Over the last several years, I’ve been coaching and mentoring fellow wedding planners and coordinators who want to grow their wedding planning businesses and get more wedding inquiries. Chatting with fellow wedding planners about this has quickly become a new favorite thing of mine, because I’ve been there. I created JDWC from a place of not knowing whether it would be a sustainable business long-term or if it would allow me to go full-time one day.
Like most, I started my wedding coordination business while I was still working full-time. But with a lot of hard work, many (MANY) late nights and early mornings, and a lot of trial and error, I pressed on to create more awareness of our niche and build a brand that sets us apart from the rest.
Fast forward and I’ve now been a full-time Wedding Coordinator for 3.5 years and have a team of 3 other Lead Wedding Coordinators. Doing what I love every day is extremely rewarding and it has opened so many doors for me to continue pursuing long term goals, both personally and professionally.
If you’re a new wedding planner and wondering how you can grow your wedding planning business and get more wedding inquiries, here are my top 5 recommendations of things that you can do right now:
01. Make your website clear
First thing’s first – you need to be sure it’s clear right away what you do when a prospective client lands on your website. Are you a Full Service Wedding Planner? Do you offer in-house florals, styling and design services? Do you focus solely on Day of Wedding Coordination?
It’s important that your approach is clear from the get go so that your ideal bride knows she’s in the right place. And while it may seem counterintuitive, we in turn want our non-ideal clients (those who may be looking for services other than what we provide) to know they may need to keep searching.
02. Keep SEO top of mind
By now, most of us have probably heard of the term “SEO” (Search Engine Optimization). And while some choose to dismiss it as yet another thing on their list to get to one day, I want to encourage you to make it a top priority for growing your wedding planning business!
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, take it from my very own business coaches, Davey & Krista, and read through some of their SEO articles. By having SEO top of mind when updating my website copy or writing blog posts, I have seen a tremendous increase in our traffic, google rankings and ultimately an increase in our wedding inquiries over the last 3 years.
03. Form a connection early on
Potential clients, especially brides, want to know that you’re human. They want to connect and relate with who they’re buying from before they buy from them. Think about what you can do to let the personality of your brand shine through and take it a step further than just posting pretty pictures of recent weddings or styled shoots you’ve planned.
Update your website about page with fun facts or things you value. Remind followers of your approach and why you love what you do. Share a little behind-the-scenes on your Insta-Stories. Or do a #FridayIntroductions and tell them something they may not know about you.
Whatever it may be, creating a connection early on is key to gaining wedding inquiries from your ideal brides that ultimately convert to a sale.
04. Create a great experience
One of the best things you can do for your wedding planning business is to create an incredible experience for your clients…along with their family, friends and guests on the wedding day. I always make a point to go above and beyond to try and make clients feel as if they’re planning their wedding with their best friend or sister.
My number one priority is to make them feel well loved on and cared for from beginning to end, so that they can go into their wedding weekend with confidence that we have all the details covered. One of the easiest ways to create a consistent brand experience for each client is by creating email templates – not only do email templates improve communication, but they ensure you are collecting and communicating all pertinent information with clients and even their wedding vendors.
What are you doing right now that makes your clients feel so attended to that they can’t help but rave about you to their family and friends?
05. Meet with other wedding vendors
We are in a heavily referral based industry, and meeting with other wedding vendors can help you build genuine connections and even lead to more wedding inquiries. Grab a cup of coffee with local photographers, venues, florists or other wedding planners and take the time to learn more about them and who they serve. Continue to interact with them via social media platforms and be their virtual cheerleader – eventually real friendships and partnerships will start to form.
Xo,
Jess
Image by Ivan & Louise
Need help in your business? Here’s how to work with me:
90 Minute Coaching Call – Are you a wedding planner looking for business strategy to help you receive more wedding inquiries, book more ideal brides, increase your bottom line, or even grow your team? Whether you’ve hit a roadblock in your business or you’re stuck on how to accelerate your offerings, during our 90-minute call we will work through your business pain point and strategize ways to up-level your brand. Email me today at hello@jessicadum.com to learn more about how we can work together!
