Sadly the DJ and Wedding industry isn't always as it seems. Have you been mislead by too good to be true Award Winning DJs?
Best Wedding DJ In England, Best International Wedding DJ Local, Best International Wedding DJ Global, is just some of the misleading titles and marketing tactics used by sales and marketing tricksters.
Let's take a look at Wedding Industry Awards.
Some companies feature the words Wedding, Industry and Awards with very catchy and clever titles and Logos, and customers might think it is an Industry recognised award right? Wrong. Let me explain... These awards might have a catchy title to sound like it is an authority, when in reality it is nothing more than a company with the aim of making a profit. Nothing wrong with that right, exactly. However a lot of people do not realise that this is just a business. Let's take a look at the history. Most of these are relatively new, open to most categories in the wedding industry from Best Wedding Planner, Best Wedding Cake Maker, Best Wedding DJ, etc. So how it seems to work is, A Wedding Supplier can normally be nominated by anybody to enter, now in reality the person who nominates them is often the Supplier themselves. So nominated is really a fancy way of writing entered.
So once the Supplier has entered the award, they pay a fee to take part. A series of processes takes place where they gain some feedback from past customers and submit some information about themselves. This then goes to regional awards where the winners from each go to a final national award. To attend one of these national award the entries usually must purchase a place at the feast via ticket priced entry. Now here is the interesting thing, for DJs (so I presume it works equally the same in other categories) the judges who decide who wins or not, are in some of the wider known award scheme, other DJs. Now it is no secret who these DJ Judges are, some even proudly display it on their websites. It is also no surprise that many a time their friends mysteriously win, in fact its actually an inside joke amongst sectors of the industry with people guessing who will be the next winner, and often proving to be correct. Now I am not suggestion it is fixed, but even if it was, who would be able to verify such a thing! Now to the unsuspecting public, these grand sounding titles of 'Best Wedding DJ in the UK' or The Best Wedding Award Winning DJ 20..' Sounds very official, yet they are merely a Marketing Tool used, in the DJ's case voted for by other DJs with the sole aim of making a profit.
Now that is business, and it's very clever business, although the talk amongst the industry is that a lot of suppliers can see through the spin now, but are the public still being mislead....
That brings me onto something called the ‘International Wedding Awards’. Sounds very Glamorous doesn’t it. Well read on.
We have literally been plagued with Spam emails that makes the PPI phone calls seem tame from this brand.
We tried to unsubscribe unsuccessfully on many occasion, infact it only seems to make them come more frequent.
Here is a link where you can view info about this award scheme. www.internationalweddingawards.com/previous-winners/
Who are this international body, well that is a bit of a mystery but i would like to find out, and so would hundreds of other Wedding Suppliers who have been plagued from these people via constant ’SPAM'. Some of my trusted colleagues have been complaining of receiving hundreds of spam emails (something that is actually illegal and against UK and EU laws).
Here is a screen shot taken from our main Innovents email account just recently, and this was just some of the emails that we was receiving, most a few minutes apart. And this is a repeat of what has happened sometimes on a daily basis.
We know that so many other DJs are receiving these Spam emails, which again I will mention is illegal, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
We have a very respected industry supplier who is very big in the West London and Central London Wedding Industry who was contacted by a International Wedding Award Company and asked if he wanted to 'Pay to Enter' in the Dance Floor Category. He mentioned to them that he does not own Dance Floors, but instead using trusted suppliers like Innovents to provide Dance Floors for his clients. So they asked him what his company specialised in, and then said they would make up whatever category of award that he wanted, and all he had to do was pay the money. They would post an award and a certificate for a little extra fee, and it was as simple as that. Needless to say he politely declined.
What we find really worrying is that some DJ's are using these marketing tricks to fool customers into thinking they are 'Vetted' to an industry wide level, and some of these DJs are charging far higher prices because of these tricks.
We have also heard ludicrous claims like ‘Best Wedding DJ, or ‘Fastest Growing Business’ and even more recently a Past Wedding Awards Winner being introduced on a American Marketing Podcast as the UK’s ‘Highest Earning Wedding DJ’. That one did make me nearly spit my Orange Juice all over my Porridge. - I mean how silly!
As if anybody could claim to know what every other DJ in a Country charges!
My point is that some DJs in this industry say a lot of things that can’t be, and never could be verified. Some people do talk the talk rather than walk the walk. Personally I prefer concrete evidence rather than wild claims to brush up inflated egos, or mask insecurities.
We are not saying that any award scheme is bad, we are just saying that if you look at this with the knowledge we have shared, you can see them as a marketing tool, and not get ‘misunderstood’ thinking they are an offically recognised credential.
Why are we doing a Blog Post about this, well quite simply we have been in this Business for twenty Three years, we have seen it, done it, got the T-Shirt. We have seen old tricks disappear, new tricks come along, and we just think that the public shouldn't be conned. Call us old fashioned, but we believe in good old honest values.
An Innovents we very carefully considered and declined most of these awards trying not to full for expensive glossy misleading tricks of the trade. We decided to stick with a trusted, established and respected industry company what is known throughout the Wedding Industry as a real expect in what they do.
That is why we have had a long working relationship with the very well established and respected Wedding Company, Guides For Brides. Innovents was also the third DJ Supplier to be part of the Hitched.co.uk Brand when it was in its early days and owned by Dean Yardley and Director Darren Noel. We even did the DJing for Dean's 40th Birthday at his house in Sandhurst, Berkshire.
Guides for Brides has been a staple Wedding Industry since its launch in 1995, and has worked with some of the biggest names around. From partnerships with shows like The National Wedding Show, BRIDES The Show and Conde Nast Traveller to media coverage in OK Magazine, Vogue and more, we have a reputation for our hard work, clear vision and excellent team. So it was no wonder that Innovents felt safe and trusted to work with Guides for Brides and as part of our ongoing Directory Listing and Working Relationship we have with Guides for Brides, including attending Wedding Conferences
We felt very confident to enter their Customer Service Awards that was a compliment to their customers. Voted for by trusted industry professionals based purely on Customers voting and reviews throughout the year.
Yes, it is still an award scheme, but it’s a compliment to an established, successful and respected Wedding Brand, not a award company of its own, and THAT is the big difference. Innovents have entered the Customer Service Awards as part of our long standing working relationship with Guides for Brides since 2016, and have gone on to be finalists every year and won the converted National Winner in 2018.
Here is a video we shared on our Facebook page at the time.
You can read up about the awards at the very lovely Central London Venue, No 4 Hamilton Place, and later at The Stunningly Historic Bodleian Libraries in Oxford Centre.
We are proud to showcase our certificates in our office which you can see here.
Here at Innovents we believe in upfront, honest, transparent and spin free approach to working. That is why we have been a steady growing industry respected business working with some of the best venues both home and abroad since 1997. And that is how we aim to continue.