When business is slow, you might find yourself looking at your agenda and wishing it was packed with client meetings, consultations, site tours, and more. You might wonder what you can do differently to start booking more clients and filling up that diary with profitable engagements.
When a wedding business isn’t full to capacity, it’s often because their brand presence doesn’t resonate with their ideal wedding client. You might have gorgeous photos that give competitors a run for their money, but if those photos aren’t accompanied by a relatable brand voice, your sales and marketing efforts may fail to hit the mark.
Your website and social media are channels to build connections and engage with your target market, but if you’re not communicating on their level, they’ll likely move on to someone who “speaks their language.” To capture their attention and trust, you need to illustrate that you understand their deepest desires and can help them fulfill their dreams.
How, exactly, can you do that? Follow these seven steps to refine your brand voice and attract more clients with compelling messaging.
- Identify Your Ideal Client
It’s time to think beyond reaching “engaged couples” or “corporate executives,” and really dig down into the type of client you want to work with and the events you want to produce. Get specific and create a mental profile of who this person is and what appeals to them most.
When you do this, you can start to reveal the valuable insights you need to tailor your voice to meet them on their level. You’ll know the challenges and pain points they face, as well as the elements that excite them and make them smile. When you adjust your mindset to focus on your client, your messaging becomes less about you and your product and more about them and their event, which makes them feel heard and appreciated. People buy solutions, not features, so you need to show them how you can make their lives easier.
- Tailor Your Language
If you’re wondering how to make yourself sound more like your client, take a step back. The truth is that you already have plenty of content at your disposal because you’ve already had clients! Sift through your inbox and notice the language your clients have used when communicating with you. Copy and paste the most compelling pieces and the phrases or questions that come up the most and weave that into your online messaging.
When you can use the words that come directly from your clients, you don’t have to worry about pulling them out of your own head and those prospects that land on your site or social media profile will connect with your message.
- Listen to Your Clients
Beyond your inbox, take note of the comments and questions that come up in consultations and phone calls with clients. Be an active listener and focus on what they have to say more than what you want to say. Keep an ear out for the pain points and challenges that you can help to solve.
When you listen closely, you’ll impress your clients by providing solutions to their pain points before they even bring it up. Suddenly, it will click that you just get them and, in their minds, they will set you apart from competitors when it’s time to book.
- Write to Your Friends
A great way to keep your messaging personable is to pretend you’re writing to a friend. It doesn’t need to measure up to an English teacher’s expectations; instead, it feels like a comfortable and casual conversation. It might have some emojis or you may include more contractions than you would in an essay, but that’s what makes it real and relatable.
When people are browsing social media, they don’t expect to read stiff copy that could come straight out of a sales piece. They want genuine human interaction, which you can provide through warm, friendly copy that makes them feel seen.
- Embrace Second-Person Language
Personalized copy will always resonate with leads more than words that seem like generic boilerplate. Use the words “you” and “you’re” to speak to your ideal client, rather than about them. Readers will feel like you’re having a conversation with them, instead of your whole email list or social media following.
When writing emails and communicating directly with prospects, be sure to address them by name in the first line of the email and even in the subject line. Planning an event is an intimate experience, so you need to build the trust factor from the very beginning.
- Read It Back
It’s hard to write the way we speak and it’s easy to get too verbose when creating copy in your head. When you finish writing a piece of copy, whether a social media caption or a section on your website, take the time to read it out loud to yourself.
It might feel strange at first, but you’ll recognize how it will sound when others are reading it online. In addition to grammar and spelling edits, you’ll also pick up any hitches in the flow and will get a feel for how “human” it feels.
That’s it. There is no grand reveal or a big secret to booking more clients—it’s simply about understanding and communicating with your ideal clients in a way that will show them that you’re different from everyone else. Show them you understand them because you share a lot in common and you’ll be top-of-mind when it comes time to make a purchasing decision.
