3 Top Tips for Selling your Calligraphy for Weddings
If you're a calligrapher looking to make the leap into selling signage for weddings, but not sure where to start then I get it. I was that person when I launched my wedding signage company in January 2019.
Before then, I had been selling signage for the home and for baby gifts (quite badly and hardly making enough to cover my costs) and I knew if I wanted to branch out into the wedding industry I needed to have a more professional approach to selling my products, because I knew there was nothing wrong with the products I was making, I was just selling them completely wrong. And it worked, I went from essentially a start-up to multi award-winning within my first year, being completely booked out selling signs at well over my competitors pricing and being feautred in many of the top UK wedding blogs.
So, here are my three top tips I would recommend if you too are looking to grow your business and make that step into the wedding industry.
Tip #1: Know your ideal couple
I'm not joking when I say I sat down at the start of my business and wrote out a description for my ideal customer and everything I possibly could about them. For example, you may feel your products are most likely to be purchased by a bride, so give her a name. What does she like doing in her spare time? Where does she shop? What social media does she use? What's her dream for her wedding? If you can identify the ideal person you want to target and make sure all of your branding and marketing speaks directly to that person then you will find it a lot easier to get the work that you want.
When I started, my ideal customer was Kate. Kate was a bride that had just got married and wanted to create an insta-worthy wedding of her dreams. She loved scrolling pinterest daily for inspiration, and reading all of the top UK wedding blogs. She was a professional and creative person, and wanted lots of handmade, personalised aspects to her big day. She had a medium to large sized budget.
This is just a small sample of the bio I created of 'Kate' to give you an idea. But with this it helps you to target how you are going to reach her. Going to the small local wedding fairs for example she probably wouldn't be at, however ones that are on a larger scale that perhaps even have a fee to enter might be more appealing. Posting curated styled shots of my handmade signage as well as videos of my lettering and build process would also appeal to her.
Tip #2: Know your pricing
When it comes to pricing your work, especially in the beginning, I know how tricky it can be. I have previosuly been the person too scared to charge my actual worth out of fear of not selling anything.
Before I launched into weddings, I was selling gifts and signage for the home for way too less, and barely covering my expenses let alone my own time. And let's be honest, no one wants to be earning less than the minimum wage.
When it comes to pricing your signage, make sure you factor in all of your costs for materials, time to make the product, delivery and packaging (signage is bulky and heavy and fragile when shipped). You also need to factor in the time it takes for you to run the business too, selling the product and the admin that comes with the sale such as sending out contracts, liaising with the couples to get their final details confirmed for the day etc.
The other factor to consider is you also need to go back to tip #1 and think about your ideal customer. Kate wasn't after a budget item, she appreciated the worth of handmade items and was willing to pay a premium if it was the right product. If I had listed my items at a budget price, I would have turned her off making her think it wasn't a better quality. Similarly, if your target customer is on a budget you need to keepo that in mind whilst also ensuring youre able to cover all of your costs.
Ultimately, don't be scared to charge what you want. When I launched as a new business I listed all of my products for well over market average. My hero product was a welcome sign, sold at over 50% higher than my competitors. I believed in my product and the quality I was providing, and when you believe in it your target customers will too.
Tip #3: Know your product
This might seem really obvious, but you'll be surprised by how many I see get this wrong. When you know your product, you know how to sell it. If you have a million and one different products for all kinds of wedding styles and couples and budgets it becomes not only a nightmare to sell and market it all, but also to run efficiently. When you become known as the person to go to for a certain type of product, you find things become a lot easier.
It's very easy for calligraphers to get bogged down in a lot of styles and products as it can be so versatile with what to make, so remember your key customer and what their dream day looks like, and work out what products you can supply within their cost. As an example, I specialised in handmade wedding signage. So if someone wanted something printed, sure I could have done, but it didn't fit my overall brand message so I said no (but actually I didn't even need to do that as my brand messaging was so strong people knew not to even ask me).
Start small, a wedding welcome sign is always a great starting point, and grow your range from there. Simplify things by having set sizes (small, medium, large) and set materials (plywood, acrylic) etc. Over time, you can add more on as you can handle it.
Let's wrap it up...
I hope these 3 tips have given you a starting point and some confidence in making that step into the wedding industry. It's normal to at times feel intimidated, especially in an industry that is very populated, however there is space for everyone and ultimately, if you know your ideal couple, what their budget is and what products you can create that they would want, you have the foundations to create a successful wedding business, although these principles also work across any industry you want to branch into.