I see you, friend.

You feel like you’re doing everything right, but the couples booking sales calls aren’t your dream clients. The ones who understand your value and aren’t sticker shocked by your pricing!!

You’re 100% positive you’re charging competitive prices as a wedding pro but for some reason, clients walk out the door as soon as they walk in.

I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out why the right couples weren’t coming my way when I started as a wedding planner. Once I took a hard look at my brand and who I wanted to serve, finding dream clients became an effortless (and fun!!) process.

When I say branding I don’t mean your logo or a pretty color palette. I’m talking about your brand message and how you position yourself in the market to speak directly to your ideal client.

You don’t want any client that comes knocking on the door, you want the right clients. So let’s help you find the couples ready to sign on the dotted line!

Know Your Ideal Customer Avatar (This Will Take Time)

Know your ICA, know your ICA, know your ICA (your ideal customer avatar for those who don’t know what that means).

Every marketing and business guru shouts it from the rooftops because knowing your ICA is crucial!

Our ideal customer avatar impacts our marketing — which we’ll talk about in a second — and even the service packages we sell.

Everything we do in our business is for them anyway right? So we want to create an experience perfectly suited for their needs and desires.

Is your ideal client a DIY bride? Do you want a couple who will let you fully design and plan their entire wedding? Nail down what your couples are looking for first so you can fill in the gaps.

Yes, knowing your ICA is critical but don’t feel pressured to narrow in too soon. The truth is, you don’t know who that person is right away. It took working a LOT of events for Blush, my wedding planning company, to discover who our dream client is — you’ll probably experience the same.

However, once you are crystal clear on your bride, you want to go full force with all your business and marketing efforts to speak to her.

For Blush, our bride is in their mid 30’s, mature, and very career-oriented. She knows exactly what she wants in her wedding, has dreamed about since she was a little girl,  but doesn’t have the time to execute it.

The Process to Brand Your Business and Find Your ICA Takes Time

Our ICA sounds pretty clear but trust me when I say this took years to figure her out.

Every once in a while we’ll get a nontraditional couple who wants a black and purple wedding, and that doesn’t mean we won’t serve them. It’s actually fun for us because we rarely get to plan these kinds of events!

The difference is we don’t openly market and speak to them. When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one, which leads into our second point:

Your Marketing Should Speak Directly to Your Ideal Client

Your social media, your website, your blogs, and everything your business puts out should only speak to your ideal client.

As I mentioned, Blush’s client is in their mid-30s, career-oriented, and needs help to execute the vision for their dream wedding. In our marketing efforts, we’re always hitting on her pain points:

• She doesn’t have enough time to do all the research
• She usually isn’t local so she needs eyes and ears on the ground to find trusted local vendors
• She has a big picture vision but isn’t sure how to bring the details together

We’re also showcasing their ultimate desire: a classic, timeless, and traditional wedding.

If I were to show every type of wedding we could do or have done before, (like those black and purple weddings) people would get confused and wouldn’t understand who we are!!

Our marketing would be totally different if our client was a DIY bride, so let’s talk about what that marketing message might look like.

Let’s say your ideal bride needs somebody to step in and make sure all their DIY items are all set up. You’ll want to speak to her specific pain points too:

• She’s carefully created all these details but needs someone to implement them through event management
• She’s curated a guest list but wants to make sure Aunt Susan is in the correct seat
• She’s on a budget so she only needs support where it matters most

Then that’s who you would speak to. You’d also want to make sure you speak to their ultimate desire as well: a budget-friendly but still memorable dream wedding

When you speak directly to your ideal client’s pain points and their ultimate desire, you’ll attract the brides who align with your brand and repel the brides who don’t.

On the Sales Call, Focus on the Transformation

People don’t pay for products or services, they pay for transformation. When a couple walks into your door ready to learn more about your services, you want to flood your sales process with talking points around their pain points and their ultimate desires.

Don’t overwhelm them with a list of to-do’s that you can take care of for them, that’s not what they want. During the sales call, ask questions like:

• What makes them feel the most anxious about their wedding day
• What’s been the hardest task to handle during your planning process
• What’s been the most rewarding part of your planning process
• Have you been to another wedding, and if so, what did you love and hate about it?

These are conversation starters that will get your bride to self-diagnose. They might go off on a tangent to share a story like:

“Oh my gosh I was at this wedding and it took forever for the bride and groom to come back from pictures. The buffet line took forever to open, and the best man was missing when it was time to do his speech!!”

Whatever those pain points are, you’ll want to follow up with direct solutions or objections to their pain points. Maybe something like:

“That must have been so frustrating! During our wedding process, we develop an airtight timeline to ensure a smooth and seamless wedding day. That means a buffet line that opens right away and every member of the wedding party knows where they should be and when!“

When you can show that what it will look like to work with you and how you can ease their wedding day (whatever that means to your specific ideal client) you can guarantee a couple that will pay your price because the transformation is worth it.

Branding Your Business Comes Down to A Clear Brand Message and Ideal Client

Don’t get discouraged if couples are scared away by your pricing. Stick with your value and know that the right couples will eventually come!!

I challenge you to think about who your ideal client is. Gather a list of dream clients you’ve worked with before and try to find the common threads. What were their values? What did they enjoy most about working with you? What was the most memorable part of their wedding day?

The answers might give you a hint around who your dream couple is so you can speak directly to them on every platform. Still, struggling to identify your ICA? Share who you want to serve in the comments so you can get crystal clear!