Did you know 40% proposals happen between December and Valentines Day? With 19% happening in December alone? Making this a key time for new bookings to come in as these couples begin to plan their weddings.
It probably feels unfair, after all you have only just finished wedding season but straight away have to prepare for engagement season. Is there ever an off time? Honestly? Not so much any more which is why you must schedule time for self care as goodness knows youโll work 52 weeks in the year otherwise.
I know you are tired but its important to be as ready as you can be, from a marketing point of view engagement season is when your customer becomes aware of their “pain point”, in this instance “I’m engaged, I need to hire the best suppliers quick!”. Through preparation you can ensure your business is ready from your website to what you charge.
Read on for my 9 ways to get your wedding business ready for engagement season. Or if you prefer you can click below to watch my YouTube video which was recorded live in my facebook group.
Review + Reflect
Take some time to review your weddings this season, what went well, what do you need to improve on?
Did you have too many or not enough weddings?
Did you earn enough or were you resentful for working so many hours for such little pay?
Only by going through this process of looking back, can you start to strategise change.
After all business is about improving oneself and our offers to clients. What works one year may not the next
Up-level: Book onto my mastermind day in January and work through this before creating a new strategy for growth and get BMS for FREE
Client Love
Remember part of off boarding a client is asking for a testimonial. So check you have received them all and send chasers if needed. Take a moment to soak in words of love from your clients. But then I want you to read again more analytically, are there quotes you can use in your marketing? Any words clients repeatedly use to describe you OR the service you provide? Ensure these are then inputted into your marketing messages moving forward
Up-Level: Want to take this to the next level? Send surveys out to clients and ask leading questions about working with you. There may be some constructive feedback you can use in your business to move onwards and upwards. Understanding how our customers view your service is priceless. Why did they hire you over your competitors? From this ask yourself do you need to tweak your customer journey or the service itself?
Master your profit
Does your pricing work for you and the growth of your business?
Work through your profit and loss for the year so far, are there areas where you are overspending? Work out the profitability of each service or product. Are you earning what you should be? Any adjustments needed or new services to be launched for cash injections? Do a financial audit of all outgoings, it’s amazing how all those memberships and subscriptions add up! You want to enter 2024 with your numbers organised so you are on track to increase your profit.
Up-level: Purchase Profit with Ease for just ยฃ19
Audit your website
We all know our website is our shop window so its important to give it some love and attention, especially as this is a platform you “own”. Facebook or Instagram could decide to close tomorrow but your website is “yours”.
1) Change images on your website if there are great ones from this season. Remember couples buy with their eyes, are you enticing them with your images?
2) Update your gallery with your best weddings this year
3) Review all your copy and change where necessary
4) Check google analytics for your SEO, what improvements can be made
5) How user friendly is it, is it easy to navigate or full of fancy swanky images but unclear navigation
6) Add your CTA โ what is it you want clients to do?
PR Campaign
Are there any weddings you want to get featured, if so start thinking of where and start submitting.
Think of any articles you could write for publications or blogs.
Try to be submitting something at least twice per month. Any Facebook groups you can do a live for? Any podcasts you can be a guest on?
Up-level: Contact Nicola ProposePR for her month by month PR service
Know your stats
In order to prepare for engagement season you need to know your targets. Without a goal how can you possibly begin to scale?
When reviewing engagement season Dec โ February how many enquiries did you receive? What was the conversion? What was the total value? Will you aim to match or beat this figure?
Marketing / Being visible
Do a marketing audit, what worked and what doesnโt?
The industry changes all the times so strategies that worked one year may not the next.
Come up with a marketing strategy that is aligned with your values and repurpose as much content as possible, by this I mean use your content on your blog and across all social media platforms. But be consistent, donโt post 5 times one week then none the next!
What questions would your clients have? How can you answer them?
How visible are you? Ensure you are upping your content during engagement season โ scheduling and automation is your friend
This is a huge topic so Iโm not covering this today
Up-level: Read these books to understand more about your clients position in your marketing Building Your Story Brand or They Ask Your Answer Read my guide to marketing your business outside of social media
Customer journey
Review your customer journey. What are the touch points like? How smooth is the on boarding? What about off boarding? If you are up-levelling ensure your brand and service can match this.
Self Development / Business Development
I’m a big believer in increasing my knowledge at all times, I appreciate this might be difficult in the summer season. So between November – April what can you commit to?
What knowledge can you gain?
This could be training courses, seminars, conferences, workshops, masterminds or coaching.
If you want to go deeper there are 2 services I recommend, both ideal for getting ready for new clients.
FREE Call
Are you ready to up level your wedding business and go beyond the pretty with me by your side? Book a FREE call where I can advise what strategy is right for you moving forwards. No more being forced to follow formulas that just donโt work for wedding businesses.
Further Reading
Mastermind Day 2024
Shifting your mindset into CEO mode
Collaboration in the wedding industry
