book an appointment online. While a well optimised website can serve you well with organic traffic, investing in online advertising is a must. The two firm favourites being Google Ads and Facebook. But, before you part with any hard money, make sure you know what you are doing.

Mr Zuckerburg is very happy if you click that ‘Boost’ button but avoid this and use the Business Manager interface to set up your campaigns, your advert set and then the creative – but most important of all – make sure you TARGET the right people.

Define your target audience

It can all be done by setting up the correct audiences; this will determine the geographic radius of where you want to target your brides. So, ‘females aged 25-50 who are engaged’, is a good place to start, plus it loops in the mother of the bride and groom by widening the age bracket.

Google Ads will quickly empty your pockets if you do not laser target your bride and only use the Expert version, otherwise you hand over too much control to Google and you will be another bridal shop owner claiming “Tried that, it doesn’t work”.

Paid ads on Google are very effective but you must be able to write strong ad copy and know how to set up the campaigns to deliver you appointments. That means getting to know the interface and discovering simple fixes, such as setting up negative keywords. These are simply lists of words used in search terms that are not relevant, ie ‘cheap wedding dresses’ – the negative keyword is ‘cheap’, put that into Google and it will obey you by not showing your advert when that search term is used.

Both Google Ads and Facebook are very obedient and they will do exactly what you tell them, so become a master of them and do not let them rule your advertising spend.

THE WAY FORWARD

Keeping an eye on the future, and where marketing is heading is so important. I have recently been looking into AR. Graeme from Cyan Group Marketing has been showing me genARate, an Augmented Reality platform that transforms traditional printed material into exciting, interactive 3D experiences that enhance engagement, while giving the customer all the information needed, delivery dates, colourways, a video.

The beauty of this is that it can be updated regularly, giving all the information a traditional brochure would cover, but using less paper. This will revolutionise the way marketing is done in the future, reducing waste, our carbon footprint and maximising client engagement. For suppliers, price lists and other confidential details can be in the triggers, activated on the app, and updated regularly. This will work with mouse mats, mugs, keyrings etc., traditional promotional materials. Promotional giveaways could have a more inherent value, if by the use of an app, your branded mousemat, or mug could update you on an offer. If I could get notified of a dress promotion, a delivery date or a special offer from my coffee cup, I would be more likely to use it, keep it visible, and value it.

And that’s the key isn’t it, having a value, interaction and knowing we are reducing waste, but maximising opportunities. The throwaway society is over, moving forward we need to adapt to more innovative ideas, encouraging engagement, connections and being more thoughtful in our approach to marketing.