It happened again. Another email from a wedding startup company asking, “How can I get couples to want my new wedding product/service? They just don’t seem to ‘get’ it.”

Does this sound familiar?

The Mistake That Leads to a Failed Wedding Business

My heart aches for them because they’re fighting a losing battle.

If you find yourself trying to convince brides and grooms about why they need your wedding product or service, listen up.

You’re up against a big challenge here and I’m going to give it to you straight.

Have you ever heard the expression, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink?”

It’s really, really hard to get someone to buy something they either don’t want or don’t know they want.

Creating a market or desire where it doesn’t already exist only works if you have a million dollar ad budget for celebrity endorsements and Super Bowl ads.

It doesn’t matter if your website is better. They’re not seeing the value, and that’s the challenge you’re up against.

How to Transform a Bad Idea Into a Good One

If this is where you’re at right now, hope is not lost!

There is potential in what you’re doing because there is a pain couples have that they are aware of.

If you can solve that with your service directly, it’s an easy sell.

Here’s what I would do:

• Talk to customers who are paying for your service (if you have them). What do they love most about it? What else do they wish it could do?
• Talk to customers who are using it, but not paying for it. What features would they pay for?
• Find out the biggest pains couples have around your product or service. What can you do to solve them?

You’ll need to be open to changing direction if you want this to work.

I read a lot of business magazines (Inc. Fast Company, Entrepreneur) as well as books, and one trait the most successful startups have is that they were created to solve a specific problem that didn’t have a solution.

What problem can you solve that problem for your couples?

That would be an easy sell.

I’ve written more about how to create a winning wedding service here.

What do you think?