A celebrant friend was complaining to me recently about the market, we’ve all had the same conversation, either us being whined at, or us doing the whining. The truth is that we are not owed our next enquiry or booking, we need to work for it. So here’s some ideas on how to work for it how to grow your business. Take any of these ideas and deploy in an authentic and meaningful way for you:
- Convince an important (niche) influencer to mention you (e.g. Tinder, Twitter, Clubhouse)
- Do something controversial to get people talking about you
- Buy a billboard. They can be weirdly cheap in some areas. Be very authentic and attention-0grabbing on the billboard.
- Release a shareable, and very helpful product, like a book, or a guide, or even something completely new.
- Publish a piece of viral content.
- Get a popular newsletter or podcast to cover you or interview you.
- Expand to an additional location and if there’s a travel cost, include that in your fee. So not $1000 plus travel, but $1500 total, or whatever numbers work for you.
- Share something remarkable about your product or business online.
- Organise a high-profile event for couples or even for industry. Get it covered by media.
- Launch on a new platform, like BeReal, TikTok, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Medium, YouTube.
- Orchestrate a PR stunt.
- Create a viral and (actually) funny video.
- Ask, get, convince your clients and friends with the most followers to all post an announcement about one of these things above on social media at once.
- Run an ad on a large podcast, TV show, or radio show. Again, they can be quite cheap.
- Run a killer contest or giveaway. Not a “win a free wedding” but giveaway $1000, or an actual thing that costs you something. Get some skin in the game.
- Create a limited-time deal. Only available for a certain time, and it’s an actual good deal, not some 10% off thing.
This is applicable to a few businesses I’m a part of! Some expected but some I’m reading for the first time! Thanks Josh.
I love these creative ideas to take a bit of control back over the process rather than wait for the growth to happen for you. I think it’s so true that pursuing new and creative ways to grow can have not only positive effects on your business outcomes but also re-energise you in the process.
What I got out of this blog: Have some guts, have some accountability and as a result see actual decent growth in your business.
Put yourself on the line, to see yourself move up the line!
I couldn’t agree more! I don’t think I’m ready to see my own face on a billboard but having some guts to put yourself out there is certainly the right idea! I love how accountable one needs to be with these ideas!