Do you know who buys your wedding product or service?
And I mean really know them – it’s not enough to just say any bride and groom living within a 25 mile radius of where you live.
Understanding your ideal customer is so important because it underpins everything you do in your marketing.
Unless you know WHO you are marketing to, it’s difficult to decide WHAT to do.
Identifying your ideal bride & groom
If you’ve been in business a while then you can look at those customers who were a joy to work with, who really loved what you do and who brought you a healthy profit.
If you’re just starting out then you’ll need to use some imagination and do a bit of research by asking your friends, family and on social media.
Here’s some things you’ll want to think about:
Who are they?
- Where do they live?
- Are they young? Older? Do they already have children?
- What’s their typical household income?
- Are they a same sex couple?
What type of wedding?
- Big family event
- Small intimate wedding
- What type of venue – church + marquee reception, country hotel, register office and church hall
- Have they a particular style like vintage retro, English country, beach wedding?
- Do they have a particular religious or ethnic background?
Their budget
It’s important to target your services at couples with the right kind of budget. But bear in mind that two couples with similar overall wedding budgets can have very different looking weddings and can spend that budget in very different ways.
And remember that every bride from the most frugal to the most extravagant is looking for value from suppliers – and each will have their own idea about what value means.
What is important to them?
- Having a big party
- Making sure all their guests have a great time
- Having lots of personal touches
- The latest styles
- Being different
- Being traditional
For really effective marketing you need to tap into their emotions so think about what motivates them about their wedding.
Also think about the things they value which are specific to your product or service.
If you’re a photographer would they be excited about seeing their wedding featured in a magazine? Many will – but others might find it intrusive.
For cakes do they want something that looks spectacular or are they more worried about taste or catering to people with allergies and intolerances?
Do they want to get involved in every last detail or are they time poor professionals who want everything sorted for them so they just have to turn up on the day and enjoy themselves.
Really think about what makes them tick.
Finding your ideal customer
Now you know what type of person you are looking for, you need to think about how they choose suppliers for their wedding.
- Are they going to hire a wedding planner?
- Will they use their venue coordinator’s recommendations?
- Will they spend hours reading blogs and/or magazines?
- Are they going to go to wedding fairs?
- Do they spend lots of time on social media looking for recommendations?
- Is it the bridal couple making all the decision? Or their mothers?
This will help you decide where to target your marketing.
Describing your ideal customer
So now you’ve got to know your ideal customer very well, try to describe them in one or two sentences.
For example:
“My ideal clients are a busy professional couple in their 30s who have children, are getting married in a 30 mile radius of Oxford with a budget of £1,000 for wedding flowers. They know very little about flowers and will be happy to be guided by their venue coordinator to choose their florist.”
Keep this description in your mind whenever you need to make a decision about marketing your business.
Reality check
Finally, before you start planning your marketing around this ideal customer, check that there are enough of them around to sustain your business.
Of course, not all your customers will be ideal. But by targeting your marketing to that ideal customer, you’ll have a much better success rate.
