networking - Wedding Business Marketing | Bridal Advertising Solutions for Wedding Professionals

3 Ways to Get More High Quality Leads For Your Wedding Business

Question: “How do I pre-qualify brides and create strong partnerships with other wedding businesses?”

“Hello,
I definitely give it [The Price Shopper Email Formula] a thumbs up. I had heard about these principles in my previous career as a mortgage broker and never ocurred to me to apply them to the wedding business. I’m still in the process of starting up the business so I definitely want to make sure I start the right way. You can rest assure these principles will be used on my daily operations.

My questions to you are, how do I pre-qualify brides? What things should I keep in mind when I look for vendors/partners and to maintain a strong relationship with them? And what are the standard referral fees?”

Rose

Answer:

Hi, Rose!

You ask some really good questions.

How do I pre-qualify brides?

Pre-qualifying brides and grooms who contact you can save time and eliminate the frustration of dealing with couples who aren’t the right match for you. The more qualified the lead, the more valuable it is.

Some ways to pre-qualify leads:

1. Get referrals from high quality sources, like other wedding businesses.

A warm lead from another wedding business comes in pre-qualified because they’ve recommended you highly. It’s especially valuable if they also work with your ideal couples; leads from them are likely a good match for you right off the bat.

2. Talk to them on the phone.

Ask them a series of questions about their wedding and discover if they are a good match for you.

Make the goal of your response to get them on the phone, and this makes your job a lot easier.

3. Create a free giveaway informational report or video (something we fondly call a “Bride Bribe”) to give brides when they sign up for your email list.

Create a series of follow up emails that share valuable information and gear it towards your ideal couples.

Warming up your leads with automated email follow up is a great way to create a relationship with them before you meet, demonstrate your expertise and pre-qualify them because the ones who aren’t right for you will naturally fall away.

What things should I keep in mind when I look for vendors/partners and to maintain a strong relationship with them?

Think about who the bride/groom will be booking around the same time that they book you, or just before. These types of vendors are a great source of referrals.

Target five businesses in your local area that:

• Have an excellent reputation and specialize in weddings.

• Do a large quantity of weddings each year so they have lots of referrals to give.

• Attract your ideal couples. Make sure they do weddings with a similar style, budget, etc.

Get to know these vendors and find out their challenges and opportunities. Once you know this, you can find a way to help them. (Find some suggestions in this article.)

Once you make the connection, nurture the relationship with regular follow up every month or so.

What are the standard referral fees?

I’m not aware that there are “standard” referrals fees. We haven’t personally paid anyone a fee for recommending us, although we have advertised in venue books in order to qualify for their referrals.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with paying a referral fee. The bottom line: does it make sense for your business?

It can cost a lot in marketing and advertising to get a real lead, so one warm referral from another vendor who the bride trusts can be worth quite a bit. Figure out what it’s worth to you before venturing into any referral deals.

What do you think?

Photo Credit

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

How to Win Friends and Referrals in the Wedding Business

By Stephanie Padovani 1 Comment

Question: What can I offer other wedding professionals that will make them want to partner with me?

“I’ve been reading a lot of your stuff this week and have already implemented your price shopper template, created a business FB page and began comments and liking other vendors and venues, and re-thinking some things about my website.

“Anyway, my question: I’m particularly intrigued about the Favor Principle, particularly with other wedding vendors, planners, venue owners, etc.

“I would happy to help out other people, but I honestly don’t know what I could offer them.

“As a wedding pianist, I don’t really have a tangible item to give them. I would be happy to give referrals, but I NEVER have people ask me to refer another type of vendor, and I’m not well-known enough myself to feel like me saying, ‘I’ll refer you!’ would mean much.

“Anything that can get me thinking of some creative ideas in this area? Thanks!”

- Jennifer

*NOTE: The Favor aka Reciprocity Principle is a principle of psychology that works like this: when we do something nice for someone, they feel pressure to do something nice for us in return. This can be used powerfully in networking and marketing relationships.

Answer:

This is a really good question, Jennifer! When we’re just starting out, it’s hard to imagine what you might have to offer, especially when you don’t have referrals to send.

Even without knowing you personally, I’m sure you have something of value to share with the other wedding professionals you meet. Figuring out what that might be is a two step process.

Step 1 – Strike up a conversation with the professional and ask what his/her biggest challenge or opportunity is right now.

You can’t offer valuable help to someone unless you know what their needs are. Once you understand that, you can start thinking about any resources you might have to help them.

In addition to helping you identify what you can do for the professional, it also demonstrates your interest, indicates that you care, and builds the relationship. Bonus!

Step 2 – Identify the resources you have that might help solve this person’s problem or grow their opportunity.

Have you ever written down your assets and resources? This is a fantastic exercise because you’ll realize just how much you have to offer and how many powerful resources you have to draw from.

Don’t forget to include all the intangibles, such as your education, information and connections, as well as your physical assets and skills.

Here are some examples:

Professional resources – a great web programmer, designer, accountant

Information resources – a website, article or reference document

People and connections – Can you introduce them to someone who might be an asset?

Your own skills and talents – If you’re good with social media, you might help them set up a Facebook account. Or if you like to write and they have a challenge with blogging, you might write a blog post for them.

Once you create the habit of thinking, “How can I help this person?” you’ll find lots of things you can give.

This is also a super powerful strategy for building relationships with your clients as well. When you become a valuable resource it proves your expertise and communicates the value of your price effortlessly.

What’s your favorite networking strategy?

Photo credit

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

Filed Under: Home Page, Networking Tagged With: lead generation, networking, partnerships, referrals, wedding business, wedding industry

3 Partnership Strategies to Boost Your Bridal Business

By Author 6 Comments

by Alex Standiford

Networking

How working with other businesses in the bridal industry can attract more business and increase your profits.

When I go to a bridal show, I am as interested in building relationships with the other businesses as I am with brides. This is because I understand the power of duplication.

There are hundreds of business owners in the same industry as me, targeting the very same market, but not all of them are direct competitors. By directly working with other companies, we open doors to all kinds of money making opportunities through the power of duplication.

Here are just a few ways that you can work with other companies and increase profits.

1.) Refer another wedding business.

Odds are, the brides you’re speaking to have never put together a wedding, and are completely clueless about where to go for their wedding services. You have plenty of opportunities to learn about the businesses in the area.

Giving the bride information on businesses will help earn you credibility and trust with the bride. If that bride was up in the air about which business she was going to use for her wedding, it will also greatly increase the odds that she will choose you.

After mentioning a few businesses to the bride, send an email to those businesses informing them that you spoke with a bride and recommended them. The next time they speak to a bride who is looking for a business like yours, who do you think they’re going to recommend?

Help enough businesses by dropping their name to a bride, and you’ll be surprised at how fast the power of duplication will work in your favor.

2.) Increasing profits through partnering.

Some businesses may offer products that can put money directly into your pocket. A great example of that is the relationships we have at Generation-X Albums with wedding planners and other wedding businesses.

We take photos and videos of the bride and groom and put them together as a montage played during the wedding reception.We offer this product to wedding businesses at a discounted price so they can charge the regular price and keep the difference. We even give them marketing and tips for selling, so it’s an easy way to earn money without adding a lot of extra work.

If you can find a complementary product or service to partner with, you can both make more money.

3.) Packaging your product or service with other companies.

By creating a package with other companies and marketing it together, you can reduce the time and money invested into booking each wedding.

What if every photographer partnered up with a videographer to offer a special package when they are booked together? Both the videographer and the photographer are marketing this package, thus duplicating the exposure to brides. In addition, all advertising costs are split in half. Those savings can be channeled directly into your profits or into creating a more competitive price.

Another big advantage of working with a partner company is collaborate at the wedding better. You know how they work, and how you can work with them, so you can work ultra-efficiently together.If you can shift from looking at other wedding businesses as competition and partner with them instead, you can pool your resources to save time, reach more brides, and make money in the process.

Alex Standiford owns Generation-X Albums, a photo video montage service that captures memories for a lifetime. Alex knows first hand the benefits of partnering with wedding businesses for mutual profit and invites you to contact him to talk about how you can work together.

Photo Credit

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

Filed Under: Networking Tagged With: bridal industry, networking, wedding business, wedding business relationships

Why you should use Twitter

By Sarah Schupbach Leave a Comment

Twitter is often considered a social network that you can basically use as a billboard advertising your business. While that can be one of its uses, anyone, especially if you are in the wedding industry, should use it for what it was created for: Networking.

Case in point: Instead of just pitching your product or company in your tweets, try using the 1,2 punch recommended by Miriam Salpeter CNN-named “top 10 job tweeter” in her blog. Find someone that you want to network with such as a wedding planner, or country club. Send a Tweet out to them asking them a legitimate question. Then, after they have responded either send them a DM to continue the conversation, or go right to emailing them. People and companies are much more likely to respond and want to connect with you if you have built a relationship first, rather than going directly to promoting yourself to them.

Photo Credit

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

Filed Under: Networking Tagged With: business, Miriam Salpeter, networking, Twitter, Wedding

Protecting Yourself on the Social Networks

By Sarah Schupbach Leave a Comment

Privacy has always been a concern with the internet, and for good reason. Hackers don’t care who you are, whether you are a business or just a person. If your give out information it will stay out there, available to anyone and everyone.

Locked_Door

Obviously you have to give out a certain amount of information to sign up for social networks, but there are some things that you should avoid. Don’t EVER give out your full birth date unless there is a sure fire way to set your privacy settings so that information cannot leak out, or be accessible to anyone looking hard enough.

Another big privacy setting that many people and business ignore is the fact that you do not want to have file sharing open on your computer. This is especially crucial if you use Wi-Fi as all files that are shared will be available to anyone who can log on to your network. On that vein, you want to ensure that your network password would be extremely difficult to figure out, and re set it once a month. For more tips on way to keep your information safe check out the article on ESBJournal.com.

Photo Credit

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

Filed Under: Website Tools & Tips Tagged With: network privacy, networking, Networks, privacy, protection

3 Ways to Get More High Quality Leads For Your Wedding Business

Question: “How do I pre-qualify brides and create strong partnerships with other wedding businesses?”

Answer:

How to Win Friends and Referrals in the Wedding Business

Question: What can I offer other wedding professionals that will make them want to partner with me?

Answer:

3 Partnership Strategies to Boost Your Bridal Business

How working with other businesses in the bridal industry can attract more business and increase your profits.

1.) Refer another wedding business.

2.) Increasing profits through partnering.

3.) Packaging your product or service with other companies.

Why you should use Twitter

Protecting Yourself on the Social Networks

Secrets To Becoming An Effective Social Networker

Follow Us!

Client Feedback

Tags