If you Google “wedding planner” in your area and click on the first 10 sites…can you remember anything about the first website? The second? There is a pretty standard layout on wedding planning websites. You have an about page, packages, galleries and maybe a blog. While all of these things are important, you want to entice the bride to contact YOU, so you need to set yourself apart from all the other wedding planners in your area.

I have found the following three tactics to be very successful in attracting more brides to my business.

1) Find your Bridal Niche

Finding my niche in the bridal market was the best thing I did for my business. When I first got started, I chased after any and all weddings. I planned weddings that I was really not passionate about because I thought I should take on any bride who was interested. This led to me dreading certain wedding days and interactions with certain clients.

I felt like I was losing passion for my business and I came across the Bride Attraction System by Natalie Bradley. She spoke about finding your niche in the market and knowing your ideal bride. I spent a lot of time looking back at the weddings and brides I had really enjoyed working with and created a picture of my ideal bride. It can be a time consuming process because you want to think about this person down to the smallest detail.

Once you have a clear idea of who you want to work with, you can tailor your marketing to those type of people. You will be happier working on weddings and with clients that fit into your ideal. If your marketing is targeting your niche then those people will feel that you can solve their problems. So when they are looking through countless websites, YOU are the one who stands out to them.

2) Don’t Compete on Price, Make them Want YOU!

The first and most important thing is to take your complete price list off your website. When brides first start looking at wedding planning sites they may not fully understand the value of your services. Let’s face it, although we KNOW that a wedding planner is essential, many people still see it as a luxury they can do without. I recommend really flushing out your planning packages, list all the things that are included and paint a picture of the day with a planner in place. Make them WANT what you offer and they will get in touch. A starting price is great, but listing all of your pricing doesn’t give you a chance to sell your talent and services.

Once they have contacted you then you have the chance to make a personal connection and make them not only want your services but want you to be the one to make their wedding dreams a reality.

3) Find Ways to Differentiate Your Services

As I mentioned before, you can look at many wedding planner’s packages and they are all pretty similar. There is a pretty standard set of duties that we cover in our profession. When I realized this, I set out to make my packages different and possibly better meet the needs of my ideal client. Some of the ways you can do this are:

• Taking another skill you have and adding it to your planning packages. Are you a talented graphic designer? Offer design services for programs, menu cards or whatever they may need.

• Find ways to add extras to your packages. For example, I include a list of Little Luxuries. These are special extras that the couple can choose to add into their package (up to a certain dollar amount).

By adding things to your packages that other planners do not offer, you immediately stand out. If bride is looking at planner after planner the one who includes graphic design services will stand out.

Spend some time really looking at your business and determining what sets you apart from your competition and what you can offer that makes YOU the planner to hire.

Today’s post is a guest post from Amber Peterson. Amber is the owner of Cheers Wedding & Event Planning in western Washington. She has a Masters Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications and previously worked as a marketing consultant for wedding industry professionals. Amber is also the co-founder of the Skagit Wedding Society.