How to Make Time for Marketing
As a wedding pro, there is no shortage of tasks lists to complete. In addition to servicing weddings and perfecting your craft, it seems like there’s endless amounts of admin work to be done. Emails, client calls, follow ups, contracts, invoices… throw in any other responsibilities (family, spouse, children, pets!) and it’s enough to make you consider throwing in the towel.
Here’s the best part - there are tools that exist that can actually create more time in your day, not just for marketing, but all of the other things you’d rather spend your time doing. From all-in-one platforms for client management to project management (trust me, you need it), below are my two can’t-live-without-tools that I actually use:
HoneyBook
If you’re already familiar with this platform, need I say more? As a wedding pro, this has just about everything you could ask for in a one-stop-shop platform that was specifically created with wedding pros in mind. From inquiry, to booking, contracts, invoices and payments, HoneyBook keeps all of your clients & weddings organized so you don’t have to hunt down emails via the search bar or have 2-3 copies of contracts flying around.
PROS:
A one-stop-shop for just about every feature you need for client management
Easy to use & organize
Fully customizable to fit your brand look & feel
Special account level if you own multiple brands
CONS:
Payment processing fees are comparable to other tools (unless you’re transitioning from Maroo)
If you’ve been added to a HoneyBook project by another vendor, you can’t use that email to create your business account (or you need to contact them to fix it)
The biggest improvements for our wedding videography business was no longer having to hunt down contracts prior to the wedding to refresh our minds on the details from when clients’ booked, 6-12 months ago! The contract process also goes WAY smoother and clients can’t just sign & send back the last page (you know what I’m talking about!)
Asana
I am an avid list maker. I genuinely thought that was all I ever needed to stay on track and get things done–until I started using Asana. My company implemented it as the Project Management software for our organization and I fell in love so hard that I started using (the free account) for both our wedding business and our household!
PROS:
A free version with basic capabilities
Integrates with HoneyBook
Frees up brain power to stop thinking about the to-do list!
CONS:
In the free version, workspaces are separated (mild inconvenience)
In the free version, some of the locked capabilities are pretty helpful
For a small business wedding pro, adding the expense of their paid account may not be a priority
Not only does HoneyBook integrate with Asana (bonus points), but Asana itself can help you stay on track with all of the tasks that fall outside of client management & bookings. Maybe you need weekly reminders to categorize your business transactions in QuickBooks? Or what about quarterly reminders to clear your harddrives of images or footage you no longer need?
Now imagine all these tasks neatly lined up in a list BY DUE DATE with all of the other tasks on the client side? In my opinion, this is the only way to work.
