While researching many of the industries noted in the last blog entry (planning checklists, venues, invitations, wedding apparel, jewelers, photographers, catering, florists, etc), I began to notice wedding-related advertisements as I was browsing on Facebook – everything from invitations to a chuppah for a Jewish wedding. Coincidentally, these were items I had recently searched for on the internet, via Google. I was curious to find out how Facebook could possibly “know” that I was planning a wedding – and try to influence by purchases by appearing on my computer screen.

It turns out that these ads are part of an innovative web-based advertising approach. According to the article Competing on Analytics with External Processes, there are a variety of web-based advertising approaches, including banners, pop-ups and search-based ads. As I experienced, search-based ads are becoming one of the most powerful forms of online advertising. As noted in the article, by having the industry-leading search engine, Google can serve ads that correspond to search terms used by people browsing the internet.

Google is successful with advertisers through its use of analytics. Competing on Analytics explains that Google “employs self-learning algorithms that analyze the efficacy of different keywords, etc” to be used in an optimization engine that develops suggestions for advertisers. Google’s philosophy is that analytics and metrics will make advertisers more successful in working with the company, so they try to provide this analytical information to advertisers. This advertising synergy has contributed to much of Google’s growth.

Google’s strategy is working…their optimization engine has suggested to various advertisers that they should target me for various wedding related products and services. Admittedly, I have clicked on a few of the ads that piqued my interest, but I have yet to purchase a product as a result of the search-based ads.

Technology can drive online business in other ways. As I mentioned last time, we chose to use www.wedding.channel.com for our wedding website. On this site, we listed critical information for our guests, including airline and hotel information. This information can be used to make transactions which can easily be made online. An additional section of the wedding website includes a link (or links) to the couple’s wedding registry. Perhaps one of the biggest money-makers in the wedding industry is related to the idea of the gift registry.

We registered at three stores, prior to selecting our wedding website. Interestingly, when we formatted the wedding website, the links to the registry at each store appeared on our page. As a result, our guests can review our wedding registry in the comfort of their own homes. With the ease of online shopping, people do not need to go to the same stores in person. Often, when one visits the stores in person, he or she might find that certain products are only available online! As an additional perk of shopping online, there are sometimes online codes, coupons or deals to entice the buyer to purchase online instead of in person.

In addition to making things easy for our guests, the wedding website and online registries have made things easier for us too. For example, in the midst of the snowstorms in February, we used the time to register online. We were productive during the storms, and we did not need to venture outside! We recently moved, and decided that we did not need some of the items for we had previously registered. It was very simple to go online, sign in and remove specific items from the list. I would certainly recommend www.weddingchannel.com as a host site for a wedding website as well as creating and maintaining wedding registries online!

Wedding Websites - are they really beneficial to businesses?

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have found technology to be extremely useful in planning our wedding. From the moment we got engaged, technology has served as a way to organize all of the tasks that need to be completed in planning a wedding. It is easy to become overwhelmed with everything involved in the wedding industry – especially online.

According to www.weddingbusinesstoday.com, the average wedding budget in 2009 was just over $28,000. If there are well over two million weddings that occur in the United States each year (www.theweddingreport.com), the wedding industry is certainly a lucrative business. As mentioned, it can be confusing to begin a wedding search online. If one searches for “online wedding services,” a site called www.topweddingsites.com emerges. I am most familiar with planning sites such as www.theknot.com (The Knot) and www.weddingchannel.com (Wedding Channel), but interestingly they were not listed among the first sites on www.topweddingsites.com. It is likely that those two sites did not invest in advertising on www.topweddingsites.com. In fact, The Knot and Wedding Channel are substitutes for www.topweddingsites.com, and it would not make sense for them to list information on that site.

One of the first tasks in planning the wedding was to use technology and develop a wedding website – one site where pertinent wedding information is stored and can be communicated to guests. When “Googling” wedding host sites, more than a few sites appear in the search results. We chose to use www.weddingchannel.com in an effort to use a site different than many of our friends. In addition to serving as a site for wedding guests, these sites give people planning weddings a host of industries to explore: planning checklists, articles about budgeting, venues, invitations, wedding apparel, local vendors (jewelers, photographers, catering, florists, etc), honeymoons and links to gift registries. As one can imagine, each industry mentioned is a major driver of the economy.

Advances in technology are changing the way businesses services are created and delivered. Ten years ago, I believe that people who were planning weddings would not have had nearly as much access to various vendors and businesses needed to plan the wedding. Today, it is as simple as spending some time in front of the computer researching businesses of choice.

Many of the wedding websites have developed rating systems for various services – affecting the way business is delivered and the way that customers react toward businesses. My fiancé and I researched several entertainment brokers online to find a band for the wedding. We found a specific broker on www.weddingwire.com that we liked, and we set up time to meet in person. One of the reasons that we decided to meet with Chris was that my fiancé found positive reviews of his business listed on the site. The broker with whom we met shared with my fiancé that he decided to pay for advertising on the two wedding websites on which he was already listed and receiving positive feedback. If he advertised on those sites, I believe that his ratings would appear even higher. I found this to be an interesting marketing tactic for him. I would have listed ads on sites where I was not yet listed, in an effort to reach more customers. However, his marketing tactics worked for us- we have decided to move forward with Chris. If we’re satisfied with his service of providing a band for the wedding, then we will need to rate his business positively after our wedding. Perhaps our positive rating will help someone else to select him as their entertainment broker.

Certainly rating systems published online are not always beneficial for businesses. While researching potential entertainment brokers, we consistently found negative reviews for one band, specifically of the band leader. We mentioned this negative rating to Chris, the entertainment broker with whom we met, and they are friendly. Chris explained why his friend may have received negative ratings. This example should serve as a warning – consumers should be wary of ratings online. Online ratings can certainly help guide where one may take his or her business, but perhaps a conversation is warranted before automatically ruling out those services.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Intro

Greetings and thank you for visiting my blog! My name is Mary Drey, and over the course of the next seven weeks I plan to investigate information technology and its business implications within the wedding planning industry. I'm getting married on October 24, 2010, and am in the midst of planning for this exciting day. Thus far I have found technology to be very useful, and I look forward to sharing this information.