Wedding Industry Blog

We’re now on to the third part of my “Getting the Most from Wedding Fairs” mini series and by now you should have some good ideas on how you can improve your effectiveness at the fairs you attend. You may have even implemented the ideas in parts one and two already - I’d love to hear about the results you’ve seen.

You’ll be pleased to know that part 3 is a very short part but often overlooked by many and covers that of maximising the number of people you are able to talk to. I see so many people turn up to the fairs on their own and have to stand by their stand all day and get well and truly swamped when things get a bit busy.

Not only is it an extremely lonely experience exhibiting on your own, its also very ineffective. I mentioned in part 1 of this series that having people at your site attracts more people, so if there is just one person manning your stand any more than one potential customer at a time and they have to wait in line. Now the very nature of wedding fairs means that people want to talk things through with you, no matter how much you try and persuade them to leave their details so you can arrange a time to meet or talk at a later date they will keep asking more questions neglecting the waiting prospects who ultimately leave.

Many of the suppliers I have advised on this in the past have sworn to me that its not the case and people wait quietly in line until they are free and they don’t lose out at all. This just isn’t true and all have agreed that they were wrong after taking my advice and trying it just once - there isn’t one exception!

The other objection I hear is “No one knows as much as me about my business and what I do so it’s pointless having them there jsut for the sake of it”. Well I’ll tell you this, even if they know nothing about your business, having someone there just to acknowledge people and ask if their details can be noted down for a telephone call after the fair if they’re not prepared to wait, will vastly increase the number of leads you generate from each fair.

If you are interested in learning more about wedding fair marketing techniques, the Evolution Programme covers various other methods along with varoious other wedding business marketing information. For further details visit the main Evolution Wedding Services site.

General Marketing, Uncategorized, Wedding Fairs

Firstly a Happy New Year to everyone, I hope the Christmas break was refreshing and you have returned ready and raring to go for the start of the year.

Personally this is my favourite time of year and stems from the time when I was a wedding supplier myself, I knew that this time of year is the best time to find new customers and, ultimately, make more money! It is very important to stay upbeat at this point, especially with the current much publicised financial problems. as if you don’t it is easy to slip into a rut.

The start of the year signals the start of wedding planning season and many of you will have your Sundays booked up for the next 4 months with wedding fairs as a result.

Wedding fairs used to be a matter of turning up and taking bookings, but, as with all good things, those days have come to an end and they are now as competitive as every other aspect of wedding marketing. There are ways in which you can maximise your return from these fairs however by doing a few small things and putting in a bit of extra work- it will all be worth it come May/June though when your diary or orderbook is full.

The first point to address after you have booked at a wedding fair is the location of your stand or pitch.

I am absolutely amazed by how few people pay attention to this point and all it takes is a call to the Fair organiser beforehand and maybe a trip to the venue beforehand to establish the most profitable loctaion for your stand to be located.

Think about the footfall of visitors to the fair, where do they enter? where will they walk to and through? If you can find a spot which maximises the number of people that have to walk past you then you will be busier for two reasons.

1) The more people that walk past you, the more people that will stop and look at your stand - this is simple maths. After this think about the other exhibitors that may be in this area and of those try and identify the one which will be the most popular and secure a pitch next to them. If they are busy, the people who are waiting for them will be more likely to look at your stand until they become free.

2) The more people who stop at your pitch, the more people will be drawn to it! Sounds ridiculous but its human nature. It all boils down to scarcity and greed from the time when we were wild and had to rely on information like this to survive. If someone appears to be interested in something on your stand it triggers a reaction in everyone elses brain that says there must be something of interest or value for them and it is worth going over and checking it out.

Thinmk about the times you have been to wedding fairs and been standing at your stand with no visitors there at all and worse still, everyone seems to be giving you a wide berth! This is all phsycological and can be changed fairly easily with a bit of consideration.

If you can maximise the number of people who pass your stand and increase the percentage of those who stop, then you will see the enquiries that come from each fair go through the roof without a doubt. 

Why not book a free wedding fair marketing consultation to make sure you make the most of the fairs you are attending?

There are a variety of other tools and techniques to help you market yourself better at wedding fairs located in the member pages of the Evolution Programme.

Wedding Fairs