Modern wedding mashup: site serves moms, businesses
When Erica Laudon, a Croton-on-Hudson entrepreneur, married in 2007, she said her mother, Jane Laudon, couldn”™t decide what dress to wear or how to do her makeup for her daughter”™s wedding day. Erica realized not only was it important for her to find the right accessories and hairstylist, but it was equally important that her mother have a pressure-free preparation for her daughter”™s big day.
“The wedding day is the bride”™s day, but moms feel they”™re on display as well,” said Erica. “They want to look good in front of their relatives, too.”
With that in mind, Erica did some research. She found that not many wedding magazines and online resources provided wedding day tips for mothers looking for age-appropriate makeup and fashion tips.
“What”™s frustrating about the wedding industry is that it”™s highly fragmented when it comes to finding a makeup artist and fashion stylist that can come in and help moms,” said Erica.
But one thing was clear. With the expansion of digital media and growth of social media platforms, more women are consulting online resources rather than magazines and books to guide their wedding preparation journey. Daughters are helping mothers navigate popular wedding websites such as theknot.com and lover.ly and the wedding section of pinterest.com.
“Social, local and mobile is very effective in the wedding industry,” Erica said. “More mothers of brides are starting to embrace the technology of wedding planning and researching everything from the wedding venue and wedding cakes to wedding trends and wedding dresses online.”
With Jane”™s background in information systems and Erica”™s certificate in digital media marketing and social media from New York University and MBA earned at Cornell University”™s Johnson School of Management, the pair decided to launch a one-stop shop for all the latest wedding preparation advice on fashion, etiquette, budgeting and planning.
In December 2012, Erica and Jane created the website ModernWeddingMom.com, which provides reviews on hair and makeup products and showcases popular dresses. They even created a blogtalkradio.com channel featuring interviews with celebrity makeup artists, reality TV-show stars and local business owners in Westchester.
The duo found that 30 percent of its 30,000 unique monthly online visitors use mobile devices. About 60 percent of their visitors are women between ages 18 and 34, while 25 percent are women between ages 45 and 64. Nearly 25 percent are from Westchester.
After running the website for more than a year, Erica and Jane plan to build content by providing advertisement space for local businesses that want to publicize their products and services.
“Our next step is monetizing the site by building a vendor network,” Erica said. “We hope to create a vendor directory that promotes vendors in Westchester County to the audience on our website. The goal is to work on getting at least 200 vendors listed.”
Erica added that they plan to draw additional revenue by releasing an eBook on how to dress for specific body shapes based on interviews with celebrity stylists, which customers will be able to download on an iPad, Kindle or other tablets.
While keeping the website accessible to mothers of brides and grooms across the nation, Erica and Jane remain particularly interested in catering to mothers in Westchester and their specific needs.
“A lot of moms in Westchester are interested in what to wear to casual rustic weddings,” Erica said. “There”™s a lot of interest on how to use makeup to look younger, especially with high resolution cameras that pick up makeup that”™s not well applied. They”™re also interested in hairstyling, where to go to get their hair blown out, what hair products to use, what products to bring when traveling to a destination wedding.”
Erica said based on her conversations with mothers in Westchester, popular wedding venues include Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, the American Yacht Club in Rye, Larchmont Yacht Club, Peter Pratt”™s Inn in Yorktown Heights and Lyndhurst in Tarrytown. A wedding in Westchester could cost anywhere from $100 to $300 per person, Erica said.
Currently, ModernWeddingMom.com is profitable through sponsoring content for brands including Elizabeth Arden and Match.com and through publishing stories about wedding business services and products on their website.
“Many vendors are looking for companies with strong social networks to talk about why their products or services are excellent,” said Erica, who believes the selling point of her website is how affordable it is for small businesses to advertise their products and showcase their services on their social media channel through videos and radio segments.
“The fees are incredibly high for advertising, and that creates a barrier to entry,” said Erica. “Some of the smaller and local vendors don”™t have that kind of budget and are looking for a more affordable media outlet to get their services out to the mothers of brides and grooms.”
ModernWeddingMom.com”™s office is based in Croton-on-Hudson, and the staff includes Erica, Jane, a publicist and full-time social media community manager. It plan to hire an account executive to sell its vendor networking system and anticipate hiring five to 10 more people within the next three to four months.
“We”™re starting our business close to home,” said Erica. “But we want to expand to New York City, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco, Boston and D.C. further down the road.”