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Episode 25: Elle Ellinghaus - Building a High End Brand
171 Plays6 years ago
Today’s guest is Elle Ellinghaus of Elle Ellinghaus Designs, a high-end event planning business based in Baltimore, Maryland. Elle has created one of the most sought after event planning companies for weddings and boast an impressive client roster from NFL players, to Fortune 500 executives. She was even asked to be a featured author for a textbook that colleges use for event planning degrees.
So I wanted to know what went into creating such a high-end brand and how did she attract those types of clients? That’s what we discussed in today’s interview.
For more resources, check out the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-elle-ellinghaus-episode-25.
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Transcript
Elle's Unique Approach to Wedding Planning
00:00:05
Speaker
I never wanted to be that company that did weddings. I never wanted to be the clipboard, you know, that someone hired just to plan their wedding. I wanted people to hire me, Elle, you know, a personality that is a foundation of my brand. Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
00:00:33
Speaker
Today's guest is L. Ellinghouse of L. Ellinghouse Designs, a high-end event planning business based in Baltimore, Maryland.
High-Profile Clients and Contributions
00:00:40
Speaker
L has created one of the most sought-after event planning companies for weddings and boasts an impressive client roster from NFL players to Fortune 500 executives. She was even asked to be a featured author for a textbook that colleges use for event planning degrees.
00:00:56
Speaker
So I wanted to know what went into creating such a high-end brand and how did she attract those types of clients. That's what we discuss in today's interview. Be sure to check out the show notes at DavianChrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode.
Engagement and Personal Connections
00:01:10
Speaker
And I'd like to hear from you about what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brands That Book podcast as we move forward. I'd also like to know what episodes you've enjoyed most so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davian Christa Facebook page and send us a message.
00:01:25
Speaker
Now, onto the episode. Elle, welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here. This has been an interview that has been months in the making and just trying to get our schedules lined up. Excited that this is finally coming together. And, you know, I have to start the interview by thanking you.
00:01:50
Speaker
and this is yep so this is kind of random but when Krista first got pregnant you know she was reaching out for advice or something like that and one of the things I guess you told her you emphasize the importance of sleep training from the beginning and yeah we're seeing the benefits of that now you know I feel like
00:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like anybody, you know, as you go through it, you're definitely in the weeds, you know, early on, and wondering if you know what you're trying to do, like the schedule you're trying to put your baby on is working. But now four months in, you know, he's sleeping through the night, he's been a great napper for quite some time now. And so I appreciate that.
00:02:25
Speaker
That's awesome. Congratulations. Four months through the night. That's amazing. Yeah, you know, I'm sure like I wouldn't have been able to survive without Krista. She's just very disciplined and you know, very, you know, she develops kind of an approach and then sticks with it. I'm more of the one that's just like, you know, taking the shortcuts, you know, like if he's crying or something, I'm just like, okay, whatever I have to do to get him to sleep, I'm going to do it. Whether it's rocking or whatever, you know, so that's more Krista than me.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah. I was at my wit's end and I finally found this schedule and I started going hardcore with my husband who was sleep deprived too. He was like, okay, that's what you say we have to do. And then boom. And I said, now it's anybody that's pregnant or expecting a baby. I'm like, you have to do this. It's important. So congratulations. That's wonderful. Yeah, thanks. Well, definitely owe you one.
Creating a Luxury Brand in Event Planning
00:03:13
Speaker
But for anybody who's listening that doesn't know you, could you just briefly introduce yourself and tell us about what you do?
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah. I'm Elle, Ellinghaus, owner of Ellinghaus Designs. We are a wedding, EED for short, because it's a mouthful, but we're a wedding planning and design studio focusing on high style events. Started technically in 2010, kind of 2008, but technically 2010. We're based in Maryland. We often travel to DC, New Orleans, Virginia, Carolinas, and a large part of the past five years actually has been destination weddings around the world, which is amazing.
00:03:46
Speaker
Let's see what else. We have a team of about eight of us at EED. I personally only work with about three or four larger production luxury-esque weddings per year, but I also have four other planners on my team who work with everything from luxury to smaller weddings. So as a whole, we work with all of budgets, but I would say we're probably more on the higher end type of market. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
I think that's definitely the reputation you have in this area. I know that for us personally, and we're going to spend a lot of today's episode actually talking about that specifically, how you built your high-end brand and how others can go about building a high-end, more luxury brand. Because all of the weddings that we've worked
00:04:30
Speaker
All the weddings that we shot where you or your team was the planners have been, I mean, they're always beautiful. They're always super well done. And some of the clients that we've worked with have been some of the most interesting clients that we've gotten to work with. And so I definitely want to talk a little bit about how you built such a high profile client roster and how you've made that happen and just how you've made a name for yourself in. I mean, I talked in another episode about sort of the myth of the saturated market, but the DC, Baltimore,
00:04:59
Speaker
kind of this area. I mean, it's full of wedding companies out there. So definitely interested in hearing more about how you created this high-end brand with some of these higher profile clients.
Career Shift and Passion for Weddings
00:05:08
Speaker
But first, don't want to skip into that. I don't want to skip your story. Just how you got started. Why did you start planning weddings? Well, I was always a designer. You can ask my mom. I had dolls and toys, but I loved redecorating my room. I was probably more excited to decorate my first college dorm room than actually go to college.
00:05:27
Speaker
So when I first graduated, I had a job that paid the bills in wine sales, not a bad gig, mind you. But my ultimate goal was to be an HGTV design show star. I mean, that's what I was going to do. I had it firm in my head. I feel like you could still do that. Is that still a dream? No, no. I'll never say never. Sure. I feel like that could still be on the table for you.
00:05:53
Speaker
Thanks. We'll see. But I think that what really kind of took me into weddings and this is a story I feel like my planners at my company are going to roll their eyes if they listen. They've heard it so many times but my husband really changed my life path completely. I was never the love girl. I was never going to get married.
Self-Taught Journey into Wedding Planning
00:06:10
Speaker
Babies were not in my future.
00:06:12
Speaker
I was always an ambitious kind of career oriented person and weddings were so dramatic to me, if you can believe it. And then one day I saw those green eyes of my husband for the first time and my life completely changed. It was literally like a love at first sight, first both. Long story short about a year and so later we were engaged, but I fell head over heels in love with love and weddings.
00:06:36
Speaker
And I owe everything to literally my husband for the reason I switched from room design to weddings to the drive every day to start my company and get where I am. Also for the last name, which works really good with Elle. Sure. But there were no classes or programs when we were talking about this. There was only two or three maybe. And it was like, OK, well, the first dance comes before the father-daughter dance. OK, thanks, Guy. I know that.
00:07:04
Speaker
There was no backbone of starting a wedding planning business how-to or hands-on experience lessons in a book. I literally trained
Strategic Business Launch and Brand Perception
00:07:12
Speaker
myself. I asked fellow planners to follow them for free, everybody from planners to engaged couples.
00:07:19
Speaker
Recently married, you know, what would have made your lives easier that day? And then I asked to plan weddings for free under no company name just to get that deep dirty hands-on experience and it was the meaning of hustle in the dictionary I mean, there's that quote that they call you a dreamer, but you never sleep. That was me So but when you first got started like was it just the going through and planning your own wedding and Experiencing that process with your husband that where you decided this is what I want to do. I want to plan weddings for other people as well. I
00:07:48
Speaker
You know, when I plan my own wedding, I was kind of already, I was already a planner. Okay. So, I mean, that kind of helps me in things like that. But when I started my company, it was so strategically done that, you know, I didn't want to learn as I go. I wanted to start already knowing everything I could possibly learn from the get go. And I think that set me apart right away and helped me land into the.
00:08:10
Speaker
taken seriously category right off the bat. For any industry, the last thing you want to do is mess up by not being prepared, of course, but missing something or messing up on the best day of a couple's lives is kind of a really big deal. I wanted to knock the socks off basically for moment one and not have to ask for help. I think that's one of the reasons I was kind of respected right off
00:08:32
Speaker
as a wedding planner and I was this is gonna sound crazy but I was never looked at as who's that new wedding planner it was oh that's out and I did that very much on purpose and I did that very again strategically because I know first impressions are everything and you know you can't take them back so I kept that in mind from the get-go.
00:08:49
Speaker
So basically, when you were first learning the business, you were kind of running things under no business name, you were shadowing people, you were interviewing people. And that's would you say that's kind of like where you made your mistakes, so to speak, or that's where you and then when you were ready, at what point did you decide, okay, it's L. L. in house designs, this is the business, I'm ready to kind of hang the sign, so to speak, and move forward with my business. Well, I guess
00:09:17
Speaker
there was never like the aha moment, you know, everybody tells you, okay, there's no time to like today, start your company, you'll learn as you go. And that's just not, that was not okay with me. So I got, it was about two to three years, probably maybe a little bit less of just that experience that I was getting until I felt like everything that I learned in those two years outweighed any of the books that I read or any of those silly little courses that I was talking about that I took. And I felt like I had a very, very good,
00:09:46
Speaker
you know, just a really good idea on grasping, you know, the industry. And I think it was just, again, it wasn't aha moment, it was just, okay, let's do this. You know, woke up one morning and says, we're ready, kind of thing. So in getting your first clients, what did that look like? I mean, when you were ready to work under ED, you know, were you still doing some work for free? Or at that point, where you're saying, hey, you know, here are my prices, I've learned it, you know, and I'm ready to charge a high end amount. So
00:10:15
Speaker
That's an excellent question because I know some people actually still do that. When I started, I started my branding, my personal look, you know, I had one assistant back in the day that would help me here and there, the dress, the etiquette of her matched mine completely. You know, the branding kind of wasn't a logo for me. It was an entire ambiance of our company. So all of that was done pricing set, everything ready to go. And then like, you know, click.
00:10:42
Speaker
we are kind of thing. It wasn't still doing things for free. It was, let's do this. Yep. Yeah. How important do you think that was? Because that's such an interesting concept because I think too, when you start out doing a bunch of work for free and then just gradually raise your prices over time, it ends up being a little bit harder to raise your prices because the people you're working with who are referring you are often talking you up to people who have a similar budget that they did. You work with a couple, they're great.
00:11:07
Speaker
But they paid, let's just say, $3,000 for your services. But now since you've raised your prices to $5,000, let's say. So they're telling all their friends who are probably in the same, probably have a similar budget to them. So how important do you think it was that you just came out and said, hey, no, here are my prices. And this is what I'm worth from the
Marketing and Personal Branding Strategies
00:11:28
Speaker
get-go. Well, I think depending on the type of industry you're in, it really is going to be different. Sure. With me,
00:11:37
Speaker
I had the experience to back up my prices. I had the photos of the beautiful weddings and the luxury kind of feel. Again, I was planning weddings for free. Some were really beautiful, high-end weddings. Some were just your backyard barbecue kind of thing. But I made sure that I had that to back it up, which I think is key. And of course, my prices are higher than they were a decade ago, of course.
00:12:03
Speaker
out, and people know you as the quote unquote budget planner, they're kind of already always going to be known as, you know, the lower end, oh, she just takes anything she can get kind of thing. And that's great, because there are some planners out there that that's what they want to do. They just want a living of, you know, being a wedding planner, they want to bring in costs or their fat and bring in sorry, bringing money for their family. And that's what they want to do. They don't care what packages they take with me. It was just completely different ballgame.
00:12:30
Speaker
I wanted to be taken seriously as a luxury market wedding planner right away. So I just think it depends on so many things of the industry and where you want to go with it. But yeah, I think that was crucial, crucial to my start by having everything set and then being ready.
00:12:47
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about kind of the approach that you've taken to marketing to create this high-end brand from the very beginning. What are the things that you're intentional about doing or were intentional about doing in creating that luxury brand? And is there anything that you specifically avoided? You knew off of that, like, I don't want to go there.
00:13:09
Speaker
I had a very specific marketing direction, I guess you could call it. It basically catapulted me, hands down. This is the basis probably of my company. This is not probably what you or everybody else is expecting to hear.
00:13:24
Speaker
But when I first did start my company, I had some attention from a few publications that wanted to feature my work. I don't mean like, you know, featured weddings will sell me pretty or anything like that. It was more of a write up about my company, which was awesome. And one in particular was a Maryland non-wedding magazine. And I said to them basically, look, I want to have some of my personal life in the article.
00:13:47
Speaker
you know, the woman behind the work. So they said, well, you know, we're not really looking for the event world behind the scenes aspect. We're looking for, you know, the events. And I said, okay, look, if you prefer that angle after our interview, that's fine. We can discuss it, but let's do it my way and see what the editor thinks. So the magazine came out and on the spread, rather than a large photo of a wedding they were planning to have, it was actually a large photo of my face.
00:14:15
Speaker
they said it would be somewhere on there but not you know large covering a page but anyway there was that full page the article and then on the back page there was a mini photo collage of my weddings and the point is they loved it the editor said it was their audience needed not just about the work but you know the strong woman behind the work and that moment was validation that
00:14:37
Speaker
What I wanted to do would actually be, you know, kind of work would be a little bit successful. So what on earth does it have to do with your question? I know, but I guess my point is when I started my business, I never wanted to be that company that did weddings. I never wanted to be the clipboard, you know, that someone hired just to plan their wedding. I wanted people to hire me. Oh, you know, a personality.
00:14:58
Speaker
that is a foundation of my brand. I could ramble on about this for hours, but in the first few years, my business, the love story with my husband, as corny as it sounds, in our little life, I feel that people could really resonate with that, and it made the foundation of my brand so much more real.
Intertwining Personal Life with Brand
00:15:16
Speaker
And then years went by. My husband and I bought a bunch of bakers, we bought a home, hashtag the Elling House.
00:15:22
Speaker
I had a beautiful little girl and I think that lifestyle connection honestly made my foundation of my brand so much stronger. I mean, I can't even begin to tell you how much stronger and it put me into numerous categories and places that people started knowing my name, finding me, referring me completely outside of the wedding world.
00:15:41
Speaker
this is going to sound whatever, but I had this southern fairy tale-esque lifestyle with this matching wedding brand and it sounds crazy, but it's that subtle luxury boom to my brand that worked because not only have they heard of my weddings, but they know me and now half the time they know me and then see my work. So it's kind of a cool little thing that we created, but it's like they know my house and they ask for design advice and the consult and they know I travel all the time. So they asked me how I liked here or there.
00:16:12
Speaker
My husband and I talk about my marriage being amazing openly on Instagram. I use hashtag marriage is easy all the time. Hardly believe it. And that's not like a fake persona or even a bragging type of thing. It's just more of a marriage can be wonderful, dive in, enjoy every minute. And I think engaged couples want that. They want that for their life and their marriage. And I think that's something I know that's something that has
00:16:35
Speaker
really attracted them to me. So obviously, life is far from a fairy tale. And I hear that very often too. But I think that makes them feel like a successful woman who has it all together. Everything is obviously well thought out from the style and color of my Instagram feeds and my websites to the weddings that I do. They can trust me because they feel like they know me already or on the same page. And they know that I'm going to put the same OCD that I have in my life into their events.
00:17:05
Speaker
That's kind of what really took me to the next level in terms of just building a foundation of my brand with my company and kind of life together as the same thing. Yeah, and I think there's so much to unpack there. One, I want to start with kind of just the value of PR. That's something that's actually come up a number of times in different episodes in people who really, you know, like they were intentional about going and seeking out PR opportunities, kind of like this one that you just talked about.
00:17:32
Speaker
Julian Smith who was just on she talked a bunch about that and how that helped catapult her with the the garter girl to a certain extent I feel like Caitlin James it wasn't through another publication but it was back when blogging was just getting started right and so she was blogging kind of about her life and that really resonated with people and you know I think we can all see what that's done for her you know over the course of the last 10 years so it's really interesting hearing you say that as well seeing that theme through a number of different interviews
00:18:00
Speaker
One question I have for you is one, or actually it's two, how did you decide like, so this company comes to you and they say, we want to do a write up on your company and you said, no, did you know right off the bat, no, I want this to kind of be about me and my company or me behind my company. What made you make that slight pivot in a pitch to them?
00:18:22
Speaker
So it's hard to put into words because it was never like, Oh, I want to be famous. It was never about that. It was more just, I'm such an ambitious person. I always loved public speaking, everything like that. And it was.
00:18:38
Speaker
I guess I was too big of a personality to just sit behind a desk and do timelines. I loved wedding design, but when there's two years, I was really trying to figure out where my business was going to go and my plans that I was making. I figured out that I wanted to be my brand. I want people to know me and I just really wanted that aspect because I thought I could really
00:19:03
Speaker
It was different at the time anyway. I feel like everybody's doing it now. But I think everybody's doing it now because of people like you who have done it so well and so successfully and shown people that how powerful a personal brand can be when done the right way. And I think my follow-up question to that was how do you decide what to share personally? Because I think on some level, and it's probably part of a larger conversation about what
00:19:26
Speaker
you know, authentic actually looks like, you know, on social media and over, you know, in publications and things like that. But there's got to be on some level some things that we don't share, right? There's plenty of things throughout my throughout my day that you won't ever see on IG stories, for instance, right?
00:19:42
Speaker
I absolutely totally agree. In a given day, or for this publication even specifically, how did you decide, or looking back at it, maybe at the time you just kind of intuitively knew, but looking back at that, how do you decide what to share and what builds your brand and what doesn't? What stays at home, so to speak? I think that I always take a step back and think about my client's perspective.
00:20:09
Speaker
I think everybody has to as a business owner. If I am a potential wedding client of Elle Ellinghouse and I look at her Instagram feed, I don't want to see that she is breaking down because she wants so many weddings and not enough time and blah, blah, blah. I see so many, so many planners that talk about how they're so stressed and they have no time and they're, oh my gosh, I need 20 coffees. I'm thinking, why would a client give you more business if you're already stressed out of your client?
00:20:38
Speaker
So, I mean, if you look, for example, if you look at like my Instagram feed and my everything, everything matches, it's all the same style. And there's like an air equality, like a romance of life, if you will, all with a little, you know, boss girl edge, of course. Sure. But, you know, even with the exception of my daughter's preschool teacher, who has seen me on shower and yoga pants every morning, I'm always put together in or outside the office, you know?
00:21:00
Speaker
wedding or not, I carry my style throughout my life. You know, my branding is a pink pineapple with pastels. My house is pastels. My closet is all pastels. I literally own nothing black. So I bring that all into my Instagram and I make sure that it kind of stays the same. So, you know, I can share that my daughter was sick for a week. I mean, that's one of the reasons we had to reschedule. But I can share that we were sick for a week after she's better saying, oh, you know, this is great. We're all better. The Ellinghouse house is going great and blah, blah, blah, knowing that
00:21:31
Speaker
I didn't share it when she was sick because I didn't want my clients to call me or not want to call me or something like that. I'm not going to put that there is a tragedy or something like that and I'm unable to work and I'm just so crying every day. Things like that I think you get on the borderline. It's a very, very, very tight rope that you walk when some people share it just way too much. So long story short, I think looking from your client's perspective and seeing, okay, is my caption going to give
00:22:01
Speaker
Anybody, any reason not to hire me or to even just think differently about me in general. I kind of make sure they all, they're all mashed and kind of, you know, together. And the thing is with my business and my personal Instagrams, they even go
Role of Instagram in Brand Exposure
00:22:15
Speaker
together. The captions are the same, you know, kind of lighthearted, funny, you know, whatever, nothing ever too serious or, or cause luxury can sometimes come across as snobby. And that is the complete opposite of what I want to be. So.
00:22:29
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, yeah, I mean, kind of like we were saying, everything you seem to post on Instagram or whatever across social media does build your brand and you have that airy sort of, not even just in the types of images that you're posting, but even, you know, throughout the caption, it is relaxing to a certain extent, you know, and it does kind of take the stress, right? Right, exactly.
00:22:52
Speaker
My whole lifestyle brand and company brand and everything, that's what I want. I want people to feel relaxed when they're with me. And that's the point of hiring a wedding planner in the first place.
00:23:02
Speaker
Yeah. So this is probably a good segue to start talking about clients in general. And I know we just talked about your marketing approach and, but how does that, like, how did you get from there, you know, this, these PR opportunities, or was it a result of these PR opportunities to working with some higher profile clients? And I'm not sure, you know, if you can mention the kind of people that you work with, but I know you've worked with Ravens players before. So how did you attract, you know, it was just a high end roster of clients.
00:23:29
Speaker
You know, it's, it's hard to put this into words because honestly, it happens so fast. I mean, I went to my husband one day and I was like, wait a second. Chanel and Tori Smith, you know, used to be a Baltimore Ravens. They picked me. Are you kidding? Like I'm this good, right? I'm not going to fail at this. Like you're sure. But, you know, it was the publications that helped. And I got to say, honestly, I think it goes back to the way I started and the way I kind of, I was not that new wedding planner. I was Elle.
00:24:00
Speaker
I feel like that brought my attention to people to start with. And it was just very, very huge starting perfectly rather than learning as you go to be perfect. And I'm going to be brutally honest, the first high end client that I received, I bent over backwards multiple times for them every day. And I made sure they were the happiest people that ever walked the planet.
00:24:26
Speaker
I mean, my first celebrity-esque wedding, I know it wasn't about budget, but they got a deal, you know, completely honest. Keep in mind, they also had a contract from another planner in their hands when they met with me. But the reason they met with me is because people told them, oh, you got to meet with Elle. You had to meet with Elle. It wasn't, oh, you got to meet with Elle and House Designs or this wedding planner that I know. It was, got to meet with Elle. So that's why they came. And I was still higher cost than the person they almost went with, but I showed them I was, you know, hoarse the extra few thousand dollars.
00:24:56
Speaker
I earned, by the way, that package times 100, no joke. That was the hardest I ever, ever worked. And to just kind of go with that, it's something that I tell my planners to do, and it's a key quote of mine whenever I do business coaching, is to master letting your clients know how hard you work without coming out and saying it. I feel like that is the key. They had no stress. I handled every single detail.
00:25:20
Speaker
But I was sure they know how hard I worked for them so they could tell others that I was the best. It's kind of an art form, but it's a necessity. I think definitely an art form too because on one hand, you don't want to come off as stressed like, oh, I just, or dramatic even like I just, you know, you won't believe what I had to do for you or what I did for you. And like you said, you don't want to come off as boastful or prideful either. Exactly. But from that first celebrity-ish wedding,
00:25:48
Speaker
The referrals, it just opened doors. And I, I can honestly say that one wedding took me to, you know, the owner of AOL or the founder of AOL instant messenger, your son, multiple reasons players, MLB players, a lot of NFL players, politicians and things like that. It really kind of got my name out there because one good referral can make or break you know, totally.
Maintaining Luxury Brand Perception
00:26:11
Speaker
That's kind of how, how it happened. And also, you know, not to bring in the whole girl boss thing again, but
00:26:19
Speaker
Being very strategic in what I did with publications, for example, just a couple of weeks ago, a news channel contacted me, asked me if I wanted to be on their morning show for a segment. And I said, of course. And they said, okay, we want to talk about how to be a good budget for your wedding, budgeting and how to do most bang for your buck and things like that. And I said, well, I'm not really a budget planner. I would rather talk about
00:26:44
Speaker
you know, how you can do great things and the design is, and they just went back and like, no, I want to talk about how to have a great wedding on a budget. And so I had, I just finally turned it down because that's not the way I wanted to be branded. I didn't want people to see me and say, Oh, she knows all about budget. Let's, let's go with her budget planners. And then, you know, going back to the first publication, you know, standing up for yourself a little bit and saying, thank you for wanting to interview me on my company. This is what I want to do.
00:27:10
Speaker
I think all those things combined just kind of got me the clientele that I had. And like you just said, all of those things I think combined have resulted in the clientele you have. At this point, do you think it's a lot of word of mouth for you? That's the foundation is all this PR and the publications and all those things certainly play into it. Would you say among a high-end clientele that it's mostly word of mouth now?
00:27:35
Speaker
I would say, yeah, we are mainly referrals for sure. Someone still use me for their wedding, so and so, and you have to use them, you have to use them. And that's for, you know, my senior wedding planner, also my sister at my company Jillian, she is recommended constantly. I get so many emails asking for her. And so it's the same kind of thing, you know, she did luxury wedding, you know, a bunch of years ago.
00:27:58
Speaker
And now everybody wants her for their things. So it's totally referral based, but I'm also going to tell you that I think Instagram has taken my company to the next level hugely. That's by far the biggest, you know, media channel I recommend for many businesses. I actually have brands daily contacting me asking for sponsorships and paid ads as like a brand influencer. And I'm a wedding planner. I am just a wedding planner and this is happening. So it kind of goes back to my original idea of being about.
00:28:27
Speaker
You know, me and my company, not just my company and kind of where that's taking me. I'm actually currently working on a personal blog called a pink pineapple life. And it's kind of behind the scenes of this other living and wedding designer mom, all that kind of stuff, because through Instagram, I get hundreds of direct messages asking
00:28:44
Speaker
where I got this or advice on that or how do I juggle it all and Instagram did that because people refer me in my company of amazing ladies because they know my name from outlets that have nothing to do with weddings. So again, just a full circle. I've connected with the business. It's all part of the brand but Instagram is probably, if it's 60, 40, 60 referrals, 40 is quite literally Instagram. Is there anything specifically that you're doing on Instagram that is allowed for the success?
00:29:14
Speaker
I think being very particular is something that I'm doing. I think what we talked about before like amount you share and the perfect amount you share is very key. I don't put a lot of, you know, some people
00:29:28
Speaker
Overpost, some people underpost. I try to make it once or maybe four times a week kind of thing. And I also, because the lifestyle is such a big part of my brand, I try attempt to. But you'll find out, Davey, with the babies, it's hard not to post, my daughter's name is Emmy, 11 pictures of Emmy in one. It's a picture of Emmy and then a little of the house. And so I try to make it as combined of what people want to see as much as possible.
00:29:58
Speaker
I make sure that all the styles are pretty next to each other. The colors are pretty next to each other. I get so many emails and direct messages asking, what do you do to your photos? Well, I don't do photos. It's just strategically planning them. And I think that when you look at the Instagram feeds, again, they match my website and everything. And I feel like it's just a nice
00:30:19
Speaker
airy kind of feeling and it just kind of makes you happy when you just look at, not even the individual picture, just in terms of the style and the feeling that it gives you when you look at something with pastels and you know what I mean? So I think that's kind of my game on Instagram if there is one.
00:30:35
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, no, absolutely.
Avoiding Common Branding Mistakes
00:30:37
Speaker
And I think one of the things I keep on hearing you say is just you're very intentional about what it is that you share, regardless of whether it's Instagram or a different marketing channel. Are there common mistakes that you see others make as they try to build a high-end brand? Or even during the coaching that you do with people who are trying to start their business and trying to create a more higher-end brand, are there certain things where you find yourself across the board pretty much saying to people, okay, hey, you're doing this and you need to stop? What would those things be?
00:31:06
Speaker
Oh, yes. I'd say maybe two or three, probably two in particular that really kind of stand out. You know, the first, I think, and this is something that every new business does wrong. I feel regardless of high-end or low-end stalking your competition.
00:31:24
Speaker
I've had to get into almost lawsuits before when someone emails me and says, check out so-and-so's website. It's exactly everything you say on yours or when someone was trying to sell my copyrighted timeline template a couple years ago for profit. If you've hustled and you are where you are, even the beginning, you have talent. Trust in that. Don't consistently check Instagram or websites of your competitors. I honestly never check my competitors' websites or Instagram.
00:31:50
Speaker
I mean, I comment on, you know, when I see beautiful work pop up or they're cute little babies and those that I'm friends with. But I never purposely lay on their pages because I know my worth. I know how hard I get here. And no good comes from design what others have. And I think that's just a huge mistake that people make. I wouldn't go on a rich home site and look at homes that are bigger than mine or go to a model site and look at all these girls that are skinnier than me. So why would I do that with my company? You know, I'm just a very positive person.
00:32:20
Speaker
Those who are negative around me, I just, they're not usually around me again, if I can help, but just because life is too short to be surrounded by negativity. And I feel like that's what stalking or competition does. A great quote from a book called zero to one, if I can quote it correctly, all field companies are the same. They fail to escape competition. And that is so true. So I say, leave your competition doing what it does.
00:32:44
Speaker
and focus on yourself. Also, you also have those people that just start mimicking your designs and it's so obvious. But the other big mistake for specifically high-end brands is stating luxury in their Instagram bios and on the front page of their website.
00:33:01
Speaker
You know, Ritz Carlton, a luxury resort or whatever it says. Absolutely. Totally get it. But as an example, there is this certain planner, no names in the world. And whenever I see he or she, they feel the need to tell me how great they are for about 25 minutes. And it's the same kind of thing. My friend, you are trying way too hard. You know, if you're a luxury, show them. Don't say it. If you're a true luxury,
00:33:28
Speaker
You don't have to say it outright. You can literally just show them. When you go to my Instagram page or my website, you know the weddings that you're looking at are pretty expensive and it gives off a high-end-ish vibe. But I don't say luxury anywhere, and yet luxury clients keep finding me, so it must be the case.
Focus on Client Needs and Communication
00:33:48
Speaker
But not to mention, stating luxury when you don't have the experience or portfolio to back it up is just a surefire way to be dismissed.
00:33:56
Speaker
a luxury brand. And a quick note, actually, for wedding planners specifically, most brides actually don't know what anything costs. So they could have a budget to actually handle a luxury wedding and hire a luxury planner, but they actually don't know what anything costs. So they may see luxury and think million dollar wedding, and they're not going to inquire with you because they only have a half million dollar budget when, let's be honest, you'd be fine with a half million dollar budget wedding. Yeah, I'd say so.
00:34:21
Speaker
It confuses people that don't know what things cost, and I think that's a big mistake planners make in general. Yeah, I like both of those things. One, not stocking your competition. Try as much as possible, not even to follow people who are really in the same space as us, except for friends and things like that, just because I think we stay so much more inspired when we look to other industries. They're not related to necessarily what we do, but
00:34:46
Speaker
just by seeing the kinds of things they're doing in their own industries, I think inspire us when it comes to web design or branding or whatever it may be even within different marketing campaigns and stuff like that. So, I'm a big believer in not stocking your competition and love what you're saying about not having to state kind of what you are, show people what you are. I mean, a rich person doesn't have to tell anybody that they're rich. A talented person doesn't have to tell anybody that they're talented. They demonstrate that they're talented.
00:35:14
Speaker
so you know i appreciate both those things if you were coaching somebody. What would you tell them are the specific things like they're just getting started let's say what would you tell them are the specific things they need to have in place in order to create this high end brand i know in the beginning of the episode when you were talking about when you first got started you know you came out of the gate.
00:35:35
Speaker
ready. Things were set up. What were those things that you had set up in the beginning so that you had this air of high-end luxury brand? I think everything individually is important for a high-end brand. I mean,
00:35:50
Speaker
But your experience is the biggest key. I think especially for wedding planning and anything really in the wedding industry, because as you know, weddings can throw anything at you. Experience is the key and you can't be taken seriously in the market without it. I think there are a few things that I made sure I had and I would recommend to anybody, any industry to be ready for and have in place. The first would be a focus.
00:36:16
Speaker
I can't stress this enough actually because some industry sure, you know, open up a hat shop, be an invitation designer and then do medicine on the side, which is a typical example. But think about your industry in particular. You know, does that work for you?
Building and Communicating a High-End Brand
00:36:30
Speaker
Because for me, you know, my focus when I first started and a decade later,
00:36:35
Speaker
My focus has always been higher-end weddings. I'm known for higher-end weddings. That has never changed, nor has my reputation. I've branched out subtly. I have more planners that do smaller weddings. We opened Le Petit Pineapple, which is a smaller events company. It just means small pineapple for smaller events. For the most part, my focus has always been on weddings in mostly bigger production weddings. That's what I'm known for.
00:37:01
Speaker
But if I did rooms, invitations, had a DJ company, and did fashion accessories, I might not be taken as seriously in my devotion to my weddings. And I'd be stretching my expertise, you know, just way too thin. I've had so many people come to me and say, you know, they want someone who does only weddings because that is what, you know, I do best. People try to expand so quickly and wear too many hats when really, let's just see if your one hat stays on in hurricane force winds first, you know.
00:37:28
Speaker
and just get that down, hold it on tight and just make sure that works before you're going to be this all about company of doing way too many things. The second thing, and I really like what you're saying there because I find that companies, even if they do have multiple services, but if they have one really, you know, core product and service or service that they've nailed the messaging for that they're very consistent in saying this is
00:37:51
Speaker
This is at our core who we are and what we do. Some of that other stuff that they also do ends up getting booked more as a result, I think. I know that you do at least some other kinds of events, but I think the message is that our focus is high in weddings. It makes sense that if somebody after using you for wedding planning comes to you and says, hey, I'm doing this other big event, could you do this? I'm not saying you do other events or you would take that necessarily, but I think it just makes sense that
00:38:20
Speaker
oh you really nailed this like why wouldn't you be able to do this other thing? Right no exactly and in fact I had I had a company I used to work closely with he came to me and said you know oh we're I mean he or she is what I meant to say he or she came to me and said oh you know I think we're gonna branch out and start doing this this and this and I said we'll call
00:38:43
Speaker
them Bob. I said Bob I don't think that's a good idea because you know you're not even the top of the industry yet for what you do. You're fantastic but focus on that and then if you want to branch out then do it. You know don't wear too many hats. He's like okay you know and then he did it and then a year later I saw him and I said oh how's that going. He went oh well
00:39:03
Speaker
yeah they left and we're not doing that anymore you know it was just too much like see i told you so but you need to have like a firm firm focus i mean it's the same thing with you think about the stewart you think of you know beautiful things but she also does wedding she also does baking so it's it's have your focus and then branch out when you've mastered already what you're doing.
00:39:28
Speaker
But also, and this is something that I didn't have ready when I first came out of the, you know, the get go is learn how to talk to your client, especially if they are a high end client.
00:39:43
Speaker
And I mean, basically like show your experience without saying your experience. Same thing with the luxury. Show your luxury without saying your luxury. This is a true art form because it takes more than a few meetings to master and it takes years and you have to have really just true experience in order to do it. I mean, I'll be honest, I really prefer like in-person meetings. So much more fun in person than on the phone, but it can be done phone, email, whatever. I've had numerous, numerous clients.
00:40:12
Speaker
Because we all become BFFs, of course. Tell me after the fact that even if they hadn't seen an ounce of my work after the consult, I would have won them over.
00:40:21
Speaker
because I was just, I guess, able to show them my design and how much expertise I knew without having to show them anything. They would tell me stories about being appalled at other planners that they would meet with before me and say they would be listing off their clientele, you know, this one, this one, this one, and show them over the top wedding after over the top wedding without even asking, just kind of shoving it in their faces. And I mean, to be honest, that kind of sounds like what you're supposed to do when you sell yourself, right?
00:40:50
Speaker
Honestly, sometimes it's not about your work. They are there, right? They mostly have probably seen your work. They know your accolades already from your Instagram or website. Now, if they ask, tell them a hundred percent. Brag if they ask, to the moon. But a lady never boasts about herself. That's kind of like a common quote. A company owner should never boast about herself unless asked or himself, of course.
00:41:13
Speaker
Your past clientele is not as important when your current client is there. Let those accomplishments be part of your brand, let them mold you into your luxury company you're striving to be. But sitting in front of you in your console is the most important client, not the past ones. So I think also people kind of have to cut art form that they just have to master and how to sell them.
00:41:34
Speaker
show them what they know without saying it. I can give you a quick example. Would you like a quick example? Yeah, that'd be great because I was just going to ask. I think that's great advice. I really like the whole focus on your current client and that's the most important client at the time. But I was going to ask, are there any resources that you use to learn this or was it really just experience? But I think maybe the example will help us parse that a little bit more. The thing is you have to have experience in your industry and what you're trying to sell in order to sell
Understanding and Tailoring to Client Types
00:41:59
Speaker
it. But just a quick example in every single consult I have, I say describe your wedding in three words.
00:42:04
Speaker
So let's say they say tent, romance, and amazing food. Instead of me saying, oh, that sounds dreamy and moving on. No.
00:42:16
Speaker
I'm going to sell her on her own vision with me as the artist of it. I'm going to talk about how with the right cater, you can make a five-star dining experience in a field without any electricity or water and tell her five examples of how I've made that work with catering tents and noting to myself, wait, we're going to need this size catering tent for her guest count. Oh, but don't worry about, those details are mine to handle, not yours. I'm going to tell her about outdoor tents and how
00:42:42
Speaker
a layer of romance just by being outside because you have the stars twinkling and oh we could do an outside dance floor under the stars to make the ambiance pop even more and oh there is this line of new beautiful velvet furniture that screams romance and will be stunning by that outdoor dance floor oh my gosh you know what a company just asked me my opinion yesterday on it and they were bringing it in for me you're gonna love it oh my gosh this is faith that you're here
00:43:03
Speaker
and Mike dropped booked. Yeah, that's great. And I feel like this is something that you've been able to do throughout your entire business. I mean, not just in the Sales Console, I'm sorry, or like a discovery meeting, like this example, but on your website, the copy that you're using on your website, or across social media channels like Instagram, you found a way to sort of walk that line between demonstrating your experience without shoving it in people's faces. That was the point, so thank you.
00:43:31
Speaker
Yeah. And it seems like a lot of that is done by understanding who your ideal clientele is or who your clientele is. And then also, as you just stated, by really listening to what they're saying and the kinds of things they want. Absolutely. And just to kind of add on to that, the key I feel like is
00:43:50
Speaker
relating and reading a client because there's different kinds of clients out there. I have a lot of luxury clients that I quite literally have a relationship with their assistant and I don't really talk to the bride. A personality is not going to go a long way with their assistant. They want to see my work. They want to know that it's top-notch. Then I have the other kind of client who is the person who wants the whole package.
00:44:14
Speaker
that wants someone who they can relate to, someone personable, passionate, wants to hire the person they're going to be BFFs with for the next year, and usually they're referral. They've seen your work, they've seen your weddings, they just want that person they can depend on for a year.
00:44:32
Speaker
with reading your client that way, you need to ensure that you have both bases covered for both type of clients. So, you know, back to Instagram, my Instagrams are connected, my business and my personal. So, if you click on one, it says creator of, you know, whatever, and llengash to click on the other one, it says owner of llengash design, and you click on that one. So, they're all connected, but, you know, the assistant of the client, I'm not going to send the pretty photos of my house and my more lifestyle living.
00:44:58
Speaker
Because they're not going to care. I'm going to send them my business. But the other one, the one that kind of wants the best friend, wants the whole package planning for a year, I'm sending them to my house, my personal one. Because we spent the last hour chatting at our console about everything and anything but their wedding because we hit it off so well. So I want them to relate to me after they left me.
00:45:22
Speaker
that's what i'm gonna be doing with that so it's just reading your clients really well and that's no two obviously black and white examples but sometimes it's hard sometimes you just have no idea where they're gonna fall you just comes with experience you have to go okay i know which one you are okay gotcha so.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yeah, no, but I think that's a great point in just terms of understand who you're talking about and understand how they're going to make the decision. And again, as you said a couple of times, I think some of that just comes from experience.
Learning More about Elle's Approach
00:45:49
Speaker
But I think that people, by going through the process of actually really intentionally thinking through their customer's journey, their client's journey in getting to your service, they can start thinking through some of these things themselves and understand how they should respond to different types of inquiries within the kind of clientele that they want to book.
00:46:07
Speaker
So, how does somebody learn the rest of what you know? Because I know that it's just the tip of the iceberg of what we talked about today and we could probably talk for hours longer. We'd have to do multiple episodes just to get through everything that you could possibly share with somebody who wanted to start either a high-end brand or wanted to start their own wedding planning business. So, if someone wanted to learn a little bit more about you and your business, where would they go?
00:46:32
Speaker
Our website is eedevents.com. There's an inquiry page. You can go there and it always comes to either my assistant or myself. You can go to our Instagram. I'm at L. Ellinghouse. It's a mouthful.
00:46:45
Speaker
E-L-L-E-E-L-L-I-N-G-H-A-U-S, and then our business is at L-L-E Health Design. So that's where you can go. Or you can also feel free to email us, hello at edevents.com. Awesome. And we will link to all of those in the show notes. So if you're driving while you're listening to this or whatever, head on over to the show notes and we'll link to all of those different accounts there. And again, do you have resources for people who are either starting their business, whether it be a wedding planning business or just a wedding industry business in general?
00:47:14
Speaker
Do you have resources for them? In terms of courses and things like that, I honestly don't. I offer a lot of business coaching just because there's not a lot out there specifically to wedding planning. That's why I started just because I know how hard it is to start a wedding planning company and not really know anything. So there's always, always feel free to email me with questions and things like that or a coaching session. But in terms of actual resources, some really, really good books out there can
00:47:41
Speaker
blow your mind. The one that I kind of referenced, Zero to One by Peter Thiel, I think it's what you pronounce his name. That is a book that my husband and I have read millions of times, especially because it's so good. It kind of opens your mind in terms of business and what you should do. I mean, I could run off quotes from that book for an hour. It's just so good. So kind of looking on your community Facebook or whatever, just business savvy books and things like that are
00:48:07
Speaker
things that I'd find. Podcasts like yours, Davey, this is what people need. Thank you. Sure. We'll definitely link to that book in the show notes as well. I have heard of this one now repeatedly, so I'm going to have to check it out as well. Elle, thank you for your time this morning and sharing a little bit about how you built your business and how specifically to build a high-end brand. Thank you so much. This was awesome. A lot of fun. It's an honor to be on your show.
00:48:34
Speaker
Thanks for tuning into the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to davianchrista.com.
00:48:56
Speaker
you