Running a business as a wedding venue can be fun and profitable. It can also be overwhelming if you have a lot of competition and don’t know how to make your business stand out. If you want to start a business in this way, there are a few things you should think about.
The wedding booth photo app and portable photo booth from Gifyyy can help your business get off the ground and give your guests a fun way to make memories that will last a lifetime. When you first start your business, think about the following tips.
How to start a business as a wedding venue
Be honest about how well you can handle bumps and barriers in your small business. Before you start your business plan for a wedding venue, ask yourself:
- Can you afford to take the chance of starting a new business in a market that may be already full?
- Are you ready to work weekends? Most weddings happen at night or on the weekend. You might have help, but expect to be busy when other people are taking it easy.
- Will you be able to handle the stress? It’s stressful to start a business, no matter what it is. Before starting a small business, try to cut down on other sources of stress.
Think About Your Competitors
How many places to get married are there in your area? It’s essential to find out what other options are out there and then think about how you can stand out. Some questions to ask include:
- Which places are already open?
- What do you have that other places don’t?
- Are the other places full? Do people still want it?
Talk to people about other places to go, and then go to those places yourself. Check with friends and family to see if they know anything about competing locations.
Think of a Name for the Wedding Venue
Make your business name unique, interesting, and easy to remember. When choosing a name for a wedding venue, think about the types of weddings and customers you want to attract. A fancy place needs a name that makes you think of fancy parties and white-glove service. A rural, laid-back place should make you think of happy times without stiff upper lips. Make sure that whatever you choose means something to you.
What Is Your Plan for the Market?
How will you tell people about your new place? Have you done this before, or will you have to hire someone to help you? Since so much marketing is done on social media sites, do you know what platforms are popular at the moment? Consider your marketing budget. If people don’t know about your venue, they can’t book it.
Once you know what your name is and how you want to market yourself, you can start to get your name out there. Open social media accounts. Most of the time, your handle is the name of your venue, but when you do research, look for words you don’t want. You don’t want your name to be linked to something else. Instagram and Facebook are used by a lot of wedding venues. To get appointments, make social media accounts before you launch.
Don’t ignore the magazines in your area. Even though most information is online, couples still read local business magazines while waiting at the doctor’s office or looking at wedding clothes. Make sure your location is listed in magazines for wedding planners and luxury journals, as well as magazines that focus on weddings.
Read online reviews once your business is up and running. People should keep an eye on Yelp and Google Reviews. Quickly respond to both good and bad reviews. If people give you good feedback, say “thank you!” “We’re glad we helped make your wedding a big deal!” Apologize for the bad reviews and ask them to get in touch with you to talk about it. People want to be heard, so try to listen to them.
What’s Different About Your Venue?
It could be where you are or what you offer. You could, for example, offer a photo booth at your events. Gifyyy has a portable photo booth that you can check out. As a business owner, it has a lot of great benefits. Also, depending on the size of your events, your investment can pay for itself in as few as five or six of them.
Gifyyy has beautiful hardware, powerful software that works well together, and the easiest setup ever. The result is a photo booth that you can hold in one hand, set up in five minutes, and then leave to run itself while you do your job. Gifyyy makes really fun animated GIFs and sends them straight to the phones of visitors. Then, the guests can share the GIFs on social media and click to see a stream of all the GIFs from their event. After the event is over, you can use Gifyyy’s follow-up SMS and email capture tools to stay in touch with guests. Want more people to see the wedding photos you posted on your website? Send the link through a group SMS. Make a list of email addresses for your marketing event? We’ll look after you.
Gifyyy is made up of a clean, easy-to-use iPad app and a powerful web-based admin system. And it couldn’t be easier for guests to use our software. When they get close to Gifyyy, they see a simple message that says, “Touch Me.” When they touch the screen, Gifyyy takes a few quick frames (or still photos, if they prefer), loops them into an animated GIF, and shows the result right away.
While people are laughing at the animation, Gifyyy sends the file to our cloud platform. Then, guests can tap “send it to me” to enter their phone number or “again” to make another one. If a user enters their phone number, Gifyyy will send them an SMS with a link to their GIF. The link will take them to a Gifyyy-made page with their GIF, your brand, buttons to share on social media, and a gallery of all the GIFs from that event.
Gifyyy gives you packages to help you get started.
You can choose from three bundles on Gifyyy. Each of them lets you set up and get going right away. The beginner package comes with a tripod made in the United States from hardwood. The package includes the Gifyyy Pro iPad software, a carrying case, an iPad bracket, and access to your Gifyyy web account. We also offer support and user groups so that you can talk to other people who use Gifyyy.
The Gifyyy Pro Pack has everything from the Starter Pack plus all of our great upgrades. This means that you now get a Front-Plate, the great updated BAGG carrying bag, and a Go-Pack battery pack in addition to our American-made hardwood tripod legs, the best-LED unit, and a carrying case, an iPad mount, the Gifyyy Pro iPad program, and web-account access.
The Gifyyy Pro Kit+ is the third package. This package includes the top LED unit, the beautiful upgraded BAGG carrying case, the iPad bracket, the Gifyyy Pro iPad app, and access to your Gifyyy web account. It stands on three legs that are made by hand in the U.S. The batteries for the Go-Pack and the Front Plate are also in the package. There is a promotional pack with all the general marketing tools you need to get your business going.
Final Thoughts
It can be exciting to start a new business. Make sure you do your research and think about what will make your wedding venue stand out from others in your area. Visit www.gifyyy.com to find out more about Gifyyy’s portable photo booths, which could be great for your new business.