Video: Be Where the Buyers Are
Are you putting your money in the most effective ways? Make sure your marketing isn’t going to waste. Check out this video to see how to use social media to your advantage.
Video Transcription:
Let’s say that you are sitting in your office looking at the number of weddings on your calendar and wishing that you had a few more. You continue to advertise, but you just don’t seem to get the same results as you did in the past. You know you do great work, but perhaps you’re wondering if you can do a better job of getting the work out. Maybe there’s a piece or two missing from your marketing puzzle. Then you hear that on Sunday afternoon, a few hundred engaged couples will all be gathered down at the corner of Fifth and Main. All of these couples will need things for their wedding, and a lot of them are looking to buy what you sell. Will you be sitting home on Sunday? Or will you also be down at the corner of Fifth and Main?
Now picture yourself in a room with a group of other wedding professionals. The doors to the room open and within minutes the room is filled with hundreds of people. These people invested their time and money to be in this room. Most of these people are newly engaged couples—couples who are planning their weddings and the others are there to help them out with the process. Imagine that each of these engaged couples are carrying around a large bag of money. On the front of the bag is a date—their wedding date—and you know that when that date rolls around all of the money in that bag will be gone. A lot of that money will be given to the wedding professionals in this room.
What’s interesting is that these couples have already researched the wedding planning websites, they’ve looked at the magazines, they’ve explored Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. They’ve seen the ads and they’ve read the reviews. If they’ve already done all of this, why did they still bring their bag of money into this room? The answer is simple: 97% of engaged couples will not make a major purchase decision for their wedding without a face-to-face meeting. When choosing the people they will trust with their big day, they want a connection they cannot make online. They came to this room to make those connections and spend the money in their bag. Is there any reason why you would not move mountains to be in this room?
Of course, the scenes that I’ve described are wedding shows. Some people call them bridal shows, wedding expos, bridal affairs, or wedding planning events. In spite of all of the print and online advertising opportunities out there, many wedding professionals have found that participation in a wedding show can be a profitable endeavor that allows them to gain new customers and grow their business. Most forms of advertising rely on the wedding professional to put their message out there and then wait for the prospective customer to take action. A wedding show is different. A show gives you the opportunity to interact with the engaged couple. They get to taste your cake, smell your flowers, they get to see the true beauty and quality of your photographs. Most importantly they get to meet you. More than anything you are selling you. A couple will only buy from you if they like you, trust you, and feel comfortable with you. Wedding shows are the only advertising vehicle that allows you to do personal face-to-face selling to hundreds of prospective customers, and do it in just a few hours. Your business cannot thrive without a great website and a strong online presence, but pretty much everyone has those things, making it nearly impossible to cut through the clutter and stand out. Participating in a wedding show gives you a competitive advantage over all of those other companies that only advertise online.
