Click & Register!

Marketing in the New Age: Low cost branding and marketing strategies which will have an impact on something other than your pocketbook!

WHEN: Tuesday May 8, 2012

6:00-9:00PM

WHERE: Maggiano’s Little Italy

2000 Route 38 Ste 1180

Cherry Hill, NJ 08002-2100

In the age of social media, where the internet allows for companies to rise and fall quickly, how does your brand stand apart from that of your competition? Is your website content just “pretty” or does it allow search engines to direct customers to the services you offer? Does your marketing material speak the language of the clientele you are aiming to attract and your brand offer consistency from your physical appearance to your social media presence?

Join the Association of Bridal Consultant Southern NJ Local Networking Group on Tuesday May 8, 2012 as we welcome our four industry experts to give insight on low cost ways of effectively marketing through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Brand Imaging.  This will be an interactive experience so bring your laptops and tablets and learn how to make your “brand” work for you!

6:00-6:45pm: Cocktail reception

6:45-7:00 pm: Venue Tour

7:00pm-8:45pm: Speaker Presentations

8:45pm-9:00pm: Networking over desserts

Speaker Bios:

Damon Deitz, Absolute Media Productions

Damon is a New Jersey based luxury filmmaker and expert in the areas of marketing and SEO for wedding professionals.   He is an active member of many local & national associations such as the NJVA (New Jersey Videographers Association), ISES (International Special Events Society), ABC (Association of Bridal Consultants), Toastmasters International, and currently serves on the board of directors as the V.P. of Membership for the ISES North NJ chapter. Damon will teach us the basics of SEO and how to make it work for your business.

Robin Fisher, Polished -The Image & Style Consultants

Robin is a certified image consultant, with over 15 years experience in the fashion industry. Robin’s roots began in the wedding industry and her work has since graced the pages of The Washington Post, Washingtonian, The Epoch Times , Roll Call,  NBC Washington. Eco-Beautiful Weddings and District Weddings . She hold a B.S. in Industrial Technology from San Francisco State University, and a Masters in International Business from the University of Maryland and she has. Her philosophy is simple, “clothes talk even when you are silent”.  Robin will present on how to develop a personal image and style complimentary to your brand.

Jordan Brian Wolochow, Jordan Brian Photography

Jordan Brian is a wedding and lifestyle portrait photographer located in Mount Laurel, NJ.  Jordan graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from Rutgers University. Photography is so much more than a career for Jordan. It is his passion to be able to create art while making close, personal connections with others. He’s very laid back, fun, and loves to work on his cheesy ‘80s-‘90s dance moves with the bridal party(and Grandma if she’s game).   Jordan has successfully managed to expand his thriving photography business to elite clientele, without investing any money in traditional marketing dollars.  Want to know how he does it? Ask him yourself!

Terrica Skaggs, The Chic Wedding Geek

Terrica Skaggs has revolutionized the way wedding vendors have approached working with their clients, vendors and maintaining their businesses. By coming up with creative and inspiring ideas and methods for consultations, client retention and service as well as back-office maintenance, she has transformed how many wedding planners have streamlined their work processes.  As the owner of Cocktails + Details, a destination wedding company in the Golden Isles of Georgia, she plans the weddings for clients across the globe in Coastal Georgia, the Mexican Riviera and in the Caribbean. Terrica is also the owner and administrator of iWED—the largest online community for wedding planners. iWED stresses and fosters continuing education, professional support and networking in a Facebook-like interface. Terrica has been a speaker at the 2009 and 2010 Eventology conferences, a featured guest expert on many online talk shows and blogs regarding technology in the wedding industry and serves as a consultant to the industry’s largest software developers.!   Terrica’s work has been featured in publications such Style Me Pretty, The Knot, Munaluchi Bride, Elizabeth Anne Designs, Grace Ormond Wedding Style, Real Simple Weddings, Southern Weddings.  Terrica will be joining us virtually to present on incorporating your brand image into all that you do.

We’d like to say a special thank you to our event sponsors for the evening: Maggiano’s Little Italy-www.maggianos.com our host for the evening, Jordan Brian Photography http://www.jordanbrian.com/ our media sponsor,  Untouchable Entertainment Group (Deejay 00 Seven)http://www.untouchableentertainmentgroup.com/ for providing the entertainment for the evening and Ten23 Designs www.ten23designs.com.

Two weeks ago on Wedding Wednesday we discussed one of the benefits of the Association of Bridal Consultants to our readers. We discussed how to become a Sandals Representative as a way to provide honeymoon and travel services to your clientele. This opens up the services you can offer to your clients and is also a great way to earn extra income!

This Wedding Wednesday we are going to discuss another benefit we have available to our members. The Association of Bridal Consultants has worked long and hard to be able to provide five courses which is collectively titled the Professional Development Program. This is your guide to becoming a professional bridal consultant. Each chapter offers valuable information to you, the planner, to help grow your wedding business. Knowing these multiple levels related to weddings will help you when assisting your clients in getting ready for their big day. The Professional Development Program is done at home and at your own pace.

The first course is titled “Etiquette” which gives you a background on how weddings are traditionally carried out. Of course, in this modern age traditional etiquette doesn’t always apply, but it is good to know how things were typically run.

Course B teaches you all things sales and marketing. You must have some sort of background in business to help you run your company to the best of your ability. With traditional business classes, it can sometimes be hard to see why all the various points presented are relevant to you. With this course, it defines the most important aspects of business and relates them closely to the wedding industry. This will surely give you an “aha” moment and help you link business and weddings together into one conceptual whole.

Course C discusses the Wedding Day in specific. It gives a rounded explanations on how to handle various different kinds of receptions. America is not the land of one culture, but many, and as a planner it is important to know how all different types of cultural and religious receptions are conducted.

Course D helps you to define the little details of the wedding day. Of course, up until this point you have been given general knowledge of weddings and running your business, but a wedding requires many team members to be successful. As the planner, you can’t be the florist, videographer, photographer, dress designer and so on all at once! This section is specifically designed to help give you an idea of all the various “little details” that are needed to make a wedding come together seamlessly. Additionally, this chapter offers insider tips when selecting vendors to work with.

The final course in the program is Course E which is titled “Planning & Consulting.” All the courses thus far have lead up to this one and now you can get ready to apply every item learned in this final chapter! This course is designed to help you perfect your image along with designing packages, developing a networking system, and guiding the couple through many emotional and strenuous decisions throughout the planning process. Being a wedding planner requires you to wear many hats and this chapter is designed to help you bring all of that together.

We highly recommend taking these courses to help perfect your brand. At the end of every chapter, there is an exam and if you pass the exam you are rewarded two points toward the official Association of Bridal Consultants point system. There is also a final project at the end, which is sent to you once you complete all five courses. The final exam with projects is worth three points towards the point system. Additionally, you have the option of earning an extra point by gaining an overall average of 94 percent on all exams!

If you are interested in learning more about the Professional Development Program please click here. The program is available for purchase in digital and hard copy.

One of the most important aspects in the planning process is setting up a budget. This may be one of the most difficult hurdles you will need to overcome, but it is necessary for you to follow through with appropriate vendors and plans that conincide with the percentages allocated to each category. Without a budget, you cannot do your job as a planner.

Of course, budgets vary from couple to couple. But there has to be some average to give you an idea, right? Luckily, there are averages available for us to look at. These numbers will help you immensely when meeting with clients. Recently, TheKnot.com & WeddingChannel.com teamed up to find out what the current average wedding budget is. These two entities are huge go-to resources for those getting married, accounting for 80% of brides in the country.

The study was conducted through a survey of 18,000 US couples whom had registered with TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com. Shortly after their wedding date had passed, these organizations sent a questionnaire to contacts within their database. They asked a variety of things from each respondent, related to not only budget but design and style. Each participant had a wedding in 2011 and was over the age of 18. The results represent a multi-cultural and geographical sample.

The results brought to light something we can all say is good news! Wedding budgets are now on the rise, for the first time in five years. Presently, for 2011 the average wedding budget was $27,021. What important thing we must remember is this is a general umbrella related to the entire country, these results will vary based on region. Knowing that overall wedding spending is on the rise is good, but what is better to know is how wedding budgets are in your area.

Living in the city is more expensive than living in other areas. This survey highlights how Manhattan is the most expensive place to get married, with the average budget at $65,824. This makes New Jersey wedding budgets higher than the overall average and more closely linked to the average in Manhattan. This survey highlights that the average wedding budget in Northern & Central New Jersey is $46,600 and $38,103 for Southern New Jersey.

Other important elements we took from this survey noted that brides located in New York, New Jersey & Pennslyvania had longer engagements, averaging about 16 months.

While the specificity of region causes a vary in numbers they do hold the same common theme of increasing wedding budgets. This is very important to know when aiding your bride in the first steps of her planning process. Being able to provide financial statistics will only make you look more credible!

Further results on this survey can be found by clicking here. There is a wealth of information offered by this survey to showcase the latest trends in the wedding industry!

The Association of Bridal Consultants offers many benefits to its members in assisting them to become wedding planners. Our educational seminars offer the most up to date information in the industry to help you keep innovating and maintaining your brand. For beginners, we offer a professional development program that is geared to help you build your business from the ground up. All of our events offer abilities for you to network with fellow professionals. We believe networking is a key fundamental in this industry. These are just a few of the many things our bridal association program has to offer. One of latest benefits added to our roster is the Sandals Certification Program. Yes, our association is  now working with the prestigious Sandals Resorts! We would like to thank our president, David Wood, who made this option to our members possible.

Sandals Resorts is one of the most well known island resort getaways. The brand offers all inclusive packages in many unique venues located around the Caribbean in Antigua, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and even a private island. The resorts treat every guest to five-star service and accommodations. In the all inclusive package, guests are able to enjoy diverse cuisine options from over 50 nations, unlimited top shelf drinks, scuba diving, water sports, golf lessons, fitness programs, around the clock entertainment, pools, pristine beaches, luxurious views and accommodations. These exceptional attributes make Sandals Resorts the premier choice for honeymoons and other getaways. But what exactly is the Sandals Certification Program and how will this benefit you?

By becoming a Certified Sandals Representative, you are now able to open up the service of travel to your brand. You can now offer honeymoon services to your bride and grooms or vacation packages to a client who is thinking of traveling over the summer. Now you are more than just a wedding planner or event planner, you have added the specialty of travel planner to your repetoire. You not only have something additional you can offer your clients, but you are now adding additional income into your salary.

The process for becoming a Sandals Representative through the Association of Bridal Consultants is very simple. All that is required is yearly attendance at a Sandals educational seminar, which is offered at the New Jersey and national conference each year. The program usually runs for approximately four hours. In this meeting you will learn about the various resort rooms, the number of rooms, types of packages, prices, and local services. To attend this additional, optional seminar comes of no extra cost to you as it is included in your conference ticket price!

Of course, Association of Bridal Consultants members have the option of actually attending a destination trip to one of the resorts. These types of getaways run three to five times a year, and all that is required is your air travel and a small fee to Sandals Resorts. Not only is this a great excuse for you to plan a getaway of your own, but you will actually have the ability to see all the little details that make Sandals Resorts unique. You may find knowing these little obscurities when pitching the idea to a bride or future client useful as you can offer inside tips that you may not have been able to before!

Once you have become certified, either through the NJ state conference, national conference or a destination trip, pitching them to your clients is easy. One way we recommend doing this is finding out from your brides in their inital questionaire what their honeymoon plans are. You could simply ask, “Have you thought about your honeymoon?” or ask about their plans in their inital consultation. When pitching it to other clients, you could simply ask if they have thought about a vacation after the event and then offer your vacation planning services to Sandals. Include it in your website, blog about it, you never know who might be looking for a vacation!

If you find a client who is interested in booking vacation or honeymoon services, all you need to do is contact your Sandals representative with the clients information and they will do the rest. Sandals can also provide you with some promotional brochures and catalogs for you to give to your clients if you desire. Even if your client does not decide to book your regular services, they can still book their honeymoon or vacation through you!

Virtually nothing is required from you once you sent your client’s contact information to your Sandals Representative. They will reach out to your client and take care of all the fine details. In the end, when your client books their services with Sandals, you can expect to receive a 12% commission on the booking! Checks have been as little as $400 to as high as $10,000! This is great for novices as well as our senior members. You can now supplement your income with a fabulous new travel service, that requires virtually nothing of you!

Our state coordinator, Candice Benson, and president of the Association of Bridal Consultants, David Wood, recently participated in a tweet chat with Wedding Market Chat (@weddingmarketchat) on the benefits of becoming a Sandals Representative. If you missed it you can still see the transcript of the chat here!

Another reason why we love Sandals Resorts? It’s community efforts. Today marks the third birthday of the Sandals Foundation, which is a program that was implemented by Sandals Resort to help preserve the environment and assist individuals in need throughout the Caribbean. Check out the article here!