3 Steps to a Constant Stream of Quality Leads

The day I quit my job was one of the scariest moments of my life.  It was right around the time we got married (see photo.)

I’d saved up two months income as a safety net (if you can call it that) but other than that, it was do or die time.

Unfortunately, we wasted a lot of money trying to get the leads we so desperately needed.

Among the things we tried:

• Bridal shows
• Venue book listings
• Yellow Page ads (remember those?)
• Website directory listings
• Bridal lead sites

The biggest challenge for me on that fateful day when we committed full-time to our wedding business…

Where can you get QUALITY leads?

The word “quality” in that statement is critical.  You can buy so-called leads for a few bucks a piece from lead generating services, or place an ad on a directory site that sends you website visitors.

If the leads you get aren’t a good match for your business, they’re not going to book you.

In our quest for Quality Leads (capitalized to emphasize its mythical importance) we first have to define what that means.

Quality Lead (def.) – someone who has the need for your product or service, the ability to pay for it and who is a good match for your style and personality.

A “quality” lead for one wedding professional might be a poor lead for another. 

Because while technically any couple getting married could hire you, only a small percentage of them will: the ones who meet the unique quality criteria for your business.

So where do we find these elusive quality leads?  Sometimes they seem like a mythical unicorn, dreamed about, talked about, but never seen.

We can break down the search for Quality Leads into three steps.

Step #1 – Define your quality leads.

How old are they?  Where do they live and work?  What style and budget of wedding do they have?

Perhaps the easiest way to identify them is by the locations where they have their weddings.

What venues host the weddings you want to work?  What locations do your coolest couples choose?

The other wedding businesses, websites and organizations where your ideal couples go will be your best source of quality leads.

Now if you’re brand new, you might not know where your quality leads hang out because you haven’t worked with them yet.  This is good!

It’s time to use your imagination.  Where do you IMAGINE the most fun and profitable weddings would be held in your market?

That’s where you’ll suss out your quality leads.

Step #2 – Get your best lead sources to refer you.

In step #1 we discovered where your quality leads are going.  Now you need to meet them there.

Get those venues, wedding pros and websites to recommend you.

Now, this can be quite a challenge, I’ll admit.  The sources of the highest quality leads are bombarded with wedding professionals who want those referrals.

But I’ll let you in on a secret…

You can get even “untouchable” wedding businesses to promote you by promoting them.

We call this the “Oprah Strategy” because like Oprah, you become the expert by associating yourself with other experts in your wedding market.

It works like this:

1. Call up the wedding pro who has your quality leads and tell them:“I’m writing a series of articles on the best [insert their type of business] in our wedding market.  Can I interview you for a feature I’ll be promoting online and in social media?
2. Schedule your interview and ask smart questions that make your interview subject look good.
3. Write and publish your article on your blog and/or other blogs in your market.
4. Promote the heck out of your article via email, social media, website, etc.
5. Send the link to your article and prewritten social media posts to your interview subject and encourage them to show off.

Almost no one will refuse a free promotional opportunity, so you’ll get the interview.  That gets your foot in the door.  Making them look good and promoting them cements the deal.

They are going to share the blog post you write with their entire network of couples, aka your Quality Leads.

Why?

People “like” what they agree with, but people share what makes them look good.

Your article shows them off as the expert they are, and they’re going to tell the world about it.

And let’s not forget about a second source of quality leads for you: the couples who’ve already booked you.

The couples who book you are highly likely to have family and friends who are like them.  They’re an incredible resource for quality leads.

“Oprah Strategy” articles and Real Wedding posts one of your most powerful resources for attracting quality leads.

Step #3 – Turbo charge this marketing by “stalking” those Quality Leads on Facebook.

This is the final phase of the strategy where you laser target the highest quality leads and make it seem like you’re “everywhere.”

Facebook Ads has an amazing (and seldom used) feature called custom audiences.  It allows to upload a specific group of people for targeting using their phone numbers, email addresses or even your own website visitors.

Target the people who visit those Oprah Strategy articles and Real Wedding posts specifically with Facebook Ads.

No more wasting your money chasing down generic engaged couples.  These are Quality Leads who’ve identified themselves as such because they’re associated with the wedding businesses and couples who are a perfect match for what you do.

This is marketing that yields quality leads and booked weddings.

It utilizes what we call “Triple Threat Marketing” to combine the power of referral relationships, the internet and social media to create an unstoppable flow of high quality leads.

Learn the #1 Strategy For Quality Leads

I’ve told you what to do.  Now we want to show you how it’s done.

Jeff and I are going deep into the advanced strategy to attract these high quality leads in our upcoming workshop.

Wedding pros typically struggle with the following:

Finding high quality leads
Standing out from the competition
Marketing on a tight budget

Those who attend our workshop will walk away with the following:

• You’ll know how to identify the best sources of leads for your unique business.
• Exactly what to put on your website to get your best couples to refer you.
• What to say to open doors with the most coveted referral sources in your market.
• 2 unconventional Facebook marketing strategies that attract your ideal clients.
• All the templates and downloads you need to pull it off like a pro!

Save your seat and join us here!