Business First Family Business, Accounting, Finance, Investing, Marketing And Management
Do you absolutely love weddings? Do you love throwing parties? Do you have a knack for negotiating and finding great deals? You might be ready to start a wedding planning business. It’s the perfect outlet for those who are business-minded, organized, and creative, and it could lead to a hugely fulfilling career. You just need the right tips to get started:
Focus On Branding
Wedding planning is competitive, but if you have a strong brand, you shouldn’t have a problem gaining clientele and standing out. Your brand will define your company’s standards and how the public perceives you. It starts with a good name – something that says what your company does. It should be memorable with a good logo and color scheme that are easily definable. By branding your business, you are setting an expectation to deliver on someone’s wedding. From engagement to “I do”, they are trusting you with one of the most important days of their lives. The brand should have a trustworthy and reliable perception. Your customer service and marketing efforts should be consistent and true to your brand as well.
Educate Yourself
In order to deliver on a great brand name, you’ll need to expand your knowledge of the wedding business. Much of your education can be done informally through researching trends. For example, “vintage” is very popular. A key vintage style, halo engagement rings, are among the most popular wedding ring trends to date. This knowledge will help you guide clients in the right direction, whether it be picking out the actual ring or designing a wedding that matches it. If possible, you should look for internships or apprenticeships before beginning your own business.
Choose Home Or Office Space
Many wedding planners begin in their own homes. The startup costs are lower, and you don’t have a commute. However, you won’t attract any traffic from passersby like you would from a physical office space. If you already have a good clientele and a fantastic marketing strategy, a home-based office is not a problem. Otherwise, you might consider an office space in a commercial sector to attract clientele.
Write Your Business Plan
All businesses need a written plan or strategy that dictates a plan for making money. Your business plan also defines your goals and the steps you’ll take to achieve them. Realistic goals might include a certain dollar amount, number of clients, and plans to grow your business. In the beginning, you might want to start with smaller weddings under 100 guests. Then, you can work your way up to large weddings over 500 guests or more. A business plan might seem like a foreign language to you, but you can find plenty of tutorials and templates online to get you started.
Get On Social Media
Weddings and social media go hand in hand. On social media, couples can draw inspiration from others, connect with professionals and get the best price to create their dream wedding. Brides and grooms take to their favorite channels to announce the happy occasion, post photos, ask for recommendations, find inspiration, collect addresses, and even send wedding invites. Thus, if you want to stand out to your clients, you’ll hop onto Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest at the very least and market your business to potential clients on these platforms.
Land Clients
As your business, marketing, and social media efforts come to fruition, you’ll start to get more clients. Each step you take to put your business out there should have the purpose to gain more. Once you land a client, do everything in your power to make them happy. When your business becomes more established, you can afford to be a little pickier or more forceful with your brides and grooms. But when you’re starting out, you only need to make clients happy.
Earn Endorsements
There’s nothing better for a starting website than gaining endorsements from satisfied customers. Testimonials provide credibility and trust. For visitors online, this provides social proof. Since more than 80 percent of customers seek the advice of others when buying a product, this is very important.
Ask satisfied customers to write reviews and endorse your brand. You might also ask popular brands in the wedding business to endorse you, like flower shops or custom print shops. You can earn lots of business from these simple endorsements.
