Have you RSVP’ed to Wedding Beer & Blog Night at BridgePort Brew Pub?

Wedding Marketing NOW! & BridgePort Brew Pub Present. . . .

Beer & Blog Night at BridgePort Brew Pub

Wedding professionals come drink beer and blog about your craft for FREE! Learn how to make money from your blog. Also learn how to find more clients using a blog. Blogging is the fastest way to help brand your business. Come blog with some of the best bloggers in the WORLD, no joke! Bring your laptop or tablet and come thirsty for beer and ready to blog.

BridgePort Brew Pub has been so kind to host this event for all the Portland area wedding professionals! Make sure you thank them for their hospitality! Also, they would love to invite you down before the event and enjoy dinner at the Brew Pub! It’s a great way to start the week. The food is amazing, the beer is to die for, and the atmosphere is Portland at its finest!

We do need a head count for this event, so PLEASE RSVP!!

Go and RSVP HERE!

Address:

1318 Northwest Northrup Street Portland, OR 97209

If you have any questions or you would like to sponsor this event for only $50, please contact me at weddingmarketingnow@gmail.com.

10 Years in the Future of the Wedding Industry

This is a blog posting from my husband and better business half, Simon Blanco. 

To see more posts like this one please go to The Wedding Experience.

10 Years In The Future – Stats Of The Wedding Industry

Published on May 4, 2012 by Wedding Experience in bad, Bridal event, bridal expo, Bride, bridesmaids, Ceremony, decorations, expectations, good, Groom, guests, Industry, Male, marketing, Mobile App, networking, Reception, Social Media, technology, website, wedding, wedding event, Wedding Expo, wedding show

We at the Wedding Experience are constantly looking at stats, numbers, and results in not just the wedding industry, but also in social media, and the general economy. You always need to be looking ahead and thinking ahead, otherwise you fall behind. As technology keeps changing almost every year, you either adapt or lose business. This is going to become ever harder in the wedding industry in the next 10 years for several reasons.

People in their 20′s-30′s-40′s are going through something that their parents generation never had to deal with . . . they aren’t retiring. The Baby Boomers celebrated a time when their parents retired and it cleared the workforce for a new generation to take the place of the “Greatest Generation.” Recently on CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/16/retirement/age/index.htm) we have seen that the Baby Boomers are going to work late into life and not retire for quite a while, if at all.

This is a problem because that means the people that should be retiring and making way for the new generation is still working and taking clients.Right now there is a generation that is making it’s mark, and in 10 years another generation that will be pushing in. The whole time the number of people getting married is not rising proportionally to how many vendors there are. You will have 3-4 generations of vendors going after the same number of clients. This means you need to be on the cutting edge, doing something different, reaching the clients in a different way . . . and you better be doing it now! If you don’t you will be left behind.

Beer & Blog Night at BridgePort Brew Pub August 27, 2012

Portland wedding professionals get your calendar out!  You are now officially busy on Monday, August 27!!  Why?  Because you are coming to the Beer & Blog Night at BridgePort Brew Pub for Wedding Marketing NOW!  We told you we’re going to bring you awesome FREE events that are worth your time!  This event is for wedding professionals who want to take their blog to the next level!  Is your blog making you money?  Why not?  Come learn how your blog can make you money and bring you way more clients!

Unfortunately there is NO childcare at this event.  We do offer free licensed childcare at some other events.

Make a reservation to have dinner at the Brew Pub at 6:00 pm and then come and have some beer upstairs on a nice hot day for FREE and learn how to make more money by blogging.  Bring your laptop or tablet because we will be blogging (that’s the point of a beer and blog night)!

Go to the Facebook RSVP page and let us know that you’re coming!  It’s FREE!  It’s only FREE because of the AMAZING sponsor BridgePort Brew Pub!!!  Best beer, best staff, best place to come and chill out on a hot Monday evening!

RSVP HERE!

Sponsor a Wedding Marketing NOW! event and gain major exposure

Here at Wedding Marketing NOW! we are looking for sponsors for our workshops, events, and conference!  Do you want major exposure on one of the fastest growing wedding business websites in the world!  Everyday we are increasing our unique visitors by 5% to 10% daily!  Gain more exposure to your website, receive more referrals from fellow businesses, and receive a buy one get one free coupon to the Wedding Marketing NOW! Conference 1.0.

Sponsorship is INCREDIBLY affordable at only $50 per event and you get exposure on the sidebar and bottom footer.  You will have exposure all year in the Vendor Listing area at the top of the page with a picture gallery or video!  You also get:

• a 6 foot table at the event to set up and showcase what you do
• a place to hang your banner or sign
• a 3 minute talk/presentation to the group about who you are and what you do
• a logo and link on the welcome page, sidebar, and bottom footer of Wedding Marketing NOW!, plus a premium listing on the Vendor Page

You get all this for a one time fee of $50!  Sponsorship money is used for childcare, food and games for children, refreshments, etc.  Contact us today about this opportunity!

 

Are you interested in $50 sponsorship(required) Yes Yes, this month undefined Yes, between now and June

How would you like to make your $50 contribution? Check made payable to Wedding Marketing NOW! Pay Pal - Accepts all major credit cards

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WordPress Themes

WordPress themes are what people use to make their website/blog look the way that it does. Many themes have tons of functions and some are limited in what they can do. My topic is weddings, and the theme that I ended up picking is called the “Forever Theme” and is literally dedicated to weddings. I chose a theme that had a lot of flexibility and the bold yet soft feel of what I was looking for. Many business owners are female in the wedding industry so it is appropriate that I have a theme that caters to women. Majority of my readers will be female so I wanted a theme that would be inviting to them.

When you are creating a website/blog you should definitely consider who your reader is going to be. This will make it easier for your reader to stay on your site, and attract more people to your blog too!

Seattle & Portland: Go See & Hear Alan Berg

Learn from a great professional in the wedding industry!  Alan Berg is coming to town!  Here is some information directly from his website:

 

• Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 2:30pm – 9:00pm
  Wedding Industry Leaders Conference – Seattle
  Cedarbrook Lodge, Seattle, WA
  Join me for an intensive series of informational, thought-provoking and motivational topics. After a successful event last year, Wedding Network USA has once again invited me to come up to the Pacific Northwest for a conference. This is a different setup than the other Wedding Industry Leaders Conferences. There’s an …

  See more | Leave a comment about this event

• Thursday, April 19, 2012, 3:30pm – 9:00pm
  Wedding Industry Leaders Conference – Portland
  The Wedding Lounge, Portland, OR
  Join me for an intensive series of informational, thought-provoking and motivational topics. After a successful event last year, Wedding Network USA has once again invited me to come up to the Pacific Northwest for a conference. This is a different setup than the other Wedding Industry Leaders Conferences. There’s an …

  See more | Leave a comment about this event

 

This is a great opportunity for your wedding business!  Learn more HERE!

 

 

Wedding Marketing NOW! Launch Date Announced!

Wedding Marketing NOW! Launch

Monday April 23, 2012

Doors open at 5:30 pm (walk around, network, talk to other wedding pros, sign up for FREE raffle)

Time: 6 pm to 8 pm w/ Food, drink, introductions, and presentation about Wedding Marketing NOW!  Afterward, mingling, dessert, and FREE signup to be in the online directory PLUS the raffle drawings.

Place: TBA

Price: FREE!!

Childcare: Yes     Cost: FREE

What should you bring: make sure you bring business cards, smartphone (if you have one), laptop (if you have one), and tablet (iPad, etc. if you have one), and your kids (if you have them) .

Get Ready For September!

Get ready for September, because you will have the opportunity to attend the best marketing conference you have ever!  Wedding Marketing NOW! is prepping for the 1rst Annual Wedding Marketing NOW! Conference in PDX.  Only the best marketing guru’s, other wedding pros that book solid and grow every year, and real bride and grooms telling YOU how they found their wedding vendors.

Bride and grooms are going to tell you how to find them!  Huh, ever heard of a conference doing that before?  There will be 3 groups of 3 newly wedded couples with different budgets and lifestyles.  You, the wedding professional will listen to a presentation about these couples, who they are, what they do for a living, how they found their wedding vendors, were they happy with their choices, would they do anything different?…etc.  These couples will NOT say who their wedding vendors were, just tell you the wedding professional briefly what they paid for each wedding vendor.  After the couples give their presentation the room will be open to ask these couples questions.  The best questions will be to target where these couples hang out, what online social media sites do they frequent, are they searching on the smart phones, how much time do they spend online, etc.?

1. Stop spending your marketing money in ways that are not getting you the results you want and need!
2. Stop paying to network!
3. Stop spending money on expos that don’t know how to target your market!
4. Stop putting money into formats that your target market does not read!

Instead, learn where your target market is “hanging” out!  Learn why your BRAND is EVERYTHING!  Analyze your cash flow with a marketing professional who is willing to take the time to help you find holes in your cash flow during the 2 hour “Cash Flow Dive-In” happy hour on the first day of the conference.  Take advantage if you are local as this conference will be in Las Vegas in 2013!

The tickets will be on sale in May!  There will be an early-bird special for the entire Month of May.  Prices will increase in June.  If you are local and would like childcare, there will be onsite childcare for a minimal fee.

More information coming soon!

Have You Heard of the Sonar App?

 

Before I try to explain what this amazing app does, let me take a quote from the Sonar website:

What is Sonar?

Sonar is a mobile application that uncovers the hidden connections you share with people nearby. We bottle the 1000s of connections that you miss every day- friends, friends of friends, fellow alumni, likeminded strangers- and put them in the palm of your hand. Sonar helps you use the information you share about yourself online to connect with the person sitting next to you.

Why is Sonar important for your wedding business?

You can take and sync your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare accounts to you Sonar account.  Lets say you are about to check-in at the Rose Quarter for a Blazer game.  Once you check-in you can see who from your accounts is also at the Blazer game, plus you can see that someone named Joe Schmoe is at the game who is friends with your friend Jane Doe on Facebook.  You might choose to message Joe Schmoe and say, “hi, how do you know our mutual friend Jane Doe?”  Joe Schmoe says, oh, yes, Jane, she did our flowers for our wedding last year!”  You message back to Joe saying, “Oh, wow, Jane and I work together often because I am a wedding planner.”  From there on you might realize you are sitting close by one another and you two meet for drinks at half-time because his best friend is getting married and has been talking about hiring a wedding planner.  Bam!  Networking at its best!

Give it a try, it’s a free app.  Here is the link to Sonar’s website: www.sonar.me.

Online, Mobile, and Video!

These are the 2012 trends: online marketing, have a mobilized website and native app, and video of your business!  Check out this video:

If you haven’t heard of the Online Wedding Experience, you must GO NOW!  http://weddingexperiencepdx.com/online-experience!

Here is an excerpt from the Online Wedding Experience:

We want the client to experience as much as they can with our website, The Online Wedding Experience, and mobile apps. In order to do this we are contracting videographers to come on site and record you in action! In order to be in our guide you must have a 5 min video that goes over your services, who your are, and at least 2:30 of you in action, live! We want the client to see you just like they would at the show, but they are getting a taste of it online. This will be included as part of the service we provide to our wedding professionals. It is not typical for a guide to provide video services, but like we said, we are bringing the wedding community into the 21st Century.

There needs to be a way to level the playing field! On a regular guide you are put in a category with every single other person and you don’t stand out. You are pitched against someone who is way less expensive than you, so you don’t book. If your business name begins with a “Y” you get the short end of the stick because you end up at the back of the Alphabet list. There might be so many in your category that brides get frustrated so they go to a different site that “seems simpler.” What if you invest in a guide where people aren’t even looking for quality, but just the cheapest, or just to get ideas and look at the pretty pictures. The Online Wedding Experience is going to eliminate the wasted phone calls with unrealistic couples, and match both the Wedding Pro’s and Bride & Groom’s with exactly what they want without the fuss.

Call and make an appointment now with The Online Wedding Experience!  You won’t regret it!  Call Simon at 360-771-8745 or go to weddingexperiencepdx.com/online-experience.