As you start your new wedding planning business, you’ll market online with a website, blog and presence on social networking sites, like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. But you also need to be visible offline. In today’s Q&A, I answer a question about holding an open house and offer tips on launching your business in your community.
Question
I’m thinking of having an open house to launch my new wedding planning business. Is there any way to get sponsors or funding for this?
Answer
In order to get sponsors, you will need to figure out what benefit it would be to them to help you launch your business. Most people would not be willing to provide funding without receiving some sort of compensation in exchange for it. Would you be able to bring them clients? Would you be willing to plan their events for free? Whatever you plan to do, be sure you have a written agreement so there is no misunderstanding and both of you are happy with what you will be getting.
Truthfully, I don’t believe that an open house would be the best way to launch a wedding planning business. These types of events are usually more suitable for retail businesses that have products to sell.
Instead of an open house, if you have already planned some weddings and know other wedding vendors, you might ask them to join with you to offer some wedding workshops on your areas of expertise and showcase all of your businesses in a mini bridal fair. This would mean you would each need to have a list of clients and business and personal contacts who you would invite. You would equally share the expenses for the event, expenses could include the venue, food and drink, invitations, and advertising.
Before you make any plans regarding holding an open house or showcase, determine your goals. These events take a lot of planning and coordination, can be expensive to hold, and don’t usually bring the immediate results that you might be hoping for.
Instead, consider participating in associations and business and social groups that other event professionals and your brides belong to. Build relationships within your community so you are the person they think of when someone needs a wedding planner.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business that you want answered here, you can send me an email at [email protected].
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