When you’re a wedding planner, there are a lot advertising and marketing opportunities that you can buy to help you boost visibility for your business, I offer tips on how to decide on what to buy in my Q & A today.
Question
I have the opportunity to be the wedding planner at a bridal shop where I will pay them about $300 a month to be the only planner in their shop.
This is a big name bridal company and they have told me that almost 200 brides visit them every month. I think I can get a lot of exposure during the year that I’ll be a part of their staff.
What do you think?
Answer
Since you have to pay to participate, I would consider this an advertising opportunity.
I suggest you examine it carefully and answer these 5 questions before deciding whether it is worth your money and your time to participate:
1) Do you have the marketing and advertising dollars in your budget to spend this amount of money on this one opportunity?
Hopefully you have a marketing plan that includes participation in a variety of marketing and advertising methods such as setting up and maintaining your web site, attending networking events, purchasing ads on wedding websites, and participating in bridal shows. Be sure you can still afford some of these other methods after investing in this one program.
2) Are these brides in your niche?
Ask the shop to describe the type of brides who purchase from them and compare their description to your ideal bride. You want to know such things as their approximate age, the type of career they have, who usually pays for their weddings, the size of their weddings, and the average cost of their weddings.
Don’t let them just tell you how much brides are willing to spend on their product or service. Many times a bride won’t think twice about splurging on a dress or flowers but cuts her budget on everything else, including her budget for a wedding planner.
3) Will you, or a member of you team, get to meet all the brides who come through?
It’s personal contact and continued relationship that helps you win a bride. You and your team want to be there to greet the brides who come in and get them to set up an appointment to meet you later for a consultation.
4) How can you get contact information from the brides who visit?
You need to be able to get contact information so you can continue to market to brides after meeting them. Most won’t hire you on-the-spot. You need to have a system of following up with emails and/or postcards so you continue to stay at the top of their minds and they think of you when they decide to hire a wedding planner.
5) What happens if you sign a contract with the shop then realize that this is not the right opportunity for you?
Read your contract carefully. Find out what the penalties are if you decide this isn’t working for you and you don’t want to continue your investment of money and time. They may charge you a large amount just to get out of your contract so know what you are doing before you sign.
People who sell opportunities such as this usually target new wedding planners offering the promise of exposure to a lot of brides. However, you don’t just want exposure to a lot of brides, you want exposure to potential clients in your target market who are looking for a wedding planner, and would be interested in hiring you. Be sure the opportunities you invest in offer this to you.
And if you want more help to become a top wedding planner, sign in to get my ezine “Wedding Planner Tips.”
