You may have seen the posts circulating on social media about something called “The Wedding Boom” and wondered what exactly it means and how it affects you. It is estimated that about 2.4 million weddings will happen in the US in 2022. Why is this happening? The first reason is because some 2020 and 2021 couples have postponed their wedding dates to 2022, but also we’re combining that with those who were already planning their weddings for 2022. Bottomline: lotsa weddings are going down in 2022!!
So what does this mean for you and how can you prepare?
This means that there is more competition for popular wedding dates, wedding vendors are being booked up faster, and there are more weddings than ever that you can be marketing your business towards.
I want to give you 5 ways you can get yourself and your photography business ready for this wedding boom.
Are You Ready for the Wedding Boom?
Tip #1: Use a CRM like Honeybook
A CRM is simply a client relationship management tool. This is essentially a home base for your leads, clients, and all the workflows in your business. I talk a lot about Honeybook because it’s what I have used for many years and I truly love it. But the magic isn’t in one specific platform, the point here is to have a CRM that you will use. This will save you a ton of time and help you put your best foot forward as a professional.
If you want to see more about how I use Honeybook in my own photography business, check out one of my most popular blog posts, “5 Time-Saving Honeybook Features”.
Tip #2: Plan your clients gifts now
Additionally, now is a great time to think through your client experience process and decide what you will be gifting. I place a big emphasis on client experience because not only is this what I want to be known for as a business but it’s one of the best ways to generate word of mouth referrals.
Look into some options for client gifts and decide now what you plan on gifting to your couples and when you’ll send their gift. Here’s a video all about client gifts and some ideas for what to gift your clients.
Tip #3: Plan your marketing before things get crazy
Have you ever stopped marketing (like posting to social media and blogging) because you were so busy with client work? I’ve been there. It is a very common cycle that actually leads to feast or famine booking patterns. If you stop marketing because you’re stuck editing weddings, you wont be doing the marketing tasks that lead to consistent bookings. Sooner or later you might end up with an empty month or two on the calendar after the busy months pass. Sometimes that is a welcomed break, and sometimes that is anxiety inducing because your revenue dips lower than you’d like.
One way to avoid this off and on marketing pitfall is to plan your marketing out ahead of time. Know your main marketing platforms (this could be Instagram and your blog for example) that you need to be showing up on, and use planning tools like Planoly to batch ahead and make your life easier.
Another tip here is to build marketing into your post-production workflows. This can be as simple as adding a step to share to social media (and tag all vendors) when you create the sneak peek gallery for your clients. Or whenever you get a new review from a happy client, take 5 mins to share that review on all your social platforms. This will ensure that even while you are working hard to serve your clients, you are doing the small but impactful things to attract new ones.
And since we’re on the topic of reviews and testimonials…let’s talk about that more.
Tip #4: Have a process in place to gather reviews
Client testimonials are so important for a thriving photography business. They are social proof that you can provide the service you say you can, and that many other people have had awesome experiences with you. This is especially important in the wedding world because a wedding is something that cannot be done over again if the photos don’t turn out.
Your Google Business Listing is a great place to gather reviews because it helps your search ranking for your website and blog at the same time.
Finally, if you don’t currently have a way to request reviews in your business and you’d love to improve your workflows over all – check out Hobby To Pro Toolkit for all the templates (including a review request email template) and tools you need to confidently go pro in your photography business.
Tip #5: Outsource what you can
The great part about a wedding boom is that there are more weddings to go around and you may end up booked out with awesome clients! The draw back to this is that burn out can quickly follow any kind of busy season in your business. To avoid burn out, it’s key to look for tasks in your business that you can outsource.
Editing is an obvious one here because it takes up a great deal of time and is something you don’t have to be doing yourself. A few other tasks you could outsource are: your bookkeeping, posting to social media, email inbox management, and client gifts. These are all things you could hand off to a VA (virtual assistant) or hire someone specifically for this service.
Are you ready to attract and book your ideal weddings for 2022 and beyond? Be sure to grab this free resource I made for you called Attract And Book Your Dream Brides Guide. You’ll get actionable steps and marketing ideas you can use to book more weddings today.
If you decide to use any of the links above and buy through them, I’ll receive a small commission back. All of those affiliate income commissions really add up over time and help generate revenue to help support this channel
