}
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Growing Your Wedding Planning Business Offline
As I have been working on growing my event planning business, I have found that the quickest and most effective way to book clients is through offline marketing practices. By building personal relationships with other event professionals, other wedding planners, and with your current clients, you can really give your bookings a boost.
We have all been to networking events; you meet other wedding and event vendors and hope that you will end up with referral business as a result. It is a great way to get to know your fellow wedding professionals and get your name out into your local industry.
My recommendation is to take your networking one step further. When you meet someone have a real conversation and find out what they are doing in their business and find a way to help. For example:
This type of giving will come back around to help grow your business. You get to know these other vendors on an even deeper level and they will experience your expertise and talent first hand. The relationship you build will make it that much more likely that they will send business your way.
Related posts:
Four Strategies for Effective Networking as an Event Planner
How to Build Relationships with Event Venues as a Planner
How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists at Your Favorite Venue
All wedding planners have their list of preferred vendors who they refer their clients to and probably receive referrals from. As a new wedding planner, I struggled with building my own A-team of vendors since I did not have any clients to refer. I figured out a couple of ways to build my A-team without having clients to send.
These two simple steps not only help grow your recommended wedding vendor list, but it also lets other wedding pros get to know you and your business. It is also very beneficial to become friends with other event planners in your market. They can be a great source for referrals and vendors.
Related posts:
Building Your Vendor Network as a New Planner
How to Reach Out to Experienced Wedding Planners as a New Planner
My last tip is to really make your wedding planning services something that your clients just have to share with their friends and family. There is no better marketing than the words of a satisfied customer, so give them something to talk about.
With all of the competition out there, just being good at what you do is not enough, so figure out ways to really wow your clients.
Some of the things that I do for my clients:
Related post:
How to Create an Amazing Client Experience
I spent a lot of time in the beginning trying to chase down engaged couples directly. It was not until I joined a networking group and really started connecting and building relationships with other wedding vendors did I start booking clients more consistently. The other benefit is that when you are referred, it makes the sales process much easier because the clients trust the referral source.
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.
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