The Best 14 Posts Of 2014 & What’s New For 2015
I really can’t believe it’s the end of 2014 already! It feels like the time just flies by. I always check in with my Google Analytics but this time of year I look back to see what the top posts were for the entire year (and you should too!). Here is the best of 2014 and what is coming up for you in 2015! (Tip: Many of these posts are not the most recent posts which shows the power of blogging. When you blog, you build an asset that brings customers to you.)
The Best 14 Posts Of 2014
1. Everything You Need To Know About Pinterest Analytics
Why you’ll love it: Do you use Pinterest to market your business? If you have a business account you may have noticed that Pinterest has really upped their game with their analytics. In this post I have a video that takes you step by step through Pinterest Analytics and what you can learn from it!
2. How To Use Facebook Ads The Right Way
Why you’ll love it: I always hear wedding professionals saying that Facebook ads don’t work. Those people are right, they don’t work…….if you’re doing them the wrong way. But you’re about to learn how to use them the right way.
3. Why Sales Is Just Like Dating
Why you’ll love it: What would you do if someone came up to you and asked you to marry them? Unless you’re really itching to marry a stranger, you’d probably be kind of freaked out, uncomfortable and would look for a way to escape the situation. You probably don’t realize it, but this is exactly what you’re doing to your potential customers when you expect them to land on your website and get in touch with you to have a sales conversation. This is going to help you learn to make sales without being the creep that proposes on the first date.
4. “How Do I Book More Weddings?”
Why you’ll love it: I talk to a lot of people who ask me questions like “How do I book more weddings?” as if that is something I can answer in one sentence. I know why people ask that question though – they want a magic pill. There is no magic pill, but there is a proven system you can follow.
5. You’re Not Too Busy, You’re Just Not Organizing Your Tasks Properly
Why you’ll love it: “I’m busy” is quite possibly the most overused phrase among small business owners and it’s not because they’re actually busy doing things that matter. Not creating, learning and implementing systems to make your life and work easier and more efficient is lazy and it’s making your life much harder than it needs to be. Let’s fix that!
6. How To Build Relationships With Other Wedding Vendors, Bloggers, Editors or Anyone!
Why you’ll love it: This strategy can be used to nurture existing relationships and build new ones. This is how I find a lot of my guest posting opportunities and a lot of podcast guests. My clients have used The Spotlight Technique to build partnerships with fellow wedding professionals and build a referral network, get featured on blog and get featured in magazines.
7. 5 Styled Shoot Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making
Why you’ll love it: If you’re going to take the time to put together a styled shoot, you may as well make sure you do it right. People make all sorts of mistakes when it comes to styled shoots but these are the 5 biggest ones that I have seen people make. The good news is, you don’t have to make them because I’m going to show you how to avoid them!
8. How To Juggle A Job & A Wedding Business
Why you’ll love it: Trying to work full time (or part time) and grow your wedding business at the same time can be tricky and exhausting but it doesn’t have to be that way. I love simplifying things so this post is dedicated to helping you work on both your day job and your business without going crazy. I’ve been there and this is what I’ve learned.
9. Are You Doing Marketing All Wrong?
Why you’ll love it: Do you participate in any wedding industry Twitter chats? I do. I make sure I take part in #weddinghour and #weddingoclock and there is something I see wedding professionals doing in these chats that is part of a bigger problem. Twitter chats are meant to be social and conversational but wedding industry Twitter chats end up being spammed to death by wedding professionals who don’t realize they are doing marketing all wrong.
10. 7 Tools That Will Save You 5+ Hours Each Week
Why you’ll love it: I hear people tell me all the time how hard it is to keep up with their email or social media or about a million other things, but it’s not if you use the right tools and approach it strategically. There are lots of tools that will help you make the most of your time but these 7 tools easily save me 5 hours per week at the very least. That’s a bare minimum of 20 hours per month or 240 hours per year. Imagine what you could do with that kind of time!
11. 6 Huge Benefits Of Doing A Styled Shoot
Why you’ll love it: A lot of wedding professionals do styled shoots, sometimes with the goal of getting them published on a wedding blog, sometimes just for fun but there are 6 huge benefits of doing styled shoots that you may not have thought about.
12. 8 PR Mistakes That Make You Look Like You Have No Idea What You’re Doing
Why you’ll love it: Are you doing PR for your wedding business? It doesn’t have to be difficult but people seem to make the same mistakes and they hold them back. By avoiding these 8 common PR mistakes you’ll greatly increase your chances of getting coverage and you’ll avoid looking like you have no idea what you’re doing!
13. How To Deal With Decreasing Organic Reach On Your Facebook Page
Why you’ll love it: It’s no secret that the organic reach of your posts on your Facebook page has decreased – drastically. There’s been a lot of bitching about it all across the interwebs but let’s focus on what to do instead of complaining. After all, we’ve all had a free lunch for a really long time and Facebook is a publicly traded business responsible for making money & creating profit for shareholders.
14. Marketing To Millennials & Growing Through Vendor Love With J Sandifer
Why you’ll love it: Millennials are different. They are the first generation to grow up in the digital age and their values & behavior differs from other generations. That means we have to market to them differently and today’s guest will help you do that. We also discuss vendor love and why you should focus on building relationships with your fellow vendors if you really want to succeed.
What’s Coming In 2015
I’m very excited about 2015 and you should be too because I’ve got a lot in store for you!
As you may know, The Inner Circle just got a makeover & an upgrade and some of the topics we’re covering in 2015 include…
- Creating Your PR Plan For 2015 with Nicola Russill-Roy of Propose PR
- Pricing For Profit with Bryan Caporicci of Sprouting Photographer
- Planning An Event For Your Potential Customers with Ross Dean of Ross Dean Photography
- Creating An Amazing Customer Experience with Val Geisler of Aspire & Grow
- And a whole lot more!!!
Only Inner Circle members get access to these trainings and the podcast vault and if you join before January 1st, you’ll get in at 2014 pricing. The Inner Circle is one of my biggest focuses in 2015 and it’s only going to improve and grow this year so now is the time to get in!
I’m opening Book More Weddings Academy again in January 2015 and the course starts on February 2nd.
If one of your goals for 2015 is to book more weddings, this is the course for you – and this time there are 3 different packages to accommodate different budgets & needs! Book More Weddings Academy won’t open again after this until autumn 2015.
I’m moving to San Diego this spring!
I’m very excited that I’ll be seeing the sun on a daily basis and can kiss the cold goodbye but I’m also excited that I’ll be able to attend and speak at wedding industry events in the US like Wedding MBA in Las Vegas. If you’re in the San Diego area, let me know!
I’m starting another business.
This is unrelated to the wedding industry but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I’ve long wanted to help educated people about the many opportunities we have in this digital age to earn in ways that aren’t the typical 9-5.
I met my perfect business partner for this business in a social entrepreneurship course and we’ve decided to focus on working with survivors of domestic violence to help them find flexible working options like starting a business, finding a work from home job that actually is legit or freelancing. We’re also going to be working on helping them to build a stable financial future because economic empowerment is really lacking and incredibly important when it comes to helping people get back on their feet.
If you’ve worked with or work with a domestic violence organization or know someone who does, I’d love to talk to you!
I’m working with a FANTASTIC virtual assistant (I love you Jess!).
If you don’t have one, you should read this book and start thinking about how you could start outsourcing and free up some of your time to generate more revenue or take some time off!
And lots more 🙂
