When you become a wedding planner you’ll get many people contacting you trying to sell you advertising and marketing opportunities. Before you invest, read my advice to a wedding planner who has done it.
Question
I’ve started to advertise my new business on wedding websites and in local wedding magazines and I’ve bought some leads. I haven’t gotten much response. I’ve exchanged a few calls and emails with the brides who have contacted me but after that, I never hear from them again. What am I doing wrong?
Answer
You may not be doing anything wrong. Unfortunately, not all brides who contact you after seeing your ads are really serious about hiring you. Some are just price shopping and seeing what kinds of deals they can get, some are not ready to commit or they are trying to get some free wedding planning advice.
You have to be very careful when you invest in advertising. Salespeople will tell you that hundreds and thousands of brides subscribe to their site or magazine and will see your ad. However, not all of them may be brides in your area who are in need of your services. You don’t need every bride to see your ad, you just need the brides in your target market who want to hire a wedding planner.
Regarding paid leads, very few wedding planners have had success when they have paid for leads. They’ve received bad email addresses, wrong phone numbers and brides who say they’ve already hired someone. The leads are generally inexpensive, often less than $5 each, but the money can add up and you don’t want to waste your precious time, energy and money pursuing bad leads.
One of the best things you can do when you are new, besides telling friends about your sevices, is get out and meet others in the wedding and event business. Find wedding and event planner associations with chapters in your local area and attend meetings. You can also meet vendors such as caterers, photographers, and florists at your local Convention and Visitors Bureau and Chambers of Commerce events. Build your relationships with them to increase your knowledge of the industry and exchange quality referrals.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at questions@sharonhill.com. I will answer them on this blog or in my ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips,” which you can subscribe to here.