You've got a wedding industry business. Maybe you're a wedding planner, wedding photographer, or wedding florist. You've been working your butt off serving your customers, but you can't keep going at this pace forever. Instead of working with all the clients, you want to find your niche in the wedding industry. Inside the article, I'm sharing 5 steps for niching down (so you can start calling in the clients you *really* want).
You've probably listened to a ton of podcasts (or Clubhouse rooms) on how to find your niche in the wedding industry. There's lots of great advice out there, but I wanted to create an easy resource you can use to uncover your niche and keep your business moving. You don't have a lot of time to waste (you've got clients to serve and money to make!)–so I'm going to get right into this article.
In order to niche down in your wedding industry business, you need to ask and answer the five questions I'm going to share with you. Grab a pen, a piece of paper and take some notes – and then take action on these questions.
What do you want to be known for in the wedding industry?
The first question you need to ask yourself as you explore your wedding industry niche is… what do you want to be known for? When you fast forward to your business in the future (this is such a fun thing to do btw), what does your business look like and who are you *really* serving?
When we start our businesses in the wedding industry, we're often happy with any work that walks through the door. And this means that we take on customers who we don't really like – maybe their style isn't our favorite, or their weddings are not the kind of weddings we really want to do.
I talked a lot about this in this blog post, and I want to reiterate the sentiment that YOU get to decide you want to work with, and who you don't. So as you explore niching down in your wedding industry business, I want you to answer what *YOU* want to be known for.
What kind of weddings really trip your trigger?
While I teach that your business exists to serve your customers, and everything you do in your business *needs* to be customer-focused, in order to niche down well we need to put you first. What do you REALLY want when it comes to your business and your career. What do you want to be known for?
Once you know the answer to this question, you can start weeding out clients that don't align with your vision (and thereby start calling in clients who do).
Where do you want to work when it comes to weddings?
So many of your ideal client problems can be solved by knowing *exactly* where you want to work in the wedding industry. Which venues do you want to work at? If you're a destination wedding creative, which locations are your jam?
As you look to niche down and uncover your wedding industry niche, you can fast track your success by picking which venues your ideal clients are booking… and then start aligning yourself with those venues.
Think about how much the venue says about a couple. You'll know their style, their priorities, the unique challenges they might face while planning their wedding– and probably the most important part–their budget.
Get crystal clear on where you want to work when it comes to your wedding industry niche, and then get your butt in the doors of those venues.
What’s your intrinsic wedding industry style?
The wedding industry is such a visual business, and in order to help your ideal client buy with their eye, you've gotta have some style.
So, what's your intrinsic wedding industry style?
When I was a wedding planner, I would tell my clients that I had an eclectic style – meaning, I could literally design anything. Classic? Done it. Boho? Easy. Weird, magically, fairytale wedding? Hang on, let me show you my portfolio.
When I ask you what your intrinsic wedding industry style is, I don't want you to get hung up on only having ONE style (although, if that's your jam, that's totally OK). You can serve a diverse range of styles, but here's the difference: there's something in every wedding you design, photograph, or are a part of that is *intrinsically* you.
Your personality, your eye, your flair for [insert something here] is threaded through every piece of work you do. So while the styles may be diverse, there's just something about *YOUR* weddings that lets people know it was you behind the camera (or the flowers, or the beauty… you get the idea).
And that helps you to find your wedding industry niche.
I want you to dig into your intrinsic wedding style and find what makes your approach unique to you. Then, I want you to make sure everyone knows about it.
How much money do you want to make in your wedding business?
Ah yes, the money talk. Listen up. You get to choose how much money you want to make in your business, and it's about time you step up and start looking at the numbers. In order to call in clients who can pay your bills, you need to know how much money you want to make in your business.
Niching down in your wedding industry business isn't just about style (although that's important, as we've established). It's also about making sure you align yourself with couples whose budget can actually support your lifestyle (and if you have a love of expensive handbags like me, that budget needs to be pretty high).
I need you to get clear on how much money you want to make in your business every single year, and then look at the types of customers that can make that a reality. This is an important part of discovering your wedding industry niche (and it might be the MOST important part).
Why?
Because without money you're just a hobby, baby. And you're also going to burn out quickly and wonder why you're working so dang hard and getting paid so little.
Where are there gaps in the wedding marketplace?
If you've read the book Blue Ocean Strategy, then you know you should be aiming to build a business that doesn't compete on pricing and services. One way to do that is to explore what gaps exist in the marketplace – and if that gap is interesting to you – fill it.
You've done a lot of work so far to discover your wedding industry niche, and this last question helps you to drill down and uncover an opportunity that no one else is paying attention to.
Gaps in the marketplace could be around unique services, an experience, and of course, style. What gaps exist in the marketplace and how can *you* be different from the other [insert your competition here] businesses in your area.
What are they NOT doing that they should be doing?
Is there a trend that NO ONE paying attention to?
Where is the industry moving right now that you could be ahead with?
Knowing what gap you fill in the marketplace means you can build and grow a business that exists all by itself (that's a good thing, btw). It means that you've carved out a niche that no one is paying attention to… and you've effectively eliminated your competition.
If all this talk of wedding industry niche has your head spinning (in a GOOD WAY!) I want to invite you to check out The Client Cocktail. Ready to book magazine worthy weddings?
Not only am I going to teach you how to niche down, but I'm going to show you how to attract, sell, and serve your high-end clients.
OK, let's recap. Here are the 5 questions you need to answer in order to uncover your wedding industry niche:
- What do you want to be known for?
- Where do you want to work?
- What’s your intrinsic style?
- How much money do you want to make?
- Where are there gaps in the marketplace?
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