Shine Bright in a Crowded Market: Expert Insights with Heidi Thompson

In this episode, Jac & Ben are joined by Heidi Thompson, wedding business coach and Host of Evolve Your Wedding Business Podcast. Together, they dive into the topic of standing out in a crowded market in the wedding industry. Heidi shares her journey of how she got started in the wedding industry, noticing a shift towards more personalized and unique weddings. She saw an opportunity to start a wedding fair in the UK to cater to couples looking for something different.

The conversation delves into the common challenges wedding professionals face in standing out in a crowded market. Heidi emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychology of your ideal client and crafting a marketing plan that resonates with them.

They discuss the significance of honing down on a niche and showcasing it through social media content. Heidi stresses the importance of understanding the values and desires of your ideal clients to attract them effectively. Heidi also shares a success story of an officiant who successfully differentiated herself in a competitive market and saw significant growth in her business, ultimately leading to financial stability and the freedom to retire and travel. 

GUEST INFORMATION:

Website: www.evolveyourweddingbusiness.com

Instagram: @evolveyourweddingbusiness

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/heidithompsonuk

Transcript

0:02

Welcome aboard the Wedding Empires podcast with yours truly, Jack Bowie, where we plunge into the depths of creativity, entrepreneurship, and the love-infused world of weddings. Each episode, we're going to unpack strategies, insights, and stories that empower you to craft the wedding business of your dreams. Welcome to the Wedding Empires podcast. Welcome back to Wedding Empires. I'm your host, Jack Bowie, and with me again today is Ben Connolly. So I know you've had me back. Hopefully everyone thought I'm thrilled to say that we have Heidi Thompson here. We've got heaps of things that we want to talk to you about. You don't just have your podcast, you've got memberships and business coaching and a whole range of things going on. But today we're here to talk about shining bright in a crowded market. So you're going to give us some expert insights on how wedding business owners can stand out in their market. So I'd like to know, first up, Heidi, how did you get started in all of this? How did you end up being an expert in helping wedding Oh, it's such a long and winding journey. I'll try to condense it. Basically, I kind of fell into working in nonprofit events and then working in weddings, realized I absolutely loved it. was around that time I was moving to the UK where my husband is from. And I kept a really close eye on the industry because I noticed it was different and I noticed there were some big shifts happening. This was like 2011-ish where really the whole offbeat bride, alternative bride thing was starting to massively take over. And I noticed while, you know, working in all sorts of different marketing roles while I was there, I, and I had worked as a planner that what the wedding media was putting out in the UK at the time was still this like white fluffy Cinderella thing that very much was not reflective of where consumers were. So I saw an opportunity to start a wedding fair in the UK to bring together these couples that wanted something different and these just insanely talented vendors that provided just the most creative stuff in the world. And I spent so much of my time coaching them and helping them on making the most of these events and, okay, what are you doing for followers? up and all of the marketing and sales that I had taken for granted in my, you know, nine to five side of things that I really do just enjoy. And I realized I could kind of merge these two worlds and help wedding professionals make the kind of money that they really should be I love that. And then you kickstarted your podcast. Can you tell me about that? I mean, it's a little bit different to us. Yeah, so the podcast is the way I look at it is kind of like everything wedding business related, whether that is about you as the CEO and how you get in your own way, because that's what we do. That's how Psycho psychology work, to marketing, to advertising, to pricing, really everything in between. I really like to focus in on the marketing and business side of the business because I'm not here to tell you how to be amazing at your craft. I have planned weddings. I wouldn't say I'm excellent at it. There are people that are excellent at it. I'm here to help you grow your business in a way that gets you paid the way you want to be paid. But and a very big but for me is it has to give you the freedom and the flexibility that you want. Because I see way too many people in this industry getting sucked into these like constant 80 hour work weeks and that just becomes the norm and that becomes acceptable and Yeah. You said that you noticed a difference in the white fluffy and that wasn't what was happening. Can you elaborate what you noticed? Like what that difference was? Because styles are constantly evolving. Things are always changing in industry and that'd be interesting to see, to know what you saw, what Yeah, at that time. So when I started the Alternative Wedding Fair, it was in 2011, going into 2012. And at that time, the bulk of people getting married were millennials. So kind of to set the stage and you were seeing a big shift from like the corporate manufactured, this is the template you're supposed to use kind of vibe into like, I want a Star Wars wedding. And I just want to have a Star Wars wedding because I love Star Wars. My partner loves Star Wars. That's what we're going to do. It was much more about heavy personalization at that time. And I think we're seeing that shift go further with So standing out in a crowded market can be tough. So what are some of the common challenges that you see wedding professionals face I think whether people realize it or not, it's probably their biggest problem. They may not see it as their problem. Like people come to me all the time and they're like, you know, I'm getting people, they ask about price and then they leave or I'm not getting any leads. And really, when we go back to the root of this, it's that you're not standing out in any meaningful way. So the only thing people have to compare on is price, because you're not making it clear that you're providing anything else. And when you think about the way we shop for anything, in our lives, we're looking at, okay, how is this different to this? How is this different to this? And a lot of times we will make a decision not based on what is the cheapest, but what is the best fit for us. And we're often willing to pay more for that. Like I have things like that in my life. I'm sure you guys have things like that. And it's like, I could get it cheaper, but it's not exactly the thing that I want. So what I tell people, instead of thinking about like ideal client, which we talk about all the time, is to think about who do you want to make yourself the go-to person for? Who do you want to make yourself the person that like, you know, they land on your website and they're just like, Oh my God, this is exactly what I've been looking for. Because I can tell you like from being in this industry for years and from, you know, reviewing, you know, my clients' websites, usually they're coming from a position of I'm not getting any leads or I'm getting a lot of price shopping. And I tell them like, I could copy and paste everything on your website onto your competitor's website and nobody would notice. And that's the problem. Because if you're buying... A great example of this recently in the market are those stupid Stanley cups. If you want a cup, you can get a cup for a dollar or less. But people are spending $50 or more on these things. because that's exactly the thing they want. It stands out for whatever ridiculous reason. I don't understand the psychology behind it, but for whatever reason, that's the thing they want. And they have differentiated themselves so they're able to charge more and they're able to just drive up this like massive fanfare around it. And I think we see this in our lives, but we don't apply it to our businesses. And really the harsh question you have to ask yourself is like, why should someone hire you instead of someone else? And not like, oh, well, when they get to know me, you know, I work like this. They're not going to get to that point unless you can hook them and get them interested in the way I talk about like the five second test on your website. If I can't tell in five seconds that you are or are not exactly the thing I'm looking for, I'm probably going to leave. So I see this being one of the biggest problems that wedding professionals are facing right now. Like I said, whether they realize it or not, because the symptoms are things like not getting enough leads, getting leads, but not getting bookings, getting price shopping. And while I completely understand that that's super frustrating, we have to look at why. you know, why does that happen? It happens because on the consumer side, they don't understand the difference between you and another planner and another planner and another planner, because all of your websites look the same, they all sound the same, they all have the same photos, they're all using the same language, all talking about like, you know, the experience they're gonna provide you with. And unless you provide something different, the only thing that actually is different is price. Price. Right. So it's not like people go into it necessarily being like, I want to get the cheapest one. You know, most people go into it saying, I want the best fit. But, you know, all things being equal, if price is the only variable that you're giving people, Yeah. So what about before they even get to the website? What should people be doing from a social media perspective? I think what I'm hearing from you is that they've really got to hone down on that niche and who they are and put that out as their social content. Clearly be putting out the work that represents the niche that you are and the kind of work that you want to attract. Is that what you're going Yes. And I would say this is where a lot of people start is like, what do I post on social media? But this is like phase four of like a five phase process I teach. And the reason why so much of it falls flat is because we don't have an understanding of who we're trying to be the go to person for. And marketing is psychology. So if you don't have an understanding of the psychology of the person you're trying to attract, it's impossible to attract them with any sort of reliability. Sure, you're going to get like something that pops off every now and then maybe and works well for you. But I don't know. I don't like that. I want reliability. I like stability in my life. And for me, it really comes back to, okay, when I'm working with people to help them create a marketing plan, which we do in my membership, the basis is this, who are we talking to? Who are they? And not just who are they? Oh, the bride's between 25 and 35. And they have this much money. Like, cool. What Yeah. Where I really take people is, We make our purchasing decisions based on our values. Like the things we were just saying, like that we can all think of, we pay more for them because we want something, right? That perfect fit for us is a perfect fit for many, many different reasons for many, many different people. So we have to come down into what is it that these people want? And what I see time and time again is we're always wrong about this, at least in some way. So I have my clients go and actually talk to their best clients, their clients they wish they could clone and work with over and over again and find out, you know, what was really important to them. Why did they make these different decisions? I do this in my own business because I'm always wrong when I think I know what's going on in someone else's head. Like you just can't. And the great thing is, is like you have access to this wealth of knowledge of people who will tell you how to attract people just like them. You just have to ask and it's deceptively simple. But once you understand that, and you understand that, to use an example of one of my clients, she's an officiant. She works with couples who are bilingual, usually first generation, some Hispanic heritage. She's Cuban herself. Parents, grandparents, pretty Catholic. They themselves, more culturally Catholic. Okay, so we have this understanding of who they are. I'm sure you can come up with a million things to post on social media to show This is this you if this is you then I'm your perfect person and it just pulls them in but you can't do that if you don't have the understanding of who they are and what they want and like what her people specifically want are they want make mom and dad and grandma and grandpa happy, but they also don't want like a full on Catholic mass. They want to be able to blend this in some sort of way that keeps everybody happy, but still gives them the wedding that they want to have. And when you say that to them, that's what you do. They're like, can you please take my money? Like, yes. Nobody has told me that that's the problem that they can solve and that's what's going on in my life. So when you think about it that way, that's the way I try to transition people into thinking from like cardboard cutout of a person that we like make up stuff about to like, okay, what is the thing that they actually want from me? What is the problem they want solved? And then from there, Okay, there are a million different ways I can show you that I'm that person on social media. I can show you specific ways of adapting rituals that don't make your ceremony overly Catholic, but borrow from different pieces of it. And that's going to Yeah. I love it. That's a really good point. When I have couples in here after we've done an album session, and they've been some of my favorite clients, I'll ask them that question like, I love working with you guys and what feedback have you got and all of that sort of stuff to get information from them about how I can find more of those people. So that's a really good point. It's something I think that we all should ask as wedding I was just gonna say, I think we think we know, but okay, if you think you know, then you should be even more confident testing your hypothesis. Like, go out, prove yourself right, you're probably gonna prove yourself wrong, but you're gonna get the information you need, the exact language that you need. Because every time I have a client that does this, they're like, I do care about X, but what I really care about is Y. And then if you can switch your marketing to highlight whatever that thing is that they really care about, that can bring people to Yeah. And although comparison with other suppliers is a business killer, asking those people on your couch, Hey, why did you book me? And why did I appeal to you? And that sort of stuff really gives you some really clear insights as to how you can differentiate yourself from Yeah. Like why not someone else? Why did you decide to work with me? And what was so important as part of your photos? There's a photographer I worked with that when she did this, she realized all of her people were telling her, yes, I want beautiful photos. Yes, I want to be able to remember my wedding. That's a given. But their biggest concern was, I feel awkward as hell in front of the camera. How are you going to make me feel comfortable? And as soon as she started to work that into her marketing, people felt like they had found their person exactly who they wanted to work with because they knew that this thing they have in the back of their head of like, oh, my wedding photos are going to look terrible because I'm always so awkward, just like melted away for them. Yeah. Oh, okay. Now I know on social media, I need to show examples of people saying, I felt really awkward. And then here's what we did. And this is why I didn't feel awkward or like showing before and afters or behind the scenes, or this is how I get ready to put a Now, you've written a whole book around cloning your best clients. Can you highlight any other kind of secrets on being able to do that aside from asking previous clients? What are some other ways that people could? If you're in the business of making dreams come true, listen up because the Wedding Academy is your ticket to success. Running a wedding business isn't always a walk down the aisle. It takes skill, savvy, and a whole lot of know-how. That's where the Wedding Academy swoops in to save the day. Imagine easy-to-follow certificate courses taught by industry pros covering everything from wedding styling to floral design to even marketing and business for any kind of wedding business. All Wedding Academy courses are 100% online, self-paced, and come with ongoing training and support to keep you up to date. And here's the cherry on top. I've wrangled up an exclusive deal. Just punch in the code PODCAST when you enroll and bam, you'll score a sweet 5% off any course. Ready to take your wedding business to the next level? Then head on over to the Wedding Academy today at WeddingAcademyGlobal.com. Don't forget to plug in that code PODCAST to check out with your special discount. Yeah. So especially one for people when they're first starting and they don't have anyone to ask these questions to is, you know, a lot of times we look at in the whole ideal client exercise, like what brands does this person love? And then that's like end of exercise. But If you don't have anything else to go on or if you just want to get some ideas, if you look at the way these brands communicate and you look at the way these brands market themselves and the language they use and the way they do things, you can get a lot of ideas about what you should be doing with your marketing. Like if you are marketing to couples who like want to get married on a mountain and they're super adventurous and outdoorsy, like looking at outdoor companies is going to give you some ideas of how you can show this, how you can talk about it, the way they talk about like, are they talking about like fun? Are they talking about adventure? What is like REI posting on social media about their outdoor clothing, which I don't know if you guys have that massive outdoor clothing brand in the US. So you can start to kind of pull things from different places and kind of echo the things that they're seeing in other areas, which is a really beneficial thing of looking at them as a whole person and not just they're a bride. They're a groom. They're, you know, whoever, whatever role that they're filling for that one given day, like, no, they're a And I think that even you can drill down and get into replicating that style of copywriting, right, as well. Absolutely. You know, if you're using something like a chat GPT or whatever, You could say, you know, use this, like look at this tone on this website and this, and this, you know, style of writing, because that's really going to resonate. So in addition to your book, you mentioned earlier that you have your membership program, the Wedding Business Collective. Can you tell us a bit more about that and what Yeah, so the Wedding Business Collective is really the roadmap that takes people through all of the steps that they need to be able to build a business that gives them the income that they want to have and also gives them the time that they want to have, all while being able to book the clients that they want to book. Because if we have to work with terrible people, you know, nobody's going to have a good time, right? So a big focus on that and the reason why most people join it is because they need help with marketing. They don't know how to get more leads. They don't know how to convert those leads. They don't know what they should be doing on a daily basis to bring these people to them. So that's really the first stage that we work through is like getting them into a concrete marketing plan. Like this is what I'm doing. This is what I'm focusing on. But then we also cover like, how do you do this in a sustainable sort of way? Like, I don't care if you have a million dollar wedding business. If you never see your family and you're working a hundred hour weeks, like that sounds awful to me. I'd rather have a hundred thousand dollar business, you know? That's that it's just not what most people want. And I think especially this industry can eat your life whole if you let it. So we really kind of balance that. We get your marketing plan done. We make sure you have a 90 day plan so you know where you're going, you know what you're doing, you're knowing how to focus on these different areas of growth in your business. But also, how are you managing your work? How are you managing your time? in ways that it is a sustainable thing for you. Because the last thing I want is for someone to burn out, which is why when members create their marketing plans, they have to choose no more than three actual marketing channels, whether that's TikTok or YouTube or whatever various social media or referrals or wedding shows or SEO. Most of us are running one person or small team businesses, so you can't do 10 things. Not at the same time, at least. Overtime, sure. But if we can make the decision to focus on these specific areas that make the most sense for you, that make the most sense for your ideal client. We're doing more of what works, less of what doesn't. And over time, I just see members like shave more and more and more time off So can I ask you then, I'm going to go selfish now. It's all about Ben now. So as a wedding photographer, wedding photography from over the years has become one of the things that is the most flooded almost in the wedding industry. And standing out as a wedding photographer is incredibly difficult. Like the work has to be amazing, but there's going to be so much more in the back end that has to go along with that as well. So with your wedding business collective, if I, the photographer, was to come to you. What does it look like for me? Like, what are the things that we will go through? What will we do? How will we drill down into the photography kind of niche? Because I loved on your website where you said there's a lot of people that tell you what to do, but there's very few that actually show you how to do it. And I found that in the whole training industry worldwide that that is such a huge thing, that But everyone says what to do, but that's great. But how do you actually do it? And that's the killer. People don't know how to do it. How would we drill down and how would we make my business better? And how would we stop the ghosting and all of the other stuff for Yeah, so the way I have it structured is, and a lot of people don't believe me until they go through it, it is vendor agnostic. It doesn't matter if you're a photographer or a live wedding painter or an officiant or a DJ, like they've all gone through it and seen the same success because it's very strategy focused. So we have to do the same thing in a photography business as we have to do in a DJ business. And that is, okay, Who are we looking at working with here? And then going through the process of getting their words and then turning that into a marketing plan where you wanna make as many decisions as you can in CEO mode. Because once you get into worker mode, and you're trying to make CEO decisions, like things just get messy, that's where things get overwhelming. So when I take people through this marketing plan process, we're making as many decisions as possible. So I've decided on my people, here's what they're saying, here's what I know based on the best places I've gotten people in the past. These are like the three areas I'm going to focus in at least for the next 90 days. And then we break it down further. So what are you going to do? Let's say referrals are really important to you. What are you going to do in the next 30, 60 and 90 days in order to bring in more referrals? and breaking that down into an actual plan of action that you know next week what you need to do in order to bring in more referrals. Because I don't want it to stay in like the high-minded strategy, like let's think about stuff Like whose day you're doing this thing. And we do have 90 day planning sessions for this reason every quarter to go back and look at like, okay, what did I say I was going to do in my marketing plan? I did say I wanted to improve my SEO. Okay. Over the next 90 days, what specific tasks am I doing in order to do that? and then regularly checking in with yourself, obviously, to make sure that you're actually doing that. But a lot of it is the structure and the organization of how do you make those choices in CEO mode. And then once you're, you know, enacting your 90-day plan, you are doing the things you said you're going to do, then that's where I have people coming back and saying like, okay, this thing is happening, this thing is happening and I can, you know, help them and coach them through and help them with responses. And we have tons of resources to help with those sorts of things. But I feel like most people don't have that baseline. This is what I'm doing every month or at least for this month in order to bring in leads other than like hoping. Yeah. So drilling down and identifying that target market. It's the foundation of everything, because if you are trying to attract someone that is fundamentally different from someone else, what you do in your marketing is going to be different. The networking groups you're going to take part in are going to be different. I think we get really stuck on looking at these people as demographics and like, oh, these are luxury people and these are budget people. And we really have to recognize that, like I said, marketing is psychology and you have to understand the person as the person. Like, you know, the three of us and your ideal client are going out for drinks. What do you tell us about them? You know, you don't tell us their age and where they shop. You're going to tell us something about who they are. And that is really, it's the thing that makes your marketing work, but it's also the thing that Yeah, yeah. And getting it done is such a huge thing. And I saw that on your site, you've got, you have get it done days. Love that because that's such a huge roadblock to people because there's, I know that for me, I have galloping ADHD and there's just so much going on in my head all at once. And to try and drill down and get one thing done can be a challenge. And I know that for a lot of people in the wedding industry, there's a lot of us that struggle with ADHD because it's just, it's kind of an industry we kind of gravitate to. Yeah. And so, so getting, getting it done, does that, that takes you into the how as well, I would imagine, because is that, is that a, how does that look for you? Is that a call online? Is that a, is that a one-on-one like that? Get it done day? Is that you going, well, okay, this is what we've got. These are the steps in how, and I'm going to help you get through that today. Is, is that what it looks like for you? Cause I think getting it done is so important Yeah, so it is, it's highly personal. So we do it as a group, partially for peer pressure, partially for ease. Because if you can see other people doing stuff, you're like, oh, I should really be doing this, right? And sometimes we need that. Sometimes we need a little bit of like healthy peer pressure. But we start off the day with a super short call, just like, what are you going to get done today? And we end the day with what did you get done today? What got in your way? What are you carrying forward to tomorrow? And then we have a Slack channel we use throughout the day as like an ongoing chat so people can share like, hey, I'm getting stuck here. I need feedback on this thing. So it's just like an open channel for us to communicate with So Heidi, can you share a success story from someone that you've either worked with in your membership or as a Oh, yeah. Let's see. There are too many. There's so many I could choose from. So I feel one that comes to mind because I just saw something from her yesterday. An officiant that I worked with when she first came to me She was in this situation of struggling based on price. There were a lot of people in her area that were, you know, like just some guy that'll do your ceremony for like 300 bucks or something. So she knew that wasn't viable for her. So she needed to separate herself. She needed to stand out from that. What she did when she went through her process of talking to her ideal clients is recognize the kind of people that came to her, came to her because they wanted a highly, highly personalized ceremony that incorporated like their whole story and like made little jokes throughout about like, you know, dates they went on or something like that. Just super personal. and she's also a very strong LGBTQ ally and in her area that was not It's the most popular thing in the world, unfortunately. So that definitely helped her stand out. So from that point, she raised her prices. It was either four or five times in the span of two to three years. And people were still booking her out, booking her out, booking her out. It didn't matter. Like she never saw a ceiling where she started to feel like, oh, okay, I guess I need to back it down a little bit. specifically because it was her, it was like an apples to oranges kind of thing. It was her that was the perfect fit, or it was that guy that could do it for 300 bucks. But like, who knows how that's going to And it's not, you know, always someone that Right, but it's like, that's not what I want. I want this and this costs more and that's fine. So she found herself booked out and she was able to build in premarital counseling and people were coming back to her and being like, can we upgrade our ceremony to this bigger plan? Can we upgrade and add, you know, premarital counseling as well? And then she got to a point where She was comfortable enough financially to retire and explore the United States in an RV with her husband. And the post I just saw the other day is now she's moving to Vietnam just because she can. That's awesome. I love that. I love that. Okay. So I know that you mentioned to me offline that there's something coming up to help wedding pros, to help them to stand Yeah. So it is a challenge. I ran once before. I was like, on a whim, let's do this. It blew up. So I was like, okay, clearly this is something people need help with. Standing out is a struggle for a lot of people. So I've put together a five-day challenge. It's happening in May. And while you can't sign up just yet, you can get on the wait list so that you do get the invitation when registration is open. But the way it works is each day we go through a super specific actionable training, something you can do that day, and you can bring it into the pop-up group. You can ask questions, you can get feedback, so you can actually get this done That's kind of a theme in my life. You can actually get the thing done instead of just being like, hmm, yes, interesting. So by the end of it, you will have clearly positioned yourself as the go-to person for your specific ideal client. It will be unmistakable on your social media, on your website. It will be an instantaneous, yes, this is for me, or no, this is not for me. The exact thing All right. Well, thanks so much, Heidi. It's been an absolute pleasure meeting you and getting to know what you do. I think Ben's going to be messaging you on the slide about joining this challenge If people want to join in this challenge, they can absolutely do it. It's totally free. It's pretty time zone agnostic, so you can watch it on the go and you can get on the wait list at evolveyourweddingbusiness.com may challenge because it is happening next month, about There we go. Get onto it, people. Now, if you haven't caught Heidi's podcast, you absolutely must go find it. It's called Evolve Your Wedding Business. Wherever you get podcasts, you can find it. And she's also got a Facebook group of Evolve Your Wedding Business Community. I found that on your website as well. Thanks so much, Heidi. It's been a joy having you and I hope to get you back soon. I might have to do an appearance on your podcast at some stage. Yes, This episode of Wedding Empires is brought to you by The Wedding Academy, where you can start and grow your wedding business. We offer certificate courses, group coaching programs, and a whole heap of templates and worksheets and things to help you get started and grow your wedding business. For more information, visit WeddingAcademyGlobal.com. And don't forget to use your 5% discount code PODCAST