It’s wedding season! As a wedding planner you may be so busy right now planning and executing weddings that you may have forgotten that you still need to market your business. Or, maybe you’re thinking you’re so busy that you no longer need to market your services?
Unfortunately, if you don’t continue to market your business, you lose some of the visibility you have been working hard to build and your business may slow down in the near future. To prevent this from happening, you have to continue to market your business, even when business is booming.
Here are 5 tips to help you keep marketing and staying in front of brides, even when you are busy:
1) Schedule time on your calendar for marketing activities
Don’t rely on yourself to find 30 minutes here and there to do some social media or believe that you will actually remember to take the time to attend a business or social function if it is not on your calendar. And don’t wait to set up meetings with potential clients. If you don’t take the time to meet with a new bride, she will find someone else who does have the time for her.
2) Schedule your social media posts in advance
Use the Facebook Page sharing tool and schedule your posts in advance. There is also a Pages Manager app that you can download to use from an iPhone or Android phone if you need to schedule posts and you’re not in your office.
Or you can use Buffer, a free service that lets you not only post to Facebook but also to Twitter.
Two other free services that allow you to schedule tweets are HootSuite and Tweetdeck.
3) Take advantage of this busy time and use it to create online content
Set up a “Behind the Scenes” Pinterest board and pin photos or short videos of you and your team “in action,” doing planning work in the office or overseeing the ceremony or reception set up. You can also post these to your Facebook Page. Of course, you don’t want to take photos that would include anything your brides want to keep private.
If your couples are willing, get video testimonials right after the wedding reception and add them to your social media posts and your YouTube channel. I know a wedding planner who has had great success attracting new clients by posting video testimonials on her Facebook Page.
4) Hire an office assistant
During your busiest times, consider hiring someone on a temporary basis who can handle administrative duties such as billing, filing, and keeping all of your notes on your weddings up-to-date while you and your team plan weddings and continue to market your services.
5) Network with the vendors working on all of your weddings
If you are handling more than one wedding, you may be working with a few vendors who are new to you. If you have found that they do the same high-quality work that you do, you may be able to exchange some referrals in the future. You may not have the time to talk about your businesses while planning a wedding but you can schedule a meeting for the near future to learn more about them.
One more thing. While you don’t want to make sales pitches to members of the wedding party or guests, be sure you have your business cards handy during a wedding. When someone is impressed with your work and wants to talk to you later, you’ll be ready with your contact information so they can give you a call.
