Where Are Your Customers?

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One of the top questions we get from new businesses in the wedding industry is, “Where should I advertise?  Where should I promote my business?”  Everyone wants to know what the money-maker will be.  People want to hear, “By placing an ad in XYZ Wed Magazine, you’ll be working with high-end clients who want to pay you millions of dollars.”  This is the wrong approach. There is no one fit for every single business.  There are THREE CORE STEPS to knowing how and where to promote your business:

Define YOUR Customer

When I ask people, “Who is your customer?”  I often hear “Anyone getting married.” WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.  Your customer is not anyone getting married.  You offer a product or a service that fits a specific need and a specific person.  If you think that the wedding industry is “one size fits all”, you better back it up and start your marketing strategy from the beginning.  This is a highly customized and personalized industry that is serving people with very specific wants.  One size, one color, one style, one taste is not going to suit anyone getting married.

Be VERY clear about defining your customer.  Who are they?  Where do they shop?  Where did they go to school?  What do they do for work?  What do they do on the weekends?  Are they funky and casual?  Or traditional and fancy?  What music do they listen to?  What food do they eat?  What are their families like?  Their friends?  What are their values?  What are their prized possessions?  It is only in truly KNOWING your CUSTOMER that you will be able to make that match between your product or service and their wedding.

Determine Where These Customers Go For Information

Once you’ve fully identified your customer, take this one step further and make a list of every single resource that this person goes to for information.  Where are they doing research for their wedding?  Are they talking to their friends and family?  Are they relying on their wedding planner?  Are they reading magazines?  Do the magazines act as inspiration, or are they taking notes of brand names and wedding vendors?  Do they read wedding blogs?  Are there any that this customer is WILDLY ecstatic about?  Do they use any wedding websites?  Online planning resources?  Are they on facebook?  Are they on twitter?  WHERE DOES THIS CUSTOMER RESEARCH?

Determine How These Customers Make Purchasing Decisions

The last piece in this equation is figuring out how they make their buying decisions.  This is a tricky one so stick with me.  There are some customers that will research the hell out of the latest wedding trend, but they are ultimately more affected by what their friends are doing.  These friends ultimately control the bride’s psyche in terms of making a decision to go with Florist A or Florist B.  Some brides may buy 49 wedding magazines, but are ultimately impacted most by what they see on Style Me Pretty and What Junebug Loves.  And, some people have a lot of great ideas that they’ve researched but are often overwhelmed and rely on their planner to steer them in the right direction.

Do you see what I’m getting at here?  It’s important to know where people are getting information… but, it’s more important in knowing what truly influences someone to make a purchasing decision.

GET INTO THE PSYCHE…

Too many people put the cart before the horse.  They pay for an ad… or put all of their energy seeking editorial… on a website or magazine that is not a fit for their product or their customer.  You want the business, so you do what everyone else does.  Your ego gets the best of you.  (“I want to be in Martha Stewart!”) But, you haven’t even defined your customer… and you haven’t determined how this customer is going to find you.

STOP.  THINK.  BE INTENTIONAL.

People who buy my wedding invites tend to be very casual outdoorsy types who like lots of color and want something fun.  They are generally accountants, scientists, or computer people.  They tend to be in their late 20s to mid 30s.  They have very close friendships.  They have pets.  Do they go to Style Me Pretty?  Some do… a little bit.  But, they tend to be too busy to surf the internet all day.  They are ultimately most impacted by others to help them decide (a result of being too busy).  They mostly seek the expertise of their wedding vendors and their friends and family.  My promotional strategy is deeply embedded on that premise.

You need to get into the head of your customer.  Sure… these are going to be generalizations about a “type” of person (not everyone of my customers is outdoorsy).  But, for the most part, we have a very specific customer who buys our product. And, this customer does very specific research and has very specific buying trends.  The first step in your promotional strategy is not purchasing an ad.  It’s KNOWING your CUSTOMER… INSIDE AND OUT.