If your wedding planning business isn’t taking off, you may need to make these changes to your marketing and your mindset.
Question
What do you do when you’ve been in business for over a year and still have no business? I’ve had leads and interested brides but nothing has come of them. I’ve done weddings before going official but since forming the business, nothing.
I’m still marketing, by buying ads on wedding websites and attending networking events.
I’m trying to reach brides who are funky and eclectic.
Answer
A year is a long time to go without a client so I applaud you for hanging in. Getting your first brides can be tough but once you do, you can expect more.
Here are 2 important tips that can help you get business:
1) Your marketing image and style, both online and off, must appeal to your target brides
You have a very specific niche, which is great, too many new wedding planners try to appeal to every bride and end up not appealing to anyone.
But, looking at your social media pages and website, it appears you are looking for brides who want romantic, classic weddings not the type of brides that you say you want. The websites in which you advertise, although many brides visit them, are targeted to those who want traditional weddings. Your target market is probably not looking at them for help planning their weddings.
Do some research, look at different blogs and websites that show the weddings of funky, eclectic brides so you get an idea of their style, interests and wedding planning needs. Find out where you can meet them locally, get to know them and become a part of their social groups. With your new found knowledge, create the services that solve their unique wedding planning problems and a marketing plan and style that will attract them.
2) You must believe that you are worthy of getting work and being well-paid for it
This is an important factor to your success. I’ve seen the lack of self-worth sabotage the businesses of many talented new wedding planners. Some examples of lack of self-worth: you eagerly offer hours of free personalized wedding planning advice. You deeply discount your services because you think offering low rates is the only way a bride will hire you. You desperately accept a bride as a client knowing in your gut that she will be more trouble than she is worth.
If you don’t believe that you have valuable services to offer, neither will any brides and they won’t hire you, they’ll just get free advice from you, or, if they do hire you, they won’t pay you what you’re worth.
So, to get business and be successful, you have to do the outer work of setting up the services brides want and marketing them properly. And, you have to do the inner work of programming yourself to believe you offer valuable services and are worth the money that you charge.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at [email protected]. I’ll answer them on this blog or in my ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips,” which you can subscribe to here.
