Most Effective Marketing for Wedding Planners | Wedding Planning Q&A

Hi and welcome to Union Podcast. My name is Jamie Wolfer and I'm a wedding planner who absolutely loves to share how I got started and scale my business to above six figures in this amazing and occasionally extremely competitive industry. In this podcast, I share the tech, tactics, mindset and mistakes that got me to where I am today. No gatekeeping, no cloak and dagger, just full disclosure and a little humor along the way. So whether you're a planner or a solopreneur, my goal is for you to be a better business person than I ever could have been and support you on this journey. I let's dive into this week's episode. Today's episode is one of my favorite things in the entire world. And that is a live Q and A from one of our union mastermind calls. I know you're going to love it. Take a listen. Uh, first question. What was your most effective marketing strategy or campaigning to build clientele before you started your YouTube channel? Uh, I am going to sound like a complete broken record when I say that I was a huge, huge fan of doing bridal shows. Bridal exposure. For me, it was a really great way of practicing and solidifying what my proposal was like, what my offering was for potential clients, verbalizing it. It made me better at sales online or like sales calls. So I got over a dozen weddings from my very first expo, which is huge. The return on investment was like 10x plus. It was insane. It was a really, really good deal for us. So if you have a big city near you, I highly recommend doing that to get your feet wet. Another thing that you can do and what we found really wildly successful, it's just word of mouth. Word of mouth takes some time, though. That's why I liked having the expo as a starting point, because that then led to even more clients because someone attended that wedding or someone was a bridesmaid in that wedding, and then they're like, oh, hey, you should coordinate my friend's wedding. So it helped to broaden my audience in the very beginning by bringing in randos, so to speak, through these expos that I could then have as clients and perform what we do very well. And then they would use word of mouth to pass it along further. So that was honestly the most effective strategy. Word of mouth was the most powerful tool and the only way that we could really secure that was by doing a really good job. So the amount of times we get referrals, hey, I heard from this person or this photographer, really liked working with you or my venue recommended you or my friend had you coordinate their wedding and they really enjoyed their experience. Those are the kind of people that you really want to work with because they're just like raving fans already and they haven't even worked with you yet. It's. It's so, it's so delightful. So that's kind of how I got started. I know the social media game is like a really good place to be right now for a lot of wedding planners. If you want to go the content creation route, reels are very good, especially if you can niche down. Recently, I think it was one of the recent calls we had on here, there's a gallon Montana shout out to you, homie, who was trying to figure out how to get her business started. Because there were a lot of planners that just weren't helping her out. And I was like, if you niche down, if you can figure out, you know, cornering the market on Montana elopements, like, that would be huge. And then just hashtag all of your reels, MontanaElopement. Montana Elopement. And watch how the audience responds because then those that are kind of interested in that will naturally gravitate towards the content that you're creating. This is not for everybody. I'm aware that I'm enneagram3, okay. And I am a big personality, so I know that content's not for everyone and I know that's obviously a very natural bend for me. But if you find yourself in a situation where you are comfortable doing that, then I highly recommend doing so. Okay, there we go. Like, what's that noise? Oh, perfect. The podcast episode where Heather and I talk about expos is a good one. And honestly, a lot of my clientele didn't really. Still doesn't come from YouTube. We get a lot more powerful referrals from word of mouth specifically. Um, we get great referrals from YouTube. They're all of our clients are fantastic. There's. There's no no ifs, ands or buts about that. But I still think word of mouth is kind of like the best in my opinion. This is also a great opportunity to start networking. So you have like a wipa. Wedding industry professionals associated or association or anonymous. I don't know what the A stands for, but if you have a WIPA in your area, it might be worth joining and going there or networking with local vendors. We have two really big magazines here in the Waco area and they like almost have cult like followings from their collected vendors and they have all these get togethers that they do a couple times a year, which is real cute. So that's a great way to network and a great way to build up your connections and therefore word of mouth. Again, I'm only mildly embarrassed to admit that in the beginning, I printed out every single piece of paper, every single contract. I took handwritten notes and created a binder for every single one of my wedding planning clients. Now, in theory, that sounds really cool and I thought I would look really cool showing up to these meetings with these binders that are full of all of these contracts with handwritten notes. But let me tell you, the chaos that ensued when I tried to stay organized on my own and got over five events at a time. It was a nightmare. Enter Honeybook. I am telling you guys, Honeybook was literally exactly how my brain was processing wedding planning, but just in digital form. It's so easy to go in there and make any sort of customizations that you want. From adjusting your contracts to adjusting your packages, maintaining conversations back and forth that not only pop up in the app on the website, but also in your inbox as well. It's a great way to stay organized. So get out of the paper and get onto the Digital. Head to wolfrenco.com HB and use code Union at checkout to get the best deal. We interrupt this podcast because there is something extremely special that I want to share with you guys. I don't know about you, but for the last who knows how many years I have been using a frankensteined, googled, copied and pasted contract. And while that is extremely embarrassing to admit to all of our listeners, I know that there are people out there who feel the same as I do. And there were a couple things that kept me from actually getting an attorney drafted contract. Actually no. There was one thing in it was so expensive and it seemed so out of reach. That's when I learned about Legally Set. You see, Coon Bee with Legally Set has created industry specific contracts for people like you and me working in the wedding industry. They're easy to customize, they're drafted by an actual attorney and not googled. Can you imagine that? And last but not least, they are so extremely affordable. So if you were like me and maybe using a less than appropriate and or legal contract, it's time to step up your game. You have no more excuses. Head over to theunionpodcast.com legally set to check them out. Use code union for 20% off your contracts. Next question. I worked so hard planning and preparing my business to launch and now I feel like and now that I have. I feel like I don't know what to do day to day. How do you maintain a business? This is a great question because there are going to be times where you are literally twiddling your thumbs. You're like, I got nothing, bro. Like, I don't, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here. I don't know how to be productive with my day. I don't know what to do with my time because I've checked off all of the things on my list. Right. I've got the website, I've got the Instagram. What am I supposed to do now? Well, what's missing? Do you have clients? Can you network? Is there anything that you can do there? Have you gone through the copy on your website and read through that? Now this might be like a little bit more busy work where you're working like on the facade, on the look of your business than working on your actual business. Yeah. If you feel like it's all prepared, you might have lulls where you just don't do anything and it's going to feel bizarre where you're like, I feel like I should be doing something. I feel like I should be moving forward. That's where networking comes in. That's where tweaking your copy comes in. But they are not a complete necessity. And allow yourself the downtime. This is the gorgeousness of being an entrepreneur. Okay. Because there's a lot of parts of it that suck. We love it, right? We love it and we are glutton for punishment when it comes to being an entrepreneur. However, there will be times where it feels like you're like, I just don't know what to do. I'm having this downtime. I don't know how to be productive during this time. Do you have any advice? Yeah, embrace it. This is the gloriousness. Okay. Embrace the lull. But if you really feel so inclined you, if you're low on clients, get out there, start networking, Sign up for an expo. If you need to really firm up your packages, you can go through those with a fine tooth comb. Clean them up if you need to. As far as the day to day, because this question could be phrased or could be intended in such a way to be more like, what does your day to day look like? And honestly for me, usually it's a lot of emails, a lot of emails which I try to hyper focus for when kids are distracted and, or asleep. Or I'll do them late at night and schedule them to like send off the Next day at a more reasonable hour, which is a great hack. If you are like running this business and working full time or even part time, or if you have kids, if you have things that are distracting you during normal business hours, try to take advantage of that feature that will send the email later. So that is what I typically do day to day. I don't, I'm now at a place where I don't go out of my way to push for more exposure and, or more growth. But if you feel like you need that, that could be something that you're working on. Here's a big overall like good thought process. If you could pick three big goals to achieve over the next three months, one a month, what would those be? Would it be batch working some Instagram content so you can, again, if you have this super niche content that you can direct people towards. Fantastic, right? That could be a really good area of investment. If you want to develop some sort of digital download, that could be a really, really good idea to get more people is to offer them a little bit of a freebie. Here is a free checklist that you might like, get them on the email list. You feel like you want to start an email list. If everything that I'm saying right now is an absolute foreign language, this might be worth leaning into a little bit to kind of build up the digital side of things. If you want to do more networking, maybe you make it a goal to attend two networking events over the next three months or just one. I don't know, I'm not your mom. You can figure that out, whatever works best for you. But pick one goal per month for the next three months and then structure backwards from that. So if your goal is to post consistently on Instagram twice a week, three times a week, set aside a day where you batch work some content. Because you could probably get nine reels recorded in a handful of hours. If you have the time set aside and you've already kind of come up with the idea, maybe you're just looking for the right trending audio to match with it. That could be a fantastic option. So it all really depends on where your business needs to grow and what your goals of the business are. So if you write down those goals, you can backtrack from there. Um, trying to think of any big business goals that you might have that are more short term, that are achievable in like a 30, 60, 90 day timeframe. Maybe it's a sound shoot, maybe it's getting vendors, maybe it's finding location, all those Kinds of things. That does take time and you might want to give yourself two to three months to get that all put together. So it's not all kind of like haphazardly tossed together. Not to sound like a total hypocrite though, because I've definitely haphazardly thrown together styled shoes before. It still works. The photos still come out great. Pick your goals, backtrack, be realistic about it, and then set more subtasks underneath those to help you achieve those goals in a timely manner. What is the best way to angle yourself towards clients with specific design styles? I'm looking to work with couples who enjoy a timeless look, but who are also working a budget one. Maybe appreciate thrifting or other lower cost options. You said my favorite word. Well, one of them thrift and design. I'm sucker. I'm a sucker for those. So I'm confused on how to answer this question because thrifted isn't really like a style because you can thrift a bunch of different styles. Are you looking to help them thrift? Because that would be so. Could you imagine thrifting for people's weddings? It'd be so time consuming but like so deliciously worth it in my opinion because I just love any excuse. Go to the thrift store because I feel like I'm getting a really good deal because it's from the thrift store. There, I said it. It could still be like a 15 pair, $15 pair of shoes that's like the same price at Walmart, but I'm like, it's from the thrift store. It doesn't matter, it doesn't count. It's cheaper. So to kind of break this down, how best to angle yourself to work towards clients with specific design styles. Put out content on your website, on your Instagram that puts like that describes your ideal clientele. Put out what you like to receive. So I the first few moody weddings that I worked with black dresses, I was like, this is going all over the website. Okay? Because I love the soft and the romantic, but like I also love the moody and the edgy. And I want to make sure that when clients come upon my page that they feel like they see themselves there. So if you would like to have people come to you who have specific design styles, it needs to be on your website. It has to be on your website. Okay. Most clients are going to be like, oh, her about me story is really good. I feel super compelled to hire her to design my wedding. Even though no photos look like what we want to have at Our wedding, Right? So if you have not had any events that describe the style or have the style that you would like to have at events, do a styled shoot or write a blog post on how to thrift for your wedding or things that you commonly see at a thrift store that could be great to use for your wedding. Start positioning yourself as an expert in this category. So when it comes time for clients to book you, they're like, oh, she's got thrifted stuff all over her website. Or I go to her Instagram and she talks about thrifting tips for your wedding. Like, this is Bob. I would absolutely love to work with this person. And I go to the website and I see the design that I want reflected in that. A lot of times as wedding planners, we are kind of lumped in as designers, whether we want to or not. So we do need to be intentional about the designs that we are putting out there, because then that will in turn tell the world what kind of clients we would like to receive. The same could be said about our website copy too. And how we phrase the type of clients that we want will directly correlate with the type of clients that we bring in. So if you want detail oriented type A and you put that in your copy, those are probably the clients that you get. Because if someone's like laissez faire or very lackadaisical, they're probably not going to be like, I'm inspired by someone who wants a type A client. You know what I mean? So that's how you can kind of get clients with specific design styles is put out what you like to receive. And then if you want to work with couples who enjoy timeless but also looking to work on a budget, go minimal, go minimalistic, elegant. A lot of times when it comes to thrifting, the idea is textural, a little bit more cluttered, a little bit more mismatched, which is great. I am like you saw and or heard a minute and a half ago. I am a thrifting fiend. I thrift decor all the time, all around my home. I love it. I love secondhand items, probably even more so than a lot of firsthand items. But inherently it also feels like very opulent, textural, over the top, lots of pieces. And so if you want a timeless look, sometimes that thrifted look can kind of compete with that a little bit. So maybe try playing around with some more of the minimalistic approach to give it that timeless feel, or go with pieces that have withstood the test of time. Like I feel like colored goblets are. They have not missed their moment. They're still here. They're going to stick around for probably a really long time. Or lace, lace and the correct applications, that's going to be around for a while. To try to find what you see as timeless, look back at weddings a long time ago, look at weddings now, see if there's any similarities between those, and then incorporate that accordingly. So it can be hard to be timeless and budgeted and thrifted. Those three aren't necessarily always homogenous, if I can be so bold as to use that word here. But I think you could do it. It just might require a little bit of creativity to kind of hit all those points. That's all we have for this week's episode, guys. If you enjoyed it, do me a favor, screenshot that episode and share it on socials. Tag me in it. I would love to see what Wolfer and company on Instagram let me know if you're enjoying it. You can also let me know if you didn't enjoy it, but I'm probably not going to reassure that one. I hope you guys enjoy this week's episode and we'll see you in the next one.