Are you looking for a new place to promote your COUPLE COMMUNICATION (CC) classes? If you are, the Bridal Fair (or Wedding Show) may be the answer for you. The major market is pre-marital or engaged couples - a great group of people who are often open to taking a course for making their upcoming marriage better.
Lee McHatton, a Certified CC Instructor in Chico, CA has found the Bridal Fair to be a wonderful place to gain the interest of couples for his CC classes. In fact, exhibiting at a Wedding Show has been so successful for Lee that he has filled his classes following the Fair and placed additional couples on a waiting list.
As a veteran now of four Bridal Fairs, Lee has learned what works best for him, and he is happy to share his suggestions with other CC instructors. Since having an exhibit booth at a Fair requires some financial investment and entry into a whole new marketing approach for many in marriage education or counseling fields, Lee recommends you take the following steps to increase your likelihood of success:
1. Contact people who are already established wedding vendors to learn about Wedding Shows/Bridal Fairs in your city. These people include photographers, florists, caterers, bridal shop retailers, and wedding planners. You may even want to contact your chamber of commerce. These vendors can direct you to an established Show and let you know what to expect in your local area.
Lee learned that having a booth at a Wedding Show ranges in cost from about $350.00 to $500.00, with the average fee of $400.00. For this, you generally get an 8 x 10-foot or a 10 x 10-foot area, which includes a drape and rod behind it, a table, and a power plug.
Bridal Fairs typically are held on a Sunday afternoon for about three to four hours. Saturday seems to be the more usual day for a wedding, so many vendors are often busy on that day.
2. Visit a Bridal Fair. (Entrance usually costs about $5.00 per person.) Your purpose is to see how people set up their booths plus how they display and promote their products or services. (Besides attending the Wedding Show in his own city, Lee once learned when a Bridal Fair would be held in his parents' city and he visited one there, as well.) He realized that no one else was promoting marriage preparation or education courses, and he did not find any competition for his services.
Lee discovered that he mainly could use marketing materials
that we at ICP already have available. These include the CC I
poster, the CC I brochures (with his name and contact information
stamped on the back). In addition, he gives the article, "Build
Your Marriage" (printed from a PDF file on our web site -
see details below), again with his contact information stamped
on the back. Also, as
suggested by ICP, Lee makes a flyer listing his class schedule
for the year ahead (if interested couples cannot get to an immediate
class, they can learn what is coming up). Lee hangs a banner that
says COUPLE COMMUNICATION on it, which he had made for the exhibit.
At the Bridal Fair, Lee has found that it works best for him to use a balanced approach in talking to couples. He does not project a carnival style, nor does he just sit passively in the booth waiting for couples to seek him out; rather he tries to engage those who appear curious about the class.
3. Offer a give-away. Doing so provides a reason for people to walk over to your booth. This requires them to write their contact information for you, helping you build a mailing list. (Lee gathers name, phone, email or postal address.)
In thinking about what to provide for free, consider what might be appealing yet not spoil couples on registering for the class you want to promote. At first, Lee gave away one of the classes. Then he discovered that some couples would not sign up at the Fair, because they hoped to win the free class. So now Lee gives away a set of the follow-up sessions he offers, which has proved to be a better prize.
The way Lee structures his COUPLE COMMUNICATION classes is to offer four weekend classes, once per quarter. This is a Friday evening (4:45 pm - 9:00 pm) and all-day Saturday (8:00 am - 5:00 pm) seminar. He runs the classes, which he calls seminars, with from six to 12 couples in them. He charges $395.00 per couple and usually holds these seminars at a hotel.
For participants of the classes, he offers four CC follow-up workshops. These are for one hour (7:00 pm - 8:00 pm) on the first Monday evening of every month. In this follow-up, Couples gain more practice on the skills, and they map issues, with coaching from Lee. Couples prepay for the four workshops, at $30.00 per couple per workshop, making their payment $120.00. They meet in a neighborhood Christian school, and childcare is provided at no additional cost.
With the type of structure Lee uses for his classes, the give-away of the follow-up workshop is substantial, yet he is still able to sell the main class. Last year, Lee said that the couple that won the give-away follow-up workshop was not sure they wanted to sign up for the regular course. Lee allowed them to observe but not participate in a follow-up workshop. They were so impressed that they signed up for his next class, and then used their free follow-up set of workshops.
Most Bridal Fairs will have a grand prize, which only prospective brides and grooms can register for (parents or friends coming to the Fair are not eligible to register for this). Lee says an example of one of these prizes is a honeymoon package trip. The benefit to an exhibitor is receiving the list of brides and grooms, again helping add to a mailing list.
4. Provide a discount for couples that register for your COUPLE COMMUNICATION class while they are at the Wedding Show. Make the discount worth their signing up that very day. For example, Lee's class normally costs $395.00, however, for couples that register at the Show, he gives $100.00 off the usual fee.
In regard to signing up people, Lee suggests that you take credit cards (a business necessity), so it is easy for couples to pay immediately.
5. Arrange for your manpower or womanpower at your booth. If it is a busy Bridal Fair, you may want to have help at your exhibit. If you have a colleague, this can work. A couple can assist one another. Lee has also paid an intern to be at the booth.
6. Do mailings, after the Show, of names you gather for future classes or other services you provide. For example, Lee is also certified in the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventory for couples, so he is able to offer that service, as well. He teaches the CC II program, too, which allows him to provide the full content of the GREAT START program for couples anticipating marriage (see below for information).
By following these suggestions, you can improve your success rate from a Bridal Fair/Wedding Show of registering people for your COUPLE COMMUNICATION classes. In this way, you can grow your practice or business. Lee has enjoyed very good results, and the couples have benefited from taking the CC program.
(For more information on GREAT START or other parts of CC and its materials, see our website www.couplecommunication.com.) For the article, "Build Your Marriage," once on our site, click on Instructor Training. Across the top of the page that opens is the option "Article Archives." Click there and then choose Article # 14.
For information about Lee, once at our site, click on "Instructors Near You," and then click CA. He is listed alphabetically under Lee E. McHatton. Lee's website is www.communicationforlife.com.
If you have promotional ideas for your CC classes that you would like to share with other instructors, please let us know about them.