How To Charge More By Giving Away the Goods

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It’s a challenge to charge what you’re worth as a wedding vendor and get it without argument.  Sometimes it feels darn near impossible.

So saying that you can charge more by giving something away for FREE, not only sounds crazy (“How can I make ANY money when I’m giving something away?!??”) it strikes fear into the heart of even the bravest wedding professional.

Use Free to Book More Weddings!

That fear makes us want to cling to every bit of knowledge, advice and every resource we have with all our strength.  After all, we’ve worked hard for our expertise.  No bride or groom is going to pry it from our cold, dead hands without paying for it!

Cheap Wine and a Lesson in Marketing

This is a true story…

I went into a Discount Wine and Liquor Store to buy a bottle of wine to bring to my future mother-in-law.  I knew we were having chicken for dinner, but I knew absolutely nothing about wine at the time.

So I asked the gum-snapping teen behind the counter, “Which wine is good with chicken francaise?”

She stared at me and shrugged.  “This one costs seven bucks,” she said.  “And the label is pretty cool.”

I was obviously on my own.

Months later, I visited Arlington Wine and Liquor with a similar predicament.  This time I wanted to impress our foodie guests with a good wine pairing for seafood gumbo.

There were dozens of rows and shelves of wine, brandies, cognacs, sake, types of alcohol I’d never heard of let alone tasted.  I cowered in the doorway, remembering my experience at the discount liquor mart.

A friendly young man appeared at my side.  “How can I help you?”  I told him what we were having for dinner and braced for an ignorant, uncaring response.

The young man recommended two different wines.  He explained that the wrong wine would taste horrible with spicy food, but a carefully chosen pairing would refresh the palate and enhance the whole dining experience.

I left the store with two bottles of wine, a smile on my face and a few more facts to boost my confidence in entertaining my wine loving guests.

The discount wine store sold…you guessed it…cheap wine.  The wine I ended up buying at Arlington was more expensive, but I understood instantly why their prices were higher.  I wasn’t just buying the wine; I was tapping into the knowledge and advice of wine connoisseurs.

The Easy Way to Explain Your Worth

The same thing happens with brides and grooms when they call up Fly By Night Wedding Business and ask for a price.  All they get is someone pointing at the price tag.

But when they call you and you ask them intelligent questions and find out what they need before making a recommendation, your value is instantly recognizable.  Even if they choose to go with someone else, they will know why you’re worth it.

Here’s why FREE can actually make you money…

It’s very difficult to explain your value and justify your price…especially an above average price…to a bride you’ve just met.  She doesn’t trust you.  At worst, your explanation sounds like a sales pitch.  At best, it’s a lecture.

However, when you give her a taste of your knowledge, skill and expertise for free, right up front before she’s paid you a dime, she gets a first hand experience of what you can do for her.  It cuts through all the mumbo-jumbo explanation and PROVES why you’re worth it.

The Psychology of Influence

It also kicks in a few psychological Principles of Influence (see Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, for all the geeky details) that make it more likely that she will book you.

  • Giving away free information, tips and advice without asking for anything in return:
  • Makes you likeable.  That’s the Principle of Likeability: we are influenced by people who we like and trust.

  • Creates a pressure in the bride to return the favor.  That’s the Principle of Reciprocity: when someone does a favor for us, it creates an unconscious pressure to return the favor.  In the case of a bride, it creates an unconscious pressure for her to book you.

You can learn more about how to use the psychology of influence to book more weddings in my Price Shopper Email Report.  It’s fascinating stuff and more importantly, it works!

Instead of arguing about your price, and failing to explain to those “price shoppers” why you’re worth your price tag, flip the script and give them a first hand experience of what it’s like to work with you.  Simply find out what they need and help them.

Use the power of FREE to book more weddings at higher prices.

What do you think about using “free” for your wedding business?

 

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Disappointed with Bridal Lead Lists? These Two Strategies Book ‘Em Faster and Cheaper

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A couple weeks ago, I wrote a blog post asking the question, “Do Bridal Lead Lists Actually Work?” and shared it on Linked In.

Before we dive into what we uncovered, let’s quickly define what we’re talking about when we say, “bridal lead list.”

We’re talking about those icy cold lead lists you buy either in bulk from wedding directory sites, magazines and bridal shows, or individually from lead generating sites like Respond.com. They are brides or grooms who haven’t met you, haven’t visited your website, and tend to be more price motivated.

Well, leave it to the innovative and helpful members of the wedding business community to not only answer that provocative question, but to share strategies for following up with bridal leads that work and alternatives that work even better.

Are you ready? Because these guys knocked my socks off.

The Reality of Bridal Lead Lists

The owner of A Better DJ and Photographer shared his results from bridal lead lists.

Based on his experience with hundreds of thousands of bridal lead lists:

  • 4% actually respond by phone or email.
  • 50% of those that call book immediately.
  • Calls his wife takes book 100% of the time.
  • Calls he takes book 85% of the time.

These results are actually high, which indicates an offer that is a good match for these type of bridal leads; most wedding pros get a response from 1% of these leads. Yeah, not too impressive, huh?

Out of 100 bridal list leads you contact, expect only 1-4 of them to respond.

What is A Better DJ and Photography doing right with these bridal leads? He’s tracking and measuring his results.

He knows exactly how many leads he’s going to book from that list, so he can easily decide if it’s worth his time and money. He even knows that it’s in his best interest to keep his wife glued to the phone!

An Alternative to Chasing Down Unresponsive Bridal Leads

Over time, A Better DJ and Photographer traded in his time chasing down unresponsive bridal leads like these for focus on search engine optimization for his website and social media. This results in higher quality, more targeted leads that he can book in less time.

“I used to invest 40-60 hours a week chasing leads…” he explains. “Now I invest 20 of those 40 to 60 hours into SEO each week and the other hours have been converted to actually booking clients.”

Nick Choroshyliw, owner of Rochester photography company, Nix Images, reported similarly disappointing results after two years of combined email and direct mail marketing to bridal show lead lists. In other words, these leads were mostly duds.

However, Nick struck upon a much more cost-effective strategy that DOES work with bridal show lead lists.

How to Book Bridal Show Leads Without Going to the Show!

No, we’re not suggesting that you hide in the parking lot and pounce on brides leaving the bridal show, throwing business cards or leave fliers on their windshields. That would be bad, bad juju.

Nick no longer attends these shows in person. Instead, he pays a much smaller fee to have his printed information added to the bridal gift bags distributed to every bride. This way, he gets his business in front of the 400-450 brides who receive the bag upon registration.

After the show, they sort through the cards they’ve collected from vendors…along with the ones that came “pre-stuffed” in the bag…and many end up contacting him.

“What’s interesting is that many of the brides who contacted me say that they liked my display at the show,” Nick says. “Well, I wasn’t at the show! My 6×8 glossy cards were stuffed in the information bags…The organizer charges a fraction of the cost…to stuff the cards into the bags and it appears that I actually get a better response than being there.”

If you can design a postcard that gets results, like the one Nix Images is using, this can be an effective, low cost alternative to getting quality leads from a bridal show.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and ideas with us, guys!

Now I want to know…what’s YOUR experience with bridal lead lists? Do they work for you or do you have something better?

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48 Websites Where You Can Get Free Marketing For Your Wedding Business

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Does FREE marketing, the kind that actually works, even exist?

It’s true that marketing is going to cost you either time or money. But there are some amazing free wedding marketing resources you need to be taking advantage of.

What started out as “14 Free Wedding Marketing Websites” has grown to a list of more than 18 websites and 30 local business directories.

Before you start using these free marketing resources, there are some key things you need to know or you can mess this up. We’re going to tell you why this is important, which sites you simply MUST list yourself on, and the mistakes to avoid.

Do this right and it will bring you more leads. Do this wrong and all you’ll do is waste more of your precious time.

These directory sites and listings get a lot of website visitors and have a lot of activity. This means that typically they have a lot more visibility and ranking that your website does. When a bride or groom is searching, they’re more likely to find you on these higher ranking sites.

These websites and directories also act as multiple points of contact with the bride and groom, so that your business is everywhere.

Studies show that it takes 5-12 contacts with your business before they buy.

Every time they see you on a review site or a business listing, it gets them one step closer to booking you. Long story short: list your business on these sites and you will make more money!

Watch This Video to Learn 48 Websites For Free Marketing

CLICK HERE to get the Holiday Triple Play Special at 78% OFF the regular price! and collect today’s “Mystery Bonus” revealed in the video.

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6 Sneaky Tactics to Get Your Wedding Business on Page 1 of Google

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Getting in front of more qualified brides and grooms is the #1 challenge of wedding vendors. In this video, we’re going to show you 6 sneaky ways to get more leads for your wedding business the cheap, fast way.

It’s true that when you’re running a wedding business, it’s going to cost you either time or money to get leads. Most of us don’t have much of a marketing budget to work with, so we’ve got to work like a “bootstrapper.”

A bootstrapper uses marketing strategies geared towards making the most money, with the least amount of time and money invested. Because as bootstrappers, we can’t afford to waste a penny!

One of the most efficient and effective ways to get more leads is using your website and the internet. Why? Because 86% of couples use the internet to plan their weddings. They’re actively searching for you already; you just need to make sure they find you.

It’s also incredibly efficient because if you set it up right, it requires only a little maintenance and it works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Here’s the challenge; most couples are using Google to search for you. So if you want to be found, you need to be on Page 1 of Google.

There is a lot of competition for Page 1, which means that it can be hard work, and it takes time. If you really hit it hard, you can do it in a few months when you know what to do.

What if you don’t have a lot of time or money to invest?

That’s where we come in! In this video we show you…

6 Sneaky Tactics to Get Your Wedding Business On Page 1 of Google

  • How to do it FAST. Sometimes even overnight!
  • How to do it cheap.

Watch This Video to Learn 6 Sneaky Tactics to Get Your Business On Page 1

CLICK HERE to get the Holiday Triple Play Special at 78% OFF the regular price! and collect today’s “Mystery Bonus” revealed in the video.

If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.

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The Magic Question You Can Use with 90% of Leads to Stop the “Price Question” For Good!

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What’s the first thing most brides and grooms are asking when they contact you these days? That’s right: HOW MUCH?

It’s unbelievably frustrating because they just don’t understand the value they’re getting. To make it worse, 90% or more of these inquiries are coming in by email which makes it even harder. If you at least had them on the phone, you’d have a fighting chance. But how do you explain your value in an email?

The bottom line is that you really CAN’T. You need to have a conversation. You need to send an email response that starts a conversation and begins a relationship in order to explain your value. When you do this right, you won’t even have to mention price.

Watch this video to learn our favorite technique for easily getting off price and moving the bride or groom towards the booking. We also have a little holiday style wedding marketing fun in the process…

Watch This Video to Learn How to Stop the Price Question:

CLICK HERE to get the Holiday Triple Play Special at 78% OFF the regular price! and collect today’s “Mystery Bonus” revealed in the video.

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Do Bridal Lead Lists Actually Work?

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Question:

HI Stephanie & Jeff,

Still benefiting from your Book More Brides videos, excellent value for money.

You raised an interesting point about having leads stopped, one of the biggest providers I have been using for years has just stopped his business. I know you are on the other side of the pond but do you know of any good firms that sell bridal leads over here in the UK?

Bye for now

Terry

Answer:

Hi, Terry.

Most paid sources of bridal lead lists are not worth the money. The leads aren’t targeted for your specific business by type of client, budget, style, etc., making them very poor quality. It typically takes a lot of work following up for very little return.

Our clients have reported getting a response from only 1 out of 100 bridal leads of this type! Apparently, they sell them cheap for a reason. :)

A better investment would be to put that money into turning your website into a real money-making machine, or possibly running some Facebook ads. They are much more targeted demographically and you can test your results. More ideas for effective wedding marketing at a reasonable cost here.

In other words, rather than purchasing leads, build your own bridal lead list! When you send targeted traffic to your website and then get those brides and grooms to enter their name and email to get a cool freebie (what we call a “Bride Bribe”), like a free report, video or valuable checklist, you’re creating a list of very warm, qualified leads you can now follow up with.

If you DO decide to purchase bridal leads, investigate their quality first. Ask your wedding vendor friends about their experiences, and grill the company for statistics and references.

You’ll want to ask:

  • How many unique visitors do you get?
  • How do you qualify your leads?
  • Do you provide stats on my ad views and click throughs?
  • What exactly these brides think they’ll be receiving when they sign up? If the bride hasn’t contacted you directly, she often considers your emails to be spam, no matter what she agreed to upon sign up.

With any bridal lead list, start out with a monthly trial if possible to measure your results before committing to something long term.

I was very impressed with the advertising experiment with the UK site, Wedding Chaos, done by Claire Gould over at English Wedding. They offer great metrics for tracking and you can learn a lot from her results and test them out for yourself, which I highly recommend.

Good luck with everything!

Stephanie

What do YOU think about bridal lead lists? Have they worked for you?

Got a wedding business question you want answered? Email Stephanie & Jeff and you could be the next Question of the Week! All personal details about your identity will be removed unless you specify otherwise.

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Two Questions That Can Transform Your Wedding Business

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It’s my goal to learn something new to use in our wedding business whenever I go somewhere new. Geeky, I know, but as my step-son would say, “That’s how I roll.”

Attending the 50th birthday/promotion celebration for one of Jeff’s childhood friends was no exception. As a totally unrelated side note, we both learned something important about showing up on time for surprise parties (even when the invitation doesn’t specify a deadline) since we bumped into the birthday boy in the parking lot, completely ruining the surprise. *Cringe.*

Back to my business lesson…

While Jeff was charming the ladies he hasn’t seen since high school, I started up a conversation with Brian Altmann, owner of a very successful Poughkeepsie remodeling business and (wonder of wonders!) it turns out we both have a fondness for teaching other people what’s worked for us.

Who Thrives When the Industry Suffers?

While the entire construction industry has been suffering since the Recession, hurting much worse than the wedding industry, Brian’s remodeling business was thriving. I eagerly listened as he shared the secrets of his success for ideas that could be applied to a wedding business.

Brian uses cutting edge marketing, SEO, video and social media to absolutely dominate his local market, but his real “secret sauce” is both incredibly powerful and deceptively simple. His peers always want him to reveal the magical tactics behind his marketing success, but Brian believes the real reason his business continues to thrive boils down to his dedication to customer service.

The Post Wedding Survey

After every job, Brian’s team members do an exit survey with each customer. They ask two simple questions:

1. What are three things we did well?

2. What are three things we can improve?

“If you want your business to absolutely explode,” he said, “run your business by those answers. Keep getting better at the things you do well, and improve your weaknesses, and you’ll rocket to #1.”

Sounds way too simple to be that powerful, right?

Here’s the truth: most of your competitors are not asking these questions in the first place. And even if they do ask these questions, they’re not going to actually take action on what they learn. It’s sad, but true.

Pick the Brain of the Bride and Groom

Want a short cut to a wedding business that beats the competition and creates overwhelming demand? Ask your clients what they want and then give it to them.

I know, it’s much for fun to do what YOU want. But if you let your clients direct your business by making everything you do 100% about meeting their wants and solving their problems, it will not steer you wrong.

Let me give you an example. Some years back we had what I’ll call a “difficult” bride. She was very particular about what she wanted, and I held her hand through the whole planning process.

After the wedding, we learned in our post-wedding survey that she wasn’t completely satisfied because we hadn’t played enough of her requested songs.

This bride had given us a request list of over 75 songs, more than enough for the entire night, and 35 of them were “must plays.” And, to be frank, the songs she picked absolutely sucked. The dance floor would have been empty all night long.

We ended up playing over 40 of the songs she requested, be we skipped about 5 the lamest “must plays.” I figured that it was more important to get people dancing than it was to play every single song.

Well, that complaint let me know that we hadn’t communicated exactly the terms of the Must Play List. From then on, if it’s on the Must Play List, we play it, come hell or high water.

BUT we also explain to the couple how it’s going to work. If the couple has more than 10 “must play” songs, we ask them if they’d like us to play them no matter what, even if it clears the dance floor. We come to an understanding of exactly what they expect so that we can deliver it.

This has become a promise we make that reassures our couples and keeps them happier than ever.

Check Your Customer Service

I’m sure you think you deliver excellent customer service. But do you ask your customers how you’re doing? Do you survey them to make sure?

And if you do survey them…what was the last improvement you made as a result?

Ask these two questions and take the answers you get seriously, and it’s a compass for your wedding business success that will not steer you wrong because you’ll always be connected with exactly what your clients want and don’t want.

You don’t need fancy software or new fangled tactics to get the marketing answers you’re looking for. Your customers hold the secrets to transforming your business; you just need to ask them.

What do you think about listening to your customers and clients?

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Filed Under: Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Competition, Home Page, Personal Development, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

7 Ways to Grow Your Wedding Business During the Holidays

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While the wedding season is winding down for a lot of pros, there’s still much to do. And there’s no reason why you can’t boost your bottom line during the holiday season, too.

Here are some ideas you can use to market your wedding business, make more sales and earn referrals during the holidays.

1. Tap Into Holiday Buying Power

People buy in an emotional state. Sure, we like to think that we’ve carefully considered the pros and cons of getting that Mac Book Pro to reach a logical decision, but it’s always an emotional need that gets rationalized afterward.

Why not tag along on the emotional buying frenzy created by shop-happy “holidays” like Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

People who open their wallets on these shop-a-holic days are primed to purchase again and again. Offer them a special deal to channel some of those economy boosting funds your way.

2. Thank Your Local Customers

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to send a card that doesn’t get lost in the deluge of greeting cards in December. You have a much better chance of standing out from the competition.

Even better than a thank you card, give your brides and grooms a special gift. An informational article or video filled with holiday tips and ideas is a great way to show your appreciation, earn customer loyalty and get extra sales.

Don’t forget your wedding vendor friends! Show them the love so that they shower you with referrals.

3. Showcase Your Holiday Wares

If you have a product or service that makes a great holiday gift, this is the time to show it off. A special deal or promotion makes it extra enticing.

For photographers, holiday photo shoots, portraits or mini-albums can be a big hit. Think Groupon, if you dare, and fill up those empty spots in your studio calendar. Wedding DJs might offer a special mid-week holiday rate or rent a Santa for a family party. Event planners could offer a class in holiday planning entertainment.

You’ve already earned the trust of the brides and grooms who’ve hired you. Come up with a cool gift they can give to their family members or friends and make them a repeat customer.

4. Get the Promotion Wheels Turning Well in Advance

Start promoting your holiday specials early. Submit press releases, tweet and Facebook about it in social media, and get the buzz going. When the shopping season officially kicks in your fans and followers will know exactly where to go.

Promote, don’t over-promote, with social media. DO let your fans and followers know what you’re up to, but make sure you keep providing valuable tips and information that isn’t a sales pitch. Don’t promote your stuff more than 50% of the time or people will tune you out altogether.

5. Sponsor a Local Event or Give to Charity

The holidays are the perfect time to embrace the spirit of giving. Earn some good karma and some good PR for your wedding business by giving back to your community. It earns goodwill and makes people feel good about doing business with you.

6. Publish a Holiday Gift Giving Guide

Desperate brides and grooms (especially grooms) are scouring the internet for hip and cool gift-giving ideas. Make it easy for your couples by sharing a top 10 list of the best holiday gifts.

Some of these gifts might be your products and services, but even simply sharing original gift ideas on your blog will attract eager website visitors.

You might make your holiday gift guide a PDF giveaway report, a blog post, a video, or send it in your email newsletter or by mail. If your ideas are good, they’ll be well appreciated.

7. Host a Holiday Themed Contest

People are always hungry for good gift-giving ideas, holiday entertainment tips and yummy recipes. If you don’t have any to share yourself, hold a contest for the Best Holiday Gift Idea, the Best Gingerbread Cookie Recipe or if you want to stay wedding-themed, the Best Romantic Holiday Gift.

Contests are easy to pull off yourself with applications like Rafflecopter and Wildfire that leverage the power of social media to spread the word. A holiday themed contest is a great way to tap into the excitement of the holidays to promote your wedding business.

These are just a few holiday promotion ideas. How do you market your wedding business during the holiday season?

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Filed Under: Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Home Page, Uncategorized, Wedding Budgets, Wedding Business, Wedding Business Income, Wedding Vendors Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wedding Marketing Lessons from the Presidential Campaign

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Confession: I am a political junkie.

We just survived the Presidential election. Call me weird, but I actually enjoy the election season game. Let me be clear; I hate robo-calls, and I don’t particularly enjoy watching two people try to destroy each other. The negative part isn’t very fun.

I love the creation of the candidate’s image, the branding process, the rolling out of a national message through political commercials. Some are successful; some aren’t.

Whether you liked or hated the results, there’s a lot to learn from the experience.

Each side is selling their product: the candidate. They use a whole slew of marketing techniques to do this. Some of them you can directly apply to your wedding business. Others, you might want to stay away from.

Watch this video to learn more:

What do think about the political “marketing” process?

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Filed Under: Advertising, Attracting Ideal Clients, Bridal Marketing, Home Page, Leads & Traffic, Personal Development, Wedding Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Same Sex Marriage and the Wedding Industry: Hype or Salvation?

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With the recent Presidential Election, as polarizing as it was, another equally hot issue made it way onto the books with the passage of laws in three more states legalizing same sex marriage.

Right now, same sex marriage is legal in nine states: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Washington and Vermont, plus Washington D.C.

This is great news if you support marriage freedom (like I do) and not so great news for traditionalists who oppose same sex marriage. Many wedding vendors seem to fall somewhere in between.

Here’s why you should be paying attention…

Gay Weddings = Big Money for the Wedding Industry

The Williams Institute studies clearly show that same sex weddings are good for the economy, and good for the wedding industry in particular.

Check out these stats:

  • Same sex weddings would create an additional $16.8 billion in revenue for the wedding industry if they were legalized in all states.
  • The New York City comptroller’s offices estimates a $142 million boost to the city’s economy as a result of same sex marriage legalization.

Undoubtedly, it’s good for our pocket books. But what can you do to serve this new market?

Before you dive in and decide that same sex weddings are your ticket to more profits, there are a few things you need to consider.

Look Before You Leap into Same Sex Weddings

1. The same sex wedding market is too small to exclusively support most local wedding businesses.

Not all same sex couples will throw a big party when they get hitched. In fact, same sex couples typically spend less on their weddings than the national average. In addition, there simply aren’t enough same sex weddings happening in many local areas for a wedding vendor to serve that market exclusively.

Before you decide to specialize only in serving the same sex wedding market, be sure to investigate the number of these weddings happening in the market you serve. For most wedding businesses, it’s likely that same sex weddings will be an addition to your income, not a replacement.

2. Same sex couples want to be treated just like any other couple, but you’ll need to make some changes.

Gay couples often have a fear of rejection when hiring wedding professionals. If your website and marketing doesn’t appear “gay friendly,” they’ll pass you by.

You’ll need to make sure the wording on your website, in your emails and marketing is gender neutral. Instead of “bride and groom” they want to see “partners.” Similarly, the language in your paperwork needs to change. References to the bride only create the impression that you work exclusively with traditional couples, and same sex couples will be less likely to contact you.

You’ll also have to make adjustments to the words you use when meeting with the couple to be inclusive of all couples getting married, without being offensive.

3. Marketing to same sex couples can negatively impact your message with traditional couples in some areas.

I like to think we’re all open-minded and progressive, but that simply isn’t the case. When you cater to the same sex marriage market, there are some traditional couples who will be offended and turn away from your product or service. This is especially true in more conservative areas of the country.

On the other hand, embracing same sex weddings will score points for you with the more liberal minded, diverse heterosexual couples searching for a wedding vendor.

Be sure to consider the population and mindset of your marketplace before taking action.

What do you think about the impact of same sex marriage on the wedding industry?

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