Picture this: You’re set to walk down the aisle in six months and can’t wait to get that band to tell the world you’re off the market. But before then, like with all weddings, you’ll have to plan and assemble an army of service providers to make the day a success. The problem is –you have no idea where to start.

You can choose to play detective and scour wedding service providers’ websites online and hope what their promise is actually what they deliver. Alternatively, you can turn to your married loved ones for referrals. Anyone would sleep better at night with the second option because it is built on trust.

Ways to Make Referrals Work for You

Even with tech that works like a magic potion, referrals are the most dependable way to market your wedding brand. They are like a loved one reassuring someone they care about that they’ve tried and tested a particular brand and know through experience that the service provider will deliver good results.

This fact is critical in an industry where mistakes travel like wildfire and where couples can blame you for the rest of their lives for ruining their wedding. The best route for you to follow is to become the best at what you do then exhaust the power of referrals by creating a stellar referral strategy. Here’s how you can inspire your past clients to tell others to hire you:

Give your Clients a Reason to Recommend you to Someone

Think about why you shop at brand A and not B or why you prefer a particular pet food delivery company that’s far from you, even though there’s one just a block from you.

Maybe it’s the excellent customer service, or they’re keen to give back to society. It could be that the quality of their products is unmatched. The positive factors that set a business apart are crucial in developing a brand’s strength, and in turn, that strength sets the stage for clients to refer it to others.

To increase referrals, boost your brand strength by displaying it in all your communication efforts online and offline.

Create a Referral Program

A referral program is a strategy that encourages past clients to bring in new clients by praising your good work. There are several steps to building a strong referral program:

• Set goals
• Identify channels to host your referral program.
• Determine appropriate incentives
• Automate tracking and promotion with referral software to gauge the most successful platforms

Once your referral program is done, produce marketing content that allows you to promote it and put your name out there on different avenues.

Identify your Ideal Client and Share a Detailed Description of them with Brand Advocates

An advocate is a client who’s passionate about your brand and tells those around them about you. Unfortunately, these extremely useful clients don’t always know when other people need to contact you and may recommend someone who needs a service you can’t offer.

For instance, you could be a wedding planner who serves couples who want luxury weddings. However, an advocate may refer couples who want a simple wedding to you, thinking you’ll be good for them too.

But when your advocate has more details about your ideal audience’s characteristics –high-end, extremely busy, professional, uptown, etc., they have a better gauge to rely on before they refer anyone to you.

Create a small document that tells your advocates when to refer their loved ones and distribute it through your social channels and website.

Capitalize on Compliments

When a satisfied client writes a review or sends you a thank you note detailing how your skills made their big day a success, capitalize on the moment to solicit for referrals.

Please don’t presume that a satisfied client will keep you in mind and refer you as soon as they get the opportunity. Most people will move on to their honeymoon, start a new life, and become consumed living their new life.

Instead, tell them you’d appreciate it if they referred you to people who fit your ideal client. Don’t forget to share your business card or other marketing materials they can distribute easily when the moment arises.

It would also help to ask them to mention you on social media when they post their wedding photos. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer with a brand called Cliqued Studios, ask the couple to include a link to your website along with the message’ photography by Cliqued Studios’.

Contact Clients after a Wedding for Testimonials and Referrals

Say your clients didn’t make time to compliment you. You can still contact them and ask for a testimonial and referral.

Testimonials allow clients to tell a story of how your work helped solve a problem or, in the case of wedding professionals, how your skillset made a great wedding.

They help your prospects assess your previous projects, hear why your clients enjoyed your work, and get a hint of your work style, your client personas, and your expertise.

Ask for testimonials from clients you gelled with the most by emailing or calling them. Emails work excellently because they provide room to share guidelines on how to write a testimonial.

If a client is up for a testimonial, they’d also gladly share your business card with people who need you.

To further understand the impact of client testimonials and how to effectively request them, be sure to read our detailed guide on Leveraging Testimonials for Your Wedding Business Website.

Advertise at the Wedding

Advertising at the wedding is basically about recommending yourself to propsects. However, you have to be careful with this tip because you can overdo it and steal the show from the real stars.

Consider a décor professional who wants to ensure they get noticed and remembered by every guest. The right place to start is to do a spectacular job. People notice excellent work, and most will ask who did it. This presents an opportunity to appeal to people who plan to have their wedding.

Also, bring business cards and pass them to guests when the wedding ends. This method is subtle and unobtrusive and will give any potential clients a contact address to use.

Also, ask the master of ceremony to mention your brand and where you’re located in the vote of thanks. They could also make a statement that nudges the guests to contact you when they require kind of services you’re offering.

Referrals Come with a Bonus

Beyond being an inexpensive way to get wedding leads, recommendations are a magnet for qualified leads.

Referral traffic is created when people visit your website from other sources using the search box on search engines to find you.

When a user clicks on a link from a social app or website and it takes them to a different site, Google identifies the user as a referral.

Referrals are a product of backlinks. Well-done backlinks help brands establish continous extra traffic sources for their website because links are shared from one site to another often.

Sharing your testimonials on social media can help you drive tons of referral traffic.

Finally

There’s a flurry of options out there for you to grow your wedding business but it’s not always about mastering the next tech jaggernaut device to do it.

Referrals and personal recommendations do a better job at convincing people to turn to you and not hundreds of others in the same space. Whatever you do, remember that word of mouth only occurs when you offer outstanding service.

Also, when a referral materializes, don’t stifle the chances of getting a new client because your website doesn’t reflect the person past clients said you were. For insights on creating a website that not only looks beautiful but also effectively drives bookings, explore our blog on Creating a Stunning Wedding Venue Website that Drives Bookings and Enchants Couples!

I Do Design can help get a website design that’s as pretty as a picture and highly functional. We thrive on the passion to create websites designs with unforgettable visuals and have a long list of clients whose businesses have never been the same because of it. Make your website design reflect world-class service. Contact us today!