Episode 35Nov 18, 2022· 42:33
Replay - Dawn Booth Shares Why Wedding Vendors Need Blogs
About this episode
In this episode I'm jammin with Dawn Booth of Epic Events by Booth, Inc. We're talking about why wedding vendors need blogs.
https://epiceventsbybooth.com/
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Full transcript
00:00
Welcome to the Blogger Friend Show!
00:15
So I am super super excited to bring Dawn Booth on to the show.
00:22
Tell me a little bit about what you do.
00:25
So I'm an event planner and designer as well as biotoning services and recently, just
00:33
last year because of COVID, I am now an ordained minister.
00:38
That I didn't know!
00:41
That's exciting!
00:42
Hello, surprise!
00:43
So does that mean you can, okay, I'm very dumb when it comes to this stuff.
00:47
Yes, I can marry people.
00:48
No, no, I get that you can marry people, but can you do it virtually?
00:50
Yes, I can.
00:53
You can?
00:54
So is the jurisdiction strictly for Florida or how does it work?
00:58
So the jurisdiction is as long as they accept ordained ministers.
01:04
So as long as it's like, because I'm ordained through a church, so if the state allows ordained
01:12
ministers then yes, I can be their minister.
01:16
So but if they otherwise, it would have to be in person and right here in the state of
01:23
Florida.
01:24
That's amazing.
01:25
So what prompted you to become an ordained minister was because of the pandemic?
01:31
Well originally, a long time ago, I was already looking into it, but I just hadn't gotten
01:37
around to doing it and then I guess I was starting to work on it in 2019.
01:45
That's also when I launched my virtual bridal show.
01:49
So we started doing a lot of stuff virtually anyway, well before the pandemic.
01:54
So I guess I was a little bit ahead of my time.
01:57
You knew before COVID was even a thing.
02:00
You know, I have no idea, but I know that we launched our virtual bridal show in September
02:07
of 2019.
02:08
Now what prompted you to launch a virtual bridal show?
02:14
So the virtual bridal show was because I had a lot of clients who could not attend the
02:23
bridal shows.
02:24
They were really missing out.
02:27
I would say probably about 90% of my clientele is destination weddings.
02:33
So destination wedding couples obviously would not be here to attend the bridal shows and
02:39
things like that.
02:40
But with our full planning services, we actually go to these shows with them.
02:44
We go, we do everything with them.
02:47
We're literally like their best friends standing by their side doing every little thing that
02:51
possible with them.
02:54
So I started thinking, I was like, and the other part that got me to do the virtual bridal
02:59
shows is that I was noticing on Facebook and some of the social media platforms that there
03:06
was a lot of scams going on.
03:08
And so I decided that I was going to be a planner that was going to offer this free
03:17
bridal virtual bridal show to help these people not get scammed and to actually find legit
03:24
real businesses, real vendors that are 4.8 stars or higher and that are legit businesses
03:35
and that would take care of them and know that they were not going to stick them on
03:40
their wedding day.
03:41
So it was very important to me to make that happen.
03:45
And so we launched our virtual bridal show on September 5th, I believe, and that was
03:51
in 2000, 2019.
03:54
2020 came around and obviously nobody knew the pandemic was happening.
04:03
And so we obviously kind of like set that aside for a little bit.
04:09
So started a cooking show to help people learn to cook because I was like, well, it was brought
04:16
to my attention that people did not know how to cook.
04:20
So we also offer private, well, we also offer private chef services.
04:26
So I started a cooking with chef Don show to kind of help people who didn't know how
04:33
to cook to learn to cook and gave them like the basics and get them into recipes and how
04:40
to transform leftovers into a brand new meal and things like that.
04:45
Just kind of help out with that stuff.
04:47
All of our shows are really to just try to help the general public and mostly it's educating
04:54
and information.
04:55
Okay, so if you can't go to an event, you're going to have your event at home.
04:59
Right, exactly.
05:00
So, but back to the officiant services, we, I decided to become an ordained minister because
05:07
when COVID hit, I would, you know, I did about my two weeks of boohooing.
05:13
I was not out, you know, my business nor myself was eligible for any form of help from the
05:20
local government to the federal government.
05:22
So it was either I put on my big girl pants and move forward and try to figure it out
05:30
to survive or it was to die basically and have my company, you know, do unfortunately
05:38
what some other companies have had to do and shut the doors.
05:41
I chose to move forward and decided to pivot a bit.
05:45
And so officiating services was definitely one of those pivots because people were not
05:51
going to stop getting married.
05:53
So the weddings might stop, you know, and the social gatherings might stop.
05:59
The corporate events might stop, but the people getting married is not going to stop.
06:04
So that's where the officiating services came in.
06:07
That's really smart because they say that the two things that people will never stop
06:10
doing is they will never stop getting married and they will never stop dying.
06:14
So if you're doing something in the wedding industry or something in the death industry,
06:17
you'll always have a job.
06:18
That's exactly true.
06:20
You're absolutely right.
06:22
Well I think it's brilliant that you decided to go the ordained minister route because
06:26
I mean just the idea that you can take that and not just do in churches or whatever, you
06:32
could do the outdoor stuff and small gatherings and things like that so you can keep your
06:36
business going.
06:37
I think that's brilliant.
06:38
Yeah.
06:39
I always have a saying.
06:41
So it's either adapt to the times or be left behind.
06:44
Ooh, that's going to be a little sound bite that I'm totally going to cut and use somewhere
06:48
because it's brilliant.
06:49
I love it.
06:50
I love it.
06:51
So what I wanted to bring you on here for and we kind of talked about this previously
06:55
is that I wanted to jam on why wedding vendors need to be blogging.
07:00
And so I wanted to know just right off the bat, what do you think about that statement?
07:06
It's extremely important.
07:07
Like it's ridiculously important.
07:09
I didn't know the importance until we started doing, now I don't blog as much as I should,
07:16
but I can honestly tell you I see a huge difference in just the traffic flow to our website and
07:23
to the phone calls that we get just from blogs.
07:27
Blogging is ridiculously important.
07:29
It's probably more important than anything else right now.
07:33
So and vlogging.
07:35
So the whole video, I can honestly tell you just by doing our virtual bridal show, we
07:41
have seen an influx and it's not just because of COVID, but this was happening in today's
07:46
2019 just from having the virtual bridal show, which is something like a blog or I shouldn't
07:55
say a blog because it's video blogging basically.
07:57
So I'm basically just putting this vendor out there and telling the importance of this
08:04
particular vendor and giving them insight and all that other kind of stuff.
08:09
And so we just recently launched a blog, a rather large blog.
08:13
It was an article about how it was these Florida summertime wedding survival guide.
08:20
And it went crazy.
08:25
We had well over 2000.
08:27
Oh, we lost you.
08:31
Sorry about that.
08:34
We had well over 2000 viewers like right off the bat.
08:38
And so that was instant.
08:41
We posted it, the blog to social media and that got so much attention.
08:46
It was ridiculous.
08:47
So yeah, if you want to get traffic and you're looking to get more exposure, blogging, vlogging,
08:57
getting on other people's blogs, such as what we're doing right now, it's definitely important
09:03
for any vendor, any company for that matter, not just people in my industry.
09:09
Absolutely, in fact, the survival guide is one of the things that prompted me to want
09:13
to do this interview with you.
09:15
Because, no, I'm actually serious because one of the big things that I find in my day
09:21
job as a ghostwriter is I come up with so much pushback.
09:24
I mean, all these business owners are like, well, no, I just need to be on social media.
09:28
I just need to put it on Instagram.
09:30
And it's like, yeah, but the problem is you don't own it.
09:34
And if you're trying to drive someone to your business, it's also censored.
09:38
Yes.
09:39
And not only that, as it's coming up in the feed, as soon as you've posted it, yeah, you
09:43
might get a little bit of engagement, but then it's gone.
09:47
Whenever it's on your blog, it's still on your blog.
09:49
It's still on your website.
09:51
And so that's one of the big things is I'm interviewing multiple different industries.
09:55
I just got off with an athletic director coach.
10:00
She teaches athletic directors why they need to be podcasting.
10:03
And podcasting is the new blogging, if we're being honest.
10:06
And I've spoken to a travel agent and I've spoken to a food blogger and I spoke to a
10:12
fashion blogger.
10:13
And it's like every industry, like you said, it doesn't matter what your business is.
10:17
If you have a blog, you're giving yourself so many opportunities to be found.
10:22
And so I'm kind of curious, how do you come up with your blog post ideas?
10:26
Like what is it that prompted you to write the survival guide?
10:29
So because we typically don't have a ton of summertime weddings.
10:37
So the June bride is a Northern thing, not a Southern thing.
10:44
So it's down here.
10:45
If anybody's ever been down here, the people who are from here know it is hot.
10:51
It is so hot.
10:52
It is ridiculous.
10:53
It is like, I can attest to that.
10:56
I got married on July 29th.
10:59
So and I'm not saying that we don't have weddings during the summer, but they're very rare.
11:05
They're very few and far between.
11:08
Our typical bridal season is, or I should say wedding seasons, we have two wedding seasons
11:17
down here in Florida.
11:18
We have our first wedding season is at the beginning of the year.
11:22
So it starts at the end of February and goes on to the beginning of May.
11:29
And then you'll have your few stragglers throughout the May.
11:33
And then it kind of cuts out through the summertime and then picks up again towards the end of
11:39
September and goes through November.
11:41
And then you have your holiday parties and corporate events and things like that.
11:46
And then January, usually we're pretty dead in January, but as of late over the last few
11:52
years, not just because of COVID, but over the last few years, we have been having lots
11:59
of weddings in January.
12:00
So it's almost like it's changing just a smidge and moving into the January time.
12:08
So a lot of people want to get married like either on New Year's Day or right after or
12:14
New Year's Eve.
12:15
So we have those and it also really depends on the date.
12:20
The date is a really big thing.
12:22
So if you're planning on getting married on 2-2-2-2, you better get your vendors right
12:28
now because I assure you it's going to be gone.
12:30
Right, exactly.
12:31
And I remember the biggest one that was pretty recent, well, not pretty recent, it just feels
12:37
like it was yesterday though, was 12-12-12.
12:41
Everyone was talking about 12-12-12.
12:42
Yes, that was a big one.
12:43
Yeah.
12:44
12-12-12, 2-2-2-2, yeah, all of that.
12:48
My husband and I got married on a straight, 6-7-8.
12:51
So I love it.
12:53
I love it.
12:54
Yeah.
12:55
So what would you say to the person who doesn't currently have a blog, but it needs to be
12:59
starting one for their wedding business?
13:01
What's the first thing you would say to them?
13:04
I would tell them basically like that is a crucial part of their business.
13:09
I mean, your website and your business is like, I don't even know how to explain it.
13:20
It's your baby.
13:21
Your biggest, a lot of what you do in my industry anyway, and I know it's not in just my industry,
13:28
is educating.
13:29
Yes.
13:30
Like it's all about educating the client.
13:32
And if you, anybody can throw up a website.
13:35
I can go and throw up a website right there within like 10 minutes or less.
13:42
Doesn't mean it's going to do anything.
13:43
Right.
13:44
And so, you kind of have to have the blog and not only that, but blogging helps with
13:49
your SEO.
13:51
So when people are doing searches for you and stuff like that, that really helps with
13:57
your SEO.
13:58
It helps to be found.
14:01
And when you give out free information and you're educating, people will remember you.
14:08
And they're like, oh, I think I saw this on this one website.
14:14
Let me see if I can re-find it.
14:15
And then they're going to look it up.
14:16
They're going to try and find that article or that blog.
14:20
They're going to find you.
14:22
And because you gave them that information, they feel more connected to you as a business.
14:27
Yes, absolutely.
14:28
And as an individual.
14:29
And one of the things that I always say is, if you have something in your blog that is
14:35
something no one else is saying, that's a great opportunity to get in local media.
14:40
Because I'm sure one of the things you could do is take your summer survival guide and
14:44
send it to the press.
14:45
Tell them, hey, if you need someone to talk about how to survive a wedding in Tampa in
14:50
the summer, I'm your girl and I can prove it because I just wrote about it.
14:55
So save that for next summer and then tell everybody.
14:59
It's actually listed right on our website.
15:04
So all of the stuff that we do with the blogs or with if we have any awards or if we're
15:11
going to a bridal show or whatever it is that we do, we do have a little announcements area
15:16
on our website, which is very important to have.
15:20
And so people, I mean, some people, as far as like business owners or businesses, they
15:27
might not think that people want to know about you, but they really do.
15:31
People want to know what you're doing.
15:34
We just recently partnered up with a company that actually will come and get florals right
15:42
after the event because we wanted to be more of a sustainable company.
15:46
And so something like that needs to be posted saying, hey, we just partnered with this company
15:55
so that you could feel good that your flowers are not going to be thrown away, that they
16:00
will be taken and made into new flower arrangements and given to people on your behalf, like people
16:07
in hospice or the cancer hospitals or somebody, the places that people need hope the most.
16:15
These are actually brand new flower arrangements made out of your wedding flowers that are
16:19
being taken to these people to be repurposed.
16:23
And then turning around about a week later, go in and grabbing them and then turning them
16:29
into compost.
16:30
So that's how we're trying to make a difference.
16:32
I didn't know you were doing that.
16:34
That's awesome.
16:35
Yes.
16:36
Seriously, that's such a brilliant idea.
16:38
It's such a simple idea that is so profound.
16:42
And I didn't know you were doing that.
16:44
That's awesome.
16:45
Yeah.
16:46
So we partnered with Pedals for Hope.
16:49
And so basically they come in right after the wedding.
16:54
They take the flowers in, they rehydrate them, they get them prepared for the next day.
17:00
Then they have a team come in, they rebuild brand new centerpieces or not even centerpieces,
17:06
but brand new flower arrangements.
17:08
And they take them out to the hospitals, children hospitals, cancer research or cancer hospitals,
17:14
hospice patients.
17:16
Hospice is near and dear to my heart.
17:17
They took really good care of my grandfather.
17:19
So that's really important to me.
17:22
So it's just one of those things that I feel like we have to do our part.
17:27
The community is so good to us and we have to give back in other ways.
17:33
And we also have internship programs.
17:36
So we have partnered with the St. Pete College, so SPC.
17:40
So we have a lot of times their professor, Professor Gilmour will contact us and say,
17:47
do you have any internship vacancies?
17:51
And I'll be like, send them my way or I'll get in touch with him and I'll say, hey, I
17:55
need an intern for such and such date to do like photos or something like that.
18:00
And so then these, so we're just kind of trying to give back to the community and that's incredibly
18:05
important.
18:06
So posting this kind of stuff on your website, blogging about it, telling people what you're
18:10
doing.
18:11
It really gives a connection to the client or to the potential client and yourself and
18:18
your business.
18:19
Absolutely.
18:20
I mean, it's such a great way to, I mean, one of the big things that they always tout
18:24
about in marketing and online business is they say you need to build your no like and
18:30
trust factor.
18:32
And to me, having a blog or a podcast or something that you own that you can share with your
18:38
audience, that's like the high speed train to that audience, to showing them, I know
18:45
what I'm doing.
18:46
I know what I've done.
18:47
This is what I can do for you.
18:50
And I just, I think that it's silly that anybody who's like, well, I don't have time to blog.
18:54
Well, then hire someone to do it for you.
18:56
Or I don't have time.
18:57
Absolutely.
18:58
And I mean, the other thing is right now, the big thing that I've just recently like
19:03
had come onto my radar about 2019 is when it came onto my radar is PLR.
19:07
Are you familiar with this?
19:10
I'm not familiar with the acronym, so you can kind of give me what it actually is.
19:16
Okay.
19:17
PLR stands for private label rights.
19:18
And basically it's white label content that you can purchase from someone else who has
19:23
written it and they sell it to multiple businesses.
19:26
I mean, I'm just going to say flat out, it's not your content, but so they'll sell like
19:31
a $5 article on weddings to 500 wedding vendors.
19:36
And that's a great starting point.
19:37
You can take that little piece of 500 words and then make it your own, add your own SEO.
19:42
So you could add your Tampa wedding vendor or Tampa event planner or Tampa, you know,
19:47
whatever.
19:48
And you can add your own SEO, your own images, your own story.
19:53
And then now you have this $5 piece that was so simple to just make your own.
19:59
And so I'm becoming a little bit obsessed with PR or PLR.
20:03
I'm actually, I've written several pieces that I'm thinking about selling to wedding
20:08
vendors.
20:09
That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.
20:11
I created like 20 articles all about like getting married in Tampa.
20:17
And so I was like, man, why not use this as a starting point?
20:20
You know?
20:21
Sure.
20:22
Because that way, you know, because I understand business owners, they're busy.
20:26
They have a lot to do.
20:28
And who wants to sit there taking all that time?
20:30
Exactly.
20:31
I can honestly tell you, it is, it is, it is time consuming.
20:36
Even, even if you're using, you know, another person to, to write them because you ultimately
20:42
that person who's writing it, yeah, they might be able to do the research and stuff, but
20:47
you're the one with the, you're the one with the education or you're the one with the experience.
20:55
So you know, like with me, I've been in the wedding industry, I should, I should say wedding
20:59
industry.
21:00
I have been in the event industry since 1995.
21:03
My very first event was a woman's fashion show for five seven nine.
21:07
Okay.
21:08
And I did that at the at the Santa Rosa mall up in the panhandle up in Fort Walton.
21:13
And I can honestly tell you my very, that was my very first event I've ever done and
21:17
I was scared to death.
21:21
But over the years, you know, I did the fashion show and then I did weddings and then I did
21:27
obviously birthday parties and, you know, themed events and corporate events and, you
21:34
know, you name it, it was going down the line.
21:36
And then in 1997, you know, started, started looking while that's when my son was born
21:42
and I started looking into other business adventures.
21:45
And then we started and then later on we started a bartending services, probably one of only
21:52
one of the first in the state of Florida.
21:55
You know, I mean, I'm not sure if I was the original, which probably not because, you
22:00
know, they're everywhere.
22:01
But, you know, I know that there was not any in the area that I was in, right, because
22:07
looking for doing your research in the area I was in, there was no such service.
22:13
And so, so anyways, so we started that and then we got more into, you know, that still
22:18
had event planning in it.
22:20
Yes.
22:21
So there, it doesn't, it doesn't matter what part of it you go to, there's still event
22:26
planning, no matter what you're doing.
22:28
And so, but, you know, so I have lots and lots of experience and that's where I came
22:34
up with the wedding survival guide, the summertime, the Florida summer wedding survival guide
22:40
is because of the fact that over all these years and knowing that COVID had a domino
22:45
effect on the wedding industry, knowing that we had record, record weddings and events
22:53
because it wasn't just weddings, we don't do just weddings, we do corporate events,
22:58
we do birthdays, you know, milestone birthdays, we do so many things.
23:03
If it is an event, we do it.
23:04
And since I am the designer, you know, you know, I design a lot of these events and there
23:11
are a lot of themes.
23:12
And so there's a lot of moving parts to them and so putting it all together.
23:16
So this summer we did record events and weddings and bartending gigs.
23:22
And we did just, you name it.
23:24
I mean, we did, we started with three in July and we ended with 11 weddings, a birthday
23:30
party and four bartending gigs just in the month of July.
23:34
And normally July might have one event if that, and that's usually when we go on vacation.
23:41
So I figured I had written, I got the, I sent out the blog just before the actual summer
23:49
because I knew it was going to happen and it did.
23:53
And we just really wanted people to really be educated as to what to expect by having
24:00
their wedding in the summer, such as the rain.
24:03
You must have a weather backup.
24:04
If you don't have a weather backup, it's a possibility you're going to get rained out.
24:08
Everybody knows that, well, not everybody knows, but all the Floridians know that summertime
24:13
is rainy season.
24:15
It's inevitable.
24:16
It's going to rain.
24:17
We had one year, I don't know if you were still living in Tampa during that year, one
24:22
year, the whole entire 31 days of July, it rained every day nonstop.
24:27
Yeah.
24:28
I actually just moved up here this year.
24:30
Yeah.
24:31
So you, so you went through that and I was on the Island and I was telling my husband,
24:35
I'm like, gosh, it doesn't stop raining.
24:38
We're all going to be flooded out on the Island.
24:40
Yeah.
24:41
You know, it didn't stop.
24:43
Now that's not a normal summer.
24:45
It rains.
24:46
It usually does its afternoon showers and it's usually like, okay, I'm done.
24:50
So we just recently had a vow renewal and it was pouring out.
24:56
It was so gloomy out.
24:57
It didn't look like it was ever going to stop.
24:59
And I immediately texted the, not the groom, but the son, because he, they, it was the
25:07
kids that, that decided to do this surprise 25 year vow renewal for their parents.
25:12
It was so stupid.
25:13
Oh yeah.
25:14
That was not a dry eye in town, not a dry eye in sight, but it was gloomy.
25:18
It didn't look like it was promising to be a beautiful day.
25:21
And so I texted him immediately.
25:23
I was like, Hey, don't panic.
25:25
It's going to be okay.
25:26
I've been watching the weather.
25:28
It's only 15% right about that time.
25:31
Just let the rain do its thing and just trust me.
25:34
It's going to be okay.
25:35
Yeah.
25:36
I love that.
25:37
He's like, how did you know I was in a pair?
25:40
I was like, I, I, you know, so, you know, like that's why I'm the expert.
25:46
And sure enough, it was a beautiful day.
25:48
The parents were completely and utterly surprised.
25:51
And he was like, wow.
25:52
He goes, you are not kidding.
25:53
He goes, I, he goes, it didn't look like it was going to stop.
25:57
I was like, yeah, it was like, you know, it's Florida, it's bipolar weather.
26:00
Yeah.
26:01
Well, it's like, you've probably seen that photo that keeps going around on Facebook every
26:05
summer of the person looking in their rear view mirror in the front of them.
26:09
It's sunny, but behind them it's like gray skies.
26:12
Yes.
26:13
Yes.
26:14
And that is typical Florida for you.
26:16
Absolutely.
26:17
I'm a native Floridian and I remember growing up and I remember being in St. Cloud because
26:22
that's where I grew up is in St. Cloud, Florida and go Bulldogs.
26:27
Anyway, so just had to throw that out there.
26:31
Understood.
26:32
And then I have a friend in the back who I remember my sister and I, it was raining on
26:37
half the street and it was not raining on the other half of the street.
26:41
It was actually sunshiny on the one half of the street.
26:44
And it was gloomy, shadowy and raining like storming on the other half.
26:50
So my sister and I, we would jump into the stormy side.
26:53
We were like, we're in the rain and we jump out and we're out of the rain.
27:00
That's too funny.
27:01
And one of the things that struck me about what you were talking about as you were discussing
27:03
your experience is, you mentioned that in your first one, you were scared, you were
27:09
terrified, you didn't know what you were doing, but over the years you've honed your craft.
27:13
You've adapted, you've learned what needed to be done and that's what did make you the
27:17
expert.
27:18
And one of the things you also said was that when you hire someone else, they can't exactly
27:23
speak like you do.
27:25
And to that, one of the things that I've been noticing that some ghost writers are doing
27:30
is they are having their clients just do like a podcast.
27:33
They're having them record something in their words, in their voice.
27:38
It takes them five minutes to just spiel off everything they want to say.
27:41
Then they go and they take that transcript of their words and turn it into a blog post.
27:46
What do you think about that?
27:47
I think it's fabulous.
27:49
So I mean, I couldn't, like it's hard for me to write, but it's not hard for me to talk.
27:57
And I know as stupid as that sounds.
27:59
I know I'm not the only one out there.
28:01
It doesn't sound stupid at all.
28:02
Not stupid at all.
28:05
Because, and it's just kind of like, okay, like people always say, well, you can talk
28:10
about it.
28:11
I was like, yeah, I could talk about it all day long.
28:13
But you get me on to sit down with a sheet of paper.
28:17
Now designing on a sheet of paper, I can design all day, but I still get designer block.
28:22
Yeah.
28:23
Okay.
28:24
So I don't need to have to write down stuff to like write an article or something like
28:29
that.
28:30
I mean, I have to do it in pieces because like something will come up to my brain.
28:34
I was like, oh my gosh, I got to write this down.
28:36
And I jot it down.
28:37
And then just to try to, and I do have help to bring it all together.
28:42
So what I'll do is I jot down all the main points.
28:46
I jot down my experience, what I want, what it is that I'm trying to get out to everybody.
28:53
I want to get all of this information out in such a way, but sometimes I just don't
29:01
have the words to get it out there on paper.
29:04
I totally get that.
29:06
Yes.
29:07
So what I like to do is I actually put it in little blocks and then I will send it out
29:13
to a writer to say, this is what I want.
29:17
And we have to review it several times.
29:20
And sometimes I'm like, no, that is absolutely not correct.
29:24
It's like that, because they'll throw something in there.
29:28
And I'm like, no, that cannot be in there.
29:30
That is absolutely wrong.
29:31
Not at all.
29:32
That's not the message that I'm looking for.
29:36
And they're good.
29:39
You have to do that because you can't just sit there and say, okay, well, it's good as
29:43
is.
29:44
Well, then it's not you doing it.
29:47
Right.
29:48
It's not your voice, it's not your business's message.
29:51
Correct.
29:52
Exactly.
29:53
And so it is still time consuming, but at the same time, you're getting the message
29:59
out and you're allowing somebody who is better at writing than you are to craft up this message
30:07
that you're trying to give.
30:09
So all of the main points are all you.
30:13
Everything is you.
30:14
It's just they're putting it in terms and getting the SEO in its place all at the same
30:19
time.
30:20
Absolutely.
30:21
And so what a lot of people don't seem to realize is the return on investment.
30:28
What's the first thing someone's going to do whenever they hear about your business?
30:30
They're going to go to your website.
30:32
They're going to look around on it and they're going to see what you've done.
30:35
So if you send them to a website that you created on Wix in five minutes, like you mentioned,
30:41
how are they going to know that you know what you're doing?
30:43
Yes, exactly.
30:45
And that's the other thing too.
30:46
It's like, you know, people we get that up.
30:49
Well, not we.
30:50
I mean, I get that all the time.
30:51
It's like, you know, I look at somebody's website and I'm like, okay, there's not much
30:58
to it.
30:59
And so you're looking at them going, you should probably look into having somebody, you know,
31:03
redo your website or something, because it's there.
31:06
There's just not a wow factor to bring somebody to say, oh, yes, I must see what is it that's
31:13
on this website that I have to see.
31:15
We try to do something so different and unique on our website.
31:19
You know, like we like I named all of our arches.
31:23
I love that.
31:24
That's so sweet.
31:25
My husband thought I was absolutely ridiculous.
31:28
He goes, why do these have names?
31:32
Because a bride or a girl that's hiring you wants to see that they want the frilly.
31:36
They want the fun.
31:37
And I told him, I was like, well, I explained it to him, you know, and he's super cute.
31:42
I mean, he loves it now because he even understands it.
31:45
He's like, it truly builds character to those arches.
31:48
Okay.
31:49
So if I say, oh, you know, look at Luna with her tropical self going on, you know, and
31:55
now everybody wants to see Luna.
31:57
Everybody loves Luna.
31:58
Luna is like the Luna is literally the star of the show.
32:03
Luna is living her life.
32:04
She is living her best life.
32:06
She really is.
32:07
She is a hot mama.
32:09
That's for sure.
32:10
She is our beast of an art.
32:13
She is nine and a half feet tall by nine and a half feet wide.
32:15
She's huge.
32:16
She's ginormous.
32:17
And we love catering to the tall people.
32:20
So, you know, it is far too often that those arches are only six and a half feet tall.
32:25
And well, what happens to a guy who's six foot four?
32:29
He hits his head when he's trying to get married.
32:32
Those flowers are literally probably tickling his hair bubbles.
32:36
Oh, that's funny.
32:38
Or maybe, but maybe the photographer takes a shot at a different angle and he looks taller
32:46
than the arch.
32:47
Right.
32:48
Or like he's growing the hair or the flower out of his hair.
32:52
You know, it's funny you mentioned that you that you name your arches because, you know,
32:57
in my past days in my past life, if you will, I was a wedding photographer and I named my
33:01
packages.
33:03
What I thought was a cute name.
33:04
I was like, okay, give your paparazzi package.
33:06
You have your red carpet package.
33:08
Like it was all about like celebrities.
33:10
So, but it, but it made a point.
33:13
It made the point that I'm going to make you feel like a star on your wedding day.
33:16
Exactly.
33:17
So, so yeah, I say, hell yeah.
33:19
Get all the names.
33:21
Get frilly.
33:22
We have some all inclusive names because I was trying to come up with something original,
33:26
something different.
33:27
And everybody in my industry, they always have the diamond package or the Emerald or
33:33
the Ruby or blush or you know, something of those natures.
33:37
Sorry.
33:38
Or the peony package, you know, or whatever.
33:42
So I decided for our all inclusive packages that we were going to name them after songs.
33:48
So we have just the two of us.
33:52
That's our elopement package.
33:54
Okay.
33:55
And then we have the sea of love.
33:58
So that's an all inclusive.
34:00
It's literally just the ceremony and it's got the guests and stuff like that.
34:03
And then we have your all that I need.
34:05
Okay.
34:06
I'm going to give you one more.
34:08
That's going to be all inclusive with the ceremony, the cocktail hour and the reception.
34:13
So it is legit all that they need.
34:15
So yeah, so that's kind of where we come up.
34:18
I'm going to give you one more.
34:20
You got to have an all night long.
34:21
So you can do your New Year's weddings ones.
34:25
Oh yes.
34:26
That's exactly it.
34:28
That's awesome.
34:31
So yeah, so we try to be, we try to be crafty and original, you know, something different
34:36
to kind of separate us from our competition.
34:38
So, but with that also being said, just know that we are firmly our culture here is that
34:45
we are community over competition.
34:47
So we do work with other planners and you know, other private chefs and other bartending
34:55
services and all that.
34:57
We've got hospitality services and other, uh, officiants.
35:01
So we just feel like if, cause we're all in this together, we just feel if we all work
35:06
together, everybody wins.
35:08
The client wins the best, but I really wish more businesses felt that way because like
35:13
one of the big things that happens with me as a ghostwriter is I've been told so many
35:17
times, don't you dare be friends with other ghostwriters.
35:20
Why?
35:21
Thank you.
35:22
I've gotten my best referrals from friends that are ghostwriters who didn't have time
35:27
to do any more work.
35:28
One of my biggest clients, one of my longest standing clients actually came from a friend
35:33
who didn't have time to write for this person that came to her.
35:38
She's like, Hey, do you have any availability?
35:40
Yes, I do.
35:43
So we love working with other event planners because like, I can't tell you how many event
35:47
planners that I've worked with that, like if I'm busy, you know, um, or maybe that date,
35:53
I just really couldn't, I couldn't do it, you know, then I know that I can send that
35:59
person to a good planner that somebody who I know, who I trust, who's going to take
36:06
care of that person, you know, and I don't ask for kickbacks.
36:09
I don't ask for anything from them.
36:11
I just say, Hey, I've got a referral for you.
36:13
This is the person's information.
36:15
And I give the person's information.
36:17
I give the person the lead, I give them the planner's information as well.
36:24
And I try and sometimes if I have enough time or if I, or if I, I'm able to, I will actually
36:29
even do an introductory email.
36:33
So where I'm introducing the lead, um, the, or the potential client to the, the, the planner.
36:40
And so, and I feel like it's extremely important because to build these relationships, you
36:45
know, and I get, I get that all the time going, yeah, but that's your competition.
36:48
I was like, not really, because, you know, they do the same thing to me.
36:52
So it's kind of like, it's kind of like a, you know, one of those give and takes, you
36:56
know, it's like, okay, well, you know, I know, why don't you go ahead and get in touch with
37:01
this planner?
37:02
Because I know that for a fact, that they'll take care of you.
37:05
You know, and it's important.
37:07
And I've got, I've got a private chef who uses our bartending services and he uses our,
37:11
our, uh, staffing services all the time.
37:13
He's out of Tampa.
37:15
He's amazing.
37:16
We love working with him.
37:17
He's been with us for probably about three years now.
37:20
And so he knows he can depend on me.
37:22
He knows that if he calls me up and says, Hey, I need a bartender and serve for such
37:26
a, such date, he knows I'm going to get it for him.
37:28
I think there was probably like one time I, you know, that I, I absolutely had no one,
37:33
you know, um, but it was legit, like maybe a day or two that I've noticed, but, um, but
37:38
for the most part, you know, we're able to take care of that.
37:41
And we have private chef services too, but you know what?
37:43
I've worked when we're there to support him, we're there under his name and all the people
37:49
who work for me know that when you are working under him, when, you know, then you do not
37:54
mention anything about Epic events by booth, we are, we are, you know, uh, that person,
38:00
uh, we are under their, their, their company at that point in time.
38:04
And so even though I'm paying them, so that's just kind of like a way that we kind of work
38:09
together, you know, we're not there to coach anybody's clients.
38:12
That's the one thing that I wish that some, some people, I, you know, that especially
38:17
like when you go in and you train these people and stuff like that, and then they go, they
38:21
decide, Oh, I'm going to go off and start my own business.
38:23
And the next thing you know, they're, they're trying to poach your clients and that's a
38:27
big no, no.
38:28
Yeah.
38:29
Yeah.
38:30
And it always comes, it always comes back around and they always, they always get theirs
38:35
in the end.
38:36
Yes.
38:37
And you know, it's just, Oh goodness.
38:39
Sorry.
38:40
But it's the same thing like, you know, I always encourage people to do, to be their
38:45
best self, you know, definitely you want to go try it out, go for it, be successful.
38:51
I encourage you, I'll be there to support you, you know, but be classy, you know, don't,
38:59
don't be, don't try to go poaching people's, uh, people's clients and stuff like that.
39:03
And so it just doesn't work out for, for you.
39:06
It, you won't last very long in the industry.
39:09
And so it's a very tight-knit industry.
39:12
People, people find out quickly.
39:14
Yeah.
39:15
And people know who to trust and who not to trust very quickly as well.
39:18
Yeah.
39:19
That's very true.
39:20
Yeah.
39:21
But, but we do stand strong with our community over competition.
39:25
Um, you know, that is our culture.
39:28
Everybody that works with us knows that is the culture.
39:31
They know that when we're working an event, we all work for one company, no matter how
39:35
many, how many vendors that we have, we're all working for one company and that is the
39:39
client.
39:40
That's the company.
39:41
I love that.
39:42
That is so beautiful.
39:43
Well, is there anything that I didn't ask you that you wish I had?
39:48
So no, I think I'm, I think I'm good.
39:51
Uh, I think we pretty much covered so much stuff.
39:55
Yeah.
39:56
No, definitely.
39:57
As far as like the blogs, I couldn't, I could not support that, you know, enough.
40:01
I, you know, I strongly feel that that is extremely important.
40:05
Uh, any SEO company is going to tell you that it's extremely important.
40:10
So I know they're going to give you their package and then they, yeah.
40:14
Well, I know not all SEO companies have the writers though, not all of them.
40:20
So, but they will preach to you that, you know, that you should be blogging.
40:23
Um, it is extremely important.
40:27
And if you start making it a habit, you know, I know I'm trying to be a little bit more
40:35
on my website.
40:37
You know, um, I've been kind of, well, last month, there's no way that I could have, that's
40:42
why I wanted to get that one out for sure.
40:44
Really quickly.
40:45
Cause I knew my summer was going to be really busy, but you know, now I'm working on another
40:49
one.
40:50
And so, well, hey, I mean, you might want to take my idea and film yourself saying some
40:56
stuff about the industry and what you think, because I'm a huge fan of repurposing content.
41:01
I'm obsessed with repurposing content.
41:03
So I have been known to, I will do, um, you know, a full video about something and then
41:08
I will take that video and I'll turn it into a blog.
41:11
I turn it into a podcast.
41:12
I turn it into a Twitter.
41:13
I turned it into, you know, all these things, because as long as we get the message out
41:18
there and it's getting to the right people repurpose baby.
41:23
Yes, absolutely.
41:25
So well, I appreciate you so much having me on your blog.
41:30
I appreciate you being here too.
41:32
And I can't wait to tell everybody about this.
41:35
Tell me where people can find you on the internet.
41:37
It can find me on www.epikeventsbybooth.com.
41:43
You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram.
41:46
So epic events by booth.com.
41:48
Alrighty.
41:49
Well, I appreciate your time and, um, okay.
41:51
And I also have to ask you one thing that I've been asking a lot of my guests.
41:55
Will you be my bloggy friend?
41:56
Oh, love to be your bloggy friend.
41:57
Thank you so much.
41:58
I appreciate it.
41:59
You can go on Twitter, asap, and I will see you there.
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