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5 Steps to Strategically Position Yourself in the Wedding Marketplace - Renée Sabo
225 Plays3 years ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays!
I have a very special guest, Renée Sabo, named Best Wedding Planner by Boston Magazine. She is incredibly detailed oriented and personal with her clients! They all mean a great deal to her and she give them the best client experience.
I was on her podcast called The Confetti Hour a couple weeks ago chatting about how to get on the preferred vendor list. I spill my most embarrassing wedding stories, it's so funny.
You are going to love this Hot Topic today. I wish I knew this when I started my business 12 years ago: 5 Steps to Strategically Position Yourself in the Wedding Marketplace.
Brand positioning is an often-overlooked piece of formidable marketing strategy. Still, it's the key to setting yourself apart from competitors and presenting your brand as a unique solution to clients’ problems. Attendees will walk away with Renee's five easy steps to position oneself in the right market and attract a clientele that fits in with their goals, including tips for those who are building all-new brand strategies from scratch.
Takeaways include:
- How to divvy up your market into well-defined segments that drive your marketing approach.
- All the questions you need to ask to analyze your current position in the market (and how the answers influence what you do next).
- Tips for revisiting and refining your brand position to ensure you’re always up to date with the current market and where you stand.
Connect with Renee
When I was on Renne's podcast talking about getting on the preferred vendor list.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-confetti-hour-podcast/id1449103699?i=1000555900339
Connect with Carissa Woo
Watch this episode live on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGbAMczPCg0
https://instagram.com/carissawoo
https://www.instagram.com/carissawoophotography/
Zencastr
https://zen.ai/heckyes1
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Promo code: Carissawoo for 30% off of your first 3 months
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Get a Heck Yes' and Guest Renee Sabo
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with me, your host, Carissa Wu. Hope you guys are having a great week. Today I have a very special guest, and her name is Renee Sabo from Urban Surray, and she has an amazing podcast for over three years, and it's called The Confetti Hour. And I was on her podcast about two weeks ago, and we had a very honest conversation about how to get on the preferred vendor list. And I dish out a lot of embarrassing stories, so it's hilarious. You have to go check it out.
00:00:29
Speaker
So today her hot topic is five steps to strategically position yourself in the wedding marketplace and you're going to want to tune in because it's going to help you so much with your marketing strategy. So Renee is amazing and she was actually awarded Best Wedding Planner from Boston Magazine so you want to tune in. You're going to love this episode. Enjoy!
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for
Carissa's Experience in Wedding Photography
00:01:00
Speaker
over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:22
Speaker
time packs because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
Impact of COVID-19 on Wedding Planning
00:01:45
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome back to Heck Yes with me, Carissa Wu. I have a very special guest, Renee Sabo, and she's a fellow podcaster. I love your podcast called The Confetti Hour, and you're also an award-winning wedding planner with Urban Surray. So welcome, Renee. Thank you so much for having me. How are you?
00:02:04
Speaker
I'm good. How are you doing? Good. It is going well. Unfortunately, we're still dealing with a lot of COVID stuff, but a lot of my 2022-2023 clients were busy sourcing venues, doing design plans. I like this time of year because it's my most creative time of year, so it's good.
00:02:23
Speaker
Yeah, I listened to your episode about like the second wave and like to tears because it's a lot of anxiety for us and also for our brides. It's so sad. I know I yeah, no, it's it's it's so hard. I can't believe we're still in it. Honestly. Yeah, it's been so long and
00:02:41
Speaker
It's like, Oh, yeah, don't worry, we're gonna be out of it. We're gonna be out of it. No, we're not out of it. Yeah, no, it's, it's more just been like trying to like figure out how to live with it and adapt to it. And like, I feel like a lot of our clients that book for later in 22 and 23,
00:02:57
Speaker
did it because they thought they would just not have to deal with COVID. Honestly, we did too. We had no idea we would still be dealing with this. It's been a little heart-wrenching to have to have these conversations. There's vaccine mandates coming out, but at the same time, we're just learning how to operate in it. It's still a little more positive than the last two years, which is good. They're like, it's fine. We're getting married and people have to show a negative test, whatever, at this point.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, I've been getting all those emails from planners. So I totally I'm sure you are. Yeah, like sending them all out because I want to make sure like they know what to expect. You know, all the vendors know what to expect. So yeah, it's a wild times we're living in. So I value doing stuff like this because it's like we can tune out that part of the world for a little bit and like just enjoy chatting.
Renee's Journey to Becoming a Wedding Planner
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm actually I have been chatting with you before we recorded but you're really very easy to talk to and that's how I feel like in your podcast but tell me more about like how you started wedding planning and you're from Boston and then you are a mentor to wedding
00:04:04
Speaker
Planners now so just more about you. Yeah. Oh, thank you. I'd love to so yeah, so I basically I actually grew up in Ohio Which is like I don't I've lived in Boston for so long now that I feel like people wouldn't know that so I'm a Midwest girl originally Okay, I bring it up because like I got into wedding planning because my mom hired a wedding planner and she did this like gorgeous large wedding at a hotel downtown in Cincinnati and
00:04:31
Speaker
Ohio, and that was when I really was like, drawn to weddings, honestly. So it's been a very like, long journey. I was 15. So she was a wedding planner? No, no, she hired a wedding planner. Okay. Yeah, yeah. She got remarried to my stepdad. Okay. Yeah.
00:04:48
Speaker
And it was just really cool. I was always drawn to things that were like project oriented growing up. So my mom didn't, she didn't think much of it of me being interested in the wedding, but she wasn't really expecting me after the wedding, her wedding to say like, I want to be a wedding planner. So
00:05:05
Speaker
Um, but I've never really like lost that feeling. Like I just, I genuinely just really enjoy like the balance of the job. Like I like, you know, getting to know my clients and their families and I like how like people oriented it is, but then, you know, it can be creative. It can be strategic. There's just, you know, there's a lot that goes into it and it keeps me, um, for sure on my toes and it keeps me, my brain working, right? Like all the time. Yeah.
00:05:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I love that. And then so when I moved to Boston, I moved here for grad school, and I went to school to get my MBA and focus in entrepreneurship. Because like back in the day, being a wedding planner was not as largely like known as a career, like my parents were concerned. Yeah. Yeah. So they said you need to go to grad school and you need to get have a backup. Like you need to go
00:05:57
Speaker
get your MBA because then you could always fall into anything business oriented. So I did it to appease them. But ironically, it ended up being a really like great, you know, experience for me, I learned a lot. And it's helped me with a lot of, you know, the trajectory of urban sway, but also introducing the podcast to my business and just, you know,
00:06:20
Speaker
being a general entrepreneur. School does help in some aspects. Yeah, definitely. I think experience is the biggest thing, obviously, but I'm grateful for that time period. It also gave me a little bit of time not to rush into it, which was nice. So I got to network and really get to know this community here in New England and Boston. And now that I do education type things like you, I get to talk to people all over the world. So it's been
00:06:49
Speaker
really fun because I love traveling and getting to know everyone in different areas. Yeah. Yeah. But so the podcast, I can't wait to have you on some day. So thank you. Ready for that. And it
The Birth of 'The Confetti Hour' Podcast
00:07:02
Speaker
just kind of started because I, I was getting really tired of blogging and I felt like I can talk to a wall. So podcasting, very natural. Yeah. So yeah, that's kind of,
00:07:16
Speaker
The Confetti Hour just started out of this want to have my own blog in a virtual way. And so it was really fun. And now I've had it for three years and had hundreds of episodes. And much like you, I just love being able to help our community and really brainstorm with other professionals. I learn from my guests as much as I hope I'm giving back to the community. Yeah. So you've been doing podcasting for three years?
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, which is crazy, actually, because it goes so fast. Wow, that's amazing. Do you have any tips for me? Well, you're already doing amazing. I've listened to so much of your podcast. I think you're already creating such good content for people and having guests that are, I think, really relatable, which is nice. But I don't know. I'll think of some tips for you. I would just say keep going. Even if you have a down month,
00:08:13
Speaker
Sometimes I beat myself up over, oh, I didn't put out four episodes this month. My full-time job is obviously running my wedding planning business. And the podcast is slowly but surely coming into being a revenue stream for my business. But I'm trying not to beat myself up because even one or two episodes is amazing. And I hope it's helped people. So I would say just go with the flow with it. OK.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, just don't give up on it because I think it's OK if you have to take a little step back. That's kind of the beauty of it. Yeah. And I think about it in terms of like other people that do blogging on their website or like YouTube channels, like sometimes they don't consistently hold themselves to five episodes a month or something or five blog posts. So it's like, give yourself some grace, but don't give up. That's what that's. That's my advice. Thank you. I love that advice. Yeah, good. And I'm the same way I used to blog a lot, too. And this has kind of
00:09:10
Speaker
you know, I like talking to people too. So it kind of replaced that, um, the blogging aspect. So I love that. I know. I like blogging. I see value in it for SEO and I'm impressed by copywriters, but it's hard. Like I feel like it's a little more
00:09:29
Speaker
I don't know what the word is, like polished and professional, which is totally great too. Not that we aren't on here, but this is a little more like easy going conversation. Yeah. Yeah. I like it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm having a great time with it. I wanted to ask you, okay. So for the listeners, you have to check out urban survey. It's gorgeous. It's very upscale. It's very classy.
00:09:51
Speaker
your clientele is yeah, very, very, very gorgeous and classy. So how like how you develop your style and how you get a heck yes from your dream clients. I love that this is your podcast. I think like the heck yes, like take on it all is amazing. Because like truly my clients like we are giddy about the same things. I feel like every time we talk, it is like a heck yes moment. We're like, Oh my gosh, yes, we have to do this or
00:10:18
Speaker
you know when i get into the sales like process and i'm talking with them i want them to just feel this like connection with me that allows them to trust me but like know that i understand them and like we getting excited over the same you know aesthetic and style really helps me to be able to do that so
00:10:36
Speaker
Over the years, I mean, I've always been drawn to traveling to, you know, far flowing destinations. And my step one was a flight attendant growing up. So I was really lucky to be able to explore a lot growing up. And so I'm very like drawn to Boston and New England and destinations where there's a lot of charm and history and just like, I like to lean into the romance of all that. And so a lot of my clients do love traveling. They also have like, they love the mansions here they love.
00:11:05
Speaker
you know, characteristics about the city. Like it may be an industrial building that, you know, has a really amazing brand mission. Like there's just, there's just things we connect on. And that's kind of how over the years I just, I just leaned into being myself to be honest and what makes me excited to design a wedding. And I find that my couples also are excited about the same things and that's how we've been able to attract to each other. And I always end up getting like that kind of heck yes, I guess.
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you're amazing. Your style is so good. And I really see that and you just said the word brand mission, which we're going to talk about brand mission and position in a second. But I wanted to ask you what is your biggest accomplishment in business?
00:11:48
Speaker
Oh, that is so hard. I still feel like I'm light years away from where I want to be. But I also recognize that I need to be more proud of myself and where I've gotten to. Same for you with this podcast. Like even just starting a podcast is so much work. And I don't know. We're always our hardest critic, right? But I would say that in 2020, we obviously had a really hard year. So I did have a couple of highs.
00:12:16
Speaker
in the midst of a lot of lows. And so for me, they stick out more just because it meant so much, you know. So in 2020, I won Best of Boston Wedding Planner by Boston Magazine, which is really wonderful. It's a huge honor. And there's so many other talent. Thank you. So many other talented, like, you know, professionals that win every year. And so it was always a dream of mine to get to that caliber of like,
00:12:41
Speaker
my business where I would be seen as a professional that the industry really respected. So that was really cool for me. And it meant just a little bit more because it was also such a hard year. I want to give you a hug. That's such a big accomplishment. Thank you. I appreciate that. We put a lot into our work. It's not just a job for us. So anytime there's recognition for that, you pinch yourself. You're like, whoa. Yeah.
00:13:10
Speaker
That's cool. I mean, you should really take it in. And I think for us, it is hard to like, appreciate like how far we've come and just like
00:13:19
Speaker
sit with that feeling instead of thinking of where we could be in the next year or two. Right. Comparison can be such a thief because you see other planners winning Best of Brides magazine. That would be an incredible honor one day if I could get to that point. But at the same time, take a moment just to realize how far you came. We literally started this from scratch. I had zero clientele. I did my logo myself the first six months of my business.
00:13:48
Speaker
like just be proud of yourself or how far you've come. So I'm going to take try to take my own words of wisdom and be proud of myself. Oh, I love it. And I'm like in this like rabbit hole of manifestation. Yeah, random. But I'm writing a book for wedding photographers. But my editor, he was like, I think you're like trying to be woo woo. But you're like so not woo woo besides that's like your last name. But
00:14:12
Speaker
I'm such a driver, you know, work for what you get type of thing, like, yeah, but now I'm trying to, I did like the Gabby Bernstein challenge. So it's all about like, feeling good, not wanting that goal, but feeling the goal. So having like, I'm thankful for like being alive. I'm thankful for the hair on my head. I'm thankful for a loving family. Because when we're trying to like, chase that goal, like we
00:14:39
Speaker
get into like the lack of mentality. And then we get kind of like our energy is not like on high vibration. So we have to really be proud of like where we are every single day and moment. Wow, I love that. That's really good. That's like so relatable advice, because I don't think a lot of us take the time to pause and do that. So I love that. Yeah. Tell me about like your like mentorship program a little bit. Oh, yeah. So basically,
00:15:07
Speaker
Like a long story short is that when I came into the industry, I would say I was, I came into the industry at a very interesting time where I think that community over competition mindset was not where it is today and it started to really grow and I'm so excited about that. I honestly think social media has helped so much with that, but social media was like really new. So when I started getting into the industry,
00:15:33
Speaker
Competition was fierce, and it still is in different ways, right? But mentoring was really important to me because I had a few mentors along my journey that made a huge difference in me just finding the courage to go out on my own and start my business, but also just be a stronger event professional and try to find balance with it. It's so easy for this job to completely control you.
00:15:59
Speaker
My mentoring sessions are really me being able to work with young aspiring planners that are younger in their business than I am or younger in their careers and be able to help them and have someone they can trust. I am an open book. I literally will give them the resources and materials that I send to my clients. It's a long-term relationship as opposed to a one-on-one coaching call.
00:16:23
Speaker
Also, I really enjoy that. Most of my mentoring sessions are booked for like three months or six months. And of course I do have, if there's just like one thing you want to bounce off of, we can have one session, but most of the time it's a long-term relationship. And so I get to just like,
00:16:41
Speaker
see a difference in their business and help a little bit. And I didn't feel there was a ton of that when I was getting started. So it's a really important part of my business that I enjoy doing. But yeah. I love that. And you're good at teaching because I learn a lot from your podcast. Thank you. Likewise, you too. That's what's so cool about our community. Creative education has come so far these days. And it's just, you know,
00:17:09
Speaker
It's the reason why I love being in the wedding industry specifically because we are so welcoming and that community over competition has changed so much these days that everyone just wants to see our industry and our community succeed. I love everything that you're doing. I love all the educators we have on our podcast. It's amazing. I know.
00:17:33
Speaker
Okay, tell us about your hot topic and why you chose it. Okay,
Positioning in the Wedding Marketplace
00:17:37
Speaker
so I chose to chat with you guys today about five steps to strategically position yourself in the wedding marketplace. I think you can tell from my introduction and like just chatting a little bit about myself that a lot of what I'm going to talk about today
00:17:54
Speaker
has contributed to my successes. And I also think it's just very relatable no matter what type of business you're in. So yeah, so I'm excited. Yeah, like a lot of people, I don't know if you've had this like with photography, you know, a lot of people ask like, how do you get these clients? Or how did you get into this market? Or how are you doing weddings at this venue? And I as much as I want to say,
00:18:18
Speaker
It's a little bit of luck because you get a little ounce of luck in certain things, but a lot of its strategy and positioning yourself in the marketplace is exactly what has gotten me to where my business is today.
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, I hope it helps people. I love this topic. Okay, take it away with number one. Okay, awesome. So number one, and I really would love your take on this too, because you're in LA, right, Krista? Yes. Yeah, you, Boston and LA is like,
00:18:48
Speaker
obviously very, very different, but similar in the sense that it's a large industry, like I feel like we have a lot of market segments. And so my tip number one is just like determining what those market segments look like in your area. And so for instance, like in Boston, and maybe you can tell me what you think LA is, but I kind of like in my head, just break it out into budgets. I think that's like,
00:19:14
Speaker
the easiest way for me to really do it as a planner that being said like if you're a photographer or you know a different type of service maybe it wouldn't be budget maybe there's another way that you break out your market segments it could be like by venues you know that's also a very easy way to say this is a
00:19:31
Speaker
wedding of a certain caliber. So I break out our market here as like budget, average, luxury, ultra luxury. I also have like tears in my luxury because I think that some people want to be in the luxury market, but they don't realize that there's just like totally different tiers of what those weddings look like. I would say just like
00:19:53
Speaker
do some market research and start to look at your area and the areas that you want to serve and determine what they even are. Where are they being held? How much do they spend? What other vendors do these clients value hiring? Just really identify the characteristics and the commonalities to each market. And the goal would be
00:20:17
Speaker
so that you have a clear picture of what's what the opportunities are right oh yeah yeah so I don't know about LA I'm sure it's very similar honestly like with the luxury there's a lot of luxury market there so like I think when you said that so yeah I was thinking like
00:20:33
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of upscale venues in Orange County, and I probably wouldn't be in that market. But there's a lot of hotels in the South Bay where I live. So I try to tap into that market and I'm close to LA. So I try to tap into like the people having like food trucks and colorful walls and those like industrial like cool venues or
00:20:54
Speaker
It would be like what I would want for my wedding. So I had like a fun venue in LA and, you know, how to like the food trucks and like the fun, cool stuff. But that's kind of like my ride. But as far as like budget segments, yeah, I never heard that before. So I'm definitely learning. And a lot of people asked me, like, I think as a planner, I'm very like realistic that I'm way more into a budget.
00:21:21
Speaker
than you are in a client's journey with their planning. And so if I personally were, say, someone offering your service as a photographer, I would pay for a mentor to help me understand what the budgets are at these weddings. Because I just think it's going to help you understand what you're drawn to and who's a good fit. What are they spending on photography? That's your ideal client. So what are my opportunities for what they're spending? Yeah.
00:21:53
Speaker
We're almost winging it sometimes and just trying to bring it back to like a little bit more market research. I backtracking so much in my journey, but I went to Ohio State for college and there wasn't hospitality or event planning at the time.
Utilizing Market Research for Strategic Positioning
00:22:08
Speaker
So I actually took like a public relations. I was a communications major and we dealt a lot with market research. And so that's kind of where all this comes down. Oh, I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I try to like put, yeah, I should have mentioned that earlier. No wonder I don't know.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah, like we all set our prices and I think a lot of us just
00:22:25
Speaker
I'm like, market research. No, this is not something that I think a business owner would know. And it's honestly something I still am learning. I'm not an expert. These steps, I love them because they are meant to be simple. And it's helped me, but you do not need to have a major in marketing to understand this stuff. Yeah, we need Renee Renee.
00:22:49
Speaker
But it's so easy. Just determine what your markets are in your area. Honestly, there's so much research out there these days that you can. But you just did it, Chris. You were like, these are the characteristics of my clients. And you just said style, the types of vendors they're hiring. You said food trucks, colorful. I'm assuming they're working with florists that are really vibrant. And that's their style. So you've already started to narrow down that that's
00:23:17
Speaker
a niche in your area. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. When I get like the big ballrooms with like the big like flowers, I'm just like, Oh, I wonder why they booked me. Oh, see, that's crazy. That's so interesting. Yeah. And it's so funny because this is why I'm probably best based in Boston and not LA because I feel like you're like the style you were talking. I'm like, that would be really fun, but it's not my style at all. Yeah.
00:23:41
Speaker
Isn't that so interesting? It helps. It helps to know. Anyway, that leads me into the second tip. Basically, once you've determined the market segments in your area and what they are, then you can actually analyze your current position in the market, which is what you've done. You know your ideal client and what you're looking for.
00:24:05
Speaker
That's what I would advise people with this next step is just analyze what you're currently doing. Who is your current client? What is their age range? What is their budget? If you could do more research on that. And type of wedding, job, style, who are they? OK.
00:24:20
Speaker
And I also recommend doing a SWOT analysis. I'm sure many business owners know what that is, but just analyze you. Just what are you currently doing, not where you want to be. And I think that's important because a lot of people are very goal-oriented. I'm a big dreamer. I'm always looking at what I want to be doing. But until I really understand what I'm currently doing as an app, like advertising for my services, who I'm booking,
00:24:48
Speaker
like you aren't going to be able to change or evolve, right? So that's why I like this step. Like just take some time. Like what are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What opportunities are there? And then what are your threats obviously? And then just review the competition also like in the markets that you want to be going into. So how are they marketing to their couples and what type of marketing is working for them?
00:25:14
Speaker
And then like, kind of relate that and analyze yourself more and figure out how you are the same and how you're different of those competitors that you look up to. So this is so good. And it's helping me with my coaching program because Oh, good. Yeah, my team, we were on a call last week, and
00:25:32
Speaker
they're like, we need to know like more and more and more like who your student is. And I'm like, guys, like you don't know that I already have like my sales page and it's just like that Destiny's Child song like can you? Yeah. They're like, we need to send you a questionnaire. I was like, okay.
00:25:50
Speaker
I mean, that's such a good example. And I have to read, look at this all the time. It's exhausting. Your business will never just stay the same, but that's also why we love it, right? Yeah. With experience and just naturally being humans, we change and grow over time.
00:26:09
Speaker
you know, my clientele, I actually used to be really drawn to similar clientele as you actually, Krista. And I still love it. I just, I don't know. I've just like over the years, really found myself in different projects and loving that too. So yeah, I love that though. Your team's keeping you on your toes. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely very, very upscale. And those are the people are they going to pay the Chichi
00:26:37
Speaker
And that also comes with a different level of like responsibilities and services. So I wouldn't say the grass is greener if that's why it's so important to be self aware of where you are in your career, what you're doing and like where you want to go. But like, I just don't think that anyone should ever jump from like zero to 180.
00:26:57
Speaker
no matter what your goals are, like you're just there's beauty in the process and like learning. So yeah, I love this topic because it's like making you really actually analyze like, yeah, what you're doing, you know, so yeah, I know my brain so well, I can show up with like my little JBL speaker and just be like, we're the party. I love that. Oh my god. My clients would be like, Who is this girl? Be like, yeah.
00:27:21
Speaker
Although, sometimes I have clients like that. For me, it's a little different, I guess, because I am dealing with, I don't know, like a big picture type of thing. So sometimes I get really outgoing clients that would love that. Yeah. Okay, take us away with tip number three.
00:27:39
Speaker
This is a quick interruption to give a big shout out to our sponsor today, Zencaster. I host all my podcasts on Zencaster. Podcasting remotely can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Zencaster's all-in-one web-based solution makes the process quick and painless the way it should be.
00:27:59
Speaker
personal experience. If you know me, you know, I'm obsessed with quality and Zencaster provides crystal clear sound and gorgeous HG videos. If you guys didn't know, I actually have a YouTube channel, Carissa Woo, and you can actually see all of our episodes live, face to face.
00:28:17
Speaker
So the solution Zencaster is all about making your podcasting experience easy and with everything from local recording to automatic post-productions and the tools so you don't have to leave your browser to get to the get the episode done. And I want you to have the same easy experience as I do if you want to start your podcast and your content needs
00:28:38
Speaker
So if you go to zencaster.com slash pricing, the promo code is Carissa Woo, and you get 30% off your first three months. Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R dot com forward slash Carissa Woo.
00:28:54
Speaker
Okay, so tip number three, after you have, you now know what market segments are out there and you figured out what you are currently marketing to. Next, you want to build your new positioning strategy. So if you weren't happy with your analyzation of like who you're working with or what market you're serving,
00:29:13
Speaker
start to build what you want to be doing. So what type of clients do you want? How can you market to them? And how else can you stand out? So like, you know, resources, what types of things could you be doing to get in front of your target clients and their needs and wants? So maybe that's going on podcasts and doing more of like a B to C, which is like, you know, business to clients, like,
00:29:40
Speaker
maybe you're giving advice on that specific type of client that wants to hire someone like you. So for instance, I would go on, say, Kelly McWilliams, this versus that podcast. She's awesome. Her podcast is for couples. And I'm very specific about what topics I'll talk about because I don't want to attract the wrong client. So when she asked me to go on her podcast, I would love to talk about
00:30:07
Speaker
like budgets versus a spending plan. For me, my clients are dealing with large budgets. They're dealing with someone that they need to really be the project manager of it. And so that is to be sought... To be heard as an expert talking about those things is helping me
00:30:26
Speaker
identify with my target client because they would likely be listening to that episode. So do you see what I mean? Yeah. So like for you, Carissa, you could go on someone's podcast or you could write a blog post about, you know, having like, you know, what are the top five like really like must have moments like that they should do to have fun at their wedding, like with their photography or, you know, ideas on how to have a more vibrant atmosphere or like, you know, like there's just ways to speak to your ideal client.
00:30:55
Speaker
without actually like advertising like say with an ad or something. Yeah. But anyways, the point of this tip is basically you just want to figure out where you want to go. Like what is your new strategy and what market do you want to be in? So for example, I learned very early on in my career, like my first year in weddings, I did 20 weddings.
00:31:21
Speaker
And they were a mixture of like really cool spaces, but a lot more DIY. They didn't value as much of like, you know, investing in certain things because they were just kind of fine with the venue being it. And that's totally fine. But for me, I just wanted more as a designer. It felt like a little just like it wasn't clicking, you know, and on top of it, the volume of weddings was intense for me.
00:31:50
Speaker
So when I started to look at this, I'm like, well, I really need to be careful what I'm advertising to. Like some of these spaces only attract those types of clients. Oh, interesting. So that was definitely part of me analyzing like what I'm doing so that the next year I could start to grow into clients that
00:32:07
Speaker
are not as DIY and they're moving more into hiring a florist because I'm just not a creative person like that. I have other friends who are planners who they can create these things and it's incredible what they do, but it's just not me. I figured that out the hard way working 20 weddings or so. Interesting. I use these own steps and I really took time to figure out
00:32:34
Speaker
you know, what type of clients I want and how I'm going to market to them. And like I said in our last step, looking at how competitors that I look up to how they're marketing to their clients. So I very quickly found that like some of the platforms that I was advertising on weren't the right fit for me. They were attracting the wrong budgets and the wrong clientele. And the only way I was able to analyze that so quickly is because I did the legwork to figure out what those markets look like. So
00:33:02
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, so the next step would be, once you know where you're going and what you want to be, what market you want to be in, you want to just start planning it out. And what
Strategic Planning and Market Positioning
00:33:12
Speaker
does that look like? And do you need to hire people? Do you need to refresh your website? Do you need help on social media? Create a marketing plan, a content scheduler, and just take into account how you're going to get to where you want to go. So I think that
00:33:31
Speaker
Brand positioning to me is just it's a huge process and it's a process of designing your company's offerings and your image so that it kind of is really visible and distinct and there's like a value in
00:33:47
Speaker
the hearts and like the minds of your target clientele. So like we were talking earlier, my clients in our giddy about the same thing. And that's because I market to it. It is like intentional. I don't put anything out there. That isn't a project I don't want to be doing. And it's helped so much with attracting that customer. So
00:34:06
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely said something like historic buildings, and just like the heart of Boston. And like these beautiful, gorgeous, like architecture buildings. So I was very interesting. Yeah, I don't I don't typically work with a lot of clients that
00:34:29
Speaker
I'm kind of in between, honestly. I say I like romantic, elevated weddings. I think that I have a modern clientele because a lot of my clients aren't doing stuffy traditions, and they wouldn't necessarily have a 300-person banquet hall type of wedding. That's just not my client. My clients want to create a guest experience in a unique location. They want to lean into these beautiful artistry at these venues, no matter what kind of venue it is.
00:34:58
Speaker
Even if it's a hotel, if I have a hotel project, it's likely because they want a more modern designer to come in and really lean into the romance and the charm of that space or something about them.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, and you'll see like if you look at my social media, I constantly time after time talk about that. And I talk about the process with my clients and what kind of, you know, if I post a photo of a tablescape, I talk about how we got to that point and why we love it. Or I use the keywords that I want to describe my work. So romance, magic,
00:35:31
Speaker
fairy tale you know like all these things that kind of like go into my brand image and i do think when people look at my company now they associate me with that type of wedding and so that's what you're looking to do you want
00:35:44
Speaker
You want someone to look at your work and say, oh, that's exactly what Carissa offers. They get what you offer. If people don't understand what you're doing, they're going to have a harder time trusting you, and they'll have a harder time buying and securing with you. Yeah. I mean, I'm more quiet than I normally am just because I'm trying to soak in all this great information. So I'm really absorbing. And I'm going to listen to this a couple of times and just
00:36:13
Speaker
take it all in, but this is great advice. I'm just going to do a little recap. Great. So brand positioning, one, market segments, like for me, like what are the segments in LA? Is it like the beach cities? Is it the nice hotels? Is it the garden weddings? Is it the hipster weddings? Yeah. I know their budgets, the brides that are like
00:36:38
Speaker
going to booking these venues and what are their budgets approximately so market research number two market segment so analyze where your current position is who are they how old they are the SWOT analysis just pretty much your ideal avatar review competition yes and then number three build a new brand strategy which is your future self so
00:37:04
Speaker
where do you want to fit in? And then what resources you could provide to your ideal client, you could go to a podcast, you could write different blog posts. And then number four, just planning it all out with your, with your new client avatar, you could plan out your marketing plan. So content scheduler,
00:37:28
Speaker
who you're gonna advertise with, what you're gonna do for the year. So take us away with number five if I said all of those right. Yeah, no, you did. You crushed it. I'm like, wait, I need to have you do my show notes, Carissa. That was amazing. Yeah, and tip number five is super easy. I feel like we just did all the hard work in the first four tips, but tip number five is just stay consistent. So keep revisiting that strategy. I hold quarterly check-ins on mine just to,
00:37:58
Speaker
make sure I'm not getting carried away, you know, we all get solicited as small businesses to like, do the next shiny marketing thing. But
00:38:07
Speaker
I try to keep a good tabs on this overall goal of my strategy and what I want to be doing so that way I can make better decisions.
Consistency in Strategic Marketing Efforts
00:38:16
Speaker
And so I think just keep revisiting it and really work through that marketing plan that you have. And I think you'll see that it will pay off. So that's an easy last step, but consistency we find can be some of the hardest things to maintain. So I think it's a really important one.
00:38:34
Speaker
I think from coaching different students, I think what I learned the most, my biggest lesson was you do need a marketing plan because you could throw spaghetti at the wall, see whatever sticks, do all the things. But for me, I am busy with the kiddos, so it's harder. I can't do all the things. So I need to see it as a year map, as a quarterly map, as a monthly, weekly, daily. And it's so much easier to break it down that way.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah, totally. I create a strategic plan for my business, and it has a separate tab for marketing. With a strategic plan, you're looking at what your goals are, and then you also have
00:39:18
Speaker
Like a list of the or know what your objectives are and then you have a list of the goals so like any of my objectives should mark off some of my companies like you know big goals and I've come up with that because that's like the goals that as a business I want to accomplish that's what's gonna fill my cup up and what's gonna make it successful so for instance I
00:39:39
Speaker
I want to get published in two publications this year. And that sounds small, right? Like two. I used to think I needed 15. But for me, it's about the two right ones. And the two right ones helped me with my other goals, which is increasing my revenue, because it's going to help me attract to my ideal client. It's going to help
00:40:01
Speaker
you know, my marketing goals because like those are where I want to be featured in position and I get more like exposure for it. So like there's just always be kind of like an organization to your strategy. And I think that's why I love this topic so much because like it doesn't have to be a million different goals. Like really you shouldn't because then you're going to overwhelm yourself and you're not going to hit them. So I'm still working through goals that I had pre pandemic and it's okay as long as I hit them.
00:40:31
Speaker
Yeah, your MBA definitely helped. What would be your Sabo factor, your Woop factor? I'm a Sato, so you're Sabo, but my very name, what would be your secret sauce to everything? I know you said it so many times, but you could reframe it again.
00:40:50
Speaker
No, you're good. I think that there was a couple of things I wrote down. I have my notes here because I know I love this question, but I'm very detail oriented and I get very personal with my clients. Like I become friends with all of them. And sometimes that's not what everyone would necessarily want. They want to separate business with play, but I have found a way to do that.
00:41:14
Speaker
and still be personable. And so I think all my clients know they mean a really great deal to me. And I think it adds to their client experience and they can really gain trust with me from the start. So I think that helps me stand out when I'm dealing with such a personal milestone in their lives. But yeah, that's kind of my... Oh, I love it. Yeah. Yeah. I think for me, I was just thinking of
00:41:40
Speaker
my answer, what my answer would be too, but it would be like, yeah, you, you can be friends with them. You have to like remember like things about them and like maybe take notes and then, you know, you could follow them on social media and you could like, during the day you could start asking them like questions, not buddy related. And I think it makes it more personal. Like, how's work going? Or like you said, you're working on that project. Like, how's it going? So it kind of takes them out of like this, like, oh, she's like this worker be for me. Taking a photo of me. Yeah.
00:42:10
Speaker
Yeah, more like a person like she's, she's our friend. Yeah, definitely. I think especially with our jobs, like weddings are intimidating. And it's because of all the anxiety and the like jitterbugs that come with like getting married, like it's a huge day and they're nervous. So I mean, like if you feel like their friend and they can trust you, I think it
00:42:31
Speaker
I think it just makes it allows me to do my job better too in the long run. And then I have an enjoyable experience with my clients too. But like, I think it helps everyone involved just to be yourself and really bond with your clients. But I will say that that doesn't mean they should walk all over you. Like my clients know my office hours, they know what's appropriate with me. And we have a better relationship because they are respectful of my business. So
00:42:56
Speaker
I definitely want to make sure that I'm like, this is not, I'm not saying that I do, I bend over backwards for my clients. I do bend over backwards for my clients, but within reason and within my service and what is like normal to do. Um, I'm not like letting them call me at all hours on the weekends and you know, so it's a balance, but that is like a unique thing that I've been able to accomplish is that all the lot of my clients, like we are super close, but
00:43:24
Speaker
it doesn't control my life by any means. So it's just created a really nice balance. Yeah. Yeah. When, when I work with planners that get stressed out at weddings or like they're very reactive to emails, then I'm like, dude, your one job is like to not be stressed. Yeah. I mean, you can not like, let me tell you, my job is so freaking stressful. All of our jobs are yeah, you have to just like,
00:43:46
Speaker
figure out a way to mask it. And it's extremely hard for me. I deal with a lot of anxiety at home. I have my entire life. And I have a therapist that helps me through meditations with that and trying to just take a step back. I think the biggest thing you have to remember is that it is all business. Even if your clients are making it not business and they're reacting, you should not react. Just be a business. Be personable, of course.
00:44:11
Speaker
I sometimes you just got to say how it is, you know, like I understand you're upset and my heart breaks for you. But at the same time, you hired me to be honest and transparent about what the process looks like. And I'm here to like bring solutions to the table. I'm not here to coddle you. Like I would never say it like that. You know what I mean? Like you're not you're not there to coddle them. They're there as the expert. So be the expert, you know, and don't let the emotions overwhelm you because then everyone's a bad hands, you know.
00:44:42
Speaker
I love it. Okay. Rapid fire questions. What do you like to do for fun? Ah, so for fun, I mean, I love podcasting, but I know that's kind of work these days. So I love traveling and shopping. And I love, you know, happy hours. We don't get those much in Boston anymore. We don't have happy hour in Boston, actually. It's like the liquor laws or something. So when I go home to Ohio, I love a good happy hour.
00:45:08
Speaker
These drinks are like free. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even register because I haven't gone to one for so long. Oh, I know, right? We haven't even left our houses. I was just beginning to go into the bar, yeah. It's been a while. Okay. Tell me about your wedding.
00:45:27
Speaker
Oh, so we just celebrated our six year anniversary last weekend. So it's actually pretty fresh in my mind, because I always like rewatch our wedding video. But my husband and I got married downtown Boston at this like one of the oldest restaurants in the city. In the middle winter, there was lots of lights out was very like romantic in January winter vibes. And it's just yeah, it was very intimate. But yeah, I love it. 2015.
00:45:54
Speaker
It was 2016. Okay, that's 2015. Well, happy anniversary. Thank you. Thank you. Cool. Okay. Um, let's see. Can you ask me a question since your podcaster? Oh, well, it's been hard not to ask you a million questions, but
00:46:11
Speaker
Okay, let me see. What's one that I had on my mind earlier? Well, I did ask you, how do you balance having kids with your podcast and your business? Because I think it's incredible. But oh, good question. I was like, do I balance? That's an honest reply to. Um,
00:46:31
Speaker
I guess for me, like, I don't, I think before I used to love to multitask, but with kids, like it just doesn't work. It's just so stressful. So they either have to be like out of the house with daycare preschool, and then when I have a stop time. So
00:46:48
Speaker
I pick up Piper, my oldest, at like four. So then 3.45, you know, close down shop and then pick her up, do her activities. And then sometimes it's hard to shut it off. So I have to like go to the park and just kind of like lay down or like lay on my stomach and just like relax. And then I try to take a bath with her so I could like zone out. And then that time from like five to like eight, I don't look at my phone.
00:47:16
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, that's good advice for sure. Yeah. So just kind of like I forget about it and then I'm kind of like, oh shoot, like I forget about my phone and it's a good feeling, but you're like, oh, did I miss something? You know? I know. I know. I try to do that on my off weekends because like I think my husband is like, you're on your phone all the time because sometimes I'm like posting on social media or I'm like, yeah, it's a bad world in that sense. But so I love that you take that daily time to like just be with your daughter, you know?
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah, I know. And it's hard, like, I'm trying to do more coaching and kind of not doing the wedding. So that's gonna save like a ton of time because you know, the one day and then pick up drop off is crazy. Yeah. But yeah, let's, let's talk about your last words for wedding professional advice. And then I know you're freebie, like, you know, how you they could work with you and where to find social media.
00:48:12
Speaker
Oh, definitely. So I think my last words of wisdom, uh, I would say just kind of be yourself. Like there's so many creatives in our industry and I know that it can be very overwhelming and you feel like, well, she's doing this or he's doing this. Like should I be doing this? And you know, I think this whole topic that I talked about today really shows like if you just focus on you,
00:48:35
Speaker
Focus on your goals where you want to be in the market and make yourself happy and your and it fulfills your life like you don't need other outside distractions, you know, like use it for inspiration. Great.
Focusing on Authenticity and Personal Goals
00:48:47
Speaker
But yeah, just be yourself and and really know yourself. And I think you'll be able to create like a really healthy business for that. So nice. And how can we work with you and where to find you?
00:48:58
Speaker
Definitely. You can always find me on Instagram at urban underscore soiree or at the confetti hour. If you're interested in mentoring or my speaking engagements, you can go to urban-soiree.com slash mentoring.
00:49:14
Speaker
or, you know, weddingindustriespeakers.com. I know you know Megan Ely, Carissa. She's the best. So I'm listed on her platform of wedding speakers. So find me over there. And if you want to tune into the podcast, I'm wherever you tune in the podcast, but it's the Confetti Hour podcast. And then hopefully, Carissa will come on soon so you can listen to us over there too.
00:49:38
Speaker
Yes, we'll be all over the internet. So I encourage the audience, the listeners to just take a screenshot of this episode and tag both me and Renee and share it and just say like maybe type in your brand position and a couple words and I hope this helps you guys and I love this conversation. You're the best Renee. Thank you, Chris. So you too.
00:50:00
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Get a Heck Yes. I want to give a genuine thank you to our new sponsors, Let's Make Art. You can find them on Instagram. So not everyone has a ton of time or the mental space to set up time for arts and crafts, but Let's Make Art makes it easy with amazing products and tutorials for you so you can focus on the good part, just literally making the art.
00:50:27
Speaker
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00:50:55
Speaker
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00:51:12
Speaker
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00:51:35
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!