19. Stop Attracting Price Shoppers

When you're repeatedly ghosted, or told you're too expensive, and you wonder why...struggling wedding pros typically look inward first - wondering if it's your work, your website, is it because you don't have enough followers or likes...

But here's the crazy thing. It's actually not you at all. It's your marketing.

Successful Creatives make the world brighter. Follow @theewingsstudio on instagram for weekly tips and tricks to uplevel your bookings and increase profits so that you can accomplish all of the goals on your heart.

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All right. We're in a bit of an epidemic here, and it's called price shoppers. What this looks like is an inbox full of inquiries who indicated a certain level of interest. But they got your price list and have completely ghosted, or just seem pretty disinterested in connecting with you in the 1st place. So you're wondering why they even bother dropping the inquiry on your form, when your website already says what your starting price point is? Well, now is the time to get this figured out because we’re getting into the end of October, and this is the time of year where it's really critical to make sure that your year is pretty close to full for next year. You should definitely be at least halfway full, if not approaching capacity. You've got most of your dates filled, and if you don't, then we need to really look at what's going on with your inquiries so that we can get this fixed. The plus side to a business that books a year in advance is you have a really strong idea of what your revenue looks like for next year. The downside is, if there is any sort of upset happening with your enquiry process or your booking process, you have to get it figured out so far in advance, or your next year results could be really poor based on what's going on in your business right now. 

Let’s face it, most of us would rather be making art than running a successful business. But here's the thing. We can 100% do both. If you want a creative business that you and your clients adore and that supports the life of your dreams, you're in the right place. My name is Erica Ewing, and I'm here to challenge you to define your best life and then to cheer you on as you build a business that supports just that. Welcome to the Successful Creatives podcast.

This episode is all about price shoppers, and what I want to do is really help you figure out if you’re currently attracting price shoppers, and if you are: how you can turn things around because it’s really an important time of year. We've got just a couple of months before the next year begins, and right now is going to be busy booking season for all of the 2024 couples. Most people want to have most of their vendors lined up before the year of their wedding, so it's critical. I think we're all on the same page when it comes to what a price shopper actually is. Just to be really clear, price shoppers are someone who drops an inquiry in your form or sends you a DM and they ask for more information. What they're looking for is your price list, basically, right. So you get an email, you send your email back with the price list and then you never hear again.

You just got ghosted. It's so prevalent right now. It doesn't need to be the case. But it's happening to a lot of very talented wedding creatives. And it's a real bummer if you’re constantly dealing with price shoppers, you're just going to feel stuck right now. If you are in that camp where you're dealing with the price shoppers, your bookings are probably down. Maybe your prices are down too. You might be in a case where you feel a little bit desperate for bookings. You might be discounting packages, throwing things in to make them more valuable. Basically, you know that you're underselling yourself and at the end of the day, if you don't figure out how to get rid of the price shoppers and really dig into the high quality, ready to book wedding inquiries. You're going to get to the point where you might start to question if you're even cut out for this, and if you're already in that place, then this episode is going to be a big help. Because I'm going to help you figure out why this is happening in your business and give you some steps that you can take to work through it. The truth is that when you're repeatedly ghosted or told that you're too expensive, which this is interesting.

Side note. I know that as my prices have increased over the years, I get told less and less often that I'm too expensive. Isn't that interesting? That happens more at lower price points. It's a strange phenomenon that we can talk about at another time, but if you're wondering why this is happening, you're probably starting to look at all of the things that could be contributors. So maybe you're thinking about the quality of your work. Maybe you're thinking that you need a new website, or your website’s out of date, and that's why it's happening. Or because you don't have enough followers on Instagram or your posts aren't getting enough likes, you're probably turning off the like count on your posts a lot. You know, trying to do all these little things to elevate your expertise and how you're showing up online. But I want to tell you something, here’s the crazy thing. It's actually not you at all. It's not your work. It's not your personality. It's not your website. It's not your social media, it's your marketing. If you're currently attracting price shoppers, I want to ask you about your marketing. I'm guessing that you are relying on 1 of 2 things, or maybe both.  To market your wedding business. #1 would be social media. So Instagram. Facebook, TikTok. #2 would be a paid wedding website listing like The Knot or Wedding Wire.

Did I totally just call you out? Praise shopping happens because you're attracting low quality inquiries. They don't have that know like trust built with you yet. So they're going by what they know on how to judge a vendor. And that's by price. You haven't built up value with them. This also goes for anyone who is paying for listings too. I see all of these ads on Instagram and Facebook, and it's like I just booked 8 new weddings in the last 2 weeks and brought in $20,000 more into my business. Yes, they are probably running ads. Ads bring in low quality inquiries, and sure, you can book a bunch of inquiries like through that. That probably a decent place for beginners to start at a really low price point. But if you're trying to elevate your photography business or your wedding business, that's not necessarily where you want to go for high quality inquiries. High quality inquiries are the people who already have a certain level of know like trust with you. They are excited to speak with you specifically. They are ready to book, and they're hoping that you're going to be the person that will solve their problem. The problem with Instagram and paid listings is that they’re essentially shopping malls for a couple who's looking to pick their vendors.

It's like you've gotten together. You know, dozens, if not 100’s or 1,000’s of the same type of vendor as you, and you've put them all in 1 place with all of the other vendors also. So you've created this shopping experience for your couples, which is why you're getting the price shopping. Does this make sense? 

So let's just talk about when someone goes to Wedding Wire and they pop in that they're getting married in Boston and they want a wedding photographer in the Boston area. Actually, hang on, let me just look this up right now. Okay. I literally just punched in wedding photographers in Boston into Wedding wire, and I got 737 results. 737. How is any couple supposed to navigate that number of wedding photographers in the way that this site is structured is the people who pay for their listings. So they do a sponsored listing. They're at the front of the pack and they're considered spotlighted. Or that might even be an extra up-charge for that. There's featured in all of these. They've got 1 image on the front and their price point. This site is basically designed to help couples just price shop wedding vendors. That's really what it is. It's a giant shopping mall filled with a sea of highly underpriced wedding vendors. And now I'm seeing there's a feature to add a coupon too.

So like 1 of these 1st page vendors for the Boston area has a save 10% button on their home screen. They're literally asking you to just join this giant comparison where you have a billboard of your price in the window, you know, thinking about like the mall analogy where Wedding Wire is like a giant shopping mall for couples and you've all got just one little sample of your work, whatever fits in the window, along with a giant price tag and then whatever sale happens to be going on. So if you think about it like this, then it makes sense that brides and grooms are going through this process and they're using price as their main factor. If you're trying to navigate through 737 wedding photographers in the Boston area. Price is going to end up being a big factor because that's like the primary way to see the difference, right? I'm looking through all of these pictures and they're all really beautiful. They all show happy couples in love. This is everybody's best work, right? So the thing that's going to be the most different is price and whatever that coupon is. Okay, the same thing is happening on Instagram too. Plus then on Instagram, you're also vying for attention away from all the other types of vendors that are on there, too. It's the places that bring together like dozens and dozens or 100’s of 100’s of vendors, where it starts to become like a shopping mall and your prospective client is able to submit forms or send DMs on a whole bunch of accounts without having to really spend much time or thought in doing it.

That's why so much ghosting and price shopping happens. If social media and paid listings, whether it be like ads on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok. If paid ads or paid listings on wedding websites are your primary source of inquiries, you're going to see a high level of price shopping. It is what it is. So you have a couple of options. You can, you know, continue to do what you're doing right now. Just deal with it and weed through all of the mess to find the good ones in there. Because of course, when you're going by volume, you're going to have some good ones in there too. But really the impact by having to deal with couples that aren't here for you, couples who are here for insert wedding vendor at insert town, that’s what they're here for. So they're going to find their person eventually and probably a lot of it is going to be driven by price. But if you want to get out of that world and you want to start attracting couples who are here for you, couples who are specifically looking for you online, specifically seeking you out, reaching out in, are so excited to talk to you, then you've got to shift your marketing.

I was helping one of my clients last year with her marketing. She's a wedding photographer in the Boston area and she was very busy Monday through Friday fielding inquiries and responding to emails. She had sent me a note one day that was like, I just can't do it anymore. 22 emails back and forth and then finally, this person just sent me the email that she went in another direction. So when we 1st started working together, I looked at her marketing and we made some pretty drastic changes pretty quickly. She happened to be coming up on her annual subscription re-up with one of those paid wedding sites, and I recommended that she didn't do it. I recommended she did not sign up for it, and she focused her attention in other areas. Like within the 1st couple of months after not doing it, she had updated me on her situation and she had saved over $3,000. I want to say it was $3,200 in that sponsorship, and she had increased her bookings and increased investment levels. People were investing about $2,000 more per booking. One of the big changes was she cut out all of the garbage that was coming in from this wedding website. I'm not saying that you should go cancel your subscription right now if you're having success on there.

Keep it. You never want to take anything away that’s working, that’s effective. Just because somebody says that it wasn't working for somebody else. A big piece to marketing is really looking at your own situation, your own business. A lot of things factor into this at price point, location, years of experience. There's so much that factors into what your specific marketing plan should be. So with me, in all of my advice on this podcast and with anybody else, any other experts, please don't ever take a suggestion or a story that has worked for somebody else and just assume it's going to work for your own business, because in a case like this, it is like you really want to be mindful of what your marketing strategy is and if it's working for you. If paid listings are currently working for you, then don't cancel it right now. It depends honestly, mostly on your price point and in how long you've been in business and all that good stuff. The higher your price point, the longer you've been in business, the more experienced and luxury you are. You're going to struggle more on sites like that. So what can you do to increase the quality of your inquiries? Well, you've got to shift your marketing strategy. If you're thinking, well, everybody’s on Instagram and that's how everyone's building their business right now.

Everybody clearly is on the Wedding Wire in the not 737 in the Boston area. Looking at it from the outside, it seems like this is where people are having success, right? You just look at the #’s, the volume that you see. And, it just seems like social proof that these things work right in social media, in particularly Instagram play such an important part in your marketing strategy, but it should not be the #1 place that you should be getting inquiries, because they will not be the high quality inquiries who are here for you. If you are really serious about wanting to attract couples who are interested in you and #1, who are excited to talk to you, who are not reaching out just for your price list and are never actually going to pursue a real conversation with you. Then it's time to start turning your business into a magnet to referrals. Referrals are where it's at. Now let me tell you why. I've got a couple of stats for you that I just think helped paint the picture of how powerful referrals are. So 88% of people, consumers have the highest level of trust in a brand. When a friend or family member recommends it. Word of mouth. So referrals is more effective than paid ads and results in 5 times as much sales.

When I was saying that paid ads can be really effective as a part of your marketing plan, if you are a lower budget vendor, that's 100% true. But you have to know that it's not the most effective way to spend your time or your money. Okay. You will likely get inquiries from doing it, but it's a volume game and you're spending a lot of money when you can be doing something that has such a longer shelf life and takes significantly less of a dollar investment. People buy from companies and brands and people that they know, like and trust, and 90% of people are much more likely to trust a recommended brand, even if it was recommended from strangers. Isn't that really interesting when you're on social media, in those paid listings or paid ads, you're not a recommended brand. You are a needle among millions of needles in a massive needle haystack. Not only are people significantly more likely to purchase from a recommended brand, these referrals can be so long lasting, and they can also be instant. The majority of preferred vendor lists that we're on, were added the very 1st time that we worked at this venue. That's pretty instant. So when you think about the amount of time and money that goes into. All of the posting on social media and all of the time that you spend trying to create the perfect reel to, you know, level up your how you're showing up online or to attract your clients.

If you take a fraction of that time and focus on building a connection, you would be so surprised how instant it can be and how long lasting this can be. So there's 1 venue in particular that I think of that we were added to their preferred vendor list the very 1st time we photographed there, and we had photographed a total of 2 weddings there, our price point kind of skyrocketed, to be honest with you. I continued to raise my prices pretty aggressively over the 1st few years of our business when I went basically from a hobby to a full time job for me to helping Ben leave his engineering career so that he could come work with me full time. So I had a pretty aggressive growth period, but this venue, which we priced ourselves out of very quickly, sent us referrals for 10 straight years. Because of the very first time that we worked there. Can you imagine any 1 post that you've posted on Instagram that will continue to keep you receiving referrals for 10 years? And it didn't cost us a dollar, it didn't cost us much time at all. It was just really all about creating that intentional connection. You've got to stop relying on the information malls.

That's Instagram, that's Facebook, that's TikTok. You know, that's social media. And that's also those paid listing sites. Those, my friend, are the shopping malls of wedding planning, you deserve more. It’s time to up level your marketing and call in those couples that are looking for you, the couples that are referred to you and want to talk to you. 

We talked about a bride going to 1 of those wedding listing sites and coming up with 737 results for wedding photographers, right? We kind of brainstormed what that would look like, where she's submitting a whole bunch of forms, a whole bunch of requests for information. Then she's getting back a whole bunch of emails, and she's primarily focused on price, because that's the biggest differentiator, because she isn't particularly, like she's not married to any of those people. She's not seeking any of those people out specifically. Right. So let's look at a situation on the flip side. Imagine this: We’ve got a bride, she's currently researching her venue online. She's just found a blog post by you on Google and it's of her venue and the pictures are gorgeous. Then she goes on a tour at her venue. Maybe she's already booked and she opens up her welcome packet, and she's so excited to see who the venue suggests that she reach out to.

Your name is on the preferred list. Now she's just found you on Google and she was already digging your work, and now she's seeing that her venue also digs you. They recommend you. Lastly, she goes to Instagram because that is like the new search platform and she loves everything that she's seeing. It sort of reinforces what she was already thinking. She submits the form to you and instead of submitting to a whole bunch of other people, she's refreshing her inbox every 10 minutes waiting to see if you're available. Do you see the difference here? She went to Instagram to look for you specifically. She didn't go looking for Boston wedding photographers in general. She went to look for you. She's already got 2 different sources that say that you are the photographer, that she should be looking at. The thing with Google and Pinterest too, is that you can borrow you can leverage these search sites to borrow an expertise from them. So Google serves up your results because they're saying like: “hey, this person is an expert at that venue and photographing weddings at that venue, and people start to take that also as social proof that you are a legit resource for this type of wedding that they have”. Then when they have a personal referral, that also echoes that this is when your business really turns into a magnetic brand, and marketing gets so easy and you find yourself spending very little time worrying about Instagram, worrying about what to post online, you spend more time responding to inquiries who are excited to talk to you.

This is how you get the: “I love your email so much I can't wait to connect”. This is how you don't ever get ghosted. This is how people never cancel on you for your consultations. This is how you can increase your bookings and your price point. It’s simply a shift in your marketing. You don't have to be the best photographer out there. You don't have to have the fanciest equipment. You don't need to be shooting at the most epic venues. You just need a really solid marketing strategy that is built on becoming an absolute magnet to the weddings and the clients that you want. There are 3 things that I want you to keep in mind as you start to think about how you can turn your business into a referral machine. #1 is to focus on making real connections with people. Put yourself in the frame of mind that everyone that you come in contact with is thinking, what's in it for me? Right. Everybody is going to. We all do this. It's human nature. Every time you talk to somebody, you're thinking, what's in it for me? Particularly when it's in a business transaction.

So what you want to do is be thinking proactively, how can I make this about them? How can I give them value, whoever them is, whether it be a venue, another vendor, a client, another photographer. If you’re a photographer, 1 of your #1 sources of referrals should be other photographers. This goes for whatever type of business you're in. If you're a florist, your #1 referral source should be other florists. As a date based business. Being in a date based industry, we all have the luxury that we can't be available for every single date. So the same goes for your competitors too, and this is where community over competition really comes into play. We can support each other through businesses and we can also like through camaraderie in that sort of thing, be each other's co-workers. Business starts to feel a lot less lonely when you have some remote coworkers who are doing the same thing you're doing and feeling the same struggles, but we can also help each other fill all of our dates, right? So if I am booked for June 6th of next year, I can send that referral to my photographer coworkers, my photographer buddies, and they will do the same thing for me when they have. Maybe it's like September 20th, they're booked on that date and they send the referral to me. This is how we all help move our businesses forward together.

So focus on real connections and approach it as how can you serve and really what's in it for me from their perspective? How can you serve them? What's in it for them? Okay, put your ego aside. This is something that is really big in the wedding industry in general, but definitely amongst photographers. There's this feeling that I'm not good enough to be networking with this photographer. This photographer is too busy for me to reach out. Why would they ever want to have coffee with me? That's your ego trying to keep you small. It's trying to keep you safe. If you've never really heard, you know, talks about the ego and what it does to try to self preserve, part of it is keeping you where you are right now. It's why sometimes people struggle with growth. A lot of it is ego driven, right? So if you're having any of these thoughts come up about, I'm not, you know, talented enough to be reaching out to this photographer that I feel like I would have a really beautiful connection with. You've got to start pushing through it. Okay? Just send an email. I made a free guide that actually has email templates in it to help you connect with the venue, to help you connect with other photographers or other creatives in your specialty.

Go grab that. That's in my link in bio on Instagram. That's on my website. It's called The Skyrocket Your Wedding Referrals guide and it's all about my workflow that honestly really works. It has those free email templates. So go do that. Just push yourself to connect with at least a few a week until you really find the right people. Then on the flip side, if you're feeling like I am too talented for this, if you happen to be in that boat. I've always been in the other boat where I'm feeling like I'm not good enough. But if you are feeling like: hey, I've been doing this for a really long time and I shouldn't need to be making connections at my work is at a certain threshold and I shouldn't need to reach out. I did all this 10 years ago. We're all in cycles of our business, and maybe it's time to take a step back if your wedding inquiries have become stale and if the quality has started to deteriorate. Take a check on your ego, too. On the flip side, get yourself out there, switch things up. Make it fresh again, make those new connections and know that not every connection is going to be beautiful. Okay. 

The very first time when I first started my business, I was very active in a lot of in-person events. I was advertising on The Knot, so I did get invited to go to their industry parties when they came to the area, which was great. I think those sorts of things make it actually worth the listing when you're newer in your business is, but you have to go to those in-person things to make it worth your while. So anyways, I had done a little bit of research. I found another photographer who I saw was going to the event. We had similar work, seemed to have a similar approach to how we photographed weddings, and I was really excited to meet her. So I got in the room, I found her and I introduced myself, and we started chatting. This was my very first attempt at making a connection. I said to her, hey, we should share referrals. I get a ton of inquiries through The Knot and we should we should like, share referrals. She looked at me and point blank said, I would never refer you because your price point is too low. She wasn't wrong. But I also wouldn't ever want to be in a connection with someone who was just that inconsiderate of other people's feelings. It was very aggressive. It was very dismissive. She definitely thought she was significantly better than me because her prices were higher. That's fine. I didn't stop trying to find the right connections.

I didn't stop going to these events. I want to tell you the story, because I want you to know that I talk about how referrals can be instant, and they 100% can be, but it doesn't mean it's going to be your very 1st time. Okay, so same thing with ego. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. I definitely had a little bit of a bruised ego after that, but I thought about what she said and she was right. And I did not long after raise my prices, not because she said it, but because I started to actually look at my real numbers in my real prices and set real goals. I discovered that I was grossly underpriced. But I kept on looking for those connections and I found them. I have had so many beautiful connections with other photographers that have filled up like that have given me life. Just working alone can be really lonely and when you find connections that really you resonate with and you really get along with and you can support their businesses and they can support you. You’re almost just as happy when they say that one of your referrals booked with them as you are when you book your own weddings. This is when business starts to get really exciting. It starts to feel really easy. It starts to feel like you're in it with other people.

This is where you want to get your business. So make those connections and then serve your clients well. The #1 thing that you can do to build your business is to serve your clients and this spreads beyond just client referrals. I've had many venues say the reason I added you to the list is because your client raved about you. Okay, I have had over $168,000 worth of weddings come through. That's probably even closer to $200,000 now at this point. From 1, it all stems from 1 bride. I'm going to do a whole episode on this 1 situation. But basically, this 1 bride entered my world. We have a very excellent client experience. Our clients feel very loved because they feel treasured, they feel taken care of, and they want to talk about that experience. This 1 client talked about it to everyone that she knew. I think the year after her wedding, we booked like 7 of 7 other couples from her referrals and those referrals, those weddings ended up getting us on vendor lists and venue lists at some really prestigious venues in the New England area, and this really catapulted our business. So serve your clients well. 

Just to recap those 3 points. #1, focus on making real connections. Approach everyone as what's in it for them. What can you do to to serve them and to make their businesses easier or better, or their lives better? #2, put your ego aside and keep pursuing connections until you find the 1’s that really work for you. And #3, serve your clients well. Focus on these 3 things over posting on social media. You still want to show up there, but spend less time thinking and worrying about what you're posting on social media and more on these 3 areas. You're going to see your business start to turn into an absolute referral machine.

My students have been asking me how to attract quality wedding inquiries, the 1's that are ready to book and who are excited to talk with you. So I'm putting together the complete process that shows exactly how I do it in my own business, and I'm turning it into a monthly resource for you called the Magnetic Marketing Mastery. It's going to be all about helping wedding professionals really reach those high quality wedding inquiries, so that you can book them quicker and have more success than you ever thought possible. This is going to be coming out in the next couple of weeks, with a bonus masterclass all about how to attract a steady stream of quality wedding inquiries on autopilot. Go to magneticweddingpro.com and add your name to the list. You’ll be the 1st ones to know about any releases and any bonuses that we're going to be doing for the founding members, which are going to be huge.