Unlocking Success: Niche Down to Find Your Dream Wedding Clients
As wedding suppliers, it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that everyone getting married is your dream client. It's something I've thought myself at the beginning of my business journey - I thought I'd niched down enough by just targeting 'brides.' However, it's not really the case, that you want to work with every single bride or client is it?
Whether it's differing aesthetics, budgets or expectations each client has a different vision for their wedding and as a business you should have an idea on where you sit in the market with all of those points.
I don't know about you but I almost felt scared to niche down. I felt that I'd be isolating a massive part of my potential clientele and by doing so surely that would mean less revenue. However with experience and a bit of confidence I learnt that not every bride was my dream client and also not every bride that walked in to the shop would want what we were selling. By niching down I made sure that I could concentrate on the portion of the market who were looking for high quality wedding dresses under a certain price point and I had more of a chance of attracting them by focusing solely on being the best in the area at that - than trying to appeal to everyone! I also found I had less competition in attracting those brides too!
By knowing who your dream customer is you can better serve their needs to exceed their expectations. But you can also market your wedding business much easier and more effectively too. If you want to become a top wedding supplier that is continuously recommended to brides and other suppliers, you need to know your niche and who your dream bride is. It's also much easier and a much more enjoyable experience to work with more of your dream clients - believe me on that one!
In order to attract your dream clients you are going to have to have a pretty good idea of who they are. Start by brainstorming things about them, their age, where they live, where they work, their income, what they like to do in their spare time, what values they have. Think about what motivates them and what their overall style is. Think about how you would describe them to another person and write these traits down. Some of our clients assign names to their ideal client profiles and that's absolutely okay too!
Once you have an ideal client profile in mind you are able to start strategically planning your marketing. Where should you be showing up? What kind of language is going to appeal? What kind of imagery does your ideal client respond to? Your efforts marketing your business will become much easier as instead of trying to appeal to everyone, you can be really specific and only share things that will appeal to your ideal clients. The same will be applied online and in print and advertising to. Does your ideal client subscribe to any blogs? Do they read wedding magazines? Where do they get their wedding inspiration from? What kind of wedding fairs are they attending? You don't need to be everywhere. But you do need to be where your ideal client is.
Lets say you are a dress designer creating alternative wedding day fashion than your traditional wedding dress. Traditional brides may find that you don't share images, language or recommended suppliers that they would typically want - and that's okay because there will be other suppliers who appeal to her. If you are a wedding photographer who loves to shoot outdoor, location weddings your social media and website would be full of stunning outdoor weddings you've been a part of. When a couple come along who are getting married outdoors and love stunning, natural photography, they will quickly know what kind of supplier you are and you'll speak directly to them!
To find your ideal client, you first need to know who they are and then and only then, will you know how and where to pitch your skills, knowledge, pricing to her/him.
