Get the Most Out of Your Wedding Show Marketing

[00:00:02]
 Thank you for tuning in to WedPro Business Solutions. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield. In today's episode, I am just back from a wedding show, and I felt like this was a great opportunity to really dive into a conversation about the marketing opportunities leading up to a wedding show that you're participating in, opportunities that you can take advantage of while you're at the wedding show. And then I believe some of the most important things happen after the show, and that's what I want to use. This opportunity just came in unloaded.
 
 [00:00:42]
 I got to talk to a lot of engaged couples today and really get their feedback about how they're doing their research. I got to connect with wedding professionals, some I've known for a very long time. Some of them I met for the first time today, and I found myself in multiple conversations about content. So here's where we're going to start. First, if you're participating in a wedding show, what opportunities are there for you to not only market your business, but also promote that you're going to be at an upcoming wedding show?
 
 [00:01:17]
 You might be thinking, well, why would I promote that? Well, a couple of items. Number one, any of your current clients might see that and come out. It just helps you build that no like and trust factor even more. But also you're inviting them out to meet other wedding professionals, probably local to your area.
 
 [00:01:39]
 I always encourage people to tag the location, to mention the show, tag them if they're on that social platform. And you may be wondering, where should I be posting? It really depends on your business. Tik Tok is a huge platform for engaged couples and wedding professionals. So definitely doing some type of video to put up on TikTok to promote you being at that show.
 
 [00:02:14]
 The other thing is you've got Instagram, you've got Reals, but don't forget about your Google My Business because you can post to it as an event that you're going to be at right inside your Google My Business. The other thing to talk about before the actual show is if you have an email database and everyone should that isn't kind of a do you have one? You definitely should collect your email addresses from leads, current clients, any type of corporate event, anything like that. You should be collecting email addresses. I don't want to get too far away from the topic at hand.
 
 [00:02:59]
 You could send out an email blast to your database saying, hey, I'm going to be at this upcoming show. Here's the details, here's the link. If there's a pre registration option, definitely include that. I always tell clients to include a video message. There's so many different technologies and software out there that make it super easy to record a quick video with your cell phone and be able to embed that link.
 
 [00:03:30]
 It whatever your options are in your email marketing software to use to send out with your email blast. Okay? There's probably other topics that I didn't mention. These are just the ones that are just off the top of my mind. So now let's talk about the show day.
 
 [00:03:54]
 I encourage my clients, if they're participating in wedding shows, to get set up as quickly as possible. And I know it can be difficult. There's people there that, you know, there's other vendors, people want to chat. I get it. Get in, get your stuff set up.
 
 [00:04:14]
 Because here's why you want to use that opportunity to take pictures, videos, maybe selfies, any type of content like that of your own booth. You can do videos of yourself to use on your social media into the future, not necessarily just that day. You have other options. Maybe there's a vendors there that you work with on a regular basis, grab a selfie with them. And then when you post it out on your social platforms, make sure you tag them in the post.
 
 [00:04:50]
 Why? Because it's then going to show up to their audience as well. The other thing about getting in, getting set up, you allow yourself room to just take a breather, get ready for when they're going to open those doors. Most wedding shows I've participated in, there's normally people standing, waiting for the doors to open because they want to be there right at the very beginning. And then there's people that trickle in throughout the event.
 
 [00:05:22]
 But you want to be able to be at your booth, ready in the right mind space to talk to people. Okay, now the actual show itself, I want to give just a couple of tips. Today's wedding show, I saw people out in front of their booths. They were working it. They were pulling people in.
 
 [00:05:41]
 They were having awesome conversations and it was great to see. I always encourage people to get out in front of your table or your booth. Don't sit behind your table. I try to tell people not to stand behind their table. Unless you're serving food or some type of treats or something like that.
 
 [00:06:05]
 Then it's a different scenario. But get out front, pull the people in, ask them questions. Questions. Listening can give you a lot of information. And here's what I mean by that.
 
 [00:06:24]
 When's their event date? Where are they getting married? What venue? That will give you a way to communicate with them. It'll give you a way to connect with them.
 
 [00:06:37]
 You're asking questions about their special day. Then always, I always make sure we never take down our stuff before the end time of the event. There can be people there still finishing up conversations, and you really want to put your best foot forward and you want to wait until it's completely over. Now the event is over, I hope you've been able to exchange cards with some other wedding professionals. Some hopefully, you know, some I hope you don't know that you've made new connections at that show.
 
 [00:07:16]
 Now what? Well, first and foremost, make sure you get stories up on the social platforms you use, whether that be Facebook Story, Instagram, you've got TikTok stories, you've got YouTube shorts, whatever social media platforms you use for your business, that's one thing. If you have time before the show starts, I always encourage people to put up a post or to put up a story and make sure you tag your location. I always try to put the name of the show in the post as well. Okay, you're home, you're reviewing your pictures.
 
 [00:08:02]
 If you can, that night, put up a few pictures that you took. It doesn't have to be all of them that you took, but a few pictures. Tag the people that you need to tag, and that way you have fresh content out there. Here's the next thing. I encourage you to send a follow up email to the list.
 
 [00:08:25]
 Most wedding shows give you a list of the attendees, those that registered. I encourage you to send a follow up email. Now, when I say sending email blast, I do not mean through Gmail or Google Workspace or your business email. I don't mean going in CCN or Bccn or one off emails to them, because you can actually have a problem. And I want to be careful how I explain this.
 
 [00:08:56]
 Your account can be flagged as sending spam. And I've had that happen to people that sent 100 emails. They didn't send BCC or CC, they actually sent individual ones, but they did it 100 times in a row in one sitting. And then the next thing you know, their clients were saying, hey, I'm not receiving your emails. And then come to find out they were going to spam.
 
 [00:09:25]
 Well, that's because their account got flagged. I highly encourage you to use some type of email marketing program. There are wonderful ones out there. I've been a partner with Constant Contact all the way back to 2008. And if you do not have an email marketing program, go to the resource page on my website, www.KristinaStubblefield.com, and you will find a link as well as a discount code or free trial information, whatever they have available at the time on that resource page.
 
 [00:09:58]
 The other part of using an email marketing software is you get reporting how many people received the email, how many opened it, what link did they click on. It is very important and valuable information to know that it's worth your time to send those. Now, as I mentioned in the beginning of this, any time that I have discussions with clients about sending email blast, I highly recommend you include some kind of personalized video message. Because some people won't read paragraphs, they're not going to do it. You should definitely include some pictures.
 
 [00:10:38]
 And I encourage people to include a video message that's hello, I hope that I got a chance to speak to you at the wedding show at such and such place. If not, down below there is links to my website, social media, whatever calls to action you want them to follow through with. Now, when we talk about calls to action, where do you want them to go? Do you want them to go learn more about your services? Do you want them to check out your portfolio?
 
 [00:11:09]
 Do you want them going over to your Instagram or your TikTok? Because that's where you post about events with pictures and stuff. Or do you want them to go to your website or a specific page on your website? That is something you need to decide. That's part of your marketing strategy.
 
 [00:11:29]
 So then after you send that email out, hopefully you have plenty of pictures, video clips that you can utilize for a few days, a few weeks into the future, with maybe some type of tip or information about your services or whatever it is that you want to share out there. That's what makes capturing that content so important. It's for you to build a content library and be able to pull from. You don't have to use all your photos or videos the day you take them. And people seem so surprised to hear me say that, and I've been guilty of that in the past as well.
 
 [00:12:14]
 It can become part of a library that you pull from a couple of months down the road. Whatever works best for you. Now, the last bit of information that I will share with you is I encourage you to do maybe a second follow up. Maybe that's a month down the road. However, it's best in your strategy for your business.
 
 [00:12:40]
 And maybe it's something where you send out quarterly or monthly newsletters, or maybe you've had an amazing event and you want to share with your database some tips or something that happened at this event that you learned from or that you want to share with your audience. Utilize that as a way to follow up. I know a lot of wedding professionals are encouraging people that they talk to at wedding shows to follow them on Instagram, and then they make it a point to post a lot of their event pictures and video in their Instagram feed by Reels or post or videos. It's truly up to you. But what I hope that this episode helps you with is to really start to think about that journey at a wedding show and maybe jot down what process you want to follow.
 
 [00:13:42]
 I always do much better to have a checklist to go off of because I get sidetracked, I get to talk in and then, oh man, I forgot to do this kind of video, or I forgot I wanted to do this, or I wanted to take a picture with this person. I'm not saying that you have to write everything down, absolutely not. But a lot of times I'll put it in the notes section on my phone. That way I can look at it after I'm set up and be like, oh yes, I want to do this and this. It's really up to you how you embrace the content part and know in your mind what you want to be able to share out with your followers.
 
 [00:14:23]
 There are times that I record videos. It shows that I'm not going to use for two, three, four weeks. Sometimes I do alive at a show that goes out on Instagram or Facebook, but then also I do a recorded video to be able to use separately. There's so many different options out there. There's so many different social media platforms.
 
 [00:14:46]
 I get it. It can be overwhelming. But while this was fresh on my mind, I just wanted to mention it and share it as an episode because sometimes we can forget some of the basic or marketing items that can happen at a wedding show. Yes, it's great to be there and talk to the engaged couples that are on hand and hear about their special day. But how can you start to build relationships or build that know, like and trust factor with people that did not stop at your booth?
 
 [00:15:25]
 Or maybe they did, but they really didn't have too much of a chance to talk to you? Maybe it's even your followers that weren't even at that show. There's so many opportunities to repurpose content, but I just wanted to really kind of talk through a little bit of an example that I just gave on a process from before the show to after the show. And I tell a lot of my clients the follow up is key. Staying top of mind.
 
 [00:15:57]
 Some of the people that I got to speak to today, their date was 18 - 24 plus months out. So depending on what type of wedding professional you are, they may not be booking you for another six months, depending on their own event, their timeline, different, things like that. So I just wanted to talk about there's so many opportunities with doing wedding shows. So much past just standing there at your booth talking to the ones that stop or the ones that were on that list that hopefully you receive. So I hope everyone found this helpful.
 
 [00:16:42]
 I love tackling topics that are fresh in my mind where I can just point out certain things that maybe people have forgot about or they don't think about, or you get busy in your own business. So I hope everyone finds this helpful. If you have not already joined my free Facebook group, please make sure you're so just go to kristinastubblefield.com and there's a link on the home page. Until next time, see ya.