The Wedding Marketing Authority began his July speaking calendar by visiting the beautiful Southern California wine mecca of Temecula Valley.

On Tuesday, July 7th, Andy addressed a luncheon meeting of the Temecula Valley Wedding Professionals, with his keynote presentation, Marketing and Selling to the 21st Century Bride. Members and guests were also treat to a tour of the newly renovated Pala Casino. The casino had recently reinvested about $150 million to enhance their rooms, events space, public areas, and pool/courtyard.

Next stop is the ADJA Summer Conference, being held in Chicago, July 12 – 15th. Andy will open the conference with a special Sunday evening keynote, Building and Keeping Relationships That Count. Tuesday, he will present Facebook for Business, and Wednesday morning, a half-day version of his seminar, Blogging Your Way To Business Success.

This is the ADJA’s first national conference, and will be drawing speakers and attendees from across the United States. The American Disc Jockey Association has chapters throughout the country and many of them hold regional conferences during the year. As well, the ADJA holds sessions in conjunction with the Mobile Beat Magazine conference in Las Vegas.

Next stop is Oklahoma City for a breakfast presentation, Thursday, July 16th to the Oklahoma Wedding Professionals. Again, Andy will be delivering his keynote, Marketing and Selling to the 21st Century Bride. Then it’s back to Las Vegas.

Finally, Andy will be speaking at the NACE Experience 2009 in Charlotte, North Carolina, July 26-29. He will be delivering two presentations: Facebook & LinkedIn for Business, and Blogging Your Way To Business Success.

The Wedding Marketing Blog is in the process of developing an ongoing speaking calendar which will make it easier to see where Andy is scheduled to speak, and show availabilities for additional speaking engagements.

Joe Fabitz
Contributing Writer
The Wedding Marketing Blog

written by Joe Fabitz \\ tags: adja, American Disc Jockey Association, Andy Ebon, blogging your way to business success, Charlotte, Chicago, Facebook for Business, LinkedIn for Business, Marketing and Selling to the 21st Century Bride, NACE Experience, NC, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma wedding professionals, Pala Casino, relationships, Temecula Valley, Wedding Marketing Authority, wedding marketing blog

Not Michael James Slattery

In the last month, industry ethical and business industry issues have been front and center on The Wedding Marketing Blog. There have have been a number of posts related to Bella Pictures, its overall business model, changing personnel at the top level of the company, questionable public relations, bad bridal advice, and philisophical differences in their leadership ranks.

Today, former Bella Pictures photographer, Michael James Slattery, launched a blog lambasting the company. Slattery did not just arrive on the scene. He has shot over 500 wedding events for Bella Pictures; first as a contracted freelancer, then as an employee.

The change in his relationship with Bella Pictures begin in April 2008 when George White, co-founder, VP Photography was replaced by Tahra Makinson-Sanders. Suffice it to say, the relationship between Makinson-Sanders and Slattery became frosty, over time, resulting in his termination about a week ago.

Comment: The curious issue for me is how a veteran of 500 wedding events could suddenly become so easily discarded. You’ll find his emails to be both angry and aggressive. His tone reached this level in emails, essentially because he could found no satisfaction in phone calls. It is his belief that he was not getting straight answers or explanations, and. well….. he went off.

Draw your own conclusions by reading Slattery’s blog which posts his overview and an extensive exchange of emails.

Why I’m still interested in this issue:

Please read Slattery’s blog post, and post your comments here.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Andy Ebon, Bella Pictures, bridal advice, Jenny Lefcourt, Michael James Slattery, propaganda, Public Relations, Tahra Makinson-Sanders, Wedding Marketing Authority

Do you have any Grey Poupon?

As I was reading every possible book and resource on blogging, I came across the great title: No One Cares What You Had For Your Lunch: 100 Ideas for your blog It turned out to be one of the most important marketing lessons, about blogging, micro-blogging (Twitter), social networking (Facebook), and business networking (LinkedIn).

The essence is this: In all forms of advertising, marketing, social media, and networking you are vying for people’s attention within brief and/or limited time constraints. It is important that your words and images be pithy, crisp, motivational, interesting, and memorable. To ramble or post about topics that don’t pass the ‘Who cares?’ test is not just a waste of a reader’s time, it increases the likelihood that they will tune you out in the future.

So what is Ham Sandwich Marketing? It is my buzzword phrase, inspired by the aforementioned book. It is my notation of meaningless posts and status updates that are meaningless to virtually everybody but the person who initiated them.

Example: “Just had lunch at Wolfgang Puck with Susie, Johnny, and Big Al.”

My response (by Direct Tweet or Public Facebook Wall Post): “Did you have a ham sandwich?”

Wolfgang Puck

It’s my not-so-subtle sarcastic way of nudging the poster or blogger with the subtext: “I read your item. Am I supposed to know who Susie, Johnny and Al are? Am I supposed be impressed that you lunched at Wolfgang Puck. Why don’t just tell me you had a ham sandwich. That would be equally unimpressive and unnecessary?”

If you’re lunch was incredible, take a picture of the ham sandwich. post about the incredible Dijon mustard, the soft fresh-baked roll, and what variety of ham was involved. That has the possibility of being entertaining. Otherwise, you’re just engaging in Ham Sandwich Marketing.

In today’s fast and furious world of communications, being boring is a big crime. Being irrelevant is a felony offense.

Don’t waste people’s time. Be interesting or be gone.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing

written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: advertising, Andy Ebon, blogging, Facebook, Ham Sandwich marketing, limited attention, LinkedIn, marketing, post, social networking, Twitter, Wedding Marketing Authority