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Have you ever considered starting a wedding-planning service business? You’re not alone. There are thousands of other people who have also thought about starting one of their own. A wedding-planning business was the second most profitable type of business in 2008 (second to a computer repair service). Typically weddings cost between $15,000 to $25,000, depending on the country you live in and the types of expenses involved. This can equate to a monthly income of $1,667 — $2,500 per month for a successful wedding-planning service business.
Are you wondering how to get started with marketing your wedding-planning service business? You’re not alone — most business owners hate marketing with a passion. However, for any business owner, developing marketing strategies that bring results is crucial.
Why Wedding-Planning Service is a Unique Business
It’s a growing industry
Wedding plans are a time-consuming process for brides and grooms, and most of them are willing to pay for help as they prepare to get married. According to the Society of American Florists, the wedding industry generates over $50 billion annually in the United States alone, which is why there’s an increasing demand in this line of business. After all, most people don’t have the time or the skills to manage things on their own. They don’t have the money to hire wedding planners from established companies either.
You can start small
You don’t necessarily have to rent a big space and hire employees right away when you own your own wedding planning business. Start small by offering your services online or to friends and family. Ask for referrals and then use those leads to build your client base and increase your profits.
You can do it all or specialize
You can offer all the services necessary for a wedding such as decorations, catering, flowers, and transportation or specialize in just one area of the business like catering or transportation. Don’t be afraid to branch out if you find that weddings are taking up too much of your time.
Potential profits
The potential profits from running a wedding-planning service business can vary widely depending on where you live, the cost of living in that area, and your level of expertise. If you’re running a full-service wedding planning company, you’ll probably spend more than half of your time on administrative work, such as booking appointments and sending out invoices. On the other hand, if you focus on one aspect of the wedding planning process, such as decorating or catering, you’ll likely spend less time on paperwork and more time working directly with clients.
Helping families achieve their dreams
One of the best parts about starting your own wedding-planning service business is that you’ll be helping people achieve their dreams. Many of the couples you’ll meet will be happy just to have someone else take care of their wedding plans because they’re too busy with their daily lives. You can make them feel confident with the knowledge that you’re in control of all their big day events, from flowers to catering to venues.
Personal satisfaction
If you love being a part of special occasions and helping people plan their big days, then this is the right business for you. There’s no point in starting your own business if you aren’t passionate about it.
Wedding-Planning Service Business Challenges
Getting licensed
Licensing requirements differ by city, state, and country. Before setting up shop in any area, research the laws regarding operating a wedding-planning or event-coordination service. In addition to checking with the state attorney general’s office and the secretary of state’s office in each state in which you plan to do business, check with the health department and municipal building officials in every town where you plan to set up shop. You may also want to contact local chambers of commerce for information about competing businesses in the area.
Be prepared for long hours
Long workdays are a common trait among many self-employed entrepreneurs. You will likely find yourself working 40+ hours each week to keep up with all of your tasks as well as manage your business’s growth and development.
Tight deadlines
Wedding planning is incredibly stressful for both the couple and the planner because there are so many things that need to be done in such a short amount of time. The planner has to make sure every detail is worked out with vendors, schedule meetings with all of the participants, and work on setting up all of the decorations at the same time. If even one thing falls behind schedule or doesn’t get done, the whole wedding could be affected.
Dealing with difficult people
One of your most important jobs as a wedding planner is managing the bride’s expectations. You have to keep her from getting too stressed out while making sure she doesn’t ask you to do something that you can’t deliver. You also have to deal with bridesmaids, who may not appreciate how much time they are expected to put into helping plan their friend’s wedding.
Pros and Cons of Wedding-Planning Service
Pros
- You set your hours so you can work around other jobs or family obligations.
- By controlling your schedule and business, you’re in charge of your income and what you make and do not make.
- Many couples want more than one event planner, so if you decide to go this route, traveling across the country can be part of the job description and provide travel incentives.
- You’ll get to meet many different kinds of people and attend many different kinds of events.
- If you’d like to showcase your creativity and originality, this might be the career for you.
Cons
- You have to have all the right tools and equipment ready to go so that you can offer your services to clients as soon as possible.
- It can be difficult to find clients at first because most people refer their family and friends when they need help planning the big day.
- Entry barriers in this business are high and therefore you will have to establish your brand very well so as not to be overshadowed by bigger names in the market.
- Finding quality audio equipment that you can offer at an affordable price.
- You have to constantly keep abreast with new technology that is being used in audio equipment.
Best Wedding-Planning Service Marketing Strategies
Receive positive reviews on Wedding Wire and The Knot
WeddingWire and TheKnot.com are two of the largest wedding review sites on the internet. Both sites have an enormous amount of traffic – much of which is coming from brides looking for wedding vendors. One of the best ways to get your business in front of brides is by getting positive reviews on Wedding Wire or The Knot after you’ve worked with a client.
1. Be patient and consistent – Make sure you’re not expecting immediate results from your marketing strategies. Instead, understand that these strategies take time to produce results. To get great reviews, you have to consistently put forth quality service over a long period before you see any positive results.
2. Reach out to your past clients – This is the most obvious step in getting your wedding planning business featured on Wedding Wire or The Knot. You want to send a thank-you note to each client you’ve worked with and let them know how happy you were to be part of their special day. Be sure to ask for a review as part of this note!
3. Send post-wedding follow-up emails – Many couples forget to leave a review on Wedding Wire after they receive their final invoice (especially if they paid with a credit card). Use this opportunity at the end of the wedding season to send a follow-up email asking for reviews. This is also an excellent time to offer any additional incentives (discounts, free items, etc.).
4. Be proactive – Send out an email to the couple asking them if they would be willing to write a review for you. This way, it won’t seem like you’re just fishing for reviews; you’re only asking people who have already expressed interest in posting a review. You can say something like, “We’d love to get your feedback about your experience with us! Would you be willing to leave a review on WeddingWire or TheKnot? If so, please let me know where I can find that.” Ask at check-in. Make sure that when you check the couple into their accommodations, you ask them again if they’d be willing to post a review online.
5. Follow up with every client after their event – After every event, thank your clients for trusting you with their special day and ask them how they liked the services you provided. This allows them to vent about anything they were unhappy about so that they can work on improving for future events.
Share inspirational photos
Sharing beautiful photos of your work is one of the best ways to market yourself as a wedding planner. Not only does it show off your work, but it shows prospective clients that you’re detail-oriented and has a keen eye for aesthetics. Tapping into this strategy means finding the best photography tools to help you do it — from helpful stock image sites to iPhone apps that can turn your photos into works of art. Here are some options to consider:
Flickr. This free site is a great place to find beautiful, high-resolution photos that you can use on your blog or social media accounts. The photos are organized by category, so if you have an upcoming wedding with a rustic theme, look for a relevant photo in the “Scenic” section. The site also has entire albums dedicated to wedding inspiration and wedding planning inspiration, so it’s easy to find photos that match your business theme.
Unsplash. This site has an incredible collection of high-quality images shot by professional photographers — all for free! These are some of the most beautiful stock images I’ve seen, so don’t overlook this site just because it’s free. It includes everything from nature scenes to cityscapes and even food photography.
Life of Pix. This app is one of my favorite photography tools because it allows you to take gorgeous long-exposure shots without any specialized equipment — just your iPhone! The app lets you add motion blur and other effects to your photos with just a few taps, and it’s easy to get artistic with the app when you’re shooting in low light or at night.
Canva. Perfect for those who need simple graphic design skills and a quick turnaround time.
Host an online forum
A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event for two people who love each other. It’s also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your business to make money. Tying the knot is a major expense and as such, total wedding planning costs can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars, which means your wedding clients have a lot of disposable income to spend on outside vendors, like you.
As with any other type of client, you first need to show them that you’re able to deliver. Even if they can’t afford your services now, perhaps they’ll be able to in the future, so you need to demonstrate that you’re worth the investment in terms of their time and money.
One proven way to do this is to engage in marketing that has a high conversion rate – in other words, marketing that will pay off with new clients where the cost per sale is low. One low-cost option is an online forum.
The main advantage of an online forum as a wedding planning business marketing strategy is that it allows you to connect with brides and grooms who are already at a stage where they’re actively looking for ways to get help with their big day.
Network
If you want to grow your wedding planning business and turn it into a full-fledged enterprise, networking becomes one of the most important tools that you can use. Networking refers to the process of building connections with various people in your community to make contacts that can help you build your business.
There are so many ways to network today. Social media is one of the most popular ways. However, I think it is important to remember we can reach out further than that and build our business with real relationships.
Here are a few tips to help you network as a wedding planning business marketing strategy:
1. If you are in the wedding industry, find the clubs and groups that cater specifically to your industry. Join and attend their events.
2. Attend functions of people who have businesses you would like to work with. Let them know who you are and what you do; let them know you want to work with them on projects when appropriate.
3. Find local associations that focus on your industry and join them; attend their events too.
4. Join or start a professional association in your area that focuses on the services your business provides (i.e., Wedding Planners Association). This will allow you to network professionally and build your business at the same time!
5. Don’t let shyness or fear keep you from meeting new people or joining new organizations or groups.
Leverage social media
Are you thinking about using social media to grow your wedding planning business? Wedding planning is a great business to be in because it is typically more recession-proof than others, as newlyweds still have to get married even when money is tight.
But getting started with social media can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re not sure how to do it.
Here are some tips for using social media for your wedding planning business:
Find the platforms that your customers are spending time on. If you are a wedding planner in New York City, you want to make sure your social media presence is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you aren’t sure which platform to focus on, start with Facebook because it has the highest percentage of people (70 percent) who use it actively.
Create a strategy. Your plan should include what you will post on each platform and when. Always include an image or video in posts because this will increase engagement by 14 percent. You should aim for one post per day on each platform and schedule them out in advance using Hootsuite or Buffer for consistency.*
Use engaging images and videos. Images get 94 percent more views than text-only posts so use photos that show off your personality and branding!
Share content from other users. This is a great way to build your network without putting in a lot of effort and share relevant content from other networks like Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.
Provide incentives
Wedding planning business owners can be creative with their incentive marketing strategies. And there are many ways that incentives help encourage customer referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. Rewards can be very simple. For example, wedding planners might offer a 10 percent discount for a friend who books the next wedding she plans. Or wedding planners may offer a free consultation package to the first friend referral who books her service.
Wedding planning services often have items on their wish lists that they use to thank clients for referring new businesses and to help them improve their services. For example, a wedding planner might give new clients a wedding planning book or CD as part of her gift to them when they book her service.
The planner can also provide a small gift to her friend who referred the bride-to-be, such as a thank you card with the couple’s engagement photo inside, along with the date of their wedding and other pertinent information about their plans. Wedding planning services also like to offer incentives for purchasing special wedding items like invitations or cakes through them as well.
For example, many planners will offer discounts on these items if one of their referral sources purchases from them instead of from another source.
Plan for seasonality
Seasonality is known to be a problem with running a wedding planning business. During the winter months, you’ll have fewer weddings to plan and book compared to the peak season during the summer.
This can be a challenge if you’re working on a tight budget and do not want to go over your projected profit margins. What can you do? Here are some tips to keep in mind:
List your business as a wedding planner on multiple platforms during all seasons of the year. This way, you’ll have more clients calling at any given time.
Share how your business goes through an off-season, and explain how it isn’t uncommon for businesses in your area. You can also share your plans for being prepared for the slow season so that you won’t get stuck with idle time when there are no clients to work with.
Be honest about your potential income, and let them know that they will still get services at a discounted rate during the off-season.
Explain that this can be part of the deal if they want to sign up anyway.
Video Marketing
A wedding planner business will benefit from using video marketing to attract potential clients. Video will help you establish a more personal relationship with your potential customers and encourage them to choose you over other options.
With the right strategy, you can use video marketing to grow your wedding planning business. This section features tips for using video marketing for your wedding planner business. These ideas will help you better utilize this tool in your business and show you how to get the most out of it.
1: Create a video about your business. Make a video about your business, not just about weddings. This will help you establish your brand and attract customers. You can use your website or social media pages to promote the video and build engagement with potential customers. If you sell products, you can also embed links to these products in the video description.
2: Have an attractive-looking video. You want your video to look good since that’s the first impression potential customers get of your business. Don’t rely on YouTube’s editing tools to create your video. Instead, use expensive and professional-looking software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X to edit your videos. You can also purchase stock footage online or create graphics for your videos.
3: Tell a story in your videos. Telling a story in your videos will help build customer trust, making them more likely to buy from you. Consider including testimonials from past clients in your videos and showing behind-the-scenes footage of your work.
4: Use professional quality equipment. Speaking of equipment, make sure you use professional quality equipment for all of your videos.
Final Thoughts
In a difficult economy, it is imperative to know where to focus your energies and savvy when it comes to marketing.
Discussed above are some of the best marketing strategies you can consider implementing in your wedding planning business.
