Things have changed. The way all of us shop for and buy things has changed dramatically and most wedding businesses have not adapted to this change. Those wedding professionals struggle to book clients, aren?t earning enough money and don?t have any freedom because their business keeps them imprisoned. It doesn?t have to be this way.

People ask me several times a week ? ?How do I book more weddings?? because what used to work doesn?t work anymore. The way we make purchasing decisions has changed ? a LOT.

Here is what most people do to market their businesses. It wasn?t that long ago that marketing was 100% outbound, like shouting into a megaphone and that people could only be reached in a few different ways. In this traditional outbound marketing, companies focus on finding customers. They use techniques that are poorly targeted and that interrupt people. They use cold-calling, print advertising, T.V. advertising, junk mail, and spam.

I?m not saying these are bad avenues, but they are all based on interruption. Technology is making these techniques less effective and more expensive. Caller ID blocks cold calls, TiVo makes T.V. advertising less effective, spam filters block mass emails, and tools like RSS are making print and display advertising less effective. Search engines, blogs and social networks have fundamentally transformed the way the way people purchase products & services but most small businesses are still using the same old outdated & inefficient marketing methods and (no surprise) they?re not working as well as they used to.

My clients don?t interrupt people from what they are interested in ? they become something that people are interested in. This approach is called inbound marketing because it brings clients to you like a magnet instead of chasing them around and screaming at them through a megaphone. Think about it ? when was the last time you bought something from someone based on an outbound marketing tactic like an ad or a cold call? I bet you can remember the last time you bought something based on research you did on Google, a recommendation on social media or a blog post. I bet it wasn?t that long ago!

Oh and inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing and 54% more leads are generated by inbound marketing than by outbound marketing. Inbound marketing costs a LOT less and you build an asset when you do things like write helpful blog posts. That blog post will be around forever and will bring traffic to your site for years to come ? the ad you run in a magazine on the other hand will only be published for as long as you pay for it. It?s a pretty fantastic way of doing business!

The problem is that a lot of people don?t know how to adapt to this new way of marketing and they end up doing what I like to call ?spray & pray?. They market sporadically all over the place and just kind of sit and hope that some people will want to work with them. This doesn?t work and it actually chases your ideal clients away because it make you look unreliable and inconsistent.

You know you need to make some big changes in how you market. You now have a decision to make ? are you going to continue doing the things you?ve always done and get the results you?ve always got or are you ready to make some changes?

Heidi is hosting a free webinar on September 16th that deals with adapting to these changes. All you have to do is click here to secure your spot on the webinar!

About the Author:

Heidi Thompson, founder of Evolve Your Wedding Business has a mission is to help you book more weddings without all of the struggle and stress. Her marketing expertise has been featured in many places including Wedding MBA, Attire Bridal, Planner?s Lounge, Photo Biz Xposed & she?s an advisory board member for the UK Academy Of Wedding & Event Planning.