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A Wedding Business Podcast - Tips and tricks to, grow and sustain a amazingly successful wedding business in a way that's is fun and gives you tons of freedom.
Welcome everyone to the Wedding Pro Academy Podcast. I'm Nicole, your host. I'm an expert in the wedding industry and I've personally built two 6 figure businesses from the ground up. I am obsessed with building businesses that make lots of money but do so in a way that also create luxurious amounts of freedom. So, if you're looking to build, grow, or scale a wedding business in a way that doesn't burn you out and you'd love some guidance from someone who has done just that, this podcast is for you.
Nicole:Each week I'll cover strategies, ideas, tips, and tricks that will give you your dream wedding business. Is episode six. Tuning in today. Now let's dive in. Questions new entrepreneurs are too embarrassed to ask someone who has already made 6 figures.
Nicole:I'm going take this a little bit deeper and make this specific to wedding business owners so 10 questions new wedding business owners are too embarrassed to ask someone who's already made 6 figures someone who's already made 6 figures would be me and the reason why I'm covering this is because my wedding business master class is now open I know you guys have a lot of questions I want to talk about some of those questions specifically we're going to cover questions around attracting brides and grooms website and online presence marketing, visibility, those kinds of things. Let's jump in! Question one: Why am I not getting inquiries even though my work is good. This is a very common feeling to have and it sucks! It sucks being in that position where you know you can do an excellent job.
Nicole:You know that you're an incredible wedding planner. You've done a bunch of weddings. You're good at it. Right? You know that you're a fantastic wedding photographer.
Nicole:You've really spent time honing in on your art and your editing process and your work is phenomenal but you're not getting inquiries people aren't reaching out to you you can't go all in on your wedding business because you don't have any clients and you're wondering like why people aren't reaching out to you because you're showing up on Instagram and your work is good. Well, the reason why this is the number one reason. Okay. Why people aren't reaching out to you? It's it's because you haven't established trust with them yet.
Nicole:So it's either like one of two things one you haven't established trust with them or it's a visibility problem. First the visibility problem if they can't find you they're not gonna reach out to you. That's number one. So can they find you now if they can find you say you're doing Google Ads or you're showing up in places right they can find you then it's it's a trust issue so if they don't see you as an authority if you haven't established trust with them then they're not going to reach out to you and and there's a very specific way you need to establish trust with them which I teach in my wedding business master class. So that kind of takes me to question number two.
Nicole:Do I get new couples to trust me if I'm still new? I remember feeling like this too. When I first started, they're all these businesses that, you know, have been around for years for decades. And of course, couples are going to choose them over me. How do I get couples to trust me when I'm brand new?
Nicole:Even if my work is awesome, how do I get them to trust me? Well, like I was saying earlier, the reason they don't trust you is because you haven't done some very specific things to establish trust. Oh my gosh. My dog is barking. Do you hear her?
Nicole:We're gonna ignore her okay so how do I get couples to trust me if I'm still new? There are four pillars that are necessary to establishing trust and I'm going to give you these but we go over them in-depth in my wedding business masterclass. The four pillars are your website there are very specific elements that need to be in your website but your website is a key pillar in establishing trust. The second one is reviews and testimonials. We want to have a solid foundation of testimonials and reviews to build this level of trust with our couples.
Nicole:That's how they know that they are safe with you that it's that you're going to do what you say you're going to do is because other couples have used you. They've liked you. They trust you. They had a good experience with you. You need to prove to them with reviews and testimonials that they can trust you.
Nicole:The third pillar is your online presence. How you show up online, they need to see a level of professionalism and a good amount of you online. So when they search for you online, they need to see you and your wedding business pop up a bunch of times. You can't just be nonexistent online. They're going to search for you.
Nicole:You have to show up online. The fourth thing, the fur fourth pillar in establishing trust is professionalism. There is a way that you show up professionally that couples need in order to trust you enough to pay you money. So those are the four pillars and I go into them in a depth in my wedding business masterclass. If those things are not in place, are not going to feel comfortable enough to book you if you're new okay so that's how you get couples to trust you.
Nicole:Question number three: How do I stand out in a saturated wedding market? So this is something that everybody worries about when they first are building their wedding business. They're like, there's so many wedding photographers. There's just thousands of them. Like, how do I fit in?
Nicole:How do I stand out? There's too many. There's no room for me. Well, first of all, that is just a perception. That is totally not true.
Nicole:So let's change that right now. There's tons of room in the wedding industry. There's millions of weddings like there's plenty for all of us. And how you stand out is first of all, like I said visibility. They have to be able to find you.
Nicole:If you're on page one of Google, you're gonna stand out. They're gonna find you, right? Now, whether they book you, whether they trust you enough to pay you money, that's about those four pillars that I was speaking about earlier where you need to establish trust with them. That's how you stand out. You wanna build authority and get potential brides and grooms to see you as a leader.
Nicole:Once they see you as a leader, as an authority, as someone who they can trust, they're going to feel comfortable enough to reach out to you. How you stand out is by really being true to who you are. If there's a specific thing that you're into, a specific niche that you love doing, let's say you're a photographer and you love capturing emotion on film. That's like your thing. You're just really great at capturing those very special emotional moments and getting a picture to reflect how the people feel on that day.
Nicole:You need to be able to communicate that, and that needs to be your thing. If you can find your thing, your niche, your specialty, and you can, like, market that, that is where you'll stand out. But if you have the four pillars to establishing trust there, that is also gonna make you stand out because not a lot of people have that. So if couples see you as an authority as a leader in the industry, they'll trust you enough to reach out to you. Now if you have something that makes you extra special or different, then you're going to be connecting to a very unique and specific type of bride and groom.
Nicole:That is how you stand out in a saturated market. But in order to get there, you need to feel confident in yourself first. Okay. Question four. What should a wedding website include to actually convert inquiries?
Nicole:I talked about this in my last podcast, but the number one thing is you need to be very clear with what you do, who you help, and where you're located. Nothing, like it doesn't need to to have so much information. That's the problem that most new wedding businesses have is that it's just, like, too much stuff, too much information. They're trying to squeeze everything into one and it's their website becomes all about them instead of being about your client. What does your client need to see, need to hear, need to feel, need to know in order to book you.
Nicole:This website isn't for you it's for them. So the website should include who you are, what you do, who you help, what makes you special, and where you're located. Very simple. Like, they need to know that right off the bat. Super quick.
Nicole:Five seconds or less. The your wedding website also needs to, like, ooze professionalism. They need to know that you're not like, if you want them to feel safe with you, you wanna use professional photography, like, 100%. You should not be having, you know, unprofessional photography on your website if you want to be a business that couples trust and are willing to pay money. Also, this is a simple, super common mistake.
Nicole:Your website needs to have testimonials on it. They need proof that they can trust you, that other people have worked with you and they loved working with you and they had a good experience. And your website needs to have very clear, simple, to find contact buttons. If they need a search around to figure out how to get in touch with you, to get a price quote, they're not going to stick around they've got like a very short attention span if you look at your analytics you're going to see they don't stay on there for that long if you're capturing their attention you need to get them moving through your information very quickly they need to have a contact button visible and easy to reach so make sure you are clearly stating what you do, who you help, where you're located, you have good photography, you have testimonials there on the front page, and you have a contact button on the front page so that they can reach out to you. Those are the things I would switch right away if you're if you don't have that.
Nicole:That is what is going to convert increase people. New brides and grooms potential new brides and grooms are not going to stick around and try to figure things out. It needs to be very simple and clear for them. Question number five: Why do people visit my website and never reach out? Well, we kind of covered that, right?
Nicole:So it's either because they can't find the contact button, they see you as unprofessional, they're not sure if they can trust you there's no testimonials on there or they don't really know what you do. Like, it's not clearly stated. You're just talking about yourself but you're not stating what exactly you do and how you help. Your website should be very simple. It's very like informational and helpful and inspiring too because you want them to feel a certain way when they look at your website.
Nicole:They want to get your vibe, right? So you should use only your best work you should have only your best stuff it should create the feeling that you bring to the wedding but it should also be very easy to navigate like you don't need a thousand pages you just need it to be simple your home page should have a very clear indicator of what you do who you help where you are you should have a testimony on there you should have a services page you should have a contact page That's pretty much it. You can go more in-depth but you don't want to make it confusing the simpler the better. Okay, what question is next? Let's see.
Nicole:How important are testimonials for booking weddings? Okay, this is a major problem that some of you newer wedding businesses have is that you think that if you put in one or two testimonials on your website that's enough. It is not enough okay people need a lot of testimonials they need a lot of proof they're going to check multiple places so you can't just have reviews on your website you have to have reviews on Yelp you have to have reviews on the knot on the wedding wire on Google you have to have them all over the place you want people to be everywhere they search they're gonna see reviews everywhere and you should have a lot of them and you want to have as many reviews as possible. Want to pick out just the best ones for your website and just pull out pieces of them for your website. It doesn't need to be like three pages long you know just like four sentences would be great just pull out the best pieces but couples are going to check all the places so if you think you only need them on your website that's not true if you think they're not important that's bullshit Testimonials are incredibly important they are essential and the more the better!
Nicole:Question number seven: How many reviews do I really need before couples trust me? Kind of covered this already but the more the better. I would aim for at least five testimonials in each different spot so in multiple areas online you should have at least five testimonials and whenever you do a wedding ask the couple to write you a review and then request that they copy and paste that review into multiple locations. It's okay if people see the same review in different places honestly I don't think people really notice I think the more reviews you can get the better. Question number eight: Where do most wedding bookings actually come from?
Nicole:I think it's different for every wedding vendor and you know it's going to vary based on the type of wedding business you have. For me most of my inquiries come from Google Getting on the first page of Google was absolutely key to me getting a consistent flow of new inquiries but once I got established so after a couple of years started getting on vendor lists started getting referrals from other vendors from venues and a lot of my bookings came that way but then when I switched my whole business to doing something different I stopped getting those same referrals and those weren't the types of clients I wanted anyways but Google has always been a consistent place for people to find me and to book me so if you're not on page one of Google I would suggest getting a Google ad up getting an Instagram ad up ads are worthwhile when people can't find you they can't book you so in order for people to book you even if you have everything in place and everything's perfect you have those four pillars up established and your work is amazing you have the reviews all of that if people can't find you you know all that's for nothing so you need to be visible.
Nicole:Okay question number nine: How do new vendors compete with vendors who have years of reviews? Honestly I don't think that's a big problem I think it's more of a visibility problem. If you have you only need to have you know five reviews for people to take you seriously if your website looks professional you have all of these elements in to establish trust you have a solid online presence people can find you you have good work the navigation the way people move through your website is easy and simple and you're addressing all of their concerns and fears and worries and you're making them feel like know seen and understood. You're very clearly communicating what you do and that's a good fit for them. They're going to book you.
Nicole:They're at least going to reach out to you. Okay? And that's what you want. The closing part the booking the consult getting on a call with them, and learning how to close a sales call, that's a different thing. And that's something you're gonna need to learn how to do too.
Nicole:Again, I cover this in my wedding business masterclass, but getting them to reach out to you and call you that is key. Like if you get if you get that far then you're you're gold right? That is the first step you need to get people reaching out to you and calling you and if you got that far then you need to get really good at closing them. That's a separate issue. So how do newer vendors compete?
Nicole:It's not a competition. Every bride and groom is looking for something specific. Is that specific thing you or is it someone else? That's the only thing you should be worried about. Can they find you?
Nicole:Can they not find you? If they can't find you that's a problem And then if they can find you, how do you, you know, show them that you're the the best of the best? How do you connect with them in a way that makes them feel safe? How do you get them to trust you? How do you show them that you are the best fit?
Nicole:That's a whole separate thing. That's how you compete is getting really really good at closing them being really really clear with who you are getting really confident and knowing that you're the best. If you can do that I wouldn't worry about other vendors that have years of reviews that doesn't matter your this isn't a competition. Okay question number 10 what should my Instagram actually be doing for my business? Well, think it depends what what you want it to be doing for your business.
Nicole:I mean, there are people that book all their weddings through Instagram. I'm not one of those people. I'm not like getting all of my people through Instagram I I think if you're not all in on getting your bookings through Instagram your you know Instagram profile should just be placing you as an authority and establishing trust. So it's this is another, you know, venue of establishing trust. They're going to check when they figure out who you are if they roll across your website somehow somebody mentions you to them if they hear about you they're going to look for you online they'll probably check your Instagram if it looks sloppy if it looks like you're just using it as a personal account they're not going to see you as professional you're not giving them that added you know layer of confidence of trust that they're going to need they need to see oh she's done actual weddings her stuff is good she is a pro she's doing this full time I trust that she will do a good job with my wedding and how you show them that is by posting actual weddings that you've done with professional photography.
Nicole:Want You to be talking about things that they actually need to know. You want to be proving to them through your Instagram that you are an authority in the wedding industry that you're a leader that you know what you're doing that you're the best of the best that they can trust you. That's what your Instagram is there to do. In the beginning when I was first building social media I used to think that I needed to help people with all the questions that they had about weddings. I was just giving out tons of free information but like who does that really what does that do for my business?
Nicole:Nothing. Okay. It doesn't actually attract people to me. It doesn't tell them what I do. It doesn't prove to them that I'm a leader in this industry.
Nicole:It doesn't show them. I mean, it might help them with travel logistics and, you know, random wedding questions, but they can Google that online. That's not what I want to use my Instagram for and that never helped me in Instagram. What did help me and what does help me is just proving to people that they can trust me because I'm an authority in this wedding industry. I've been around for a while.
Nicole:I have a legitimate you know library of weddings that I've done that and happy couples you want to put your testimonials on your Instagram you want to show weddings that you've done you want to show professionalism. So I would use my Instagram if I wasn't using it specifically to build sales and even if I was I would still want to use my Instagram to build authority, build trust, to build confidence with new brides and grooms that I am a professional, I'm a leader here and I'm someone that they want to work with. Okay so those are 10 questions I think a lot of you guys might have about how to book weddings, what you should be focusing on, why couples aren't finding you or reaching out to you and I'm going to do 10 more next week but I didn't want to take this episode too long. So if you found this interesting you want to learn more my wedding business master class is open right now and there is a $500 off special happening right now yay so you can go to weddingproacademy.com to check that out. Want to click on the wedding business masterclass tab and you can see what that's all about.
Nicole:Definitely get in before the twenty second if you want to take advantage of that $5 off coupon. Again, that's weddingproacademy.com. I hope you guys have a great weekend, and I will see you next week. Bye for now.