It was so great to put together the Free 5 Day Visibility Challenge with Valerie Pritt of The Engaged Wedding Planner Academy where we’re talking about the small steps you can take to instantly increase your personal and brand visibility! While we each work with wedding planners in different stages of their business, we feel the elements of this challenge can apply to anyone who would like to ensure they have their bases covered when it comes to your online presence. It’s not too late to participate in each of the lessons, so we’ve created a free course for you to join!

What is this 5 Day Visibility Challenge about?

In the challenge, we have created modules that will cover everything from creating a strong about page, social media profiles, blogging, networking with vendors and more. The focus is to give you simple action items that you can implement right away! In this post I will be covering just one of the many facets of increasing your brand visibility. Digital communication such as email and instant messaging through customer relationship management (CRM) platforms such as Honeybook, Dubsado, Aisle Planner or 17 Hats to name a few; really drive our engagement with clients and colleagues.

In this challenge we created a free course including a PDF workbook and tons of free resources for you to easily increase your online visibility. You will also hear us refer to the Facebook event group that we held the live challenge in. This is available to view here: https://bit.ly/2XALx0n but don’t worry if you missed out on the live group event, because with the free course these modules can be completed any time!

Should wedding planners participate in bridal shows and advertise in magazines? Here are some thoughts on the powerful tools you should be leveraging to market your business!

Watch the video below from our Visibility Challenge to see an overview on Facebook Page Manager and Ad Manager for the functions and tools you can use to make sure that your wedding planning business stands out on Facebook!

What has worked well for your business over the years?

What are your thoughts when it comes to determining your advertising budget for the year, have you decided to go the traditional route and stick to local bridal shows? Can you definitively show the return on investment (ROI) from participating in shows if you consider the time you allocate to planning out your booth, designing print materials, working the show and following up on leads after the show?
Personally, I believe that with Facebook and Instagram, among a strong email sequence you can not only reach the same number of people who would have attended the shows, but market to them for under 1/3 of the cost and capture the data much more effectively then having sign-ups in the bridal show booth. Now, I can already hear the wheels turning - what about the couples who want to meet us in person at the show? Won’t they just book another planner instead? If you have your ads ready to go the week of the show, and dialed in to the target demographic you can instead focus on meeting these couples after they have already viewed your website, social media etc and will be a much smoother sale in most cases!

{Join the challenge} If you’re looking for more tips on stepping up your social media game, check out the free 5 Day Visibility Challenge and join us in the Wedding Planner Mastermind Group on Facebook to meet your wedding planning peers!

The Challenge Starts January 14th! Along with Valerie Pritt of Engaged Wedding Planner Academy, I have collaborated on this great 5 Day Visibility Challenge to help planners get a handle on social media, blogging, website/about page and more in this new year! We’ll cover tips, resources and action items that you can implement each day of the challenge to keep forward progress on gaining exposure for your business.
Be sure not to miss this free challenge happening on Facebook!

December Accountability Check-in {Freebie alert}

If you’re like me, you’ve knocked out a few shows on Netflix and rummaged the shelves at Barnes and Nobles or perhaps took an extended vacation after Thanksgiving. Here in Northern California, we have had devastating wildfires and the Campfire was right in our backyard. Our town has become a disaster area with FEMA, Red Cross and many other resources coming to help distribute aid. So for me, I needed the time to be checked out and just be present with those around me and offer support in anyway that I could.

As I sit in the office catching back up on emails and picking up where I left off on some of the strategy sessions for our Wedding Planner Mastermind Group, I know that regaining focus will take some accountability on my part. So whatever you are going through in life or in business, try to find ways or even other people that can help keep your accountability for reaching goals.

December is full of shiny objects and yummy food, but don’t let that distract you when it comes time to get to work, think back to some of the challenges you faced this year in business. Were there changes that you felt were needed in your contract or staff handbook? Did you have a staff, or have you been going it alone? Now is the perfect time to put the gears in motion for making changes and avoiding the chance or repeating these bumps in the road next year.

The challenge is to be able to narrow down your focus into attainable tasks, and decide which ones are the biggest priorities. Here are some examples:
1. Review your contract and consult legal council for questions
2. Create or update client welcome kit and consultation packet items
3. Update website with current packages for 2019 and update gallery {with only your best work!} Remember the goal is to attract your ideal clients.
4. Update headshots, branding photos and contact information on website and all social media profiles.
5. Thank your team, vendors and your family - I say this because these are the people who cheered you on and worked alongside you. It is a great time to show them you appreciate their support!
6. Marketing plan for 2019 - Review what worked in 2017, where your best clients came from and how you can continue to grow that lead source. Prepare rack cards, business cards, bridal show hand-outs for engagement season.
7. Review your current workflow from booking all the way to post-wedding steps and determine any areas that need more efficiency

If you are a pen and paper kind of gal, you can download the December Freebie here or visit the new shop page, where I will be adding resources, courses and templates.

Stay tuned for the Bridal Show Prep post coming out next week, I will be putting together my best tips after 7 + years of participating in several area bridal shows. If you have questions that you would like included in the Q&A Section of the Bridal Show post - feel free to drop a comment below or email me your questions!

November happens to be my favorite month, and not just because I get birthday cake but because it’s fall ya’ll - like the real fall where you get to wear boots and sweaters! Aside from celebrating this cooler weather, I am also excited about having a little break from the busy event schedule in order to focus on setting goals for the month. Make sure to download the November Goal PDF on the Freebie page!

Download the PDF version here!

Also, if you haven’t already joined the blogging challenge you can sign up for the notifications here: https://goo.gl/UX11Jn

When is the last time you checked your website and blog analytics to see where your traffic is coming from? If it has been awhile, or if you aren’t sure if all of that time you spend on Instagram is really paying off to reach your target clients.. this is for you!

Join the challenge! Sign up to receive the introduction email with information about getting started in the free three week blogging challenge.

Read to get started? Click here to join the free challenge starting November 1st!