How to Market a Wedding Planner Business

Are you a brand new wedding planner or an established professional with tons of clients? Either way, you're probably scoping out new clients in order to increase your brand awareness and profits. Well, before you get all in a tizzy because you don't have any formal marketing training, have no fear, we're here to help. Marketing your wedding planner business isn't really difficult. In fact, with this handy guide and a bit of creativity, you can successfully market your wedding planner business and get paying customer quickly. Are you ready? Let's begin.

Things You'll Need

• mini marketing plan
• business cards
• websites
• networking contacts (wedding planners and photographers)

Instructions

1. Develop a mini-marketing plan.

   Your first step is to develop a 3-5 page mini-marketing plan. In your plan, you'll need to write down your business overview, what sets you apart from other wedding planners, target audience, marketing budget, current marketing methods (online-offline or a combination of both), etc.

2. Scope out your competition.

   Figure out how your competitors are marketing their services. Do they use print advertisement, word of mouth or viral advertising, full color brochures, business cards, or something else? Whatever your competitors use, you need to write down their advertising methods and then plan to add those same methods to your arsenal of marketing methods.

3. Set up a basic website.

   You'll need to set up a basic wedding planner website. Your basic website doesn't have to be anything fancy - a simple 1to 5 page site will do fine. Make sure that you include an About Me page, price list, contact information and FAQs. If you are not technically savvy, you can hire a designer off Elance or Get a Freelancer to create one for you.

4. Market your wedding planner site and services.

   Now that you have your website, make sure that you market it on a regular basis. To do so, you should include your site URL on any business cards, brochures, etc. Draft up tee-shirts with your URL and pass them out to friends and family members. Write articles and blog posts and place them online. In essence, do what you have to do to get targeted traffic to your wedding planner site.

5. Contact wedding halls.

   Visit local wedding halls and introduce yourself to the owners. Tell them that you are offering a referral fee to any banquet halls that make a valid referral. By doing this, you will attract a steady stream of clients.

6. Partner up with photographers.

   Another great way to market your wedding planner business is to pair up with wedding photographers. Often times, they meet clients that also need a wedding consultant. Therefore, by pairing up with them, you can get more clients and can cross-promote their photography services as well. Two great sources to find local photographer partners is Wedding Photo USA or Wedding Photography Directory. See "Resources" for link.

7. Advertise to other wedding planners.

   Many wedding planners get booked and need help. Therefore, by marketing yourself to them, you can ensure that you have a steady flow of business. You can meet them at conferences and other weddings. Always be willing to pass out your card and offer your services at a discount so that they can make a profit off your services.

Resources

• Wedding Photo USA
• Wedding Photographer Directory