How to Prepare Your Wedding Business for Engagement Season

At the end of 2024 I hosted a 21 day masterclass in my facebook group “Scale Your Creative Business” , each day I went live for just 10 minutes and shared an easy task for the day. The idea was to get your wedding business ready for engagement season, especially important considering 19% of proposals happen in December. Those that took part loved the challenge as they were taking action in the moment and discovering many aspects of their business that were a little out of date or tech was not working.

For wedding businesses, engagement season isn’t just about love and romance; it’s the prime opportunity to connect with newly engaged couples who are beginning to plan their wedding. But is your wedding business ready to capture their attention and stand out in this competitive industry? From updating your online presence to crafting irresistible offers, now is the time to position your business for success. Below is a summary of some of the steps I encouraged my group to take, for the full experience and training I recommend you head on over to my group and watch the videos in “guide 8“

Do you have all the 2024 testimonials?

Check you have received all testimonials from weddings this year. Ideally you do this when off-boarding. But go through and check if anyone hasn’t sent this through to you yet. Often life gets in the way and couples simply forget how important this is to you. Contact clients and make it easy for them by providing links to Facebook + Google but also give them an option of filling in a simple form instead, I tend to use Google Forms.

Some people find it hard to freehand a testimonial or when they do they write just 2 sentences. So consider sending a form with some prompt questions, this helps them formulate more meaningful responses. At the bottom you can have a checkbox confirming their approval for you to use the testimonial online. Ensure the form is short with no more than 5 questions and you may wish to mix quantitative with qualitative questions.

Read through testimonials

Gather all the testimonials from 2024 and read through them. Take note of key words they use to describe you and your service. Are any of them repeated? Our ideal clients will often think and feel the same, so pick out those repeated words and keep safe for now. Remember couples won’t buy from you unless they trust you. Part of the way to do this is through your marketing messaging but part of it is through testimonial marketing, social proof if you will.

1. Read all testimonials from 2024

2. Pick out dominant words for marketing – just keep these safe for now

3. Check 2024 testimonials are on your website

4. Create a canva graphic template if you haven’t already

5. Update proposal / brochure / quotation with new testimonials

6. Schedule new testimonials across your social media

Home page copy

Your homepage is the very first impression that any potential client might have of your business. It should be clear and concise highlighting:

1) Who you are

2) What you offer

3) What niche you are in and why you are different

Your home page is the place to tease them into exploring further on your website where you will entice and excite them into working with you! I want you to read through your copy. Is it representing the above clearly? If not rewrite the copy, remember keep it descriptive without it being “fluffy and whimsical” – why? This doesn’t explain what it is you do for clients so in essence is worthless copy.

I then want you to grab those descriptive words you kept safe from your testimonials and scatter some of them in your copy ensuring they stand out. This will help you connect with more future clients when they land on your content.

Home page layout

When it comes to the layout of your home page remember this is where you are grabbing their attention. Now of course I am not a web designer, I am coming from the view of a customer and how to increase your conversions. When I work with clients I often analyse their websites and give guidelines on improvements.

1. Is your hero image strong enough? Does it represent your planned market positioning?

2. Ensure that everything above the fold is strong to entice them to scroll further. This is your prime real estate

3. Have a strong headline that highlights what it is you do and who for. Please ensure it stands out and is legible. Some cursive script can be hard to read

4. Think of your home page as blocks and think of ways to make this stand out. People skim until they get to a bit that interests them. What blocks can you include? In the video training I share my recommendations

5. Add a CTA, what do you want them to do next? Make it easy for them to do exactly this

6. Create a footer area, look at mine for an example. Add shortcuts to pages, inc a sign up form, shortcut links etc

Your CTA

Ask yourself what is it you want clients to do when landing on your website, what is the journey? Ensure that journey is easy for them to do.

What are your CTA? This is the action you want them to take. It’s getting couples to DO something that is beneficial to you and them

Where are your CTA situated? Go through and test them all, are they clear? Do the links work? Test, test, test. Those taking part in this training discovered many broken links.

Think about what are you asking them to do? Fill in a form? Email? Call? Ensure there are more than one way for them to contact you and make it easy. There is a fine line between encouraging couples to move to the next step of the journey and annoying them.

Create a template to respond to enquiries

Think about creating a template to respond to new enquiries or updating your current one if needed. This will save you time, will ensure brand messaging is consistent and allows you to respond more swiftly.

72% of couples preferring email over phone calls, social media DMs or shared online planning portals.

43% expecting a response to initial enquiries within 48 hours.

WedPro2024

Take time to create a response that is personalised so it doesn’t come across as too generic. This could be by adding in the date or venue or that you love a spring wedding. Remember couples want to be special and not one of many. Keep to your brand tone of voice – don’t use Ai to create it. Have enough information without it being too long. You want them to feel welcomed, respected, and get an overall feeling that you are the right fit for their needs. Use you and I in the copy.

What is the next step in your process? Make this clear and make it easy for them to take this next step. Add a P.S as many people scroll to this. Do you have a blog post or portfolio relating to their pain point or type of wedding. Or inc a link to your calendar?

Update the copy on your services page

When did you last review the copy on your services page? Is it clear what this service or product does? Talk about the experience itself of working with you. What is the journey like? Update headings and hero image if needed. Read through the copy and ensure it is still relevant, is the CTA prominent? Do you need to update the price? When did you last do this? Remember you want this page to be strong and easy to convert clients.

Instagram highlight folders

Do you have highlight folders on your instagram account? Some couples prefer instagram, they wont browse your portfolio but will go through your highlights of real weddings. And considering stories disappear in 24 hours, sharing them to a highlight folder ensures your best images are still seen

1. Create a canva cover to continue brand consistency
2. Have folder categories: countries / seasons / venues / styles / real weddings / how you work / about you /engaged – the choices are endless
3. You can have up to 100 images or videos in each folder but I recommend with the exception of real weddings and testimonials you stick to max 30

You can find me on IG at: https://www.instagram.com/bernadettechapman/

Instagram bio

When did you last update your instagram bio? Are you using keywords? Has it been optimised?

Would your ideal clients land here and instantly feel connected? Focus on who you are, what you do and whom you work for. And in case you wonder if IG is even needed now:

74% couples first found their wedding suppliers on social media (thinksplendighinsights2024)

68% couples use instagram to plan their wedding (Think Splendid 2024)

Important: Your IG name / username / hashtags are searchable. Research bios in your sector and update yours so it reenforces your market positioning and includes a CTA

Instagram pinned posts

Pinned posts are prime real estate on your grid, those top three images or videos are the first impression couples will see when they land on your profile. Pinning posts allows you to highlight your most valuable content, making it easier to introduce your brand and draw new visitors into your world.

 When was the last time you updated your pinned posts? Think about including:

• You, your brand, or your company
• Your brand values
• How you work with clients
• Viral images or videos
• Paid offers
• Free resources

A few key things to remember:
 Pinned posts appear in the order they were pinned, with the most recently pinned post showing first.
 Once a post is pinned, it moves to the top of your grid and no longer appears in its original spot. If you unpin it, it returns to its original position.
 New, unpinned posts will appear after your pinned content.

Update your listings / advertising

Are you advertising on any online platforms? Or perhaps you have regular adverts in printed magazines? Or google ads?

Now is the time to update them so you are presenting the very best YOU to prospective clients.

Review your copy

Review your headline

Update images

Update call to action

And track through stats

Review your on-boarding process

On-boarding a client ensures nothing slips through the gaps with every customer experiencing the same on-boarding journey. It’s a repeatable process even if elements of it is tailored to each client. Having part of this automated ensures you can spend your time serving clients and bringing in new clients. It keeps the energy high as you begin to work together, no regrets.

• A proposal might have an option to click and sign
• This could trigger an invoice
• Once paid an email will be sent welcoming them and explain HOW the service will proceed, this will be different depending on what sector you are in
• There could be a link to a client portal whether slick like aisle planner or simple like google drive
• I’m also a lover of scheduled emails throughout the journey answering common questions, before they ask them

Marketing audit

We can’t predict what changes to technology are going to happen which is why we need to constantly adapt and review our marketing. I’ve seen so many changes over the years and I frequently see businesses panic because they put all their hope into one strategy. Your marketing plan should evolve as technology evolves which is why audits are essential.

Examples:

Businesses relying on venue recommendation, new coordinator is hired and referrals don’t happen and all of a sudden they have no bookings.

Businesses relying 100% on Facebook but then the algorithm changed meaning interaction dipped dramatically. They are now struggling to get the same reach on instagram.

Instagram closes down and businesses lose all followers, now this hasn’t happened yet but imagine if it does?

Below are my top tips on doing an audit and the questions you should be asking yourself.

1. Check your Google analytics, what web pages OR blog posts received more traffic then others? Why do you think that is? Any differences to the topics or blog titles? Do bear in mind it takes time for Google to rank your articles so don’t expect instant results.

2. Social media interaction? What platforms are proofing more successful and why? What’s the interaction like? What posts are more successful? Personal, design, planning tips, videos. Are you getting bookings? Are you checking prospective clients visited your socials?

3. If you send newsletters what ones were opened? Any click through? What was the topic?

4 Looking at your marketing is it speaking to your ideal client?

5. What services are popular and profitable for you? Are you promoting them enough?

6. Zone of genius, I talk about this a lot with coaching clients and why staying in your zone of genius is essential. So thinking of your marketing what have you loved and what have you hated? How does this compare with what marketing tactics were successful? For example maybe you hate video yet interaction is high on your videos. Is there anything you can outsource for the following quarter/year?

I hope you find these tips helpful, even if you implement just a few I know you will find this impactful for your wedding business. Want to go deeper into strategy for your business? Why not apply for my 6 month wedding business mastermind?

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