You Are Your Brand

I would never profess to be a marketing expert.  In the wedding arena, there is none better than Rebecca Grinnals at Engaging Concepts.  She spends her days (and nights) knowing all there is to know about the state of the wedding business, its trends and what are the most powerful ways to market your wedding business.  For general marketing, I am definitely a Seth Godin fanatic.  The man just gets it and I learn from him every day.  I am a sponge though.  I read a lot of blogs, look at a ton of sites and generally try to stay up on what is happening in the world of creative business.  More importantly, I think I understand branding and what makes a brand stand out in a crowd.

You are all so unique, yet, I find it so ironic that, when it comes to marketing, so many of you do what the crowd is doing in order to stand out.  Your sites, blogs and marketing materials generally cover the same topics.  The images you use are lovely, but so often are just permutations on a theme. 

I do so understand the need to tell the world about your business and give those that find you what they need to see what you do.  The only thing is — you are not selling widgets, you are selling you and your art.  This is as personal as it gets.  I might be proven wrong here, but technology can only communicate your brand to the world, it will never make the sale for you.

You have to be able to communicate the core of your brand in a sentence.  Everything else that you show should just reinforce that message.  You can not and should not want to be all things to all people, nor offer them every array of service under the Sun.  You need clients that fit with whatever you are about.  All of the ancillary stuff will come with the right client.  Putting it out there in such an obvious way will DEFINITELY turn some people off, but hopefully it will also turn the right people on.  If you want an example of someone who I think is doing it really right take a look at Lara Casey and what she is doing with Southern Weddings.

All of this begs the question: you spend so much time and money doing your sites, blogs, FB, Twitter,etc., why are you doing it?  If it is only to tell people that you are out there, I am not sure this will yield you what you need.  Why not put a stake in the ground and let everyone see the essence of who you and your art are?  Then invest your time and money figuring out new and fresh applications to help spread your message.