3 Reasons Why You Should Share Your Event Planning Secrets

Event planners need to share their secrets. Yes, really! During my time as an event planner, I’ve noticed one major aspect of this industry: it’s guarded and secretive. Try to ask a fellow event planner about a design idea of theirs and you’ll probably get a politician sort of answer, where they skirt around the question and talk about something else. You say, well what about books? Aren’t event planning books designed with all the need-to-know secrets? Nope! Books and event planning certifications are chock-full of how to run a wedding and technical advice, but they contain no realistic details or help when it comes to a planning and designing an event.

What gives? As many other event planners will tell you, the event planning industry is oversaturated with people, making competition a huge deal. Well, let me just say this, event planners, there’s enough people getting married out there for everyone to have a slice of the pie. If my Facebook feed is any indication of the weddings to come, there will be plenty of need for event planners. But if you need more convincing to get you to share your secrets, here are three additional reasons!

Reason #1- The Right Client

Event planners all have unique styles and techniques for how they plan/design weddings. A client might approach you with an idea for their wedding, or have eclectic requests that simply don’t fit your style of design. What do you do? Do you force it and try to make it work? Well, if you knew another event planner’s style and design, you could recommend the client to try their services instead and vice versa.

Don’t force yourself to work with a client that isn’t a good fit for your business. Define your niche and what makes you, you in the event planning industry!

Reason #2- Raise the Bar

Thanks to Pinterest, everybody thinks a professional event planner is irrelevant. This only makes the argument for sharing your secrets stronger!  When you share ideas, trends, and styles with your fellow event planner, you are setting the bar—no one else!

Work together and take the event planning industry back from the DIYer. Start working together to do so, today.

Reason #3- Inspiration

Although you might share your idea with a fellow event planner, we’re all individuals and will have a different way of creating something. What you do to gain clients, decorate a reception area, or stay organized is what works for you, but it can also be inspiration for someone else to find what works best for them. Sharing secrets can help you become someone’s inspiration!

There’s plenty of fish in the sea, so don’t be afraid to share your secrets with your fellow event planners. When you do, not only are you helping the industry grow stronger, you’re honing your skills and standing out in the crowd as a voice of the industry. Here at Inspherio, we’re an open book! Stay tuned to hear all our secrets on how to be successful in the event planning industry. Or to stay a step ahead, join Inspherio. It’s the business management solution designed exclusively for the event planning industry. We’ll help you plan your success. And did we mention, it’s free for 30 days?

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Why Google Plus Should Matter to You

When searching for an Event Planner, Photographer, Caterer, DJ, or Reception Hall, many clients will begin with a Google search. Businesses will often find themselves on the second or third (or sometimes tenth) page, causing them to be undiscovered by countless potential clients. One way Google’s search rank is affected is through Google Plus +1’s (similar to a Facebook like) which can only be earned if your company has a Google Plus page. Google Plus can also help to market your small business, improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and gain more exposure to potential clients, here’s how:

Connect with your peers
You can do this by joining communities, creating circles, and getting others to follow you. For a caterer, joining the “catering” community as well as the “wedding” community can help gain more +1s on your posted content, as well as, your company page. Also, follow leaders in your industry and comment on their posts so you can increase your exposure to your peers. Find more relevant content and communities to join by clicking the hashtag on a relevant post, it will provide more posts and users to connect with.

Target your market
You can also separate your different potential clients by creating circles. For example, you can create a “loyal clients” circle and send only those clients a thank you message for their business. Additionally, by creating a “future clients” circle you can post promotions and samples of your work only to that circle. You can also post to “Extended Circles” which will include everyone in your circles and everyone in their circles.

Increase your reach
Post shareable, interesting content to get more followers. When a follower searches for “caterers” in Google, while they are logged into Google Plus, your catering website will be more likely to appear higher in Google search rank than before (as long as you have linked your company website with your Google Plus). This has been found to help search rank temporarily, unless you continue to get more +1s. It should be noted that Google Plus is not a two-way street, just because you follow someone and see their posts, does not mean they follow you or have seen any of your posts.

Even with many critics, Google Plus should be used seriously in order to gain exposure to new clients and improve SEO. If you’re unsure of how to proceed with Google Plus, follow this flowchart to get started.

And don't forget to +1 Inspherio's own Google Plus page!

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