My biggest takeaway from the 2015 Wedding MBA Conference was how to start using video marketing in my business. I listened to a few talks by Alison Howard, a former luxury wedding planner and current wedding educator. She spoke about how she was spinning her wheels and not attracting the right clients in the first few years of her wedding planning business. After implementing video marketing, she started getting inquiries from from couples she really wanted to work with and she was booking 100% of her inquiries!

The reasoning behind her success was simple: those who were not her ideal client were turned off by her videos, and those who were her ideal clients were sold on hiring her based on her videos.

4 facts to know about using video in business:

• 59% of millennials will watch an entire one minute video
• 65% of millennials classify themselves as visual learners
• Syndicast predicts that by 2017, 74% of web traffic will be video
• YouTube is the 2^nd largest search engine, and is owned by Google (#1)

How to use video in your event planning business:

• Invest in basic equipment to make recording easier. A good phone camera is a great place to start. Pair it with a lavaliere mic for better sound. You do not need to purchase expensive equipment to get started. Great content can surpass less-than-perfect production value.

• Practice your content before you film and use natural light to look the best.

• Batch record your videos. Instead of one at a time, try to do a few so that you are getting it all done at once.

• Create a content calendar and write scripts as you would a blog. Not only does this help you know the material, you could also post the text along with the video on your blog for those who would rather read.

• Be yourself and reflect your brand and your purpose.

• Use editing software like Animoto to polish up your video footage. You can also add still images to your videos by using editing software.

• When you post to YouTube, make sure you are using keywords that brides would be searching for such as “wedding planners in Chicago” (use the city/market that you service).

As planners and designers, we have so much knowledge we can share in videos. Not only will our clients get to know us through our video, they will begin to trust us since we are sharing valuable information.

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.