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How To Start And Grow Your Wedding Venue
The beginning: Where to start when you want to open a venue
If you've ever dreamed of owning your own business, and specifically a wedding venue, then this article is for you. Starting and growing a wedding venue can be a lot of work, but it can also be very rewarding. In this article, we'll give you some tips on how to get started and grow your wedding venue into a successful business.
If you're considering starting a wedding venue business, there are a few things you need to take into account. First, you need to decide whether you want to be a full-time or part-time business. There are pros and cons to both options. Full-time businesses require more time and effort, but they also have the potential to make more money. Part-time businesses can be run more cheaply and with less time commitment, but they may not be as profitable.
Once you've decided on your business model, the next step is to find the perfect location. You should consider several factors when choosing a venue, including the location's potential for profit, its accessibility to clients and services and its ability to meet your needs.
in other words you need to know what you are walking into and avoiding the "if i build it they will come" mentality. Like they say location is everything.
Growing your business: Tips for marketing and expanding your venue
First, you'll need to identify your target market. Are you going to focus on local weddings or destination weddings? In other words you need to know who you are targeting with your marketing strategy. This will help you identify the right places to go and the type of messaging required to connect with that audience.
When it comes to creating an effective marketing strategy you need to have three different arms to it. You need offline, online, and in person actions happening. This makes sure if one area of the marketing strategy isn't performing as well you always have more backing it up to protect your business. Nothing worse than when I see a client that has built their entire approach around social media and word of mouth. That is a massive risk!
Then you also have to keep in mind that your marketing is the lifeblood of your business. Without it you have no control of your business and are slowly killing your business growth. What that means is you have to stop looking at marketing as an expense. Marketing is bringing you customers when done properly and without the investment you wouldn't have those customers. So putting money and time into your marketing is a part of being in business. If you keep trying to avoid it or do it for "free" then expect a lower than average return. Your marketing budget should be around 20% of your revenue just to give you some perspective.
Now to give you some idea what a marketing strategy could look like using the three areas I mentioned before:
Offline- This would be marketing strategies that don't require digital support. This could be doing mailers, joint ventures with other businesses, or other print publications.
Online- This would be your digital strategy. This would include social media, SEO, email marketing, paid ads, and of course your website itself.
In Person- This would be strategies where you are meeting people face to face. Popular options would be bridal shows, hosting open houses at your venue, or industry expos.
Now the goal is to have at least two strategies from each category to focus on. This will make sure you have a stream of potential customers coming in from multiple areas to improve the predictability of your business growth.
Managing your venue: Tips for keeping things organized and running smoothly
Managing your venue properly is important to the growth and stability of the venue. Here are some tips to help you manage your venue more efficiently.
Set up a task list- Make a list of things that need to get done and prioritize them. This helps you keep track of the things that need to be completed and keeps them from falling through the cracks. Choose your tasks wisely- Some tasks need to be done daily while others can be done weekly. Make sure you choose the right tasks for the right time.
Then you need to delegate- Delegating tasks to the right people is important to get the job done. For example, if you want your venue to be clean and orderly, you need to delegate those tasks to someone who likes cleaning or organizing.
Follow up- You never want to leave anything undone. It's important that you follow up with those who are working on your tasks. If they fall behind, you can either help them or tweak your tasks list and delegate the work to someone else.
It is important to remember that being the venue owner is not about you doing everything, but more about putting the right people in those positions and being the one that guides them to success.
Don't expect your team to just "know" what you want. It needs to be clearly defined for them with your regular support. This is not something you can be hands off with if you want to develop a high class team that produces world class events.
Making it special: Ways to personalize and differentiate your venue
You have to make sure your wedding venue is standing out from the competition. The best way to do that is by personalizing the experience. Which means you can't do what every other venue is doing and expect to be seen as the best option.
Some great areas to really put your personalized touch:
Welcome gift when they book with you
Making the tour a unique experience
Services you offer to the couple with planning and creating their wedding
Unique photo backdrops
Special gift for the couple to night of their wedding
Anniversary acknowledgement
Those are just a few places where you can easily put your mark on it and make it a completely unique experience. It is not hard to do this and it doesn't have to be elaborate things. It just takes a little creativity, and remembering you are in the business of creating experiences.
So, make sure it is actually an experience when working with your venue.
Conclusion: Why starting a wedding venue can be a great business opportunity
In conclusion, starting a wedding venue can be a great business opportunity. It can be a fun and rewarding experience, and it can be profitable. There are many things to consider when starting a wedding venue, but if you do your research and plan carefully, it can be a great way to make money and help people have the wedding of their dreams.
Our goal is to make sure your venue becomes a thriving business that creates beautiful weddings, provides for you and your family, and isn't a burden for you.
We do this through creating proven marketing strategies for our venue partners that focus on building awareness, establishing trust and increasing the quality of your bookings.
You didn't start your wedding venue to gamble with the success of it. That is what you are doing if you are operating without a marketing strategy. You have no idea what the next year will bring. Let's change that with actual strategies that will strengthen your business and take the burden off of you, and allow you to focus on what you love most.
What is the next step? Simply complete our marketing application. Once you do that we will be in touch to set up your strategy call. This is not a sales call as we don't believe in doing that. We believe in keeping this call focused on what you need and laying out the plan of attack for you.
Your marketing team,
Justin & Lindsay