He did respond and politely declined my assistance. Having read several of books, and many of his blog posts, attended another seminar of his, I feel Seth is a visionary and outstanding speaker. However I feel he ended up delivering an interesting but more generic presentation that did not get to the heart of the stationery industry issues.

I shared that sentiment with him and he responded, “He was hired as a speaker not as a consultant”.  However he also shared with me that he felt the retail environment has serious challenges and saw an opening for manufacturers to open up consumer channels but that were very specialized and that retailer has to really work hard to define a special niche.

I realize that some of the domain names that are available on my domain name site www.weddingindustrydomains.com would be a strong platform for either a stationery retailer or a stationery manufacturer to build consumer e-commerce websites targeting a niche that is in demand:

While I was against stationery manufacturers selling direct during many of my years in the industry, it is becoming an accepted practice under ethical circumstances and this is an article that covers some good basic points. http://bit.ly/13HlghQ.

While Seth might have not been exactly in his “domain” at NSS, here are some of the domains that one might purchase for future development knowing that is an asset that can be resold in the future. For more info on the value and benefits of domain names, please click here.

Some of those domains are:

BoxedHolidayCards.com
BoxedStationery.com
CoutureWeddingInvitations.com
CustomBirthAnnouncements.com
FanWeddingPrograms.com
GreenHolidayCards.net
GreenInvitations.net
LayeredInvitations.com
MonogrammedInvitations.com
NewBornAnnouncements.com
OneOfAKindInvitations.com
PersonalizedThankyouCards.com
ShowerInvite.com
Sweet16Invitation.com
TubeInvitations.com
UniquePartyInvitations.com
UpsacaleChristmasCards.com
UpscaleGreetingCards.com
UpscaleHolidayCards.com
WeddingPocketInvitations.com
WhiteInvitations.com
YellowInvitations.com

Please contact me for pricing or browse on www.weddingindustrydomains.com.

I had a lost weekend based on having a cold with a level of intense symptoms and weakness that smite me down from someone who could often not sit still to someone who could not get up.  My commitment to the couch was at my condo in sunny Florida, all alone. I had gotten away to play ball and do some creative work on my own terms. I could do neither.

However, despite the fact I did nothing but watch one channel, Turner Classic Movies, I gained from this lost weekend. I had a chance to understand the gift of health I take for granted every day. I also saw some of the greatest movies, all Academy Award Winners with actors like Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Audrey Hepburn who expressed the evils and temptations of the world without shedding an inch of flesh or uttering a profane word.

When I woke up this morning after dozing off through the Super Bowl and feeling much better, I realized that my mind had a better vacation that if my body stayed healthy.  And sometimes we just have to take vacations on our own terms and give ourselves that gift to rejuvenate the mind. I know for most of my audience which are wedding professionals, stationery retailers and wedding industry suppliers, now may not be the time.

The segment showed wedding disasters, groomzilla’s, and engagement frauds like a bride who pretended to be dying from cancer to hook her groom. They accused the industry of having higher prices just because it’s a wedding and proved proof by having 2 people call the same company for the same date for a wedding and a party, and get different prices. And they discussed how wedding businesses might look at the type of car that a bride drives to see how much money they can overcharge her.

The show could have been more tastefully done and fairer if they also brought in people reflect the greatness of our industry rather than interviewing controversial people like Denise and Alan Fields, author of “Bridal Bargains” who support one of the underlying themes of the show that brides need to be aware of being duped every where they go.

Fortunately, our industry has many influencers that create a truer picture and the show will be dismissed as the piece of tabloid journalism it was.

Stephen Taylor Photography, an established studio of over twenty years and one of the most caterer recommended event photographers, has a prominent retail location in thriving downtown Bernardsville, NJ around the corner from The Bernard’s Inn.  Their spacious studio has room to sub rent to several event related vendors which can result in tremendous mutual benefit. Reasons to consider this opportunity:

1) Give your business the prominence, internet advantage and credibility that a retail location has without the retail headaches of high rent, insurance, utilities and long hours.
2) Enjoy a location that has potential customers referred to you daily.
3) Be part of a new concept in event marketing through education that is being developed.
4) Cooperative advertising and marketing opportunities for a fractional cost.

They are looking for a few reputable and established vendors (other than photographers or videographers) that have an existing clientele.

Ideal for an Invitation Business, DJ or Band, Bridal Consultant or Party Planner, Wedding Clergy.

If you are interested please email Stephen directly at stphoto1@gmail.com with your contact information including your current location (specify home based or office), phone, email and website. He’ll be in touch very shortly to arrange a meeting to see the space. His website will be redesigned by our company in the coming months but you can see the high quality of this work at http://www.stephentaylorphoto.com/index2.php#/home/. Owner Stephen Taylor has tremendous knowledge and industry contacts that are sure to help your business in numerous ways.

Here are some challenges with popular priced invitation brands that are saturated in the marketplace:

• They typically do not allow a dealer to customize the invitation beyond the typeface, layout and ink color.
• Their price point only allows limited profitability, even at the full mark-up.
• Their products can be found heavily discounted online, through stores, through home based businesses and through other party-related categories that use invitations as a self-liquidator to help them sell their other services.

When you invest hundreds of dollars in a more upscale product line that has limited distribution, is not sold online and cannot be discounted, here are some benefits:

• Your profit potential on any order is much higher and you don’t have hard sell the advantages of why a client should buy from you rather than online. Superior and exclusive product lines are more likely to sell themselves.
• You drastically reduce the chances of losing a customer to another dealer and/or online purchase, after you have invested hours with a client narrowing down and selecting the perfect invitation suite. Try to calculate the number of hours lost of your valuable personal time and/or your employees’ time to showing “free” invitation albums to clients who never return.
• Guests receive invitations with higher allure that are associated with your business, thereby creating a much better likelihood of referrals.

One of the qualifiers in determining what the potential range a client is willing to invest is where the reception is talking place. The invitation is the first perception guests will have of the reception. You can influence some clients to spend more money, but you have to have products that shine above the ordinary. Also, if you ever want to have an affiliation with a particular hi-end venue, showing them a portfolio of your most impressive client designs goes a long way.

Abbey Malcolm

Since I left Encore over two years ago, I have been asked by hundreds of dealers for upscale resources, which I have shared in previous communications.

I would like to bring to your attention one additional resource that I showed images of in a recent blog post. Abbey Malcolm Letterpress + Design, a talented, boutique invitation brand, has received excellent accolades in several issues of Stationery Trends magazine. With over a decade’s experience for some of the nation’s top brands, owner/Creative Director, Abbey Malcolm and her team strive to make their clients’ visions a reality – whether they are ordering through their line of pre-designed or completely customized invitation suites. We had the pleasure of working with them on their new website and believe them to be a good choice as a supplier and as a resource for a retailer who enjoys working closely with a top designer for their upscale clientele.

Their Story
The Louie Award Winning Invitation Brand in 2011, and Trendy Finalist Marsupial is one of the premier invitation designers in the high demand category of pocket/pouch invitations. A family-owned company founded in 2005 after having a successful retail operation, they originally created a proprietary line of specialty envelopes and pockets to enhance the look and functionality of invitations. Based on the success of that product line, they expanded into printing and added several dealer-sold lines of custom wedding invitations and other event invitations, including a line dedicated to Bar/Bar Mitzvah. In 2010, the company launched its own online store where they also sell their entire line of products directly to the end user. The wholesale side currently has grown to over 400 customer accounts across the United States and Canada.

Why are they selling?
Unfortunately the company founder has developed stage-four lung cancer. His day-to-day presence and leadership has been extremely missed and the focus on growth and product development has been severely distracted. For quality of life reasons the family has decided to sell the business and pass the torch onto to an individual or group that can give this established brand the time and attention it needs to grow to the next level.

Who would be a good candidate to buy this business?
Stationery/Paper Company (Wholesale/Manufacturer)
Paper and Envelope Converting Company
Experienced invitation retailer or designer
Wedding accessory/favor brand

How is their business now?
All current Marsupial customers continue to be taken care of with all of the ease and expediency that dealers are accustomed to. The quality level and turnaround time are consistent. Dealers are busy selling their products and a new owner would be integrating under ideal circumstances.

How do you contact them for more information?
Please contact Meena Merchant via email at meena@marsupialpapers.com.

Apple’s new software update also poses a big problem for local businesses that have relied on Google Places for increasing their local search visibility with mobile users. While their Google Places listings are still accessible on desktops and non-iOS 6 devices, some business owners have found that their businesses are completely nonexistent or are listed under inaccurate categories with the new iOS 6 maps feature.

The reason for this is because instead of pulling local business data from Google Places, the new Apple mapping feature is instead using Yelp as their main source for local information along with other local search data sites. And while Yelp is a widely-used feature for many searching for restaurants, shopping, and other local businesses, Google Maps typically received most of the market share up to this point. However, the new Yelp integration with iOS 6 maps feature is set to be a game changer. As more users upgrade to iOS 6, you want to make sure that your business information is available to anyone using a mobile device—not just those with Google Maps.

So how can you do that? The first step is to make sure your business has a claimed and optimized a Yelp listing that has accurate information. Because the iOS 6 maps app also incorporates customer reviews from Yelp, you’ll also want to make sure to carefully monitor your reviews and even ask your happy customers to leave their feedback if your current reviews are lackluster.  Next, you’ll want to make sure that your business information is consistent across a variety of other directory listing sites, which is equally important for creating better visibility for your Google Places and Yelp listings.

If you’re not sure where to start with improving your local listings, we can help. Our online marketing experts will help you get your listings created and/or improved so you don’t have to do it yourself. We have an easy and affordable program that will ensure that your business is listed on Google Maps, Yelp, and several other directories so you can make sure its visible to all mobile users. Click here for more information.

So, how do invitation businesses get a piece of this “referral pie?” Well, it’s actually quite a simple concept! First, it is important to sell them on the idea that an ordinary invitation hurts the image of the venue because it can dull the anticipation of the event and lower the perceived status of the reception site. Second, and most important, there has to be something in it for the venue and/or caterer! Believe it or not, this is the easy part, because we all know that invitation businesses do more than just invitations!

One of our clients, Abbey Malcolm Letterpress + Design, a nationally known, boutique, dealer-sold stationer, works with venues and caterers in her local market to generate referrals. While she is one of the top letterpress invitation designers in the country, she has quite a following among venues and caterers in her local South Jersey market.

Here are just a few examples of custom products that Abbey offers her venues/caterers, who in turn, resell to their clients and/or include in their package:

1. Custom Menus: traditional menus in various sizes; menu place cards; tented menus; wine bottle label menus; bellyband menus (these actually wrap around napkins)

2. Custom Table Numbers/Names: tented and untented menus; wine bottle table numbers/names; die-cut table numbers/names

3. Candy Jar Tags and Signage for Candy Bars: Various shapes, including die-cut tags hung from ribbon; signage for candy bar

4. Signage for: photo booths, donation favors, signature drinks, guest sign-in; etc.

5. Seating Charts: She offers various styles of seating charts and the caterers/venues have the opportunity to rent beautiful frames to house them!

6. Escort Cards/Place cards: tented and untented cards in various sizes; hangtags with ribbon; favor boxes that double as escort/place cards; bellyband place cards

7. Favors: Custom labels that adorn wine and champagne bottles; die-cut tags with ribbon; bellybands wrapped around boxed favors; stickers for cupcake containers; Sparkler packaging

8. Custom Coasters + Napkins

The third and final key to getting recognized and enthusiastically referred is to offer stationery items and decor at a reduced price. This will allow the venue/caterer to either include these items in their initial offering or offer them as an add-on to their clients’ packages. If they feel that an invitation business is providing them added value at a reduced rate, they will be sure to keep that business at the top of its referral list.

Again, it all comes down to the fine details! One never really knows what element or offering is going to wow and inspire the client to choose one venue/caterer over another. But, we do know this… customers planning events want an event that will impress their guests and that’s where you, as invitation businesses, come in!

Christine Dyer

I have read the information disseminated by Christine Dyer from Bridal Tweet for the last 3 years and could tell immediately that she was not just another wedding professional sharing information with a limited scope. My immediate perception was that she came from a corporate background where she had a major role in marketing and was channeling her experience and expertise from a broader market for the purpose of making a difference in the wedding industry.

My hunch was validated as I found out she was in charge of Social Media for American Express and left her career to start a family. In the short few years with Bridal Tweet, she has become the most influential wedding entity on Twitter in the country and has a community of over 12,500 wedding professionals that she attracted from her genius. Please understand she does not do seminars nationally, have a wedding magazine or website that easily attracts businesses to sign up. She created this community from nothing but her understanding of the internet, social media and the value Bridal Tweet offers.

The fortunate thing is she continues to share valuable information on social media, SEO, web design and many other platforms of marketing through articles, blogposts, social media and videos from her own experience and implementation, in a very clear, concise, actionable format. She also carefully selects sage advice from industry experts. The end result is she continues to empower wedding businesses to take highly implementable and effective steps to learn and improve their business. Her latest videos are so spot on. The free information she gives here is stronger than most of the information you would have to pay for. You can download them by clicking here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRafYH6dWKE