Brides Magazine Calls 2024 – The “Year of the Proposal”

Maybe you’ve heard it by now, maybe you haven’t. Industry experts like Brides Magazine and CBS are calling 2024 the “Year of the Proposal.” Signet Jewelers predicts over 2 million people will propose this year as we end the engagement gap, a temporary halt in proposals driven by the pandemic. My question to you is, do you want a piece of the revenue that over 2 million people will generate when they propose?

Here are 3 ways that you can cash in on the proposal boom that has been going on this year:

Change Your Marketing Strategy to Include Proposal Planning

If you have any existing business that could be used in a marriage proposal, it is time to update your marketing immediately. If you are a florist, write a blog about how your flowers can enhance a proposal. If you are a jeweler, post engagement rings on your social media and use proposal idea hashtags to target people looking into how they will propose. Maybe you are a musician? Make a list of the top X proposal songs and promote it wherever you can. All of these things can help you get a slice of the proposal boom that is happening this year.

Start Your Own Proposal Planning Business

You might be thinking, am I too late? The answer is, absolutely not. This year has and will bring in an influx of people proposing and believe me, there is too much work for us existing Proposal Planners to handle. But keep in mind, BEFORE this proposal boom happened, I was already earning a multiple six figure income and you can too.

Add Proposal Planning To Your Existing Wedding Planning Business

If you already have a Wedding or Event Planning business, now is the perfect time to add on Proposal Planning to your services. With this strategy, you can test the Proposal Planning waters when the water is SURGING!

If you would like some free resources in how to get started wit h any of these strategies, you can check out my freebies at www.theheartbanditsacademy.com. If 2024 is the Year of the Proposal, you gotta get in now!

Bye for now!,

Michele

How To Establish Yourself As The Expert In Your Field

This week one of my companies, The Heart Bandits, was featured in Brides Magazine. The article was called, “6 Major Proposal Mistakes to Avoid, According to Experts.” In the article, I am cited as the expert in Proposal Planning. Every time an article like this comes out, at least one of my peers shoots me a text or email to ask me how I got featured in XYZ. And my answer to them is that the magazines, websites, and media COME TO ME!

But it wasn’t always that way. There are a lot of things that I had to do to establish myself as an expert in the Proposal Planning and Pop-Up Wedding Industry. I teach you many of these steps in my courses that are going to be LIVE in February!! Sign up for the waitlist here.

For now, here are 3 free tips on how you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Actually Become An Expert

This may seem obvious but when wondering how you can get featured in media, you have to really ask yourself, “Am I actually the most knowledgeable person in my field about this subject matter?” If not, you need to become one. Take courses on the subject matter, read all of the blogs and interviews you can find, follow all the leaders in the industry on social media, and stay on top of all of the trends. If you are in a competitive space, try to niche down so that you are the expert at a specific niche in your market. Or become an expert in your field in your city specifically. That way, when someone starts looking for an expert in your field or area, they are lead to you.

Show Your Expertise

Once you feel like you truly are the expert in your industry, start showing that off in your social media and blogs. When you start sharing valuable tips and content on social media, so many great things happen. You start to seem like an expert in your field, people start sharing your content, people start following you, and most importantly, people start seeking you out when they are in need of your services or when they want to feature your service in the press.

By now, you know I am a HUGE believer in the power of SEO. When clients or journalists look for an expert in your field, they are looking in one of two places; Google or Social Media. I’ve already talked about showing your expertise on social media. To show your expertise on your website, you are going to blog about your expertise in a way that benefits your reader. In turn, you will eventually establish yourself as an expert to Google who will start rewarding you with rankings. SEO tips and tricks is a huge focus in my courses for this specific reason.

Get Media

The most powerful way to show you are an expert in your field is to be published somewhere. If you can get featured in major media, you will instantly have clout not just with your clients but with other media. And it completely snowballs. For example, I got featured in New York Times very early on after I started my business. Did I get clients from that interview? Absolutely. But what’s more is the other big things happened. Good Morning America saw the article and wanted to interview me. Hotels saw it and wanted to partner with me. When you finally get a major piece of media, a lot of things can change.

And that is why one of the Modules in my courses focuses on how to get media. Because getting media can create such big opportunities for your business. And the truth is, it really isn’t that hard to get.

How To Increase Your Leads Immediately

Years ago I hit a bump in the road with my event planning business.  My leads had slowed down, sales had decreased, and so I did what most people do at a time like that.  I panicked.

 
One of the first things I did was spend THOUSANDS of dollars hiring an SEO firm to go through every detail of my website to find out how I could better optimize it to rank for Google. And one of the very first things they pointed out was a simple fix that had a HUGE impact.  My contact form was too long!!


How many times have you gone to a website and the contact form is just overwhelming?  You know the ones that ask you things like what is your favorite cookie, asks you to “tell a little bit about yourself,” or has you put in every single detail about the potential event?


The people that have these types of contact forms (and you might be one) are well-meaning.  They want to stand out or find ways to connect with you by asking you personal questions. Some want to be efficient and get as much information from you as they can so that they can properly quote you.  But what they are really doing is asking TOO much from a potential lead.


If you are so niched that there is no one else out there that can fill their need, they may fill out your form.  But if you are in a market where there are plenty of fish of the sea, you are going to lose some of your leads. 

I will be honest, when I am looking for vendors for my clients and I come upon these types of contact forms, I go elsewhere.  I don’t have the time or patience to fill out 50 questions when I simply need a quote.  I scan the contact form for an email address and email them directly. If they don’t have an email address, I find someone else.  And you may have done that too.  Sadly, not everyone will even scan your site for the email.


So if you want to increase your leads in a big way without spending a ton of time, follow these steps.

  1. Make our contact form short. People shouldn’t have to scroll down to see it all.
  2. Only ask for critical information. Name, email (or number if you prefer), and what they need.
  3. Cut out all non-relevant questions. Do you really need to know their address, their partner’s name, etc. Those things are nice to know but if it cost’s you a lead, is it worth it?

Now sit back and enjoy the additional leads you will get simply from minimizing your contact form. If you are an Event Planner wanting to diversify your Wedding Business income, check out my FREE resources here:

Top 3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning To Your Services NOW!​

The Ultimate Guide to Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages

Why I Started Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages

I started Pop The Knot, a pop-up wedding company, in 2016. At that time, I already had a wildly successful proposal planning business and had already started earning a multiple six-figure income through it. So why did I start a pop-up wedding company you ask? Well, there are a few reasons that I started that business and thought you may want to hear about them. My reasons just might resonate with why YOU should start selling pop-up wedding packages. Here are the reasons I started selling pop-up wedding packages:

Gap In The Market

I knew there were a ton of traditional wedding planners, a lot of high-end wedding planners, and many very outdated elopement package websites. But there wasn’t too much in between. Now this was before the pandemic which has sparked a high demand in microweddings, so back then, there wasn’t much out there servicing that audience. I saw a gap in the market, and I decided to fill it. And this is really why most entrepreneurs start the first of something right?

Flash forward 5 years and we now know there was indeed a big market for pop-up weddings and microweddings because vendors around the world are starting to add these services. And now is the perfect time to do it!

Already Had A Proven Business Model

Knowing how to plan a full-scale wedding is one thing. But putting together quick, streamlined, no-fuss weddings is another. I had already been selling pre-made proposal packages through The Heart Bandits. Those all inclusive packages had earned me hundreds of thousands of dollars and they were super easy to implement and very streamlined. So I thought, what if I could apply that same business model to weddings and make them simple pop-up weddings?

Turns out, it was the perfect formula and again, earned me a multiple six figure income. Now I teach people how to put together these easy packages so that they can have the same success.

Diversified My Income

At this point you might be thinking, “OK, what does this have to do with me?” Well THIS is what it has to do with you. No matter what you are currently doing right now in the wedding space, whether it be that you are an officiant, photographer, wedding venue, or Proposal Planner – selling pop-up wedding packages is a very easy way to diversify your income. Like I mentioned, my Proposal Planning business was already doing amazing when I started Proposal Planning, but what if there was a slow period? What if The Heart Bandits took a dip on SEO? You should never, EVER, rely on one source of income. And this is such a simple way to make sure you don’t.

Easy Way To Earn Additional Revenue

I am all for making extra money. But what I am not “all for” is for spending hours and hours to earn additional revenue that I don’t really need. But if you tell me, “Hey, you can make some pretty sweet money doing xyz with not too much effort,” I am all ears. Once you create the pop-up wedding packages and streamline your process, they are a very easy way to earn additional revenue without a lot of day to day work.

Did I pique your interest? Download my FREE Ultimate Guide On Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages here:

If you think Proposal Planning might be of interest, here are 2 more FREE resources for you to check out:

What Is A Pop-Up Wedding Bomber?

We all know what photo bombers are right? Those annoying people that walk by right as you go to take a photo. You often don’t notice them until you go to post your perfect Instagram photo and see that you’ve been photo bombed. So what is a pop-up wedding bomber? Or a proposal bomber? Well, you are probably thinking that I am referring to someone that gets in the way of pop-up wedding or proposal pictures. But no…this type of bomber is much worse. I am talking about a person that is NOT your client, that gets in the way of you planning your perfect event.

Here are 3 things you need to know about a pop-up wedding or proposal bomber and what you can do if you find yourself dealing with one.

1. They Are Usually Family

Normally, the well meaning pop-up wedding or proposal bomber is a close friend. Oftentimes, the bride or proposer introduces the bomber by saying something like, “I am cc’ing my mom here who is helping me plan.”

What can you do when this happens? I like to politely greet the new person and just remind my client that the contract is between myself and them so the planning does need to between us two. I do let them know that I am happy to keep the person cc’d though. However, this can turn into a big problem so you want to tread carefully here. (see points 2 & 3 below).

2. Try To Make Changes

Now where the trouble really happens is when the well intended bomber starts making “suggestions” on things they know your client will like. For example, “I know she would want her Grandma to sit up front.” Or for a proposal, “I know he would want a heart shape instead of a semi-circle.” But what happens when your client really didn’t want these changes?

What can you do? If I get put in the position to work with a bomber, I tell them that any changes have to come directly from the bride or proposer. I will not take any direction from someone that is not my client. And what about if the bomber is on-site making changes and it is too late to get approval from the client? In that case, you have 2 options. You can tell them that the way things are is what you have approval for and you cannot make changes. Or if the bomber has been an issue the whole time, you can ask your client in advance if they have permission to make any changes on the day of.

3. Time Suckers

The last and the most egregious issue a bomber will cause you, is they will suck up way too much of your time. Once the bomber gets direct access to you, they may start emailing or calling to ask “quick questions.” They may request phone calls to “go over details.”

What can you do? Again I would politely let the bomber know that you have to stick with planning directly with the client that you are under contract with. Then you can say that you’d be happy to schedule a call with the client and they are welcome to be on the call if they’d like. That way you are letting them be involved but staying in charge of your event.

If you are not yet a Proposal Planner or selling pop-up wedding packages, you won’t want to miss my FREE resources below. Learn all about how to be a Proposal Planner and how to sell pop-up wedding packages.

Email Marketing 101

Last week I talked about the mistake I made that cost me thousands of dollars. That mistake was not creating an email list that I could nurture and continue to market to. This week, I thought it would make sense if I explained exactly HOW to set up your email marketing strategy.

Step 1: Choose An Email Marketing Provider

You are going to need a service that can collect all of your emails and allow for you to easily email your list. I personally use Convertkit.

Step 2: Create An Opt-In

Once you have the email marketing provider in place, you need a way for your website to collect the email addresses and automatically put them in your email provider. You DEFINITELY don’t want to have to do this manually. The way that you collect the emails is by having an opt-in form on your website. You are going to offer them something for free (next step) in exchange for them providing their email address.

Step 3: Create An Irresistible Lead Magnet

If someone inquires about your services via email, then you can easily put them in your email list. But what about all the people that come to your website that don’t inquire? They aren’t just going to freely hand over their email address. You have to offer them something FREE, that is soooooo irresistible, they are willing to hand over their email address for it.

Some ideas for a lead magnet are free downloads, quizzes, guides, mistakes to avoid, how to save money tips, etc. Once you have a lead magnet that you think will be irresistible to your target market, create that resource.

Step 4: Nurture That List

The last thing you want to do is get all of those email addresses and then do nothing with them. To make this all worth while, you need to email your list on a frequent and consistent basis. Only you will know how often you should send out emails. I personally try to send one a week. I recommend doing it no less than once a month. This email can be updates about your business, highlights of your service, advice, or special deals you are running. And what this email does is put you in your customers minds on a frequent and consistent basis so that when they think about who to hire for the service they offer, they automatically think you.

Ready to get service about starting your pop-up wedding business? Want to learn how to be a Proposal Planner? Sign up for my FREE resources below:

A Mistake I Made That Cost Me Thousands

When I started one of the world’s first Proposal Planning companies 11 years ago, I made a lot of mistakes. After all, I didn’t have a mentor. There were no resources out there to help me get started. And there were certainly no courses out there to teach me the best way to get clients.

So I spent several years NOT doing something that I now know could have earned me thousands and maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that one thing is, having an email list. What is an email list? An email list is a collection of emails that you have received through your inquiries.

Why Do You Need An Email List?

Potential clients will come to you at all different phases in the buying cycle. Here are the 4 stages of the buying cycle:

  1. Awareness – This happens when a client finds your website and your marketing educates them that they have a problem.
  2. Consideration – At this phase, they know they have a problem and they are considering their options
  3. Intent – During this stage, they are ready to make a decision
  4. Purchase- They are ready to make a purchase

Why Does This Matter?

It matters because that means if a client visits your website at any stage in the buying cycle OTHER than when they are ready to purchase, there is a chance that they will browse your site and move on. They may never return again. However, if you capture their email, you can continue to market to them and nurture that lead. This ensures that when they are ready to purchase, you are in the forefront of their mind.

Interested in learning more about selling pop-up wedding packages or becoming a proposal planner? Download one of my FREE resources below.

What Is A Pop-Up Wedding?

Microweddings….the buzz word of 2021.

I started my pop-up wedding company back in 2016. This was before the pandemic and before microweddings became such a huge trend. But while a microwedding is typically just a scaled down wedding, a pop-up wedding is a bit different.

Here are the characteristics of a pop-up wedding:

  • Experience is quick, typically an hour
  • Small guest count, usually 25 or less
  • Inclusive of wedding essentials (venue, officiant, photographer, and bouquet)
  • Offers upgrades or enhancements
  • Affordable

Now we all know couples that want huge lavish weddings. We also know couples that want to elope. But who actually wants to book a pop-up wedding? The truth is…. a lot of people do. Here are a few reasons that people want a pop-up wedding versus a traditional wedding. Because they:

  • Want to save money
  • Want to avoid spending months or longer on planning their wedding
  • Want to eliminate family drama over who is invited and who is not

Pop-up weddings are great to add to your existing services because they are streamlined and can provide a quick cash injection into your business.

Want to learn if pop-up weddings are for you? Check out my free resource below:

If Proposal Planning is more your jam, I have some freebies for you too!

Enrollment for The Proposal Planning Formula™ Is Open!!

The Proposal Planning Formula™ is open for enrollment for just a FEW more days.

This course is a MUST have if you are:

  • A Wedding Planner wanting to add Proposal Planning services to your existing business
  • Wanting to start your own Proposal Planning business
  • A Wedding vendor (photographer, videographer, venue, travel agent, jeweler, etc.) that wants to start marketing to Proposers
  • A Proposal Planner that isn’t getting as much business as you think you should

This course teaches you how to:

Module 1: Discover Your Proposal Planning Niche & Style – Before you can offer Proposal Planning, you need to determine what kind of proposals you want to plan and what kind of client you want to serve. This is critical for knowing who your target market is, how to create messaging that appeals to them, how to brand and price your services, and how to interact with them on social media.

Module 2: Create Your Proposal Planning Offering- Once you have chosen your target market, niche, and style, you will create your proposal planning offering! We are going to dive in and see a breakdown of what services Proposal Planners offer, learn how to properly price your offer, and create the framework needed to get started servicing customers.

Module 3: Create A Strategy To Add Proposal Planning To Your Assets– After you have the framework in place to start servicing your customers, it is time to make it official and effectively add Proposal Planning to your assets, so that you can actually attract Proposers. Here you are going to find out exactly where you should advertise your Proposal Planning services on your website, social media, and other assets and what mistakes you need to avoid when adding the service.

Module 4: Create a Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy- Without an effective marketing strategy, everything we have done so far will not matter. The key factor in getting Proposal Planning clients NOW is creating marketing that truly speaks to who they are. In this section, we leave no stone unturned as we reveal all marketing strategies that we have used over the last decade. You will study your target market in detail and learn the irresistible marketing and SEO strategies that will effectively attract them and turn them into customers.

Module 5: Maintain & Grow Your Proposal Planning Business –  The last thing you want to do is to invest all this time and energy into offering Proposal Planning services and then just let it all fizzle away. In this module we teach you how to maintain and leverage the work you have done in the previous models and give you ideas on how to handle the extra workload.

You will also get a Proposal Planning certification!

PLUS, you will get 3 bonuses:

🎊 Bonus #1: How To Repurpose Your Wedding Content

🎊 Bonus #2: Private, Members Only Facebook Group

🎊 Bonus #3: Weekly Live Q & A Sessions With Me

Learn more about the program or enroll here:

How Big Is The Proposal Planning Market?

I know what some of you are thinking. How big of a market can Proposal Planning really be? After all, you need to know the possibilities before you decide if you want to make the leap to add Proposal Planning to your Wedding services right? Or to decide to start your own Proposal Planning business, correct?

Well, I have great news. The market is HUGE. Here is a screenshot of how many “ACTIVE” inquires I have right now. You read it right, almost 1,000!

To understand why Proposal Planning is in such huge demand, you should probably know the history of how we got here today. I don’t have to tell you how many people get married a year. If you are in the Wedding Industry, you likely already know that. You probably already know that each of those couple’s get engaged, normally through a marriage proposal. This is nothing new though, so why all of the sudden are people hiring Proposal Planners?

The craze all started with social media. 20 years ago, when someone proposed to their partner, only their closest friends heard about it. But now, when someone proposes, they put photos and videos of it on Instagram, Youtube, etc. This is all searchable online so NOW, when a person proposes, they head to the internet or social media to look for proposal ideas and they see all of these crazy, elaborate proposals. They know that their partner’s are also seeing these types of proposals and will want one like it. And most of these clients can’t plan an elaborate proposal by themselves…which is why they turn to a Proposal Planner.

Hiring a Proposal Planner is getting as common for men as hiring a Wedding Planner is for women. And the industry is growing. When I started The Heart Bandits in 2010, there were 3 Proposal Planners in the world. Now there are over 10x that and it is growing every day. Do you want to learn more about Proposal Planning? Sign up for my FREE resources below. And don’t forget to sign up for the Proposal Planning Formula™ waitlist here. I am hosting my FREE Masterclass in just 2 weeks and you won’t want to miss it. Sign up for the Waitlist and be the first to know about it!