The wedding industry can be ultra-competitive and overcrowded at times. As a wedding business owner, we want to focus on strategies that give our event planning business an edge and makes us stand out from the crowd.  

Here are 5 strategies to establish yourself as a leader and help your business earn the trust of potential clients:

1) Gain Publicity

Public relations is a great way to establish trust for your business. When your peers and potential clients see a third party validation of your work, it is perceived much differently than if they see a typical advertisement for your business.

When we see an advertisement, we know the company is trying to sell us something. When a third party, such as a wedding blog or magazine, endorses our work by publishing it, our business gains credibility and trust. Engaged couples are more likely to hire us based on unbiased external endorsements than from paid advertisements.

When thinking of publicity, don’t limit your thinking to wedding magazines and blogs. Consider proposing ideas to local news stations to get TV exposure. For example, if you are an event planner, you can pitch doing a short TV news segment with summer party ideas and tips. Anyone who appears on TV instantly gets a boost in their perceived level of credibility and expertise.

Related post: How PR Can Take Your Wedding Planning Business to the Next Level

2) Speak at an Event

Being a speaker at a workshop, event, or conference instantly elevates your status as a leader in the industry. Speaking in front of an audience signals some form of expertise. To get started as a speaker in the wedding industry, think of 2-4 topics related to your field that you feel most educated about. These are often areas of business or your specific craft that come easy to you and that your industry friends ask you for help with. Once you have a few topic ideas, contact local networking and industry groups and propose those ideas as speaking topics for a future meeting. 

Once you secure a speaking gig, prepare and practice your presentation often so that you give the best impression to those listening to your talk. Once you speak locally and feel comfortable, consider moving on to speak at regional events, workshops, and national conferences. 

3) Teach 

If you have been in your field for more than a few years, you likely have a lot of knowledge to share with someone just starting out. Consider offering a local class on getting started in your career field or look into teaching a class or workshop at a conference. If business is your strength, teach a workshop on a specific part of your wedding business such as key social media strategies that get results, how to market your business without spending a fortune, or how to make your wedding business more efficient and effective.

Don’t be shy about teaching even if you have only been in business a few years. Maybe you aren’t a “10” on the sliding scale of experience but even if your skills are a “5”, there are many people interested in starting their own wedding business who will appreciate your level “5” skills. Their industry skills and knowledge are probably a “0” or “1” on the sliding scale of experience. You have the value that they need and they are willing to pay you to teach them.

4) Win Awards

One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to establish credibility and recognition for you and your wedding planning business is to win industry awards. Awards bring a new level of prestige and trust. 

When potential clients see that you’ve won an award, it can sway them to choose you over your competition because you’re seen as a credible and high-quality business. Apply for wedding industry awards first but also look for awards related to entrepreneurship and small business.

Keep in mind that while awards will help you win business, you will only build loyalty and referral business by doing high-quality work and providing excellent service to your clients.

5) Promote Your PR, Speaking, Teaching, and Awards

To get the most traction out of the first four strategies, you have to actively promote what you are doing and achieving. If you teach a class or organize an event industry workshop or conference, how are your peers going to know what you did unless YOU promote it?

That speaking gig you are doing and the workshop you are teaching? They should be promoted all over your social media and on your website before, during, and after the event. They should also be promoted in your email newsletter and on your blog.

When you win an award, there should be a permanent place on your website that has a photo or graphic representing the award. The fact that you won the award should be shared on all of your social media accounts. When you get published or do a TV segment, promote that publicity as much as possible without annoying your followers. Once you have 3 or more awards or PR experiences, create a press page on your website to showcase these. 

Related post: The Art of Self Promotion

By incorporating these five strategies in your wedding business, your peers and potential clients will see YOU as a leader and expert. Your wedding business will be seen as trustworthy and credible.  

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This guide is ideal for both new and experienced wedding planners who want to understand pricing methods and techniques. This guidebook is also perfect for wedding planners who want to save time by having ready-to-use templates for planning packages, examples of website wording, and a professional spreadsheet to rely on for calculating prices for weddings and events.