It’s been a little over a year since my daughter’s wedding…and lo and behold, the afterglow has stayed with me…as have the marketing lessons I learned from it.
That event has some staying power.
And the news for today is that I will be a grandpa (initiated from that same daughter) in October.
No additional lesson there…just pure bliss.
One of my favorite quotes is still relevant a year later (since it’s always relevant):
“Marketing isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
I am not trying to diminish the experience when I refer to this in the context of the wedding.
Rather, my intention is to enhance the experience.. and share once again, two highlights and marketing lessons from the wedding.
Along with sharing some new insights and unconditional love for my daughter one year later. ❤️
1. Surprise and delight your customers
My daughter Madeline is a lifelong student of dance (which has led her to a career as a college dance professor) …more about that in the P.S.
And for the father-daughter dance, it obviously required her distinct flavor of choreography.
What I didn’t realize was that this unique way my daughter wanted to express herself (and me) to the crowd was her version of “customer service” (which, as we all know, is a marketing function).
That is, don’t do “same old, same old” …we wowed our audience…for deep connection (and some entertainment) …and kept them engaged for the duration of the dance.
And dare I say, throughout the remainder of the wedding…with the goal of engagement throughout their entire marriage.
Now that would be uber lifetime value. 🙂
I have taken some poetic license by saying “we” wowed the 270 wedding attendees…Madeline did that on her own…but her dumbed down choreography (on my behalf) had me “involved” at least.
We began dancing to Tiny Dancer (by Sir Elton John) …
…and then “transitioned” into Bye Bye Bye (by *NSYNC):
Well…Maddie transitioned…I simply followed (stumbled into?) her lead.
Regardless, it was a “wow moment” that my daughter (the real marketer in my family) expertly planned…while I just wanted to get through it without falling on my face.
Mission accomplished.
It was also a spectacular onboarding moment (to the wedding) …and reminded me of another marketing tenet which I have written about in the past:
“Onboarding is not housekeeping.”
Maddie knows that one too. 🙂
2. Pattern interrupts/”tangents waiting to happen”
Now to my father-of-the-bride speech/toast…which was also part of the onboarding process…and it came almost immediately after the “dance” (again, a dance for Maddie and some “uneasy manipulation” for me).
I was told to keep the speech under 5 minutes…yeah right.
I’ve never done anything in less than 5 minutes.
One of the privileges of paying for every part of my daughter’s wedding was that no one was going to drag me off the stage before I had my say.
And if I was going to drone on, the droning needed to be engaging.
I was reminded of my droning (i.e. “long blog posts”) by a subscriber who sent me an email in response to a recent post:
WAT TOO MANY WORDS FUDE… i’m outta there
That’s exactly how the guy wrote it.
And since he is no longer a subscriber (he’s “outta there”), THIS “FUDE” (me, also known as the DUDE!) won’t take his opinion as fact…since he had so few words in his response with ‘WAT” too many typos and inconsistent punctuation.
I’ll look for anything to dismiss him.
But alas, “wat too many words” is my specialty.
As it was apparent in my father-of-the-bride speech…no surprise to you, my online family, correct?
I’ve been told that it takes many of you TWO cups of coffee to get through these missives on a Sunday morning.
But the fact that you have told me that means that many of you are still willing to read until the end (albeit with an additional caffeine boost).
I hope you will do that today.
And I always appreciate your feedback…whether I am on point…off the tracks…and whether your comments are positive or negative.
When rehearsing, the speech timed out to 8 and a half minutes…to the chagrin of my wife, daughter, and the wedding planner (“we are on a tight schedule, Brian!”).
But I thrive on pressure…and was determined not to bore them with my lengthy blog post disguised as a toast…and the actual delivery took 12 minutes (yikes!) …and I will only say that it was met with a standing ovation.
Well…everyone was standing around the dance floor while I was speaking so there’s that…
I also received many compliments which I mostly chalked up to:
“He’s paying so we should tell him we loved his speech.”
But they seemed sincere.
Given that I structured the speech as a blog post, you may evaluate whether it would have effectively captured your interest, considering our previous interactions every Sunday.
I have created a link to it in the P.S.
Please note all the tangents with a purpose (well, MY purpose), the pattern interrupts, the format, the structure.
And feel free to borrow (‘steal smart”) from this father-of-the-bride speech and use anything from it…OR you can just use ChatGPT when you have occasion to write your own toast at a wedding (or anywhere else) and not bother reading it. 🙁
Someone who attended the wedding asked me for a copy to help him with his own father-of-the-bride speech…I think he was humoring me but of course I sent it to him…flattery doesn’t work on everyone but it works on me.
And on the other side of the spectrum, I heard from another attendee who told me her son (the groom) made the most beautiful toast at his wedding, thanking her and her husband for being such wonderful parents…only to find out it was 100% A.I. generated.
So much for spending time on this sort of thing.
Regardless, there was a method to my madness…but I recognize it is my method and my madness.
I’m proud of it even if you think it’s long and boring.
And…as always…
“If I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter…and speech.” 🙂
Warmly,
Brian
P.S Submitted for your approval…or rejection…
Click here for my father-of-the-bride speech from my daughter’s wedding.
Written with 98% human touch…from the heart…and I only used ChatGPT to check some historical references regarding The Nutcracker.
Just trying to titillate you to click on the speech. 😊
I’m stubborn when it comes to writing and speaking…I would much rather have my “work” be imperfect in my voice than clearer and crisper in the voice of A.I.
But as time goes on, those will be one and the same.
I’ve recently seen and experienced some A.I. clones that mirror voices impeccably…can answer questions from bodies of knowledge far wider than mine will ever be…and it’s both scary and exciting at the same time.
All I can say is:
Keep writing and sharing in your voice wherever it comes from.