During these unprecedented times, all small businesses have taken a hit. You might not be booking as much business as you were before and you might be worried about future growth. We’re here to help! As a business coach with 13+ years of experience in the wedding industry, we’re sharing creative ways to improve your business during COVID-19.

Tips From A Business Coach

Founder of Be Inspired PR, Leila Lewis, has been working with wedding brands for over 15 years. She has successfully coached over 350 brands, and she can help you too! If you feel stuck in your business or need someone to talk to about your wedding marketing ideas, a one-on-one session could be perfect for you. We asked Leila to share the tips she’d recommend for small business owners during the coronavirus pandemic.

3 Things To Do Now For Small Business Survival

As a wedding vendor, your small business has likely taken a hit since COVID-19 began. Here are three things you can be working on right now, even in quarantine, to help grow your business.

01. Ramp Up Your Digital Presence

After speaking to many of our wedding vendor PR clients, we’ve found that many brands are choosing this time to pull back on marketing. It makes sense - It seems extra and non-essential during a time of crisis. However, wedding.marketing and your digital presence should be a financial priority. It’s one of the top 3 things that will get you through this time.

With a huge increase in target clients using digital and social media engagement at this time, you have the opportunity to use this time to your advantage. Consumers have doubled their time on social apps, blogs, and Pinterest since the start of the coronavirus crisis. It’s no surprise, given everyone is at home and has the time! You should be using social media right now to mitigate business disruption and protect human connection. Your potential clients want to hear from you! Here are 3 platforms to focus on:

1. Instagram: Use this time to really clarify your overall brand aesthetic. If someone were to take 5 seconds to look at your Instagram feed, would they know who you are? They should see consistent branding, quality photos of your work, and regular posting. A great way to make your Instagram look cohesive is with strategic Instagram highlights. Use the cover designs as a chance to brand your page!

2. Blog Posts: Take this time to create the blog posts and content on your website that you haven’t had time to do before. Curate blog posts with your favorite wedding galleries and include thoughtful, personalized descriptions of your work and your experience with your clients. This will add brand credibility to your website, and helps make sure your website is in its peak form when clients are ready to start booking again.

3. Press Features: Now is a great time to pull out any content you might have been saving and get it featured. If there has ever been a time to focus on wedding marketing, this is it. Don’t go dark right now! Wedding media publications are still sharing content, including real wedding features and expert features with advice from wedding pros like you.

02. Change Your Outlook

If there’s one thing we all need more of right now, it’s hope! Your lack of hope is killing your business and everyone else’s. It’s time for fear-based decision making to stop. If brides are canceling on you, try to convince them to reschedule, and don’t cancel on everyone else. The entire wedding industry is connected, and pulling out of commitments can crash our own industry.

If you do have commitments that you can’t keep up with, try asking for help. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to be flexible during this time! From temporary discounts to penalty-free rescheduling, we can all help each other survive.

Try to continue thinking long-term. Where do you want to be at the end of this? Rash decisions in the short term can hurt your wedding business later this year. Love will always win, and there will be more weddings! People will still get married later this year, and next year, and the year after that. Work on keeping your business top of mind so you don’t fall behind in 2021 and beyond.

03. How Can You Add Value Now?

The last tip we’ll leave you with is to think about ways you can add value in your business right now. What can you be doing virtually to help your current and future clients? Here are a few ideas for wedding businesses:

1. Discounted Pricing: We’re offering business coaching and wedding PR discounts right now, and we have no shame in it! We want to help wedding vendors and business owners that need it and keep our business operating as normal as possible. If you’re able to offer discounts, it’s a great way to book business during a tough time and create future goodwill.

2. Launch Something New: The coronavirus pandemic might affect the wedding industry for long after this ends. What can you offer that will be evergreen in your business, no matter what’s going on around you?

3. Ask Your Wedding Community & Clients What They Need: When in doubt, ask for help! Ask your network how you can best serve and support them right now. Create polls on social media or ask your newsletter subscribers to reply directly with their thoughts. Find out exactly what your target clients are looking for and see if you can make adjustments or add services to directly meet their needs.

Hire A Wedding PR Firm

We hope that these wedding business tips during COVID-19 have inspired you in your business! If you need help posting on social media or managing your wedding PR submissions, get in touch with our team today. We’re here for you now, and we’ll be here when this is all over. Stay safe & healthy!