Wedding Show Follow-Up Email

I did two shows last year and tried two different tactics.

First, I collected leads at both shows. People that wanted to enter my drawing filled out a little lead card with Name, e-mail, phone, event date, and "Do you want to learn more?"

The first show, I only mailed to that list. The second show, I mailed to the full show list, thinking bigger numbers would help.

It might be totally anecdotal, but I had way more luck with the first show. I would spend my time on the highest quality prospects first. 25 couples is a small enough number to send some personal e-mails, versus mass. If you want to hit the other 75 after you've focused on the high quality prospects, I think that's fine. But I'd start with them before you move on.

I think Al is right. Do personalized emails to those you spoke with personally. Then, put the full list in mailchimp and fire away.

Hopefully, you collected/remembered some details about the couples you DID talk to.
(as Rick said, start with those people first)
Be sure to include some of those personal details in your email, so they will know it's not just a form letter.
Even if you only remember the date, it shows them that you were listening, and that you care.
For the rest, a form letter is all you can really do...just don't make it SOUND like a form letter.
("Hey! What did you think of that fashion show?" "Hope you had time to visit all the booths"..etc)
And if you can, include a picture of YOURSELF in all of the emails,
as they may not remember the names of all the DJ's THEY talked to..
and seeing your face will give them the chance to remember YOU.

I feel I have been jaded by the wedding shows I have done in the past 5 years. The results have just been terrible.

Speaking from my experience of the last 5 years, I would recommend being VERY Aggressive at the show in terms of offering a stellar deal or throwing in a huge lighting package or something to wheel the bookings in.

You have to look at doing the show as You are there to MAKE MONEY...Not look pretty, and fill in a table while brides walk by.

Being typical on price, or working on the higher end of the pricing spectrum is likely to return poor results from the shows. Just my opinion. For the same amount of money spent I can easily book more events off of Gig Masters over time compared to working a list of 50 to 100 brides at a show.

Shows in this area for the most part are $495 for the smaller ones, and $895 to $995 for the big ones. If you spend $495, and only end up with 1 booking...it was a lousy return. If you spend $895 and only come up with 1 booking, you REALLY feel jaded and question why you even bothered.

In both scenarios, if you come out with zero bookings from the show it sucks all together. Why even spend the time, and money to bother with the show if that is the result?

There needs to be some sort of Guarantee on your end. If there is no guarantee from the show host itself, then create a guarantee for yourself. Maybe do a drawing where there is 1 guaranteed winner where they receive a Crazy deal from you that they can't say no to. That way, you at least have that 1 booking from the show...even if it is a $500 wedding with your top light show thrown in or free full room up lighting...at least that 1 wedding gets you your money back from doing the show.

...Just the way I think these days. I did too many shows since 2011 where after the show was over, weeks went by, and I had no results from the show, I was pretty mad about even bothering doing the show. I did the Baltimore Bridal Show Cattle Drive one year...Got nothing out of it. Was pretty mad I wasted my time.

I believe shows should have a Money Back guarantee these days, and the hosts putting these shows on should stand behind their claim that you will get real business from participating in their show. It seems more like a Money scheme in recent years. ---Book a Hotel ball room for $1,500, and charge every vendor $495 for a table space and another $30 for electricity. Don't guarantee anything, and make a killing!

I did a cheap show once where 7 brides showed up...yes 7! The show was at a high price hotel in Baltimore in February. ...It was their first time doing a show, so the charge was only $100...BUT it was a total waste of $100 on my end!

DJ Ricky B said:

I feel I have been jaded by the wedding shows I have done in the past 5 years. The results have just been terrible.

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I can tell you that the majority of people attending are there purely for prizes.
I mean we have shows that fill huge indoor arenas...with thousands of brides.
You cannot convince me our area handles THAT many weddings each year.
And if these so called "potential customers" actually stop by to meet you....
it's probably because the rules for winning require them to stop at every booth.
I am not saying that ALL of the attendees...but a lot.
You can spot them by how much time they spend at your booth.
You're paying for a list of names.
How many on the list are genuine? Your mileage may vary.

DJ Ricky B said:

I believe shows should have a Money Back guarantee these days, and the hosts putting these shows on should stand behind their claim that you will get real business from participating in their show. It seems more like a Money scheme in recent years. ---Book a Hotel ball room for $1,500, and charge every vendor $495 for a table space and another $30 for electricity. Don't guarantee anything, and make a killing!

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It's taken you that long to figure this out???, I knew this from the the first time I ever went to one, back in the 80's

I agree with Rocky, if you are going to do shows, be VERY aggressive at the show. You need to make the brides make an initial decision at the show.

Also, you need more than one person to be able to talk to SO many brides.

Although we are nearly sold out for 2017, we may do a show just to see how other dj's do it.

djmagicmoments said:

we may do a show just to see how other dj's do it.

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would it be less expensive to just attend the show instead of paying for booth space

You have to be careful with those lists. I was told recently that some of the bridal magazines out there offer their "help" to the producers of the show, to handle the registration. These lists are then given to the advertisers in their magazines, along with (often before) the actual vendors paying to be in the show.

A friend recently told me that one of his show prospects informed him that she was hit by a million emails, many of which were from vendors not at the show.

tunes4046 said:

would it be less expensive to just attend the show instead of paying for booth space

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Of course but if I do that, I have no ability to pass out marketing materials to brides for 2018. The shows in my area are like $300-$500, so it's not a big deal.

I want to see what kind of discounts dj's like to give at the shows. I want to see what they do as give-a-ways. We hardly ever discount or give stuff away, so it would be nice to see what everyone is doing.

I have said it before (but I was accused of "bragging", ironically by the same guy, who is local to me, who says I brag when I talk about and review any new gear I get) that we are thankful that our referral business has blessed us with not having to do shows but many dj's in my area do them.