One of the Best in Her Field

One of our favorite ladies Ceci Johnson was interviewed by www.destinationidomagblog.com and we just HAD to share it with you! Whether you're in the wedding biz or not, she has loads of knowledge to share. She specializes in branding and has created an empire in under 10 years in the game. What an inspiration Ceci is to all of us.

Good Morning!

Welcome to the ninth edition of our "Learning from the Experts" series. Our guest today is the fabulous style icon and branding expert - Ceci Johnson.

Founded in 2004 by Ceci Johnson, Ceci New York is internationally heralded as the leader in couture invitation design and visual styling. As an industry icon for branding, finding one's signature style and the

authority on inviting style, Ceci attracts a global clientele of royalty, A-List celebrities and design savvy individuals alike.

Continuously setting the standards for luxury invitation design, Ceci New York seamlessly fuses a detailed artistic process with an intimate bespoke service to create original invitations which perfectly capture your style, spirit, and expectation in every element. Whether you are dreaming of a destination wedding or an opulent classic wedding, Ceci New York has no limits in what they can create. Not only will you be amazed, but your guests will be too! Ceci New York is dedicated to making your experience the ultimate in inviting. The best parties in the World begin with a Ceci New York invitation.

Q & A with Ceci Johnson

Q: Brand consulting is a big part of what you do, so can you share a few tips on building a successful brand?

I have five key points which I believe are essential to building and maintaining a strong brand:

1. YOU ARE YOUR BRAND - Image is everything and especially in the wedding industry, we are a service-oriented business with a tremendous range of personalized offerings. Whether you are working for a company or running your own, you are the one, as the face of the brand, meeting directly with clientele. If you or your employees don't look the part, you're making a big mistake and could be losing jobs because of it. Your image sends a subliminal message to your client. If you're showing up in sweatpants and a ripped T-shirt and wondering why you're not landing the bigger budget clients, you might want to rethink your wardrobe. Your image extends to what you wear, what you say (are there typos in your emails?), how you communicate (even your message on social media is an extension of your brand) everything matters!

2. FINDING YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE - You must be unique and original. If you have something original, people will beat a path to your door. If you don't, then you will not be a brand because you'll be just like everyone else. Ask yourself, are you a trendsetter or a trendfollower?

3. HAVE A STRONG VISUAL STATEMENT - What does your brand look like? Are all your modes of communication uniform? Remember you only have one chance to make a first impression, so invest in your brand and yourself to make it a good one.

4. CARRY IT THROUGH - It's all in the details. Make sure all points of your brand - from your business cards, to your website, to your Facebook page - are uniform.

5. S+S=S (Sweat + Sacrifice = Success) Building a brand is not easy and requires a lot of consistent work. Don't give up and always be your own brand ambassador!

Q: How does one go about rebranding something that isn't working? Is the best way to start from scratch or improve on what you already have?

It really depends on the current state of your brand. How well known are your brand and company? If you have a brand that isn't sending the right message for you, then yes, I think you should take some time to rethink your brand positioning and perhaps come out with a whole new look and start from scratch. It's important to identify what isn't working and fix that. What you want to avoid is completely rebranding yourself over and over again frequently. The power of a great brand is the strength in its consistency. If you look one way one day and completely different the next, your target customer is going to get confused and lose trust in your company. It's important to select an experienced, professional graphic designer who understands your business needs and will create a solid mark and branding communications system which will grow with you through the years.

On the flip side, if your logo is working for you but your marketing materials and branding systems are not, then it's essential to fix them so they align and are all sending the right buttoned-up message. Remember, your brand is so much more than just your logo.

Q:You have said, "If you think it's only about your website, you're toast." Can you explain this?

Your website is only one piece of the puzzle. From the moment you hand out your business card or someone sees your ad in a magazine, you are making a brand impression. If they go to your website and it has a completely different look than your ad or card, then you've presented a disconnect. You don't ever want that. No matter what an incredible job you do at your work, if all your marketing materials aren't buttoned up and inline, then you're creating confusion, not a brand (and most likely losing customers!)

Q: How do you leverage the clientele you serve to enhance your business and bring in more high-end clients?

I believe every customer is an opportunity to do great things and whether they are spending $1, $1000 or $10,000 with me, they should be treated with the same outstanding customer service and level of innovative design. Being that we are in the service industry, it's all about creating a positive experience and in turn, this allows our clients to confidently refer and assist in growing our network. Never assume just because one client has a small budget that she doesn't have friends with big budgets and will refer!

Q: How do you feel your personal style has an impact on your brand and the products within that brand?

I live and breathe my brand. By aligning the Ceci New York brand with who I am, my taste, my personal style, it enables me and everything I create to be authentic and exciting. The brand embodies a lot of my own personal style and aesthetic. My own personal style has always been influenced by design, fashion and culture and these influences are prevalent in New York City. Designers are influenced by the world around them. My world is NYC and is influenced by the art and fashion worlds. A brand's perimeters are applied to it by the individuals in it.

Q: What are some tips for making the best impression with personal style (and therefore your brand)?

First, decide what you want your brand image to be. Is it luxe and high-end? Is it cute and crafty? Is it sassy and spirited? Then dress appropriately. If you're brand is luxury and you're meeting with high net-worth individuals and want to win that client, you need to dress to their level so they can relate and confidently trust that you "get them." If I showed up to my meetings in sweats and UGG boots, I would never land the high-end clients that I do. Remember, it's important to not only invest in yourself on a personal style front, but to invest in your brand on your marketing materials side. For example, if you have the expensive designer outfit, but a cheap business card from Kinko's - your message is sending mixed signals, therefore hurting your potential.

1. Find your unique brand style and own it

2. Invest in yourself - if you build it, they will come

3. Align everything you do (from your dress to your business cards and website) with that image and make sure it remains consistent

Q: You are a featured designer on Tiny Prints, how did that come to fruition and what kind of benefits have you seen as a result?

By creating a diffusion line with Tiny Prints it allows us to broaden our reach and bring our brand to a larger audience that may have never heard of Ceci New York. Additionally, the entry-level price point is completely affordable for all. Plus, it's great for the fast turnaround time! We love what Laura Ching has created and are thrilled to collaborate.

Q: What is the biggest mistake you've made through your career and what did you learn from it?

That your hardest day only lasts 24 hours. My father used to always remind me of this when I would have a really hard day at the office. And you know what? He was always right. I used to let my emotions get in the way of doing business, but I realized over the years that it's important to separate that on some level. Remember not to react when you are feeling emotional (give it the 24 hour rule) and not take everything personally, it's just business.

Q:What is the smartest decision you've made through your career and how has that changed your business?To always follow my gut. If it moves me, then I know it will move my clients. When I second-guess my intuition, it holds me back and wastes time.My weekly online style magazine, CeciStyle (cecistyle.com) is a result of following my gut when everyone told me that I was crazy to try and take this idea on, on top of everything else, but I couldn't ignore my instincts. I knew I had to do something to keep up in the social media blogging world. So I created a plan which worked for me, followed my gut and now it's one of the best marketing tools my business has ever known.

Q: Ceci New York is involved in many things - brand consulting, couture stationery, events, website design, online magazine, guest blogging and even speaking engagements. First of all, how many people does it take to run your empire, and second - do you sleep?

Ha! Yes, I do sleep (when my one year-old son isn't waking me up in the middle of the night!). Although, sleep does come second when I'm on deadline. But truthfully, I have carefully cultivated an amazing team over the years. They are like family. Without them, none of this would be possible. I truly believe it's essential to be strict in your hiring process. Hold your standards very high and hire smart, savvy people who are willing to work hard and always lead by example.

Q: How did the recession affect your business? Which part was hit the hardest and what did you do to counteract it?

I always say change in business is good. So if the economy is changing, then you have to think smarter and quicker to accommodate. It forces you to stay on your toes. When the economy crashed, my high-end clients didn't want to come off too ostentatious and send invitations that were too fancy. Even though they could afford it, they worried what others would think of them "wasting money." So I had to come up with design solutions that pleased these requirements without losing the job. That also meant that my contracts were not as large, since people were not spending as much, so it was essential to think about what else I could offer them to keep my business afloat and growing.

Q: Now that you're in your eighth year in business, how do you feel brides and grooms have changed since you started and how have you evolved your business as a result?
Now more than ever, the wedding industry is over-saturated with so many options online that it's overwhelming for brides to figure out which company is the right one to pick, especially compared to eight years ago when no one was really offering what I was. Brides today expect a lot and desire everything to be personalized. Now, I'm hyper-sensitive about keeping our customer service top-notch and continually proving that our creativity, quality and design is second-to-none. I feel it's really important to educate the brides on the value and help them truly understand everything they're getting right out of the gate. Additionally, I had to evolve my brand positioning to make Ceci New York stand out as more and more invitation companies started popping up and looking similar to me. That just pushed me to keep reinventing my brand to remain at the forefront.

To learn more about Ceci New York click here. Follow her on Instagram here.

Editor's Note

A big thank you to Ceci for sharing her insights. She shared many words of wisdom to live and work by!

Next month, I'm talking to none other than WeTV sensation and planner to the stars, David Tutera. This is going to be another great interview so be on the lookout!

Yours Truly,

Jennifer Stein

Editor in Chief
Destination I Do Magazine

Destination Media, LLC

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