INTERVIEW W/ JIMMY MONCRIEF FROM CIDERR.COM

I had a chance to talk with Jimmy Moncrief of Ciderr.com a few weeks ago, and he answered some questions about their innovative new service.  I thought I'd share with you, since some of you might be interested in checking it out!

What is Ciderr?

Ciderr is the only service on the internet that specializes in giving vendors the power of crowdfunding for their business. Helping them tap into a $19,000,000,000 registry market and helps spread their brand further and faster than traditional market methods by turning their clients and their friends into marketing agents.

Where did the idea for Ciderr come from?

I was seeing how a few businesses were doing gift cards. That's a very popular way of allowing others to gift "money" to their friends. But the further I got into it, it became a logistical nightmare. Since it dealt with a physical product, I had to create a easy way for my clients family to know about it, easy way for them to buy a gift card, I'd have to give a physical card or product to them and then create a system to figure out if the card had been used or not. It was too many variables.

Then the idea of Ciderr came to me. I saw what Target, Bed Bath & Beyond were doing and I wanted the power that these companies have had for decades. The power to have brides "shop" at their stores and then have a vested interest in telling ALL of their friends and family to shop and learn more about their business. It's brilliant marketing and has increased their sales tremendously. Why couldn't I bring that to small businesses like mine.

How is Ciderr helping photographers market to their clients, and future clients?

The average age for brides and grooms are raising every year. In 2008, the average age for brides and grooms were 27 and 29. In 2010, two years later, their ages went to 29 and 31. These couples are already established. They don't need to register for products that traditional registries offer anymore. That era for the most part is gone. Since they're older and established, the percentage of brides and grooms paying for their own weddings is increasing year to year as well.

What these couples want is not toasters and vacuum cleaners, they want to afford a beautiful wedding and hire their dream photographer. What they need is help. They may be able to afford the photographers time but they just need help (or just want) extra services like a bridal shoot, more hours of wedding coverage, more pages in their album, etc. So instead of registering at Williams Sonoma, they registry with their vendor.

Much like a traditional registry, they tell all of their friends to give them wedding gifts from this registry. And any contributor is asked to spread the word about the registry on behalf of the bride and groom. So marketing wise, a vendors branded registry could go viral. Amongst the people coming to the registry are other couples who are engaged and love the idea of Ciderr and hire the vendor because they stand out from the other vendors they've seen!

How is Ciderr different from other registry options available for wedding clients?

All registry systems on the market are aimed toward the bride. But we understand how busy modern brides are today. They don't have time to gather all the information and create an online registry from scratch. A bride could literally register at a vendors registry in a minute or two since all of the setup and hard work has been done for her.

Ciderr is aimed at the vendor and the first registry system that can be fully branded to a vendor. So Ciderr simultaneously makes a vendor more money and markets for them at the same time. If a vendor markets it right, they could drop other marketing methods they've been using in the past and save literally thousands of dollars each year while increasing their revenue.  

What should photographers know about offering a service like Ciderr to their clients?

When comparing a family heirloom like a wedding album that will be with you for a lifetime to a toaster oven, it doesn't take much convincing a bride what is more important. Especially when she already has the plates and appliances. We've asked photographers who simply don't know if their clients would like a registry system that Ciderr offers, to do their own independent research.  EVERY one of them has had an overwhelming excitement about the service. Our society is absolutely ready for a service like Ciderr and the ability to tap into a $19 billion dollar industry... as business owners, its simply too much money to ignore!

Anything else you want to tell us about what you're working on?

We're hard at work on Ciderr every day. We want to give our members incredible service. We're listening to them, giving them a place to put their ideas and input on Ciderr. We're actively improving it every day. We have some really fun ideas to increase marketing for our members even more. We're small and since we don't offer a ton of other services, we can move REALLY fast. We're excited about what's in the future. It's going to be fun and exciting and we want everyone on this journey with us!

Be sure to head over to www.ciderr.com and check them out!